Handsfree for all Bluetooth phones! The Parrot CK3100 and its Handsfree Console provide drivers with visual information and functions that they routinely use from their personal phone. Features a small display that shows information like caller ID. The Handsfree Console connects to the car kit control unit located underneath the dashboard. The CK3100 is the most advanced hands-free car kit on the market. With the Parrot CK3100, you will be able to place and receive calls in comfort and safety, without ever touching your mobile phone. The wireless connection between the CK3100 and the Bluetooth® phone and its voice recognition system is enabled as long as the phone is turned on. The display of the CK3100 provides information such as caller ID, carrier signal strength, or last calls received, in large well-contrasted digits easy to read at a glance. At a time when legislation is tightening up to restrict the use of mobile phones in vehicles due to safety concerns, Parrot CK3100 benefits are not just for the sake of convenience and comfort - they are fast becoming a real necessity. The Parrot CK3100 wirelessly connects with all Bluetooth® phones on the market- compatible with all brands. Please note: We recommend that you test the car kit before installation as they cannot be returned after installation. Please follow the installation instructions carefully and read all safety information.

Parrot CK3100, 30 Sep 2008
After trawling through the internet and finding which bluetooth unit to buy, the only option was a parrot based one. However, the choice between a 3000 & 3100 LCD versin was the fact that I could see if the mother-in-law was calling !!!!

I purchased the CK3100 and a loom for my stereo and they arrived within 24hrs. Being quite a technical person installation was very straight forward. If you are handy with a screwdriver and take care on removing facias etc then this is a straight forward job. I located all the cables and control units by removing my glove box and putting them out of sight. The downside is the manual is very vague when it comes to connecting to your headset it does not tell you if you need an additional connecting lead from your stereo to your headset. Also, on some cars you need to swap over the two fuse carriers. This can be found online, but not in the manual. This sort of information you have to find out for yourself. If installation is an issue there are several automotive companies that will install the unit for less than £200. BMW charge £325 !!!!!!!!

After installation which I did in a very slow methodical manner (which took me an hour) I put the unit to test. Operation of the unit along with pairing is described sufficiently in the manual. I set my phone, the wife's phone and the daughter's phone to pair with the unit. As the unit will only utilise the one it picks up first, it is very simple to connect to another of the paired phones if required.

The voice commands are recorded easily and you do not have to use the words they instruct you to i.e. 'Phone', you could use 'Call' for example or 'Hang Up' where you can use 'End'.

The only downside is the because when the voice commands are recorded, the radio is muted. When you are driving hoever you have your stereo on. With this, if it is too high, the unit will not pick up your voice to make a hands free call. The only way around this is to either turn the stereo volume down or off. Not a big problem, but then again not hands free.

I have also managed to upgrade the software on the unit using a laptop and bluetooth connection. This was very simple and well described on the Parrot website where you can download the software application, latest software and instructions on how to upgrade software for free.

The clarity of sound making and receiving calls is excellent and no-one has yet informed me that they have had issues when making or taking calls using the Parrot unit.

The wife and daughter are not technically minded (no disrespect) and nor are they at the front or middle of the queue when it comes to gadgetry of an electronic nature, but they found it very simple to use.

All in all £89 for a Parrot unit and a connecting loom for my headset = Bargain. Far cheaper than an OEM.

It does have a serious limitation, 13 Aug 2008
I had mine professionally installed so encountered no issues there.

I find I have to manually activate the voice-recognition prompt by pushing the green button, but then have no problem in the unit recognising the name I want to phone. Not as it should be, but not a major issue.

The main and very serious criticism is the sound quality at the "other" end. The person I'm speaking to, invariably has real difficulties in hearing me because of background noise - the faster the vehicle speed, the worse the reception for the other party.

In the car, I can hear very well so am not distracted by having to strain to hear what is being said, but many times I've been asked to call back when I've finished my journey because I can't be heard. That is not acceptable.

My daughter has the same CK3100 and experiences the same problem - above 50mph hearing by the other party becomes difficult and does reach the level of impossible. I drive a Focus any daughter a Yaris so bigger vehicles with less background-noise may not suffer as badly.

I assume this problem is recognised by the manufacturer as some other Parrot units have 2 microphones but I don't know if these units are better.

This is a real and not exaggerated problem - if you want to buy a Parrot, check out the units with 2 microphones and test it at the other end, with the vehicle travelling at 55mph+ not inside the car where reception is excellent.



Parrot 3100, 01 Aug 2008
Great product. It took my 17 yr old son no more than 30 mins to fit it including running wires behind the dash. Being 17 he did not even look at the fitting instructions. Very simple to fit.

Definately worth the money..., 12 May 2008
Firstly, let me say that the instructions are rubbish! However, once you've pulled out your stereo unit it is very obvious how to connect the unit and anyone with half a brain can work out how to fit it. It takes about 10 mins for basic installation. If you want a tidy installation it took me about half an hour to wire it in neatly.
I got this option because I thought that the colour screen version was gimmicky but I still wanted to be able to se who was calling.
The sound quality is excellent and the microphone is very good (you dont find yourself shouting ever). The volume on my unit does seem to be very high but I think thats the stereos fault... The stereo mute function is brilliant.
Overall the unit is great. The Bluetooth connection is flawless; it is so much easier and safer than trying to stand up in the car to pull the phone from your pocket like before. Would definately recommend this unit.

O my god !!!, 09 May 2008
It arrived and i opened the packet and thought "o my god" all these wires, but please do not let this put you off. After getting over the shock and reading the instructions, i took my radio out and connected the kit as per instructions. The hardest bit turned out to be hiding the wire's. This is a very good and easy kit to fit. Having seen what they charge to fit this it has got me thinking that i would offer to fit these kits nad make some dosh on the side. In all it was up and running in 15 mins.

The next new generation of SpeakerPhones! The Jabra SP5050 Speakerphone where the focus is put on design, size and good audio. Ultra slim-line and easy to fit in the pocket for maximum mobility. Specifications: - Full duplex with integrated DSP - Background noise reduction - Answer / end call - Voice dialling and last number redial - Reject of incoming call - Mute Included in-box accessories: - Car Charger - Clip for visor

Parrot CK3100, 30 Sep 2008
After trawling through the internet and finding which bluetooth unit to buy, the only option was a parrot based one. However, the choice between a 3000 & 3100 LCD versin was the fact that I could see if the mother-in-law was calling !!!!

I purchased the CK3100 and a loom for my stereo and they arrived within 24hrs. Being quite a technical person installation was very straight forward. If you are handy with a screwdriver and take care on removing facias etc then this is a straight forward job. I located all the cables and control units by removing my glove box and putting them out of sight. The downside is the manual is very vague when it comes to connecting to your headset it does not tell you if you need an additional connecting lead from your stereo to your headset. Also, on some cars you need to swap over the two fuse carriers. This can be found online, but not in the manual. This sort of information you have to find out for yourself. If installation is an issue there are several automotive companies that will install the unit for less than £200. BMW charge £325 !!!!!!!!

After installation which I did in a very slow methodical manner (which took me an hour) I put the unit to test. Operation of the unit along with pairing is described sufficiently in the manual. I set my phone, the wife's phone and the daughter's phone to pair with the unit. As the unit will only utilise the one it picks up first, it is very simple to connect to another of the paired phones if required.

The voice commands are recorded easily and you do not have to use the words they instruct you to i.e. 'Phone', you could use 'Call' for example or 'Hang Up' where you can use 'End'.

The only downside is the because when the voice commands are recorded, the radio is muted. When you are driving hoever you have your stereo on. With this, if it is too high, the unit will not pick up your voice to make a hands free call. The only way around this is to either turn the stereo volume down or off. Not a big problem, but then again not hands free.

I have also managed to upgrade the software on the unit using a laptop and bluetooth connection. This was very simple and well described on the Parrot website where you can download the software application, latest software and instructions on how to upgrade software for free.

The clarity of sound making and receiving calls is excellent and no-one has yet informed me that they have had issues when making or taking calls using the Parrot unit.

The wife and daughter are not technically minded (no disrespect) and nor are they at the front or middle of the queue when it comes to gadgetry of an electronic nature, but they found it very simple to use.

All in all £89 for a Parrot unit and a connecting loom for my headset = Bargain. Far cheaper than an OEM.

It does have a serious limitation, 13 Aug 2008
I had mine professionally installed so encountered no issues there.

