Bluetooth AM/FM/CD head unit E815

Well I bit the bullet and ordered a Jensen MT8610BT am/fm/cd/bluetooth
head unit to replace the stock am/fm/cass that was in my jeep.
I have a new motorola E815 cell phone I got back in july which is a
bluetooth phone and an HS850 bluetooth earpiece headphone. Don't like
wearing the headphone while driving so I searched for a solution. Tried
the motorola hardwire in car kit with external mic, speaker and window
mount antenna, hated the speaker, worked but not great. Found a pioneer
unit that is only sold in europe and pioneers email said they had no
plans to release it here for several months. Found a similar unit from
Jensen [www.audiovox.com] at cardomain.com that fit the bill, $239 & free
shipping. Got it yesterday and installed it this afternoon. It is one of
the best setups for people who drive and need cell phone access in hands
free environment. When I ordered it I was worried that there might be a
problem connecting to the verizon model of the moto phone as they cripple
several bluetooth features and when I first tried pairing the phone to
the head unit, my phone was not on it's list of tested phones. I had all
my fingers and toes crossed, son of a gun, it paired, followed the rest
of the instructions and it downloaded my contacts and phone book to the
head unit and WORKED. Calls now go thru the stereo system and the head
unit has a microphone built into the face. One button operation for
activiating voice dialing which is kind of cool because the button is
BRIGHT BLUE and located all by itself in the lower right hand corner so
you can't miss it out of the corner of your eye. So any of you
contemlating a new cell phone I would strongly recommend this combo, the
815 has the best reception and coverage of any of the 4 other phones we
have. I have not bought an aftermarket stereo in MANY years, like 1993
or so, boy have they changed, freaking owners manual on this puppy is 57
pages of features and how to set them up, took me a half hour to set the
date, time and even offered 12 or 24 hour displays. One cool setup thats
for sure. Well, just wanted share, now it's back to ripping and burning
CD's... does mpg and wma's too...still can't figure out what to do with
that silly wireless remote control, maybe mount it to the steering wheel
of something so I don't have to take my eyes off the road at all...

Forgot to mention, it works great. Replacing my stock speakers tomorrow,
figured I save shippng and ordered new pioneers. Those scosche wiring
kits also made it almost a solder/heatshring/plug and play, much better
than cut and splice. Just can't figure out what to do with all those
other plugs for the aux in, woofer out, cd controller, amps. it's a jeep
after all and spends time off road.

Geeze, I sound like a commercial....

On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 20:07:19 -0600, Rich Pierson <fist@ptd.net> wrote:

>Well I bit the bullet and ordered a Jensen MT8610BT am/fm/cd/bluetooth
>head unit to replace the stock am/fm/cass that was in my jeep.
>I have a new motorola E815 cell phone I got back in july which is a
>bluetooth phone and an HS850 bluetooth earpiece headphone. Don't like
>wearing the headphone while driving so I searched for a solution. Tried
>the motorola hardwire in car kit with external mic, speaker and window
>mount antenna, hated the speaker, worked but not great. Found a pioneer
>unit that is only sold in europe and pioneers email said they had no
>plans to release it here for several months. Found a similar unit from
>Jensen [www.audiovox.com] at cardomain.com that fit the bill, $239 & free
>shipping. Got it yesterday and installed it this afternoon. It is one of
>the best setups for people who drive and need cell phone access in hands
>free environment. When I ordered it I was worried that there might be a
>problem connecting to the verizon model of the moto phone as they cripple
>several bluetooth features and when I first tried pairing the phone to
>the head unit, my phone was not on it's list of tested phones. I had all
>my fingers and toes crossed, son of a gun, it paired, followed the rest
>of the instructions and it downloaded my contacts and phone book to the
>head unit and WORKED. Calls now go thru the stereo system and the head
>unit has a microphone built into the face. One button operation for
>activiating voice dialing which is kind of cool because the button is
>BRIGHT BLUE and located all by itself in the lower right hand corner so
>you can't miss it out of the corner of your eye. So any of you
>contemlating a new cell phone I would strongly recommend this combo, the
>815 has the best reception and coverage of any of the 4 other phones we
>have. I have not bought an aftermarket stereo in MANY years, like 1993
>or so, boy have they changed, freaking owners manual on this puppy is 57
>pages of features and how to set them up, took me a half hour to set the
>date, time and even offered 12 or 24 hour displays. One cool setup thats
>for sure. Well, just wanted share, now it's back to ripping and burning
>CD's... does mpg and wma's too...still can't figure out what to do with
>that silly wireless remote control, maybe mount it to the steering wheel
>of something so I don't have to take my eyes off the road at all...
>
>Forgot to mention, it works great. Replacing my stock speakers tomorrow,
>figured I save shippng and ordered new pioneers. Those scosche wiring
>kits also made it almost a solder/heatshring/plug and play, much better
>than cut and splice. Just can't figure out what to do with all those
>other plugs for the aux in, woofer out, cd controller, amps. it's a jeep
>after all and spends time off road.
>
>Geeze, I sound like a commercial....


