I have a Pioneer unit in my car that has a Bluetooth receiver that allows for hands free. I love it for answering calls but I have never been able to use it for outgoing calls and the reason is that when I initiate the hands free my Bold screen switches to the screen and says "Say a command" problem is that I never hear it through my system. so if I say a number or name it always confirms my request which I can never hear. If the screen is viewable then its fine I can see what it is asking but if not I'm lost. If i look at the screen and follow it and place the call then the call comes through so its only the voice prompts that don't work.

What I was wondering is if anyone else who has an embedded audio system/Bluetooth hands free stereo if you hear the voice prompts. Its very annoying and i have had the same problem with my curve 8300. Please only answer the poll if you have an embedded car system. I know it works with Bluetooth head sets so that's not what I'm looking for just the car audio embedded systems please. If you want also include your make and model of the unit you use.

For some reason my poll never got added so "NO POLL FOR YOU.... OUT!!"

I have the Pioneer BTB-200 or something like that with my D3. There are no problems and bluetooth connects the moment my car starts up. I also can voice dial too without any problems

Yeah I also have the BTB addon but it's a BTB-100 and I though it might be because the unit was the older model so I asked my audio shop if I could try a 200 model and the same problem existed. I'm starting to wonder if it's the deck that is the problem i have a DEH-P500UB what deck do you have? Next try is to go to the shop and get a new deck with BT built in that i know works from the model on the wall

If someone were to go out now and purchase, are there any units that complement the Bold for both voice calls and music through BT other than the unit you have mentioned here?

Thx...

H.

The one thing that I did was take my phone to the store and try the systems to see. I wanted a Bluetooth streaming system so i could just keep all my music on my Bold and use the device. I found out that the audio really sucked on the models i was looking at. its way better now with the Bold then the Curve but you have to test it to be sure. I would assume that almost all car stereo stores if you are serious to buy would help you test it all out. Don't trust the sales persons word though that "Oh yeah it will work" that what I did with my Bluetooth add on and I never tested it first and now you can see my problem... it works 75% but thats enough to make me want to throw it out the window.

the other thing to realize that some of the cheeper models will only let you stream audio to the deck and you still have to use your Bold controls to change songs etc so the whole point of wireless is to keep it in your pocket and run it form the deck. so again its there and it works but its not 100% yet for me.

I have the Kenwood 8120 in my truck and it connected right up with my new Bold with no problems as all. It works perfectly, much better than it did with my iPhone. My wife told me it sounds like I'm on a land line it's so clear now.

The only thing I can't seem to make work right now is the text messaging on the phone through my stereo. The Kenwood 8120 has text messaging on the screen, but your phone has to push the text messaging feature through bluetooth and apparently the Bold does not do this? I don't know, maybe you can select a different setting on the Bold for text messaging???? I'm going to look into it today. So far, the Bold is absolutely awesome.

I have the Pioneer DEH 7000BT and for the phone portion it works perfectly (IMO). As far as the streaming music, sometimes it gives me a hard time connecting. Once it is connected though, it works flawlessly with great sound quality!

I use the Avic-D3

Caspan, thanks for the pointers. I am glad I asked the question as testing the unit would almost seem like something you would do automatically but I did not even think about this. I probably would test in the showroom like Best Buy or another shop that has radios. Right now, the only place that comes to mind is Best Buy here in Florida... I will check out what they have...

Best Regards;

H.

Thx...
BTW, your not making any points with the iPhone fans...
I will check out the stores and see if they have a model like this one...

H.

Hi LocoStrange -

So, do you have any comments on how this works for streaming music from your bold and how the voice calls work?

Sorry, I have to ask a newbee question... - Avic is like the brand - Like Kenwood etc.?? I never heard of this brand and as you can see I am just starting my research... Thanks...

H.

Avic is a branch off of Pioneer. There are the D, Z, and F models. However, recently, Pioneer discontinued the D model and replaced it with the F model. The main differences between the model (not sure about the F since its new) but the Z models have a hard drive while the D uses CD/DVDs for map

Now, as far as Kenwood and Pioneer, the differences are basically black and white depending on what options you prefer.

Pioneer uses their own GPS Map while Kenwood uses Garmin (I perfer Garmin)
The GPS for Kenwood is another module while Pioneer it is all in one unit. As a result, with the D models, you have to remove the DVD navi to watch movies. The destination and radius of x miles is saved to internal memory though.
The User Interface, IMO, looks better on the Pioneer models
iPod is easy to maneuver with the Pioneer

Basically, in the end, Pioneer has a better all in one unit but Kenwood has better GPS. Since I knew I wouldnt use GPS as much, I picked Pioneer for that reason. The Avic-D models are basically a think of the pass for Pioneer so you will not find much support for them. Overall, the same can be said about Pioneer in general, unsure about Kenwood. But its just so you are aware.

Of course, there is Eclipse but they are good but they are expensive. Some people like Alphine but I didnt bother to research them

Now, as far as the Bluetooth with the D3 is concerned, I have had nothing but smooth sailing. Granted, it took me a while to get things hooked up but right now it is smooth.

