[Lewmar]

Took delivery of indi blue/white Cooper w/sport pkg, chrome and sunroof last thursday (by coincidence my birthday). Haven't grinned so much in years!!

The only thing I would wish for is a hands-free phone plumbed into the stereo system. My boss has this in his Mercedes and it's so much safer than fumbling with the phone.

I emailed MINI but they replied there is no MINI phone kit(as usual, maybe in the future). I was thinking of getting the Ericsson HCA-20 kit installed. Does anyone else have this (or any other hands free kit?)I saw monsta's phone installation here .

Monsta - Does this get in the way of a)the passenger's leg b) the stereo controls or c) the glove box door?

I was thinking of maybe putting the phone cradle horizontally under the toggle switches (and use the voice dialing) but I'm not sure if it would look odd...any opinions?

also, where is the best microphone location?

[monsta]

The cradle doesn't really cause problems, the passenger sometimes catch their knee on it (only if they have long legs) and they can't control the radio either (a good thing!)

[dietcokeplease]

Quote:

Originally posted by Lewmar
Monsta - Does this get in the way of a)the passenger's leg b) the stereo controls or c) the glove box door?

I was thinking of maybe putting the phone cradle horizontally under the toggle switches (and use the voice dialing) but I'm not sure if it would look odd...any opinions?

also, where is the best microphone location?

Lewmar,

(1) UK cars don't have gloveboxes so check to see if the lid will clear the phonekit, and none of the long legged supermodels have complained about interference!

(2) The Horizontal cradle would be really weird and wouldn't be easy/intuitive to use.

(3) The headlining has a little oval shaped grille (next to the sunroof switch if you have one) and my installer fitted the mike behind it.

Check out my gallery for some pics - be warned, they're a bit big at the moment.

DC

[Lewmar]

Thanks!

I have the grille by the sunroof, and it looks like the obvious place for the mic, although perhaps an installer's nightmare - does it work well in this location (can people hear you clearly? Did the headliner go back ok?

Does the Nokia kit use the car stereo speakers? the Ericsson kit has an external speaker, which causes another mounting dilemma - maybe it's time for a new phone...

[Lewmar]

maybe this thing is the answer to my problem; the phone can stay in my pocket....

http://www.blueunplugged.com/main.as...nge&prodID=122

Problem is a)my current phone isn't bluetooth and b)price:TBD usually means wildly expensive...

[GaryM]

Check this thread out. There is loads of info in there.

As you will see from this I have installed my own Nokia HF kit and wired to the headunit so that it mutes and the audio comes out on the speakers. It works great. The install was pretty easy. There are lots of aftermarket options too, enabling you to link the HF kit to the headunit.

The mic was run up the black rubber door trim and sits just above my head by the drivers side window. The nokia box sits behind the panel on the side of the dash buy the door. The aerial is a self-contained internal one mounted behind the rear view mirror on the windscreen. I thought the reception would be poor but it works really well. I choose to mount the cradle up by the steering wheel. Very easy and safe to use.