I find I have to manually activate the voice-recognition prompt by pushing the green button, but then have no problem in the unit recognising the name I want to phone. Not as it should be, but not a major issue.

The main and very serious criticism is the sound quality at the "other" end. The person I'm speaking to, invariably has real difficulties in hearing me because of background noise - the faster the vehicle speed, the worse the reception for the other party.

In the car, I can hear very well so am not distracted by having to strain to hear what is being said, but many times I've been asked to call back when I've finished my journey because I can't be heard. That is not acceptable.

My daughter has the same CK3100 and experiences the same problem - above 50mph hearing by the other party becomes difficult and does reach the level of impossible. I drive a Focus any daughter a Yaris so bigger vehicles with less background-noise may not suffer as badly.

I assume this problem is recognised by the manufacturer as some other Parrot units have 2 microphones but I don't know if these units are better.

This is a real and not exaggerated problem - if you want to buy a Parrot, check out the units with 2 microphones and test it at the other end, with the vehicle travelling at 55mph+ not inside the car where reception is excellent.



Parrot 3100, 01 Aug 2008
Great product. It took my 17 yr old son no more than 30 mins to fit it including running wires behind the dash. Being 17 he did not even look at the fitting instructions. Very simple to fit.

Definately worth the money..., 12 May 2008
Firstly, let me say that the instructions are rubbish! However, once you've pulled out your stereo unit it is very obvious how to connect the unit and anyone with half a brain can work out how to fit it. It takes about 10 mins for basic installation. If you want a tidy installation it took me about half an hour to wire it in neatly.
I got this option because I thought that the colour screen version was gimmicky but I still wanted to be able to se who was calling.
The sound quality is excellent and the microphone is very good (you dont find yourself shouting ever). The volume on my unit does seem to be very high but I think thats the stereos fault... The stereo mute function is brilliant.
Overall the unit is great. The Bluetooth connection is flawless; it is so much easier and safer than trying to stand up in the car to pull the phone from your pocket like before. Would definately recommend this unit.

O my god !!!, 09 May 2008
It arrived and i opened the packet and thought "o my god" all these wires, but please do not let this put you off. After getting over the shock and reading the instructions, i took my radio out and connected the kit as per instructions. The hardest bit turned out to be hiding the wire's. This is a very good and easy kit to fit. Having seen what they charge to fit this it has got me thinking that i would offer to fit these kits nad make some dosh on the side. In all it was up and running in 15 mins.

Total waste of time, 30 Oct 2008
Got this, mindful of the fact that some reviewers said it was too quiet....Let me tell you that it is signicantly quieter than the hands-free on my phone, so err...why bother ? True, I can hear it when the car is stationary in traffic, and perhaps if I were driving a whisper mobile like a Bentley then I might have a chance of hearing it. In my averagely-noisy car however, no chance. Looks great but that's hardly the point, is it ?

Fundimentally flawed for some phones, 04 Sep 2008
After losing my old built in car kit by getting a new car, and finding that the head unit was so new that an adapter was not available yet, I needed a hands free system to tide me over. Read so many positive reviews for this system, both here and in the states. One review in the states positively gushed. Only saw 1 bad review over the sound output being to low so confidently bought a nice new one.
Good points:
1- So easy to pair with a phone, child's play.
2 - Really slim and intrusive.
3 - Works with voice recognition on the phone. Just press the cover for a second and it clearly beeps, you just say the name and away you go.

BAD POINTS :
Now, when you use the voice recognition, the loudness of the beep to let you know to talk is very loud and very clear. So it is somewhat of a surprise to find the volume level of the caller is basically impossible to hear unless your stationary. It really is ultra low. I do think that some phones do not work well with the system. Unfortunately you cannot find out until you buy it. All I know is that with a Nokia 6233, the volume of the kit makes it useless.

As it is obviously not the kits fault I will not give it 1 star, but however cannot give it 5 stars as for me it does not work as intended. Will try another type of phone and will follow up the review.

great product, 04 Sep 2008
easy to use and great sound, much cheaper than many other very similar products and just as good

Speak up I can't hear you, 22 Aug 2008
Based on people's reviews here I purchased a SP5050. When pulled over on the side of the road its great, its good at speeds of 40 MPH or less. BUT.... if you are a motorway driver..... :-( I cannot hear the other person at all and end up straining or worse still rise up in my seat to get my ear closer to the device- not a very safe thing to do at speed! I have tried a number of mobile phones paired to the device, I have phoned many other parties, I have ensured that I have an excellent cell coverage. I came to the conclusion that although its a lovely form factor, great to pair with etc. It's just not fit for purpose.

I tried Jabra support who suggested I delete the pairing and reset the device- all to no avail. I will have to return mine and consider another device- probably the parrot.

A must Speakerphone by Jabra, 04 Jul 2008
A great piece of electronics from Jabra. I had one of their headsets and had no problems. I wanted a more upto date headset so ordered a SP5050. Easy to set up, pairs straight away with my SPV C600 and sounds great. Sounds quality is good even at motorway speeds. Only down point is it only comes with a car charger, no Mains kit. You need to buy a 12v to 240v inverter which runs 1 amp. Looking on site only cost about £4, £5.

Hit the road and enjoy your independence with the Nokia Speakerphone HF-300. Specifications: - Removable 1150 mAh battery (Nokia Battery BL-6C) - Power saving feature: automatically switches off after five minutes if no phone is connected - Compatible with Nokia chargers AC-4, AC-5, and DC-4 (Nokia Mobile Charger DC-4 inbox) - Illuminated call controls, send/end call key and volume keys - Power key for switching on and off and for muting the microphone during an active call - Connectivity Bluetooth 2.0 specification with handsfree profile (HFP) 1.5 - MountEasy to attach clip secures the device to your cars sun visor - Sound Integrated digital signal processing technology with echo cancellation and noise reduction - Microphone optimally placed Sales package contents: - Nokia Speakerphone HF-300 - Nokia Battery BL-6C - Nokia Mobile Charger DC-4 - Sun visor clip - User guide For a spare Nokia BL-6C battery to power your HF-300 car kit with see Nokia BL-6C Battery

Parrot CK3100, 30 Sep 2008
After trawling through the internet and finding which bluetooth unit to buy, the only option was a parrot based one. However, the choice between a 3000 & 3100 LCD versin was the fact that I could see if the mother-in-law was calling !!!!

I purchased the CK3100 and a loom for my stereo and they arrived within 24hrs. Being quite a technical person installation was very straight forward. If you are handy with a screwdriver and take care on removing facias etc then this is a straight forward job. I located all the cables and control units by removing my glove box and putting them out of sight. The downside is the manual is very vague when it comes to connecting to your headset it does not tell you if you need an additional connecting lead from your stereo to your headset. Also, on some cars you need to swap over the two fuse carriers. This can be found online, but not in the manual. This sort of information you have to find out for yourself. If installation is an issue there are several automotive companies that will install the unit for less than £200. BMW charge £325 !!!!!!!!

After installation which I did in a very slow methodical manner (which took me an hour) I put the unit to test. Operation of the unit along with pairing is described sufficiently in the manual. I set my phone, the wife's phone and the daughter's phone to pair with the unit. As the unit will only utilise the one it picks up first, it is very simple to connect to another of the paired phones if required.

The voice commands are recorded easily and you do not have to use the words they instruct you to i.e. 'Phone', you could use 'Call' for example or 'Hang Up' where you can use 'End'.

The only downside is the because when the voice commands are recorded, the radio is muted. When you are driving hoever you have your stereo on. With this, if it is too high, the unit will not pick up your voice to make a hands free call. The only way around this is to either turn the stereo volume down or off. Not a big problem, but then again not hands free.

I have also managed to upgrade the software on the unit using a laptop and bluetooth connection. This was very simple and well described on the Parrot website where you can download the software application, latest software and instructions on how to upgrade software for free.

The clarity of sound making and receiving calls is excellent and no-one has yet informed me that they have had issues when making or taking calls using the Parrot unit.

The wife and daughter are not technically minded (no disrespect) and nor are they at the front or middle of the queue when it comes to gadgetry of an electronic nature, but they found it very simple to use.

All in all £89 for a Parrot unit and a connecting loom for my headset = Bargain. Far cheaper than an OEM.

It does have a serious limitation, 13 Aug 2008
I had mine professionally installed so encountered no issues there.

I find I have to manually activate the voice-recognition prompt by pushing the green button, but then have no problem in the unit recognising the name I want to phone. Not as it should be, but not a major issue.