The unit connects to my phone the moment it is turned on. Sound quailty on both sides are perfect and nothing bad can be said about that. Some people have been able to transfer their contacts to the D3 but I cant get it work. However, they said 200 contacts took about 30 seconds. The same people said that music and videos are also smooth without any problems but I havent tried nor do I have a desire to try it.

Overall, I am very happy with the Pioneer Avic-D3 with bluetooth and iPod adapter.

Well I sent an email to someone at pioneer and got a response about not hearing the voice prompts.

Ill let you know what I find out.

I have a Pioneer head unit in my car that is a couple years old. At the time, my choices were either built in Bluetooth, or a USB port. Seeing as I am an mp3 fiend, I went with the USB unit (DEH-6900UB). Still wanting Bluetooth capability, I have been searching for a good solution. Pioneer's expansion option enables Bluetooth phone usage, but does not stream music. I have tried virtually every model of aftermarket add-on out there, and have narrowed down to the 2 best options: Motorola T605 and the Motorola T505.

The T605 is a hard wired unit that has a little control pad that stickies to your dash. It streams audio really well, and calling works great. The downsides of it, though, are the real killers. First of all, you can't turn it off without installing a switch on the accessory line. For people like me, who keep bluetooth enabled all the time, this means the phone will pair up whether I want it to or not. There have been several instances where I wanted to keep a call private and was forced to fumble with the phone while driving to "activate handset". Also, the wiring on this unit is overly complex and requires specific inputs on the car's sound system. The control unit has separate outputs for music streaming and phone audio. I am a former professional installer, so I got it working even though my head unit doesn't have a "hands free line in" input, but the call audio is pretty low quality. Music is great, just calls suck. This led me to a simpler option.

The Moto T505 is my current BT toy of choice. A standalone, battery powered unit (uses the same mini-usb charger the phone does) with an outstanding full duplex speakerphone built in. It has a clip to hang it from your visor, and has phone and music controls built in. The speaker volume is far superior to that of even my fancy new Bold, and being full duplex is a HUGE bonus as well. No echo, no "tunnel sounds", just crisp clear and loud. Incoming calls are announced on the device by a British female voice reading the caller ID number. You can stream music to the unit as well, which sounds surprisingly decent. The big bonus, though, is the built in FM transmitter. You push a little button on the back of the device and it scans for the cleanest possible station in your area. It announces the frequency via the same female British voice, and you tune your radio as such. Once you're tuned in, all streaming music AND phone calls are routed to your radio. Call quality is fantastic, music quality is fantastic. Since it is battery powered you will have to plug it in once in a while, but it runs for a pretty significant amount of time between charging. When you leave your car for more than 15 minutes (as long as you're out of BT range), the device powers down automatically.

All in all, that's what I've run with so far.

T605 Pros: hardwired; great sound quality; price is not that bad compared to some others; full duplex speakerphone; on-dash call / audio controls
Cons: you really should know what you're doing to install it or you have to pay someone; hardwired means it's just as big a hassle to remove; can't power down without a switch installed; need specific inputs to fully utilize

T505 Pros: PORTABLE; excellent sound quality; will work with any FM radio (I rarely listen to the radio, I don't even have an antenna installed on my car); very loud and clear standalone speakerphone (I frequently bring it inside and use it in my apartment); automatic shutdown; no installation required; under $100 online

Cons: battery powered; theft target; I've forgotten to pick it up and left it inside several times

Hi LS,
And thanks for the explanation - Avic is almost like a new line for Pioneer... I will check it out on the next visit to the showrooms...

H.

I have tested my bold on my friends Acura RDS stereo/blue-tooth system and it works perfectly. I gotta hand it to Honda who really seem to know what they are doing.

A.

Well i got a couple of emails from Pioneer support team today and here is a summary of the emails

They told me that I'm using the wrong Bluetooth unit I can't use the CD-BTB100 and all their online documentation states that. This is why I'm am having the issue. Then I restated the email I sent to them that said I already tried the CD-BTB200 at my dealers to see that before.

They then told me to go to my local dealer have them get the same head unit and a CD-BTB200 and then see if it works there. I regretfully agreed (sorry Scott at Autosonics). I stopped in on the way home and asked again to test with a CD-BTB200 again it failed the test. I asked if he could setup the same deck as mine with a CD-BTB200 to humor me and he gracefully did. And woulde'nt you know it but the same problem exists. So now I know it's a Pioneer issue that they must fix. I put the ball back in their court to fix.

I will let you know what I find. I'm starting to believe that its the deck as someone else has the CD-BTB200 with a different deck with 0 issues and hears all the voice prompts. So I have indulged them enough and it's time for them to step upto the plate. the next time I got to my dealer i hope its to send it for a firmware upgrade or else I will be buying a different deck from another vender.

Acura has this down, as I got to setup one at work for one of our managers. He has the new suv with the controls on the steering wheel. Wow, the Acura even talks to you!
(my 2003 Ford has an am fm radio with a cd player - whoopee! - I guess I am technically challanged as far as cars radios go!)

H.

Do you think they have firmware for these or is it just an issue with their quality control?