KinivoBTC450 Bluetooth Car Kit (Hands-Free, AUX Bluetooth Adapter for Cars with Ground Loop Noise Isolator, 3.5mm Aux Input, Apt-X)

I love my car but it's just old enough that it doesn't have built-in Bluetooth. I had been using a Bluetooth earpiece for several years but I find it annoying. I keep forgetting to take it with me and I even lost it once and had to buy another one. My wife's car has integrated Bluetooth and I had been looking at solutions that are compatible with my car. I'd seen a lot of speakers that hang off your sun visor but I don't think I like that design. I then found a small device from Belkin that plugs into your aux jack and mounts somewhere on your dashboard. It was $79.99 and had fairly decent reviews, but then I found this.The Kinivo BTC450 looks very similar to the Belkin but is literally half the price. I figured for $39.99 I could take a chance and see if it worked, and if it didn't, it would be a lot easier to swallow than the $80 Belkin.I have to tell you this is a great device. I have had no issues with it and works great. Since there are really no settings for this, everything has to be done through your phone, which in my case is an iPhone 4S. To use it, you need to plug the power adapter into the 12-volt socket and the aux cord into the aux input. In my case, they are in my center console under the armrest. Then you mount the device somewhere you have a nice flat surface, which in my case is on the panel near the gearshift. Now, turn on your car's power and pair it with your phone. It's easier to pair than any other device I've used. To use it, you need to select the auxiliary input on your stereo.This device can be used for two things. First and foremost, it allows you to make handsfree calls. I've yet to actually make a call while driving, but I've received several calls and all you need to do is push the big button to answer and again to hang up. If you're listening to the radio or a CD, you'll first need to change the stereo's input to Auxilary so you can use it (if you don't the other person will be able to hear you as the microphone is built into the device, but you won't be able to hear them).The second use is that it allows you to stream music wirelessly to this device. For years I've been plugging my phone (and before that, my MP3 player) into the aux jack using a 2 or 3-foot cord. Now I don't need to do that anymore. Less wear and tear on your headphone jack and you no longer need to use the phone's controls to change tracks. Instead, there are two buttons on the top of this device that allows you to skip to the next or previous track. Need to pause the song? Push the big button. If no music is playing and you push the button, it will start playing. The sound quality is indistinguishable from a wired connection. I recall in the past people had to use a wireless FM transmitter to play music from a portal CD player to a car stereo. I had trepidation at first regarding this device because of that past experience as those never worked well and this is light years beyond that technology.What's really nice is that if you are listing to music and someone calls you, it will pause the music player, allow you to talk, and when you are done, it unpauses the music where it left off. Another great thing is that this unpairs from your phone when you turn off the car and re-pairs when you start it back up. You don't need to manually do this which is nice and you shouldn't have an issue when you leave your car and the Bluetooth is still activated.Just a few caveats...first time I received a call with this unit, the ringer, which plays though your car speakers, blew me away. It was way too loud. I had to turn down the ringer volume on my phone. If you use your stereo's volume knob, then you'll have a hard time hearing to the person you're talking to, therefore you will need to find a happy medium. Also, I had to turn up the volume on the music player (which I believe has no effect on your battery unlike a wired connection) because when you skip tracks you hear a loud beep confirming the button press. If you don't adjust the volume on your phone, the beeps will be extremely loud and annoying. Luckily, I was able to find the correct volume levels. Also, if you turn up the volume on your phone, you won't need to turn the volume up so high on your car's stereo. When I first started using this device I heard a buzzing sound coming from my speakers. I saw that Amazon was selling a ground loop isolator that would supposedly fix this, but it turned out my car's stereo was turned up too high so adjusting the volume on the car and the phone took care of this problem.I should also note that the 12-volt adapter has a USB input so you can charge your phone using a separate charging cable. This is a nice feature. It also comes with an extension cable for the aux wire if needed.The wires coming out of this unit are very thin and I assume delicate. Since my unit is mounted near the gearshift in the center console and the cord runs along the top of the center console, I ran a risk of catching it on something and I am sure a good yank would damage it. So what I did was got a wire wrap from Home Depot, wrapped it around the cable, and then pushed it in the gap between the bottom of the center console and the floor. This way, very little of the wire is exposed and therefore it should be very safe from damage.While not as nice or convenient than having Bluetooth built into your car, this is the best option I've seen and kills two birds with one stone -- I can use it for calls as well as listing to music and I don't need to worry about plugging anything in each time I enter the car. Definitely recommended!

This device is marketed for hands-free calling and audio, which seems to fulfill both roles pretty well. Been using it for a few weeks now and have a few thoughts. The button/unit itself has a short length of single cord coming from it, about two feet long. It then splits into two separate cords, one for audio and one for the automobile plugin, each one about a foot long. Total is approximately 3 feet for overall cord length, which may be a /little/ bit short for some users. I found it fit the best near the middle of the center stack of my car (Mazda 6 sedan), driver side, close to the audio controls. It left just enough wire to run down along the center console, past the shifter, and to the center-box to keep the 3.5mm audio jack and power plug to hide away. Would be nice if it came with an additional foot of cord for easier placement.Pairing with a phone is extremely simple. When you turn your car on/turn the key to the first position, it automatically starts the unit. Just make sure the bluetooth is enabled for your phone and accept it as a device, paired no problems, no password or special tricks required. Nice to use this unit and not have to fuss with settings. Works reliably, turn car on, pairs with phone, good to go.Audio quality is pretty good, not %100 as good as directly plugged in with an audio cord, but close enough that the difference doesn't bother me. The benefit of this unit is largely convenience, don't need to plug/unplug the audio cable every time you enter/leave your vehicle. Besides that, it has a microphone built into the unit, so you /can/ use it as a hands-free type of unit. The microphone (as reported by my friends and family) is of acceptable quality, the only minor problem being slightly reduced volume. So I tend to need to turn my volume up and speak clearly and a bit more loudly when using this. Not a big deal and not a deal breaker.Might be nice in a revision/different version if they had an AUX input port on the unit, so you could run your own microphone closer to the steering wheel. Doubtful that every user would want to utilize that, but I'd be willing to pay a few bucks more to get an AUX jack for a slightly better microphone option. Not a complain though, /for the money/ this unit does a perfectly acceptable job of playing audio, microphone, and phone calls. 5 out of 5 considering the minor flaws.