The main and very serious criticism is the sound quality at the "other" end. The person I'm speaking to, invariably has real difficulties in hearing me because of background noise - the faster the vehicle speed, the worse the reception for the other party.

In the car, I can hear very well so am not distracted by having to strain to hear what is being said, but many times I've been asked to call back when I've finished my journey because I can't be heard. That is not acceptable.

My daughter has the same CK3100 and experiences the same problem - above 50mph hearing by the other party becomes difficult and does reach the level of impossible. I drive a Focus any daughter a Yaris so bigger vehicles with less background-noise may not suffer as badly.

I assume this problem is recognised by the manufacturer as some other Parrot units have 2 microphones but I don't know if these units are better.

This is a real and not exaggerated problem - if you want to buy a Parrot, check out the units with 2 microphones and test it at the other end, with the vehicle travelling at 55mph+ not inside the car where reception is excellent.



Parrot 3100, 01 Aug 2008
Great product. It took my 17 yr old son no more than 30 mins to fit it including running wires behind the dash. Being 17 he did not even look at the fitting instructions. Very simple to fit.

Definately worth the money..., 12 May 2008
Firstly, let me say that the instructions are rubbish! However, once you've pulled out your stereo unit it is very obvious how to connect the unit and anyone with half a brain can work out how to fit it. It takes about 10 mins for basic installation. If you want a tidy installation it took me about half an hour to wire it in neatly.
I got this option because I thought that the colour screen version was gimmicky but I still wanted to be able to se who was calling.
The sound quality is excellent and the microphone is very good (you dont find yourself shouting ever). The volume on my unit does seem to be very high but I think thats the stereos fault... The stereo mute function is brilliant.
Overall the unit is great. The Bluetooth connection is flawless; it is so much easier and safer than trying to stand up in the car to pull the phone from your pocket like before. Would definately recommend this unit.

O my god !!!, 09 May 2008
It arrived and i opened the packet and thought "o my god" all these wires, but please do not let this put you off. After getting over the shock and reading the instructions, i took my radio out and connected the kit as per instructions. The hardest bit turned out to be hiding the wire's. This is a very good and easy kit to fit. Having seen what they charge to fit this it has got me thinking that i would offer to fit these kits nad make some dosh on the side. In all it was up and running in 15 mins.

Total waste of time, 30 Oct 2008
Got this, mindful of the fact that some reviewers said it was too quiet....Let me tell you that it is signicantly quieter than the hands-free on my phone, so err...why bother ? True, I can hear it when the car is stationary in traffic, and perhaps if I were driving a whisper mobile like a Bentley then I might have a chance of hearing it. In my averagely-noisy car however, no chance. Looks great but that's hardly the point, is it ?

Fundimentally flawed for some phones, 04 Sep 2008
After losing my old built in car kit by getting a new car, and finding that the head unit was so new that an adapter was not available yet, I needed a hands free system to tide me over. Read so many positive reviews for this system, both here and in the states. One review in the states positively gushed. Only saw 1 bad review over the sound output being to low so confidently bought a nice new one.
Good points:
1- So easy to pair with a phone, child's play.
2 - Really slim and intrusive.
3 - Works with voice recognition on the phone. Just press the cover for a second and it clearly beeps, you just say the name and away you go.

BAD POINTS :
Now, when you use the voice recognition, the loudness of the beep to let you know to talk is very loud and very clear. So it is somewhat of a surprise to find the volume level of the caller is basically impossible to hear unless your stationary. It really is ultra low. I do think that some phones do not work well with the system. Unfortunately you cannot find out until you buy it. All I know is that with a Nokia 6233, the volume of the kit makes it useless.

As it is obviously not the kits fault I will not give it 1 star, but however cannot give it 5 stars as for me it does not work as intended. Will try another type of phone and will follow up the review.

great product, 04 Sep 2008
easy to use and great sound, much cheaper than many other very similar products and just as good

Speak up I can't hear you, 22 Aug 2008
Based on people's reviews here I purchased a SP5050. When pulled over on the side of the road its great, its good at speeds of 40 MPH or less. BUT.... if you are a motorway driver..... :-( I cannot hear the other person at all and end up straining or worse still rise up in my seat to get my ear closer to the device- not a very safe thing to do at speed! I have tried a number of mobile phones paired to the device, I have phoned many other parties, I have ensured that I have an excellent cell coverage. I came to the conclusion that although its a lovely form factor, great to pair with etc. It's just not fit for purpose.

I tried Jabra support who suggested I delete the pairing and reset the device- all to no avail. I will have to return mine and consider another device- probably the parrot.

A must Speakerphone by Jabra, 04 Jul 2008
A great piece of electronics from Jabra. I had one of their headsets and had no problems. I wanted a more upto date headset so ordered a SP5050. Easy to set up, pairs straight away with my SPV C600 and sounds great. Sounds quality is good even at motorway speeds. Only down point is it only comes with a car charger, no Mains kit. You need to buy a 12v to 240v inverter which runs 1 amp. Looking on site only cost about £4, £5.

Superb Speech Quality, 26 Sep 2008
Upgraded to this from a Supertooth Visorblade. Very small and compact with great speech quality. Visorblade suffered severe voice echo - callers now report superb clarity. Pricey compared to other products on the market, but well worth it for the speech clarity and small size. Only criticisms are no AC power adaptor included (charging in car is pointless as most power sockets are now ignition controlled, and a trailing lead across the steering wheel when driving isn't smart!), sun visor bracket is quite thick preventing sun visor fully closing, and mute button isn't desperately easy to operate whilst driving. In summary - the best of several I've tried, if voice quality rather than features is what you are after.

Neat hands-free solution, 03 Sep 2008
Very clear when in use, voice prompts work great with my Nokia 6500 Slide.
The charger is the same as for the Nokia phone, so I can use the charger I got with the HF-300 for either unit in the car.
Sometimes when dialing out there is a second or so delay before the person on the other end hears my voice. Now I know it happens it's not such a problem, but it can be a bit awkward if they think at first there is no-one there.
Very good battery life so far.
Highly recommended.

n95 8gb user, 06 Aug 2008
This handsfree works brilliantly. It pairs easily, and is fairly loud. I use it in a van and car, and I would highly recommend it! I used several headsets before this, and got fed up of losing them, but this does a better job and has an excellent battery life!

eternally-charged speaker, 17 Jul 2008
I thought when I charged it for 25 minutes the first time, it would last for a week. Now it's been nearly 60 days since I charged it that one time, with one hour daily use (10 minutes of which are spent on phone calls). It also sounds great and the range of the speaker to the phone is about 20 steps; however, if you return to the range within 5 minutes, it will automatically reconnect; otherwise, it will shut down automatically to save the charge. I chose this item because it uses the same charger as my Nokia mobile. It also works well as an indoor speaker next to the computer. It also comes with attachments that enable you to hook it to you car visor.

On the minus side, nothing!

P.S. Check the photo to compare the size.

Good product, 15 Jul 2008
I bought this to replace a Plantronics bluetooth headset - the over-ear loop contiually breaks and I find them uncomfortable - so I thought the Nokia carkit looked ideal.
The Nokia product has a large speaker and very simple controls, but don't write it off as not being 'gadgety' enough. You don't need mega-functionality with these devices when you're driving, you need simplicity and ease of use. I pair mine with a Blackberry 8820 and a Nokia 6021 - no problems. When I get back into the car I just hold down the dial button on the Nokia unit and it pairs with both devices instantly.
Nokia supply an in car power adaptor only, which was fine for me (although I did a first charge from a mains adpator, so that I could play with it before fitting into my car, which took 10 seconds).
Voice tags work perfectly and I didn't have to rerecord any of them. The speaker volume is loud and I can hear perfectly over town, country and motorway levels of noise. The microphone is good and none of the people I have spoken to have noticed an issue with volume or echo.
The unit is more expensive than others on the market, but I have not had the problems of lack of speaker volume and microphone echo that other cheaper units suffer from.
I compared this product to Motorola's T505, but prefered the Nokia product with it's own built in speaker as I find that FM reception varies as you travel around the country depending on the local radio stations and retuning whilst on a call is not an option.

