I picked up a Blueant Supertooth II speakerphone which I have to say is a pretty nice unit. One problem though; although the devices pair up just fine, when I get in the car (Supertooth is already in Standby mode) my 8310 will not automatically re-link to the speakerphone. If I press the Pickup button on the speakerphone the the 8310 will display a message saying link established and the status light will blink blue. Then I can recieve calls normally. When I leave the car and return I have to remember to press the pickup button again to re-establish a link.

I'm thinking this is more of a Supertooth problem but I am not 100% sure. Any thoughts?

Thanks.

a little off topic, but how do you like the blueant? and how is the audio quality in the car? i have been considering picking one up to replace a disappointing Helium Digital speakerphone which had horrible audio quality.

Well, ignoring the link issues, I think the audio is fine. All I care about is hearing the caller and the Supertooth is decent in that category. It has a large speaker for this type of device and even in my noisy offroad Jeep I can hear fine. A caller said I sounded 'funny' but I figured that was just because any speakerphone sounds different.

But I can hardly reccommend the thing. The latest issue is when I press the Pickup button to manually link to the BB, the Supertooth will start prompting me to "Say a Command".

if its asking you to say a command, check the BB it seems its already linked and is trying to use voice activated dialing through the blackberry

It is, but why?

As soon as the 2 devices are linked the BB immediately goes into Voice Dialing just as if I had launched it from the desktop......but I did just find where in Opions / Voice Dialing where I can disable automatic voice prompts. It should stay quiet when linked now (although it will most likely be listening).

Still, the damned thing should link as soon as it is in range without pressing buttons.

it can take some time, my headset i usually have to press one button. or you could tell it to pair immediately by going into the bluetooth connections.

I keep a headset in mu car, and i have to press a button on the headset when i come back into range to reconnect, it NEVER auto connects when in range. unless, it is the BB Bluetooth that is turned off then back on.

I have a Plantronics 510 headset for my 8700g. It will auto pair when turned on, but will not reconnect if I leave my car and then come back in after shopping, etc. If I get out of range and my signal drops, and I go back into range within a couple minutes, the headset searches once or twice phone the phone again (or vice versa) and will re-pair, but not after that initial 1-2 minutes after disconnecting. I think this is just how the devices work, wouldn't it just use up battery if the device just keeps searching for the phone it is supposed to be paired with??

I had a blue ant bluetooth hs as well as a bluetooth speakerphone. I have tested the blue ant products vs. other bluetooth products (and with several different kinds of phones) and from my experience it is normal with that brand that you have to manually connect every time. I know, its annoying.

Thanks for the responses, I guess it's helpful to know the unit is most likely functioning as designed and not screwed up. I still have the question out to Blueant so I will see if and when they respond. But this is only one of 4 cars so I may look elsewhere for speakerphone #2.

Just a wrap-up on this issue; here is the response I received from Blueant Customer Support:
"You will probably need to return the unit, as with some phones (Blackberries included) you would be required to do this as the phone is not allowing the unit to auto connect. I would advise some caution as it is fairly common for Blackberries to cause this kind of connection with a lot of different headsets."

I initially intended to return the unit....but I really like the thing and you can't beat the 30 days of standby time. So I ordered a Jabra SP5050 to see if it behaves better. If it does that will be my brand and I will eBay the Blueant or use it in one of the other cars.

I just bought a Z9 from Blueant and it will auto-pair with my Motorola Razr every time. If I'm out of range for 10 minutes or 2 hours, once I'm back in range between the two, they autoconnect just fine, not pressing of buttons required from me. It's even surprised me a few times as I had the Blueant in my ear and it'll beep as I get near the car (the Razr is usually kept in my briefcase in the trunk).

But NEVER have I had it autoconnect to my 8820 or 8320 Blackberries. I've always had to use the Blackberry menu to force the connection, or click the button on the headset to reconnect...which works about 50% of the time.

I think Blueant is right...it's as much an issue with the Blackberry as it is anything else.

FWIW, have the same issue with my Jawbone....which, btw, I greatly prefer to the Z9. MUCH better sound isolation.

I bought a couple of blue ants and had the same problem. They would never connect automatically to my 8300s. I always had to do it manually which made them kind of useless. I ended up returning them.

I bought a couple of blue ants and had the same problem. They would never connect automatically to my 8300s. I always had to do it manually which made them kind of useless. I ended up returning them.

Interesting to hear that the Jawbone has the same issue. I was thinking of getting one of those too. Guess I won't now.

I did return the Blueant and ordered a Jabra SP5050. The Jabra is just as bad in that it will not auto re-connect either. But it is not an issue.....because the silly thing does an auto shutoff 15 minutes after it loses sight of the BB. So here is life with a Jabra speakerphone:

• Get in the car and do a press and hold on the Jabra for 3-5 sec to get it to power on. This is a pia.
• BB hooks up just fine and so long as you are in the car it works fine.
• When you leave the car either do a 3-5 sec press and hold to shut down - or - get far enough away that the link drops. In my house the garage is close enough to living space so that with if the SP5050 is on the link remains; power drain and the next incoming call rings on the SP5050 and I can't pick it up.

So....in all honesty the Blueant Supertooth was better; simple flip the lever to turn on/off, sounds better, easy to use rotary volume control, and most important - stays on 800 hours in standby.

But it just doesn't seem right that we have to live with this reconnect problem which is clearly a BB issue.

i picked up a supertooth light, i am not quite sure what the difference between it and the supertooth is. All in all it works. It would be nice to have the auto connect, but then again i have never had a BT headset that auto connected, i even have the blackberry branded plantronic and it doesnt autoconnect with my 8310.

Compared to my helium digital speakerphone this is a great improvement. It actually works. the real test that i have found, how well do my Jott transcriptions come out. With the helium digital when calling jott i couldn't get past the "who do you want to jott" it was so bad. with the supretooth light, nearly every single jott has a confidence level of high. no complaints from other parties either.

What i really like about this one, the buttons are large and separate. i am not going to press the wrong button, the magnats that hold it to the visor clip and very stong (ie, its not going anywhere when i hit it), and third the on/off switch is the spring loaded mic boom. This makes it really easy to turn the device off and on.

With its quick startup, i find it really easy to turn the device off when i get out of the car, and when i get in, a quick tap pops the mic out, boots it up and connects to my phone. All in all, quite happy with it.

There is a new Supertooth 3 that repairs when it senses the vibration of you slamming the door shut.
However, I'm not sure I will get it because there is a "feature" you also mentioned that ruins the experience of using all these types of devices.

They remained paired from an outrageously far distance. There is no reason why the radios need to be so powerful that you remain paired up to 30 feet away and through walls. I walk into the house and half the time my phone is still paired with car because I haven't gone outside it's range.

I don't know what they were thinking when they allowed this to happen. The range should either be greatly reduced by default or there should be some way of adjusting it.
I would not need a pairing range beyond 5 feet and that would be true of most people most of the time. You wouldn't be using it if you were so far away that the microphone couldn't pick up your voice without screaming, so it makes zero sense that the range goes 30 feet out.

Having to manually turn it off each time you exit the car eliminates much of the convenience of using it. If you turn it off before you exit, you would then lose the great vibration sensor activated automatic repairing feature.

Until they find some way of fixing this (and it shouldn't be that hard), I'd rather have a hardwired unit that powers on and off with the ignition.