Kinivo Bluetooth car kit topic

After using this for a few weeks I just wanted to report my experience using it with the Note 3.

My brother has the similar Belkin kit and it is absolutely TERRIBLE. It flashes red and refuses to connect to anything for days at a time then seemingly works for a month or two, the speakerphone is absolutely unusable, the precise timing required to use the ONE button for Play, Pause, and Next Track is maddeningly difficult (leaves you blindly wondering if it is paused, resumed, or skipped), and it is simply too expensive.

I am happy to say that I didn't have any of those issues with the Kinivo kit. It sticks with a double-sided sticky foam disc instead of the two-part magnetic base that the Belkin uses but I don't plan to move it around and it's not like Belkin included two bases anyway. With it stuck solidly on the dash, I kinda wish it had a twist to skip function but the dedicated buttons are certainly good enough for that! The wireless connection is solid and the controls feel/work great. I have no idea if it is using Apt-X or not but it supposedly supports it for higher-quality A2DP streaming over Bluetooth (as does the Note 3). The quality sounds much better but that could just be my car having better speakers compared to my brother (I am no audiophile).

Unlike the Belkin, it auto-connects when you start the car. That would be fine if it didn't cause the phone to also auto-answer! Further compounding it is the fact that it comes on even when your stereo is off so you may have no idea that it grabbed the call (you can't hear the caller without powering on and switching inputs). Obviously, there's no easy way for them to integrate with your OEM stereo to only operate when the stereo is on and AUX input is selected, which is the drawback to having an adapter kit. I don't know if the auto-answering is bad behavior on Samsung's part or if it does that with every phone so I'll have to test. There have been times leaving work with my ringer silenced when it would answer a call I didn't even know was incoming and then I drive around completely unaware that someone can hear everything going on in the car. Galaxy Charging Light reports 1800mAH charge rate through the built-in USB port, which is as fast a my phone charges from the stock 2-amp wall plug, but I do wish it had a second USB port or was de-coupled so that you could bring your own. The Belkin does have a smaller plug but they both occupy the whole power socket, they both only have one available USB port, and they both are permanently wired for their own power.

Speakerphone is a million times better than the crappy Belkin unit. I'd barely be exaggerating to say that the Belkin is completely unusable for phone calls while driving. This actually WORKS. I am somewhat hard of hearing which is why I'm no audiophile, but this was perfectly adequate.

There is no battery and thus no need to charge it. It really came down to the Belkin and Kinivo for me purely because I didn't want one of those rechargeable units. A significant number of users reported feedback issues when charging in many vehicles and I don't want to deal with worn batteries. While I can't confirm that wired units are immune to this, I didn't have that issue in my 2011 Corolla or my brother's 2009 Aveo. People act like you just have to suck it up and buy the fix (ground loop isolator) if you have this problem but I ask "why can't it be built-in?" If possible, I expect that.

I hope I can fix the auto-answer problem with an Xposed tweak or something. All in all, I am very happy with it and I want to make sure none of you waste your money on the terrible Belkin version! I decided on this back when it and the Belkin kit were the only two similar options but I see a new "iClever" Bluetooth 4.0 kit has showed up on the market. It costs less, includes a dual-port charger (occupies one port but at least it's de-coupled so you can BYO), doesn't mention Apt-X,

but I'd love to hear from anyone with experience with it.

Kinivo BTC450 kit:
http://www.amazon.com/Kinivo-BTC450-...etooth+car+kit

Belkin kit:
http://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Hand...etooth+car+kit

iClever Himbox HB01 kit:
http://www.amazon.com/iClever-Blueto.../ref=de_a_smtd

Kinivo BTC450 topic

Just got mine; ordered directly from their site on Saturday, received it today... .99, free shipping, no tax.

I was using a Logitech unit previously, and while it sounded fine, it had the disadvantage of not being very good at automatically reconnecting to the phone, and of course it had no hands free capabilities. As with pretty much all bluetooth units, there are a ton of reviews on the Kinivo; both good and terrible, so I thought I would offer this up strictly within the context of the Moto X.

Short story... I am thrilled with it!

Pros:
Amazing connectivity. It reconnects under every condition possible; moving out of range and then back in range, power off and then on, Bluetooth off and then on. My vehicle's power ports are always hot, except when cranking. This gave the Logitech fits, and I was concerned about the Kinivo as well. Bottom line... if bluetooth on the phone is on, it is always connected!

Reasonable audio quality, and contrary to a number of online reviews, both in call and media volume are good. See my cons below for more on audio.

Very positive buttons. While the thing looks a little cheap, it feels surprisingly good.

While not as good as a quality headset, I thought the in call quality was pretty good. Tried it in town on some bumpy roads, as well as on the freeway and intelligibility was good. I mounted it on the side of my center console so I can access it with my thumb when my arm is on the armrest.

Interoperability with voice commands works very well. Long press the main button and speak after the prompt. Bingo!

Cons:
In my Ford truck with Eclipse head unit, it requires a ground loop isolater, as has been the case with any 12v powered device in this vehicle. However this IS a 5v device. I suppose I could've cut the 12v adapter off and power it from my daqstsuff isolated 5v supply to eliminate the need for the isolation transformer, but didn't want to mangle it before checking out how well it worked. Obviously, the audio will be much better without the transformer, but it is still bluetooth, and I primarily listen to podcasts while driving. Plus, all the music on my phone is from Google Play Music, which is notoriously poor quality anyway. I doubt I will be rewiring this to the 5v supply as I am happy enough with it as is. I can always pop in a CD when I really care about audio fidelity.

While in call quality seems completely acceptable to me (it sounds easily as good as my brother's fairly recent Sony unit), if you're doing business while driving, and expect it to sound like your not, this is not for you.

While voice commands work perfectly, the initial prompt to say a command is very low in volume; like 10db lower than anything else. The rest of the prompts / confirmations / responses are fine, so this is a mystery I have yet to figure out.

Wires are thin. While I suppose this makes it easy to route them, they will not stand up to a lot of stress. The interior of my truck is dark gray, and I felt it prudent to use some black gaffer's tap to secure all dangling wires to surfaces.

Bottom line... How well this works, and being able to locate this little button practically anywhere, makes this thing insanely convenient.

[Q] Is anybody using KINIVO BTC450 car kit? topic

Guys, I'm having issues with kinivo bluetooth car kit. Music plays fine but when I try to make phone calls volume goes down to very low level that I can barely hear it or sound switches to hand set but It works fine the first time you try to use it (first call). Did anybody else experienced the same thing? Do you guys have any suggestions on how to fix this?