The Venturi Mini is a new and unique product combining Bluetooth Music streaming with Hands-Free calling and USB style charging. The integrated FM RDS Transmitter streams stereo audio through the in-car sound system for music playback and hands-free. The Venturi Mini requires ZERO INSTALL and simply connects to the cigarette lighter socket in the vehicle making it easily transportable. The integrated OLED display and high performance microphone enables high quality crystal clear hands-free with the received audio coming through the in car speakers. Music Streaming Music can be streamed from a mobile phone using the Bluetooth A2DP profile or a portable music player can be connected via Bluetooth A2DP or directly through the audio in stereo jack. Hands-Free Bluetooth Audio and Phonebook Providing high quality audio via the car speakers and crystal clear voice via built-in microphone as well as remote control of your phonebook with dialing activation from the smart interface on the Venturi Mini. Bluetooth Wireless Technology Featuring Bluetooth v2.0 & state of the art DSP technology for clear hands-free audio and advanced music streaming from your Bluetooth enabled phone or portable music player via smart interface on the Venturi Mini. FM Transmitter with RDS/RBDS Sends caller ID and other information to the car radio display for simple and easy call management. The phonebook contents are also displayed on the car radio display along with call status all controlled via smart interface on the Venturi Mini. Audio In and Out For complete flexibility the Venturi Mini allows you to connect any device to the audio-in and supplies audio-out for a direct connection to the vehicle stereo system or other audio devices. Built In Charger To keep your phone battery and other devices fully charged on the move with the built in 5V, 500mA USB style charger. (Adapter cables not supplied)

Parrot CK3100, 30 Sep 2008
After trawling through the internet and finding which bluetooth unit to buy, the only option was a parrot based one. However, the choice between a 3000 & 3100 LCD versin was the fact that I could see if the mother-in-law was calling !!!!

I purchased the CK3100 and a loom for my stereo and they arrived within 24hrs. Being quite a technical person installation was very straight forward. If you are handy with a screwdriver and take care on removing facias etc then this is a straight forward job. I located all the cables and control units by removing my glove box and putting them out of sight. The downside is the manual is very vague when it comes to connecting to your headset it does not tell you if you need an additional connecting lead from your stereo to your headset. Also, on some cars you need to swap over the two fuse carriers. This can be found online, but not in the manual. This sort of information you have to find out for yourself. If installation is an issue there are several automotive companies that will install the unit for less than £200. BMW charge £325 !!!!!!!!

After installation which I did in a very slow methodical manner (which took me an hour) I put the unit to test. Operation of the unit along with pairing is described sufficiently in the manual. I set my phone, the wife's phone and the daughter's phone to pair with the unit. As the unit will only utilise the one it picks up first, it is very simple to connect to another of the paired phones if required.

The voice commands are recorded easily and you do not have to use the words they instruct you to i.e. 'Phone', you could use 'Call' for example or 'Hang Up' where you can use 'End'.

The only downside is the because when the voice commands are recorded, the radio is muted. When you are driving hoever you have your stereo on. With this, if it is too high, the unit will not pick up your voice to make a hands free call. The only way around this is to either turn the stereo volume down or off. Not a big problem, but then again not hands free.

I have also managed to upgrade the software on the unit using a laptop and bluetooth connection. This was very simple and well described on the Parrot website where you can download the software application, latest software and instructions on how to upgrade software for free.

The clarity of sound making and receiving calls is excellent and no-one has yet informed me that they have had issues when making or taking calls using the Parrot unit.

The wife and daughter are not technically minded (no disrespect) and nor are they at the front or middle of the queue when it comes to gadgetry of an electronic nature, but they found it very simple to use.

All in all £89 for a Parrot unit and a connecting loom for my headset = Bargain. Far cheaper than an OEM.

It does have a serious limitation, 13 Aug 2008
I had mine professionally installed so encountered no issues there.

I find I have to manually activate the voice-recognition prompt by pushing the green button, but then have no problem in the unit recognising the name I want to phone. Not as it should be, but not a major issue.

The main and very serious criticism is the sound quality at the "other" end. The person I'm speaking to, invariably has real difficulties in hearing me because of background noise - the faster the vehicle speed, the worse the reception for the other party.

In the car, I can hear very well so am not distracted by having to strain to hear what is being said, but many times I've been asked to call back when I've finished my journey because I can't be heard. That is not acceptable.

My daughter has the same CK3100 and experiences the same problem - above 50mph hearing by the other party becomes difficult and does reach the level of impossible. I drive a Focus any daughter a Yaris so bigger vehicles with less background-noise may not suffer as badly.

I assume this problem is recognised by the manufacturer as some other Parrot units have 2 microphones but I don't know if these units are better.

This is a real and not exaggerated problem - if you want to buy a Parrot, check out the units with 2 microphones and test it at the other end, with the vehicle travelling at 55mph+ not inside the car where reception is excellent.



Parrot 3100, 01 Aug 2008
Great product. It took my 17 yr old son no more than 30 mins to fit it including running wires behind the dash. Being 17 he did not even look at the fitting instructions. Very simple to fit.

Definately worth the money..., 12 May 2008
Firstly, let me say that the instructions are rubbish! However, once you've pulled out your stereo unit it is very obvious how to connect the unit and anyone with half a brain can work out how to fit it. It takes about 10 mins for basic installation. If you want a tidy installation it took me about half an hour to wire it in neatly.
I got this option because I thought that the colour screen version was gimmicky but I still wanted to be able to se who was calling.
The sound quality is excellent and the microphone is very good (you dont find yourself shouting ever). The volume on my unit does seem to be very high but I think thats the stereos fault... The stereo mute function is brilliant.
Overall the unit is great. The Bluetooth connection is flawless; it is so much easier and safer than trying to stand up in the car to pull the phone from your pocket like before. Would definately recommend this unit.

O my god !!!, 09 May 2008
It arrived and i opened the packet and thought "o my god" all these wires, but please do not let this put you off. After getting over the shock and reading the instructions, i took my radio out and connected the kit as per instructions. The hardest bit turned out to be hiding the wire's. This is a very good and easy kit to fit. Having seen what they charge to fit this it has got me thinking that i would offer to fit these kits nad make some dosh on the side. In all it was up and running in 15 mins.

Total waste of time, 30 Oct 2008
Got this, mindful of the fact that some reviewers said it was too quiet....Let me tell you that it is signicantly quieter than the hands-free on my phone, so err...why bother ? True, I can hear it when the car is stationary in traffic, and perhaps if I were driving a whisper mobile like a Bentley then I might have a chance of hearing it. In my averagely-noisy car however, no chance. Looks great but that's hardly the point, is it ?

Fundimentally flawed for some phones, 04 Sep 2008
After losing my old built in car kit by getting a new car, and finding that the head unit was so new that an adapter was not available yet, I needed a hands free system to tide me over. Read so many positive reviews for this system, both here and in the states. One review in the states positively gushed. Only saw 1 bad review over the sound output being to low so confidently bought a nice new one.
Good points:
1- So easy to pair with a phone, child's play.
2 - Really slim and intrusive.
3 - Works with voice recognition on the phone. Just press the cover for a second and it clearly beeps, you just say the name and away you go.

BAD POINTS :
Now, when you use the voice recognition, the loudness of the beep to let you know to talk is very loud and very clear. So it is somewhat of a surprise to find the volume level of the caller is basically impossible to hear unless your stationary. It really is ultra low. I do think that some phones do not work well with the system. Unfortunately you cannot find out until you buy it. All I know is that with a Nokia 6233, the volume of the kit makes it useless.

As it is obviously not the kits fault I will not give it 1 star, but however cannot give it 5 stars as for me it does not work as intended. Will try another type of phone and will follow up the review.

great product, 04 Sep 2008
easy to use and great sound, much cheaper than many other very similar products and just as good

Speak up I can't hear you, 22 Aug 2008
Based on people's reviews here I purchased a SP5050. When pulled over on the side of the road its great, its good at speeds of 40 MPH or less. BUT.... if you are a motorway driver..... :-( I cannot hear the other person at all and end up straining or worse still rise up in my seat to get my ear closer to the device- not a very safe thing to do at speed! I have tried a number of mobile phones paired to the device, I have phoned many other parties, I have ensured that I have an excellent cell coverage. I came to the conclusion that although its a lovely form factor, great to pair with etc. It's just not fit for purpose.

I tried Jabra support who suggested I delete the pairing and reset the device- all to no avail. I will have to return mine and consider another device- probably the parrot.

A must Speakerphone by Jabra, 04 Jul 2008
A great piece of electronics from Jabra. I had one of their headsets and had no problems. I wanted a more upto date headset so ordered a SP5050. Easy to set up, pairs straight away with my SPV C600 and sounds great. Sounds quality is good even at motorway speeds. Only down point is it only comes with a car charger, no Mains kit. You need to buy a 12v to 240v inverter which runs 1 amp. Looking on site only cost about £4, £5.