It's unusual to get the phonebook to transfer from the phone to the
radio, sounds like that HU is the way to go for those that want/need
the capability.

I'm debating spending the $10 a month and getting the phone built into
my car (GM with OnStar) added to my cell plan. The OE HU in my car
does MP3 also, had to order it that way, nobody had one in-stock with
XM AND the MP3 radio.

Wow what a set up. I just got the Verizon Nokia 6256i Bluetooth,
because I need analog and the v710 was not totally BT enabled.
Never heard of a bluetooth head unit before. I was thinking of a ipod
capable head unit. Or a dvd head unit to hold audio in DVD PCM, but
track access for the amount of audio a DVD can hold gets really hard
unless there is a monitor.

I don't talk much in the car...and any kind of headset feels wierd.
Nokia is coming out with a little earbud, just like their wired
headsets, only a short cord connects it to a clip on battery. The point
is to elimanate the weight of the battery from the headset and the
headset alltogether. A much larger battery can be clipped on. It's so
hard to get the over the ear headsets on, for infrequent talking. I'm
not sure this design would be any easier. Probably one would just plug
the bud in the ear for calls, with the battery staying clipped on, but
it's likely designed for long talks, big headset users, who need a
larger battery.

Yeah, these electronics are getting so complicated and cheap... the
badly written manuals get longer and longer.

I just hope the settings stay should the battery get disconnected!

-
Dave

Randy <no_spam_please@my_address.com> wrote in
news:u2gun1te4v3cbhka6me750uagafumksf4f@4ax.com:

