Clear listening!
Written: Apr 03 '03 (Updated Apr 05 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Clarity/volume of speaker and microphone, portability
Cons: Clunky form factor, nowhere to put phone
The Bottom Line: Definitely get this if you want a speakerphone for the car where you and your caller can actually hear each other.
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| drdsd's Full Review: Easy Install Hands-Free Car Kit Syn8597 For Motoro... |
I've tried several different "hands-free" solutions, and this is the only one that works for me. I used the earbud/microphone-on-cord clip-on gizmos for a while, but none of them seem to have very good clarity and were annoying to stick in my ear. After that, I ordered a CCM Navigator, the integrated phone mount/speaker/microphone that plugs into the cigarette lighter. Great concept, but the microphone was so crummy that my listeners would always complain that they couldn't hear me. When I got this device, I was amazed at the clarity and volume of the speaker, and the microphone (attached at the base of the phone) works perfectly, even when it's sitting on my lap and I'm staring straight ahead (as I should be, driving). No complaints from people I call (or from people I might crash into while fumbling with a regular phone!). There is an auxiliary microphone plug on the speaker, but I don't see how it's really necessary, and besides, I could not find it in stock anywhere.
Another good feature of this unit is that it's totally portable. Just unplug the cigarette lighter adapter, unclip the speaker, and you can easily move it to another car in about 2 minutes.
The only real downside to the unit is the clunky form factor (multiple long cables, bulky speaker, and mostly...no convenient place to put the phone). The unit is configured with about a 1' cord from the cigarette lighter to the speaker (which is intended for mounting under or at the bottom of the dashboard). A second 2' to 3' stretchy coiled cord attached to the speaker plugs into the base of the phone, and has the excellent inline microphone a couple of inches from the phone. Unfortunately, there is no included mount with which to attach the phone to the dashboard. Therefore the phone ends up sitting in my lap or on the center console. This is ok from an audio perspective, but it's annoying to have to hunt for the phone to dial it or activate the voice dialing. There doesn't seem to be a decent phone mount available that will fit the Motorola V60 flip-type phone, so I have to put up with this annoyance. However, this is a small price to pay for the superlative audio performance of this unit.
Once you've used this product and tried some of the competing products, you'll realize that clarity is what counts, and the other products out there just don't fill the bill! There is one possible avenue to eliminating the "no phone mount" annoyance I had with this product, while keeping the audio quality, and that is to consider Motorola's more expensive professional hands-free kit. That product presumably has similar sound quality (the speaker looks to be the same or a similar unit), and also comes with a phone mount, though the installation of the system looks to be pretty involved judging by the number of parts. I haven't tested that one though.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
drdsd
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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