Superb Speech Quality, 26 Sep 2008
Upgraded to this from a Supertooth Visorblade. Very small and compact with great speech quality. Visorblade suffered severe voice echo - callers now report superb clarity. Pricey compared to other products on the market, but well worth it for the speech clarity and small size. Only criticisms are no AC power adaptor included (charging in car is pointless as most power sockets are now ignition controlled, and a trailing lead across the steering wheel when driving isn't smart!), sun visor bracket is quite thick preventing sun visor fully closing, and mute button isn't desperately easy to operate whilst driving. In summary - the best of several I've tried, if voice quality rather than features is what you are after.

Neat hands-free solution, 03 Sep 2008
Very clear when in use, voice prompts work great with my Nokia 6500 Slide.
The charger is the same as for the Nokia phone, so I can use the charger I got with the HF-300 for either unit in the car.
Sometimes when dialing out there is a second or so delay before the person on the other end hears my voice. Now I know it happens it's not such a problem, but it can be a bit awkward if they think at first there is no-one there.
Very good battery life so far.
Highly recommended.

n95 8gb user, 06 Aug 2008
This handsfree works brilliantly. It pairs easily, and is fairly loud. I use it in a van and car, and I would highly recommend it! I used several headsets before this, and got fed up of losing them, but this does a better job and has an excellent battery life!

eternally-charged speaker, 17 Jul 2008
I thought when I charged it for 25 minutes the first time, it would last for a week. Now it's been nearly 60 days since I charged it that one time, with one hour daily use (10 minutes of which are spent on phone calls). It also sounds great and the range of the speaker to the phone is about 20 steps; however, if you return to the range within 5 minutes, it will automatically reconnect; otherwise, it will shut down automatically to save the charge. I chose this item because it uses the same charger as my Nokia mobile. It also works well as an indoor speaker next to the computer. It also comes with attachments that enable you to hook it to you car visor.

On the minus side, nothing!

P.S. Check the photo to compare the size.

Good product, 15 Jul 2008
I bought this to replace a Plantronics bluetooth headset - the over-ear loop contiually breaks and I find them uncomfortable - so I thought the Nokia carkit looked ideal.
The Nokia product has a large speaker and very simple controls, but don't write it off as not being 'gadgety' enough. You don't need mega-functionality with these devices when you're driving, you need simplicity and ease of use. I pair mine with a Blackberry 8820 and a Nokia 6021 - no problems. When I get back into the car I just hold down the dial button on the Nokia unit and it pairs with both devices instantly.
Nokia supply an in car power adaptor only, which was fine for me (although I did a first charge from a mains adpator, so that I could play with it before fitting into my car, which took 10 seconds).
Voice tags work perfectly and I didn't have to rerecord any of them. The speaker volume is loud and I can hear perfectly over town, country and motorway levels of noise. The microphone is good and none of the people I have spoken to have noticed an issue with volume or echo.
The unit is more expensive than others on the market, but I have not had the problems of lack of speaker volume and microphone echo that other cheaper units suffer from.
I compared this product to Motorola's T505, but prefered the Nokia product with it's own built in speaker as I find that FM reception varies as you travel around the country depending on the local radio stations and retuning whilst on a call is not an option.

Not as competent as I expected, 04 Nov 2008
Reading the write up I had expected it to use RDS to break into whatever was on the radio or music and give me my phone call. Instead I find that the radio has to be retuned to the chosen Venturi frequency before I can hear anything.. with my Espace this involves a fair amount of fiddling around as it has a read-out on the dash and a remote control. Like most others it won't download the phone-book either. It does most other things competently and the download sound quality is fair.

Venturi Mini V. HTC TYTN 2, 13 Oct 2008
I bought the Venturi Mini mainly to reduce cables in the car and play audio via Bluetooth and FMrather than make phone calls which the Nokia CK-7W which I already had does rather well. The fact that the Venturi provides a USB Power Supply was very attractive since it will supply electricity to my Road Angel. Please bear in mind that any little problems I have run into may be down to the Venturi or the TYTN; I do not have the time to try another device with the Venturi! Firstly make sure the TYTN is not paired with any other device in the car by Bluetooth; if it is it may pair with the Venturi but it will not dock properly on subsequent occasions. If you would like it to dock and play music the best solution I have found is for the TYTN to have switched its screen off in power save mode! I think it docks every time like this. The trouble is, if you try to restore the screen manually on the TYTN to see the album art the music jumps. The best solution I have found is to press the white telephone button on the Venturi after docking and getting the music to play. Then press the green button indicating "Redial" as if to make a call and then the red as if to disconnect the call on the same unit. If you are lucky the screen will return to the media player on the TYTN after a short while and the music may not jump on occasion!
Other reviews that you might have read indicating that the strength of FM signal is a little weak are true. Nevertheless if you search your car radio you will find spaces of about 1.2 for 1.3 MHZ between stations and if you tune the Venturi appropriately the sound quality is perfectly acceptable. The new Parrot costs over twice as much and has no USB Power Supply but I am reading all the reviews!!
Mike Farnham.

seems like a great product, but cant charge 1000ma ppc phones, 27 Sep 2008
This would be a great product, with the ability to charge your and listen to mp3/take calls at the same time. This would especially be useful for phones that have a single headphone/charge point. But if you connect a usb lead to the venturi, it will only charge 500ma phones not pocket pcs.


The best gadget ever!, 06 Mar 2008
I love this product!! I was really unsure about how good it would be - i thought that the description of what the Venturi does was over-the-top, but it really does deliver.

It is a doddle to install & very easy to connect to the phone via Bluetooth. The sound quality is very good when playing music - there is only a small amount of interference on the frequency i have selected, and this is mostly inaudible when mixed in with the normal sounds of driving... even more so when driving at high speed.

Taking & making phone calls is also very simple. The sound comes through the car speakers very clearly & i have been told by my friends that they can hear me just as clearly, even though the Venturi is nearer the passenger side than the driver's side, due to the positioning of my 12v socket.

This is the first review i have ever written about something i have bought online. I am just so chuffed that i can now listen to my music collection whilst on the move i wanted to let everyone else know!!

BUY THIS GADGET!! You'll love it.

Good but could be better!, 06 Mar 2008
The Venturi Mini is marketed as a multi-function device allowing a user to make use of the modern bluetooth profiles found in most new mobile phones.

This is coupled with an FM transmitter meaning the user is able to listen to calls and music through the car speakers via a spare frequency on FM.

In theory all this is perfect and indeed this is one of the mostly fully featured devices of this type. The OLED Display is very bright but thanks to the ambient light sensor the brightness is reduced at night, meaning you will not be blinded by the display.

It is possible to set up 4 different FM frequencies which is handy if you are driving from town to town etc.

The set up is a breeze and pairing to a bluetooth compatible phone is straight forward. Beware though Phone Book download can only be done via bluetooth but not all phones support this (not even my N95!).

The buttons have a good feel to them and a beep is heard whenever any button is pressed or if the scroll wheel is used.

With the use of RDS the Venturi Mini displays some information on the Car Radio display (e.g 'IN-CALL', 'CALLING' Etc).With some compatible phones (i.e. ones which allow the user to download the phonebook to the Ventrui) it is possible to have Caller ID on the cars Radio display.

The Venturi Mini allows the user to stream music from a compatible phone and offers the following controls: PLAY/PAUSE, STOP, Next Track and Previous Track. Music is automatically paused when a call is dialled or received.

I have sensed a slight hissing sound when playing audio through the FM transmitter. This is intermittent an I guess just an irritant more than a real problem.

The Venturi mini does not have its own speaker but it does have audio out meaning you can use it with headphones (bit risky in a car!) or if you have audio-in on your car stereo you can switch off the FM transmitter on the Ventrui mini and get even better sound through your car speakers with no FM 'Hiss'.

The venturi Mini locks into the cars 12v socket meaning it feels sturdy when being used. It switches on when the car is started and pairs automatically with the last used phone. The Venturi mini looks great and feels well built - it is surprisingly smaller than what the pictures seem to suggest.