> This is all good information. Thanks.
> Being the "Motorola" junkie that I have become, I have been interested
> in the car kits too. But after reading your review I am now looking
> into the "stereo" route. I think that when incoming calls happen the
> music is muted, which is a very helpful feature, since I often miss
> calls due to not hearing the phone ring over the loud music.
> I'm wondering how well the built in microphone works. Does it pick up
> your voice well? How about road noise?
> What is the advantage of having your phone book (contact list)"in" the
> radio? Does the bluetooth stereo not accept the normal e815 voice
> commands?
> My current car stereo has a remote also. I own a truck with a shell
> (or some people call them a "cap")and sometimes sleep back there, or
> go to the drive-in and lay down in the back to watch the movie. The
> remote comes in handy for those times. You might find that if your
> sitting around a campfire and you're listening to music from your
> nearby jeep, the remote will come in handy as well.
>
> Anyone else have any other Bluetooth car stereo recommendations?
>
>
> On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 20:07:19 -0600, Rich Pierson <fist@ptd.net> wrote:
>
>>Well I bit the bullet and ordered a Jensen MT8610BT am/fm/cd/bluetooth
>>head unit to replace the stock am/fm/cass that was in my jeep.
>>I have a new motorola E815 cell phone I got back in july which is a
>>bluetooth phone and an HS850 bluetooth earpiece headphone. Don't like
>>wearing the headphone while driving so I searched for a solution.
>>Tried the motorola hardwire in car kit with external mic, speaker and
>>window mount antenna, hated the speaker, worked but not great. Found a
>>pioneer unit that is only sold in europe and pioneers email said they
>>had no plans to release it here for several months. Found a similar
>>unit from Jensen [www.audiovox.com] at cardomain.com that fit the
>>bill, $239 & free shipping. Got it yesterday and installed it this
>>afternoon. It is one of the best setups for people who drive and need
>>cell phone access in hands free environment. When I ordered it I was
>>worried that there might be a problem connecting to the verizon model
>>of the moto phone as they cripple several bluetooth features and when
>>I first tried pairing the phone to the head unit, my phone was not on
>>it's list of tested phones. I had all my fingers and toes crossed, son
>>of a gun, it paired, followed the rest of the instructions and it
>>downloaded my contacts and phone book to the head unit and WORKED.
>>Calls now go thru the stereo system and the head unit has a microphone
>>built into the face. One button operation for activiating voice
>>dialing which is kind of cool because the button is BRIGHT BLUE and
>>located all by itself in the lower right hand corner so you can't miss
>>it out of the corner of your eye. So any of you contemlating a new
>>cell phone I would strongly recommend this combo, the 815 has the best
>>reception and coverage of any of the 4 other phones we have. I have
>>not bought an aftermarket stereo in MANY years, like 1993 or so, boy
>>have they changed, freaking owners manual on this puppy is 57 pages of
>>features and how to set them up, took me a half hour to set the date,
>>time and even offered 12 or 24 hour displays. One cool setup thats for
>>sure. Well, just wanted share, now it's back to ripping and burning
>>CD's... does mpg and wma's too...still can't figure out what to do
>>with that silly wireless remote control, maybe mount it to the
>>steering wheel of something so I don't have to take my eyes off the
>>road at all...
>>
>>Forgot to mention, it works great. Replacing my stock speakers
>>tomorrow, figured I save shippng and ordered new pioneers. Those
>>scosche wiring kits also made it almost a solder/heatshring/plug and
>>play, much better than cut and splice. Just can't figure out what to
>>do with all those other plugs for the aux in, woofer out, cd
>>controller, amps. it's a jeep after all and spends time off road.
>>
>>Geeze, I sound like a commercial....
>

The phone book download allows you to scroll thru for a number that you
may not remember which is handy to to redial a call that may not be in
your phonebook. The voice dial works well, both stopped and while moving
even in a jeep which is far from a 'quiet' vehicle :-)
When you dial out the stereo radio mutes or the CD pauses [90 second
buffer in the unit according to the specs]. I used it a lot this morning
while dropping off finished systems at customers sites. I even had the
remote with me in my pocket, was standing in the back with the hatch up
pulling out a Sun280R when a customer who was helping me move it asked me
a question that I had to call back to the house for an answer. So I hit
the button on the remote, 'say a command' came over the sound system and
I said 'dial home', 'connecting' and was talking to my wife in 10
seconds. The bt connection stays ON even with the car off as long as the
phone is linked, but it only links on powerup not every time you get in
range after it's been parked, handy if you pull over and shut the engine
off to talk, it might even link powered off, have not tried that yet, and
the customer looked at me kinda strange then I had to spend 20 min
demoing the setup, he was ordering two of the jensen units, one for his
69 mustang GT and another for his dodge pickup when I left. I guess alot
of people don't know what bluetooth really is. I'm a network and systems
engineer and never paid any attention to it till now and now I think it's
one of the neatest things since sliced bread...

If you are interested I have an S9950a hardwired kit for sale, all parts
present and accounted for, only been installed for 3 weeks, all you need
would be a hang up cup for your model moto, $50... consists of the
controlbox, external speaker, external mike, cables. Works great but with
the bluetooth head unit I don't need it anymore, I'm keeping the hangup
cup because I found out I can plug a normal car charger into the base of
the hangup cup to charge the phone and keep it charged while driving. It
also allows me to keep the external antenna which attaches to the hangup
cup and the back of the phone itself when you dock it, not the control
unit like I thought it did before I got it. The hangup cups are sold
seperately for the phone model anyway...