JPP

Thanks Lewis, I'll check them out

V

JPP,

I think the clips look good but consider something that I have on my car and that most euro (ROW) models have (see picture). This is an OEM piece and there's where I am putting the TomTom cradle we discussed earlier. Lot's of people over here in Europe remove these so you could probably get a hold of one more or less for free. I understand if you don't want to take your eyes off the road (if you think it's too low) but I don't plan on watching the montior too much, just listen to the iPod and the NAV instructions with the occational glimpse at the screen. Good luck with whatever you decide. I would be willing to help you find a console like this if you want? It's a bolt on factory piece.

Regarless, please keep me updated on how you proceed with the TomTom cradle. Would love some real feedback on thatone once you've had it in the car for a couple of weeks.

Cheers

V

JPP -Read this:

http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=48351&start=0

This guy is getting rid of his piece. I don't know the interior color of his car though.. Might be worth a try? This OEM piece looks pretty slim I think..

JPP

Thanks Vigo, I appreciate your offer. Why does the European market get all the good stuff?? It kinda looks like the system that Lewis suggested from Kudausa, but of course, the stock system wraps the carpet up over the housing to make it an integral part of the console.
All things considered, one of the things I suspect I'm going to be concerned with is the distance and direction of my voice relative to the cradles mic for hands-free calling. I think to begin with, I'm going to simply 'suction cup' it to the clock (flame suit on) as a couple of industrious folks here have suggested to get an idea of how robust the hands-free functionality is going to be, then move it around to figure out what the best position is for calling, visual and manual access. I'll keep you posted
As a side note, my mothers family came to the U.S. from the south coast of Sweden around Karlskrona in the 1800's. I went there in the 70's and found myself in places where everyone looked just like me ... scared the crap out of me ..

JPP

Cool! Thanks for this link, I'll be spending some quality time in there

2Many Cars

I have an older non-pcar that has an aftermarket DIN bluetooth phone setup with the microphone in the head unit, way down the console. It works just fine but you do get a fair amount of road noise and it helps if you speak up a fair amount. The bottom line is that a lower console location works fine but if you use your phone a lot you'll prefer a higher microphone location.

JPP

Thanks for the input. That's what I'm expecting as well, we'll see....

V

Very cool.. Karlskrona is a nice place . Maybe we also look alike? You should pay another visit, hehe.

Just get back to me if you want to locate one of these OEM thingys. I'd like to know how you hooked the cradle up to the head unit so please post pics and provide a link of the cable you used once you have everything together, that would be great! Anxious to see how the setup works .

JPP

Hey Vigo, here's some more info I got off the Apple Store site today.

http://store.apple.com/us/question/a...K7AJYYY9U4CY9J

Looks like the charger cable that comes in the box is plugged into the mini-USB port on the side of the cradle and then into your Cigarette Lighter . Then, the optional cable needed is a standard 3.5MM Audio Out jack like for headphones and the like that would either hardwire into the headunit or plug into it depending on your set up. Also, I found out today that the hands-free features mic AND speaker are part of the cradle so the callers voice is not pumped through the car stereo system Not as good as I thought ....

V

Hmm.. not good.. I think the one end of the mini-USB cable that goes into the cigarette lighter can be modified to be hardwired to the head unit (looks MUCH cleaner). The 3.5mm audio output from the cradle is fine (as I don't care too much about the sound quality, it'll be decent but nothing more) and should plug into the head unit as well (one way or the other). Preferably hardwired and not simply plugged into the front of the head unit.

So the callers voice is pumped through the speaker function on the iPhone.. That's bad news. What about the voice of the SatNAV? I thought that if the 3.5mm jack is plugged into the iPhone (or cradle), at that point any audio output will transmit through that cable. Remove the cable and everything will transmit through the phone.. Might be worth looking into?

Hmmm

JPP

Actually, no. The caller voice and SatNAV commands all come through a speaker that's built into the TomTom cradle. Industry reviews say it works well because it's clear and loud and automatically lowers the audio from the car stereo when a call comes in or voice directions from the Navigator come on. I also did some more on-line live chatting with Apple support to clear a few things up. The cradle is charged via the mini USB port/cable provided in the box. It has a cigarette lighter connector plug on the other end that can be cut off and hardwired to power under the dash, which is what I'm going to do. As noted before, the 3.5MM Audio out takes any aftermarket cable with a 3.5MM jack on one end and can either plug directly into head units with a 3.5MM Audio-in plug or into the rear of most car stereos with RCA input plugs. My car has an Alpine CDA-9884 that has an Ai-Net input plug in the back for connecting remote CD players and the like. I went online to Crutchfield Electronics and bought an Ai-Net to 2RCA adapter cable and a 2RCA to 3.5MM Jack conversion cable to make it happen. Nice thing about the Ai-Net plug is it comes on in front of the Amp and all 6 speakers so fidelity should be really good. My local Apple store said they don't expect to get the cradle in stores until the end of November So, I'm going to order it online and hope for the best. Here's the cables from Crutchfield. Check your Stereo back panel or schematic and see what it's got.