One thing to be aware of with this type of advice is the position of the 12v Socket. If it is too far away from you - no one will be able to hear you. A killer feature would have been the ability to add a microphone through a Microphone jack so that a user can place the mic in a better position. Also if the driver behind you happens to tune into the same frequency that you are using he/she will be able to listen to the person that you are talking to - AND your Music ;-)

Technical DataHeader / Product LineNokia Bluetooth Display Car KitTechnical DataHeader / ModelCK-15WTechnical DataHeader / ManufacturerNokiaTechnical DataHeader / Packaged Quantity1Technical DataMiscellaneous / CE Product TypeBluetooth hands-free car kit

Parrot CK3100, 30 Sep 2008
After trawling through the internet and finding which bluetooth unit to buy, the only option was a parrot based one. However, the choice between a 3000 & 3100 LCD versin was the fact that I could see if the mother-in-law was calling !!!!

I purchased the CK3100 and a loom for my stereo and they arrived within 24hrs. Being quite a technical person installation was very straight forward. If you are handy with a screwdriver and take care on removing facias etc then this is a straight forward job. I located all the cables and control units by removing my glove box and putting them out of sight. The downside is the manual is very vague when it comes to connecting to your headset it does not tell you if you need an additional connecting lead from your stereo to your headset. Also, on some cars you need to swap over the two fuse carriers. This can be found online, but not in the manual. This sort of information you have to find out for yourself. If installation is an issue there are several automotive companies that will install the unit for less than £200. BMW charge £325 !!!!!!!!

After installation which I did in a very slow methodical manner (which took me an hour) I put the unit to test. Operation of the unit along with pairing is described sufficiently in the manual. I set my phone, the wife's phone and the daughter's phone to pair with the unit. As the unit will only utilise the one it picks up first, it is very simple to connect to another of the paired phones if required.

The voice commands are recorded easily and you do not have to use the words they instruct you to i.e. 'Phone', you could use 'Call' for example or 'Hang Up' where you can use 'End'.

The only downside is the because when the voice commands are recorded, the radio is muted. When you are driving hoever you have your stereo on. With this, if it is too high, the unit will not pick up your voice to make a hands free call. The only way around this is to either turn the stereo volume down or off. Not a big problem, but then again not hands free.

I have also managed to upgrade the software on the unit using a laptop and bluetooth connection. This was very simple and well described on the Parrot website where you can download the software application, latest software and instructions on how to upgrade software for free.

The clarity of sound making and receiving calls is excellent and no-one has yet informed me that they have had issues when making or taking calls using the Parrot unit.

The wife and daughter are not technically minded (no disrespect) and nor are they at the front or middle of the queue when it comes to gadgetry of an electronic nature, but they found it very simple to use.

All in all £89 for a Parrot unit and a connecting loom for my headset = Bargain. Far cheaper than an OEM.

It does have a serious limitation, 13 Aug 2008
I had mine professionally installed so encountered no issues there.

I find I have to manually activate the voice-recognition prompt by pushing the green button, but then have no problem in the unit recognising the name I want to phone. Not as it should be, but not a major issue.

The main and very serious criticism is the sound quality at the "other" end. The person I'm speaking to, invariably has real difficulties in hearing me because of background noise - the faster the vehicle speed, the worse the reception for the other party.

In the car, I can hear very well so am not distracted by having to strain to hear what is being said, but many times I've been asked to call back when I've finished my journey because I can't be heard. That is not acceptable.

My daughter has the same CK3100 and experiences the same problem - above 50mph hearing by the other party becomes difficult and does reach the level of impossible. I drive a Focus any daughter a Yaris so bigger vehicles with less background-noise may not suffer as badly.

I assume this problem is recognised by the manufacturer as some other Parrot units have 2 microphones but I don't know if these units are better.

This is a real and not exaggerated problem - if you want to buy a Parrot, check out the units with 2 microphones and test it at the other end, with the vehicle travelling at 55mph+ not inside the car where reception is excellent.



Parrot 3100, 01 Aug 2008
Great product. It took my 17 yr old son no more than 30 mins to fit it including running wires behind the dash. Being 17 he did not even look at the fitting instructions. Very simple to fit.

Definately worth the money..., 12 May 2008
Firstly, let me say that the instructions are rubbish! However, once you've pulled out your stereo unit it is very obvious how to connect the unit and anyone with half a brain can work out how to fit it. It takes about 10 mins for basic installation. If you want a tidy installation it took me about half an hour to wire it in neatly.
I got this option because I thought that the colour screen version was gimmicky but I still wanted to be able to se who was calling.
The sound quality is excellent and the microphone is very good (you dont find yourself shouting ever). The volume on my unit does seem to be very high but I think thats the stereos fault... The stereo mute function is brilliant.
Overall the unit is great. The Bluetooth connection is flawless; it is so much easier and safer than trying to stand up in the car to pull the phone from your pocket like before. Would definately recommend this unit.

O my god !!!, 09 May 2008
It arrived and i opened the packet and thought "o my god" all these wires, but please do not let this put you off. After getting over the shock and reading the instructions, i took my radio out and connected the kit as per instructions. The hardest bit turned out to be hiding the wire's. This is a very good and easy kit to fit. Having seen what they charge to fit this it has got me thinking that i would offer to fit these kits nad make some dosh on the side. In all it was up and running in 15 mins.

Total waste of time, 30 Oct 2008
Got this, mindful of the fact that some reviewers said it was too quiet....Let me tell you that it is signicantly quieter than the hands-free on my phone, so err...why bother ? True, I can hear it when the car is stationary in traffic, and perhaps if I were driving a whisper mobile like a Bentley then I might have a chance of hearing it. In my averagely-noisy car however, no chance. Looks great but that's hardly the point, is it ?

Fundimentally flawed for some phones, 04 Sep 2008
After losing my old built in car kit by getting a new car, and finding that the head unit was so new that an adapter was not available yet, I needed a hands free system to tide me over. Read so many positive reviews for this system, both here and in the states. One review in the states positively gushed. Only saw 1 bad review over the sound output being to low so confidently bought a nice new one.
Good points:
1- So easy to pair with a phone, child's play.
2 - Really slim and intrusive.
3 - Works with voice recognition on the phone. Just press the cover for a second and it clearly beeps, you just say the name and away you go.

BAD POINTS :
Now, when you use the voice recognition, the loudness of the beep to let you know to talk is very loud and very clear. So it is somewhat of a surprise to find the volume level of the caller is basically impossible to hear unless your stationary. It really is ultra low. I do think that some phones do not work well with the system. Unfortunately you cannot find out until you buy it. All I know is that with a Nokia 6233, the volume of the kit makes it useless.

As it is obviously not the kits fault I will not give it 1 star, but however cannot give it 5 stars as for me it does not work as intended. Will try another type of phone and will follow up the review.

great product, 04 Sep 2008
easy to use and great sound, much cheaper than many other very similar products and just as good

Speak up I can't hear you, 22 Aug 2008
Based on people's reviews here I purchased a SP5050. When pulled over on the side of the road its great, its good at speeds of 40 MPH or less. BUT.... if you are a motorway driver..... :-( I cannot hear the other person at all and end up straining or worse still rise up in my seat to get my ear closer to the device- not a very safe thing to do at speed! I have tried a number of mobile phones paired to the device, I have phoned many other parties, I have ensured that I have an excellent cell coverage. I came to the conclusion that although its a lovely form factor, great to pair with etc. It's just not fit for purpose.

I tried Jabra support who suggested I delete the pairing and reset the device- all to no avail. I will have to return mine and consider another device- probably the parrot.

A must Speakerphone by Jabra, 04 Jul 2008
A great piece of electronics from Jabra. I had one of their headsets and had no problems. I wanted a more upto date headset so ordered a SP5050. Easy to set up, pairs straight away with my SPV C600 and sounds great. Sounds quality is good even at motorway speeds. Only down point is it only comes with a car charger, no Mains kit. You need to buy a 12v to 240v inverter which runs 1 amp. Looking on site only cost about £4, £5.

Superb Speech Quality, 26 Sep 2008
Upgraded to this from a Supertooth Visorblade. Very small and compact with great speech quality. Visorblade suffered severe voice echo - callers now report superb clarity. Pricey compared to other products on the market, but well worth it for the speech clarity and small size. Only criticisms are no AC power adaptor included (charging in car is pointless as most power sockets are now ignition controlled, and a trailing lead across the steering wheel when driving isn't smart!), sun visor bracket is quite thick preventing sun visor fully closing, and mute button isn't desperately easy to operate whilst driving. In summary - the best of several I've tried, if voice quality rather than features is what you are after.

