I held off ordering this for almost a month because I thought it would be cumbersome. I was wrong. The setup out of the box took less than 2 minutes. The time to initially sync/pair with my phone took less than a minute. Off to a good start, I thought.
Using this product for music is seamless and fun. When listening to Amazon Prime music, for instance, it automatically pauses when the car is turned off, and then starts playing again when the car is turned back on (provided it wasn't off for more than an hour or two). Neat feature, and something that our car with built-in bluetooth does NOT do. I was very happy that the sound quality is top notch. Deep bass and no tinny sound.
Using this product for phone calls is fantastic. I've asked people that I talk to about my audio quality, and they are surprised to learn that I'm even driving in the first place. I've done this at 65+ on the freeway too. Audio quality is top notch.
The buttons on the device are large, firm, and work well. I can end calls, pause music, skip songs, etc. without looking.
The time to sync when starting the car is too quick to count. The engine is barely done starting when the sync sound is heard and ready to go.
The only negative (and it's barely a negative) is that if my wife starts the car to warm it up before I come out with my phone, then it doesn't sync up automatically, It's as though this device only sends out the sync signal upon first getting power. So, I have to go into my phone's bluetooth and click on the pairing choice for that vehicle. It's quick, but manual. This is not a common practice in my household, but if you have a vehicle with remote start it could be an issue.
This device DOES accept 2 phones, and pairs with one or both of them when the vehicle starts up.
My only wish for change with this device is that the AUX plug be at a 90-degree elbow, rather than straight on. Since some applications may prefer straight on, I wish it came with an adapter to make it 90-degrees because it sticks out from our dash, and could get bumped or broken. The small wires are nice (in my opinion) as I don't plan on moving this ever, and it makes for a clean install.
I will update this review should something go wrong in the future, but at this point, after 3 weeks of daily use, I have to say that I'm overly pleased with this device. The price is cheap, given how great it works. It syncs fast, has great audio for phone calls, and plays music with great sound.
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Update: One year after purchase
Thought some might like to know the longevity of this product. Well... it's still going strong. The original cell phone I paired with this is a different story, however. It got dropped and bit the dust. New phone paired up just as easily, though, and works just as well. I had initially been concerned with how thin some of the wires are on this device, but they've held up great. It still connects with my phone super fast, and works better than the factory bluetooth in our other car. This device has never failed, and I love the pause and skip song features when I'm playing my Amazon Prime Stations.
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Good Solution for Cars without BlueTooth Audio
This product represents a solid solution for cars that do not have BT audio. I bought this for my 2011 Mazda RX-8 with Bose audio, as the built-in system supports BT hands-free functions, but not audio streaming. The plan was to hide the device in the armrest, where I have a 12V power port and auxiliary input for the stereo system, since I do not need the hands-free functions. It should have worked flawlessly. It mostly did. The problem I encountered was that 12V port is always on in my car, and the USB charger for this device has a very bright LED in it, which draws quite a bit of power from the battery on a constant basis due to how my car is wired. You can see where this is going. The additional current draw from the charger and the BT device itself in sleep mode is enough to drain the battery in a week if the car is not driven. So, I had to find a charger without an LED (shown in the attached photo) to give me some insurance should I forget to reach inside the armrest and unplug the charger if I do not plan to drive the car for several days (like when leaving it at the airport). The extra step of unplugging the charger is an annoyance with which I had hoped to not have to deal with. I like set it and forget it solutions. I have never understood the reasoning behind making a car charger look like it is hailing the mother ship, and I'm pretty sure I have accidentally summoned ET's "people" on more than once occasion with this thing. I digress.Otherwise, the unit is working fine for audio streaming from my phone. Or, it is where the device itself is concerned.The sound quality is good enough. It is not CD quality, but BT audio never is, and once road noise and the Fletcher-Munson curve come into play, it really doesn't matter much. It still sounds better than plugging into the phone's headphone jack.It may or may not auto-connect to your phone. This feature works great with my Windows Phone (Nokia Lumia 920). It does not work with my Samsung Galaxy S5, and there seems to be no way to correct that short of bolting on apps to force the phone to behave the way it should naturally. So, I have to force the music player to connect via BT. Of course, that "feature" is not limited to BT audio. I have to force it to connect to everything, which seems to be a fault in Samsung's BT stack. If the device does not auto-connect to your phone, there is a good chance it is the fault of the phone.Obviously, I cannot comment on the hands-free functionality of the device, as I have not used it.One other comment that might be helpful to people is that the wiring is short enough that if I wanted to use for BT hands-free functions, I would need to purchase extension cords for both the USB power plug and the 3.5mm audio plug since my connections are in the armrest of the car. Otherwise, the wiring will not reach far enough to mount the device to the dash--even in a small sports car.All in all, I am happy with this purchase, and am considering purchasing a second one for my truck. Just as soon as I find another charger with no incredibly bright, distracting, battery killing LED in it, that is."Your device are disconnect."
Top reviews from other countries
K.GOPAKUMAR
I bought two and both are good in performance
Reviewed in India on June 19, 2017Sathishkumar Bhaskar
Works like charm so far
Reviewed in India on November 17, 2017