Neat hands-free solution, 03 Sep 2008
Very clear when in use, voice prompts work great with my Nokia 6500 Slide.
The charger is the same as for the Nokia phone, so I can use the charger I got with the HF-300 for either unit in the car.
Sometimes when dialing out there is a second or so delay before the person on the other end hears my voice. Now I know it happens it's not such a problem, but it can be a bit awkward if they think at first there is no-one there.
Very good battery life so far.
Highly recommended.

n95 8gb user, 06 Aug 2008
This handsfree works brilliantly. It pairs easily, and is fairly loud. I use it in a van and car, and I would highly recommend it! I used several headsets before this, and got fed up of losing them, but this does a better job and has an excellent battery life!

eternally-charged speaker, 17 Jul 2008
I thought when I charged it for 25 minutes the first time, it would last for a week. Now it's been nearly 60 days since I charged it that one time, with one hour daily use (10 minutes of which are spent on phone calls). It also sounds great and the range of the speaker to the phone is about 20 steps; however, if you return to the range within 5 minutes, it will automatically reconnect; otherwise, it will shut down automatically to save the charge. I chose this item because it uses the same charger as my Nokia mobile. It also works well as an indoor speaker next to the computer. It also comes with attachments that enable you to hook it to you car visor.

On the minus side, nothing!

P.S. Check the photo to compare the size.

Good product, 15 Jul 2008
I bought this to replace a Plantronics bluetooth headset - the over-ear loop contiually breaks and I find them uncomfortable - so I thought the Nokia carkit looked ideal.
The Nokia product has a large speaker and very simple controls, but don't write it off as not being 'gadgety' enough. You don't need mega-functionality with these devices when you're driving, you need simplicity and ease of use. I pair mine with a Blackberry 8820 and a Nokia 6021 - no problems. When I get back into the car I just hold down the dial button on the Nokia unit and it pairs with both devices instantly.
Nokia supply an in car power adaptor only, which was fine for me (although I did a first charge from a mains adpator, so that I could play with it before fitting into my car, which took 10 seconds).
Voice tags work perfectly and I didn't have to rerecord any of them. The speaker volume is loud and I can hear perfectly over town, country and motorway levels of noise. The microphone is good and none of the people I have spoken to have noticed an issue with volume or echo.
The unit is more expensive than others on the market, but I have not had the problems of lack of speaker volume and microphone echo that other cheaper units suffer from.
I compared this product to Motorola's T505, but prefered the Nokia product with it's own built in speaker as I find that FM reception varies as you travel around the country depending on the local radio stations and retuning whilst on a call is not an option.

Not as competent as I expected, 04 Nov 2008
Reading the write up I had expected it to use RDS to break into whatever was on the radio or music and give me my phone call. Instead I find that the radio has to be retuned to the chosen Venturi frequency before I can hear anything.. with my Espace this involves a fair amount of fiddling around as it has a read-out on the dash and a remote control. Like most others it won't download the phone-book either. It does most other things competently and the download sound quality is fair.

Venturi Mini V. HTC TYTN 2, 13 Oct 2008
I bought the Venturi Mini mainly to reduce cables in the car and play audio via Bluetooth and FMrather than make phone calls which the Nokia CK-7W which I already had does rather well. The fact that the Venturi provides a USB Power Supply was very attractive since it will supply electricity to my Road Angel. Please bear in mind that any little problems I have run into may be down to the Venturi or the TYTN; I do not have the time to try another device with the Venturi! Firstly make sure the TYTN is not paired with any other device in the car by Bluetooth; if it is it may pair with the Venturi but it will not dock properly on subsequent occasions. If you would like it to dock and play music the best solution I have found is for the TYTN to have switched its screen off in power save mode! I think it docks every time like this. The trouble is, if you try to restore the screen manually on the TYTN to see the album art the music jumps. The best solution I have found is to press the white telephone button on the Venturi after docking and getting the music to play. Then press the green button indicating "Redial" as if to make a call and then the red as if to disconnect the call on the same unit. If you are lucky the screen will return to the media player on the TYTN after a short while and the music may not jump on occasion!
Other reviews that you might have read indicating that the strength of FM signal is a little weak are true. Nevertheless if you search your car radio you will find spaces of about 1.2 for 1.3 MHZ between stations and if you tune the Venturi appropriately the sound quality is perfectly acceptable. The new Parrot costs over twice as much and has no USB Power Supply but I am reading all the reviews!!
Mike Farnham.

seems like a great product, but cant charge 1000ma ppc phones, 27 Sep 2008
This would be a great product, with the ability to charge your and listen to mp3/take calls at the same time. This would especially be useful for phones that have a single headphone/charge point. But if you connect a usb lead to the venturi, it will only charge 500ma phones not pocket pcs.


The best gadget ever!, 06 Mar 2008
I love this product!! I was really unsure about how good it would be - i thought that the description of what the Venturi does was over-the-top, but it really does deliver.

It is a doddle to install & very easy to connect to the phone via Bluetooth. The sound quality is very good when playing music - there is only a small amount of interference on the frequency i have selected, and this is mostly inaudible when mixed in with the normal sounds of driving... even more so when driving at high speed.

Taking & making phone calls is also very simple. The sound comes through the car speakers very clearly & i have been told by my friends that they can hear me just as clearly, even though the Venturi is nearer the passenger side than the driver's side, due to the positioning of my 12v socket.

This is the first review i have ever written about something i have bought online. I am just so chuffed that i can now listen to my music collection whilst on the move i wanted to let everyone else know!!

BUY THIS GADGET!! You'll love it.

Good but could be better!, 06 Mar 2008
The Venturi Mini is marketed as a multi-function device allowing a user to make use of the modern bluetooth profiles found in most new mobile phones.

This is coupled with an FM transmitter meaning the user is able to listen to calls and music through the car speakers via a spare frequency on FM.

In theory all this is perfect and indeed this is one of the mostly fully featured devices of this type. The OLED Display is very bright but thanks to the ambient light sensor the brightness is reduced at night, meaning you will not be blinded by the display.

It is possible to set up 4 different FM frequencies which is handy if you are driving from town to town etc.

The set up is a breeze and pairing to a bluetooth compatible phone is straight forward. Beware though Phone Book download can only be done via bluetooth but not all phones support this (not even my N95!).

The buttons have a good feel to them and a beep is heard whenever any button is pressed or if the scroll wheel is used.

With the use of RDS the Venturi Mini displays some information on the Car Radio display (e.g 'IN-CALL', 'CALLING' Etc).With some compatible phones (i.e. ones which allow the user to download the phonebook to the Ventrui) it is possible to have Caller ID on the cars Radio display.

The Venturi Mini allows the user to stream music from a compatible phone and offers the following controls: PLAY/PAUSE, STOP, Next Track and Previous Track. Music is automatically paused when a call is dialled or received.

I have sensed a slight hissing sound when playing audio through the FM transmitter. This is intermittent an I guess just an irritant more than a real problem.

The Venturi mini does not have its own speaker but it does have audio out meaning you can use it with headphones (bit risky in a car!) or if you have audio-in on your car stereo you can switch off the FM transmitter on the Ventrui mini and get even better sound through your car speakers with no FM 'Hiss'.

The venturi Mini locks into the cars 12v socket meaning it feels sturdy when being used. It switches on when the car is started and pairs automatically with the last used phone. The Venturi mini looks great and feels well built - it is surprisingly smaller than what the pictures seem to suggest.

One thing to be aware of with this type of advice is the position of the 12v Socket. If it is too far away from you - no one will be able to hear you. A killer feature would have been the ability to add a microphone through a Microphone jack so that a user can place the mic in a better position. Also if the driver behind you happens to tune into the same frequency that you are using he/she will be able to listen to the person that you are talking to - AND your Music ;-)







Nice unit, but could do with a little more, 19 Aug 2007
After buying the Sony Ericsson HCB-700 for my car I purchased this for another car so the review takes into account my experience of the HCB-700 and the CK-15w .

The fitting of this was straight forward with only four wires (I used 3) this being permanent live, earth and switchable live (only becomes live with ignition on) the wire not used was the radio mute as with the HCB-700.

What I found annoying with this kit was that the LCD screen would not swivel 180 degrees so the positioning was limited (the HCB-700 turns 180 and was able to be fitted to the windscreen next to the mirror. The cable from the LCD screen is also thicker than that of the HCB-700 unit

Speaker and microphone were easy to position and not that different to the HCB-700

The colour screen is very clear and much better than the HCB-700 screen and it allows pictures stored in the contacts to be displayed, the menu functions of the control knob easy to navigate and easy to setup how you want which is very similar to the HCB-700

Problems I found immediately was that that my Nokia N70 would not synchronise my contacts...a quick look at the Nokia website identified I needed to download and installed a contacts program onto the phone...The funny thing is, my Sony Ericsson W850i contacts were transferred straight away... The HCB-700 only allows contact synchronisation with SE phones.

The unit allows multiple phones to be synchronised with it however; I found that if you go to use a different phone than the one previous you have to go into the menu's to get the other one to work (maybe I've not played with it enough and it does this). The SE HCB-700 scans for any phones synchronised with it and automatically registers it

If you intend using one phone in the car this is fitted to then you won't be disappointed, however; if you use multiple phones then the SE HCB-700 would be more suited as it allows press of a button changing between handsets.

Overall, the Nokia Bluetooth unit is far better looking than the Sony Ericsson unit but the functionality lets it down. I look forward to a unit which has the functionality of the Sony Ericsson and the looks of the Nokia

The Jabra SP700 is a palm-sized Bluetooth speakerphone with digital sound enhancement, which gives you crystal clear sound and true ease-of-use through its intelligent and advanced features. Use it in the car, office or wherever you are! Through a specially-designed DSP (digital signal processing) solution, the new Jabra SP700 uses noise-cancellation technology to reduce background noise and digitally enhance the sound, providing excellent sound quality and clarity. Providing up to 14 hours of talk time and 255 hours of standby time, the Jabra SP700 has an outstanding operating life. You can also play calls and music from your mobile phone on your car stereo via FM and Bluetooth transmission. The SP700 Bluetooth speakerphone is easy to operate and gives spoken information in 10 languages. It also features a night driving mode, so no interfering lights appear whilst driving at night. The Jabra SP700 has a compact, lightweight design, requires no installation and is designed for a mobile lifestyle. It is extremely versatile and comes with a USB travel and car charger. When in the car, the Jabra SP700 is quickly and firmly mounted with a clip on the sun visor. Included in the box: -JABRA SP700 Wireless Speakerphone -User Manual -USB Charger -Vehicle power charger -Removable visor clip for in-car sun visor

A CAR SPEAKERPHONE WITH TTS (TEXT TO SPEECH) THAT TELLS YOU WHO IS CALLING SO YOU NEVER HAVE TO TAKE YOUR EYES OFF OF THE ROAD AGAIN.

Parrot CK3100, 30 Sep 2008
After trawling through the internet and finding which bluetooth unit to buy, the only option was a parrot based one. However, the choice between a 3000 & 3100 LCD versin was the fact that I could see if the mother-in-law was calling !!!!

I purchased the CK3100 and a loom for my stereo and they arrived within 24hrs. Being quite a technical person installation was very straight forward. If you are handy with a screwdriver and take care on removing facias etc then this is a straight forward job. I located all the cables and control units by removing my glove box and putting them out of sight. The downside is the manual is very vague when it comes to connecting to your headset it does not tell you if you need an additional connecting lead from your stereo to your headset. Also, on some cars you need to swap over the two fuse carriers. This can be found online, but not in the manual. This sort of information you have to find out for yourself. If installation is an issue there are several automotive companies that will install the unit for less than £200. BMW charge £325 !!!!!!!!

After installation which I did in a very slow methodical manner (which took me an hour) I put the unit to test. Operation of the unit along with pairing is described sufficiently in the manual. I set my phone, the wife's phone and the daughter's phone to pair with the unit. As the unit will only utilise the one it picks up first, it is very simple to connect to another of the paired phones if required.

The voice commands are recorded easily and you do not have to use the words they instruct you to i.e. 'Phone', you could use 'Call' for example or 'Hang Up' where you can use 'End'.

The only downside is the because when the voice commands are recorded, the radio is muted. When you are driving hoever you have your stereo on. With this, if it is too high, the unit will not pick up your voice to make a hands free call. The only way around this is to either turn the stereo volume down or off. Not a big problem, but then again not hands free.

I have also managed to upgrade the software on the unit using a laptop and bluetooth connection. This was very simple and well described on the Parrot website where you can download the software application, latest software and instructions on how to upgrade software for free.

The clarity of sound making and receiving calls is excellent and no-one has yet informed me that they have had issues when making or taking calls using the Parrot unit.

The wife and daughter are not technically minded (no disrespect) and nor are they at the front or middle of the queue when it comes to gadgetry of an electronic nature, but they found it very simple to use.

All in all £89 for a Parrot unit and a connecting loom for my headset = Bargain. Far cheaper than an OEM.

It does have a serious limitation, 13 Aug 2008
I had mine professionally installed so encountered no issues there.

I find I have to manually activate the voice-recognition prompt by pushing the green button, but then have no problem in the unit recognising the name I want to phone. Not as it should be, but not a major issue.

The main and very serious criticism is the sound quality at the "other" end. The person I'm speaking to, invariably has real difficulties in hearing me because of background noise - the faster the vehicle speed, the worse the reception for the other party.

In the car, I can hear very well so am not distracted by having to strain to hear what is being said, but many times I've been asked to call back when I've finished my journey because I can't be heard. That is not acceptable.

My daughter has the same CK3100 and experiences the same problem - above 50mph hearing by the other party becomes difficult and does reach the level of impossible. I drive a Focus any daughter a Yaris so bigger vehicles with less background-noise may not suffer as badly.

I assume this problem is recognised by the manufacturer as some other Parrot units have 2 microphones but I don't know if these units are better.

This is a real and not exaggerated problem - if you want to buy a Parrot, check out the units with 2 microphones and test it at the other end, with the vehicle travelling at 55mph+ not inside the car where reception is excellent.



Parrot 3100, 01 Aug 2008
Great product. It took my 17 yr old son no more than 30 mins to fit it including running wires behind the dash. Being 17 he did not even look at the fitting instructions. Very simple to fit.

Definately worth the money..., 12 May 2008
Firstly, let me say that the instructions are rubbish! However, once you've pulled out your stereo unit it is very obvious how to connect the unit and anyone with half a brain can work out how to fit it. It takes about 10 mins for basic installation. If you want a tidy installation it took me about half an hour to wire it in neatly.
I got this option because I thought that the colour screen version was gimmicky but I still wanted to be able to se who was calling.
The sound quality is excellent and the microphone is very good (you dont find yourself shouting ever). The volume on my unit does seem to be very high but I think thats the stereos fault... The stereo mute function is brilliant.
Overall the unit is great. The Bluetooth connection is flawless; it is so much easier and safer than trying to stand up in the car to pull the phone from your pocket like before. Would definately recommend this unit.

O my god !!!, 09 May 2008
It arrived and i opened the packet and thought "o my god" all these wires, but please do not let this put you off. After getting over the shock and reading the instructions, i took my radio out and connected the kit as per instructions. The hardest bit turned out to be hiding the wire's. This is a very good and easy kit to fit. Having seen what they charge to fit this it has got me thinking that i would offer to fit these kits nad make some dosh on the side. In all it was up and running in 15 mins.

Total waste of time, 30 Oct 2008
Got this, mindful of the fact that some reviewers said it was too quiet....Let me tell you that it is signicantly quieter than the hands-free on my phone, so err...why bother ? True, I can hear it when the car is stationary in traffic, and perhaps if I were driving a whisper mobile like a Bentley then I might have a chance of hearing it. In my averagely-noisy car however, no chance. Looks great but that's hardly the point, is it ?

Fundimentally flawed for some phones, 04 Sep 2008
After losing my old built in car kit by getting a new car, and finding that the head unit was so new that an adapter was not available yet, I needed a hands free system to tide me over. Read so many positive reviews for this system, both here and in the states. One review in the states positively gushed. Only saw 1 bad review over the sound output being to low so confidently bought a nice new one.
Good points:
1- So easy to pair with a phone, child's play.
2 - Really slim and intrusive.
3 - Works with voice recognition on the phone. Just press the cover for a second and it clearly beeps, you just say the name and away you go.

BAD POINTS :
Now, when you use the voice recognition, the loudness of the beep to let you know to talk is very loud and very clear. So it is somewhat of a surprise to find the volume level of the caller is basically impossible to hear unless your stationary. It really is ultra low. I do think that some phones do not work well with the system. Unfortunately you cannot find out until you buy it. All I know is that with a Nokia 6233, the volume of the kit makes it useless.

As it is obviously not the kits fault I will not give it 1 star, but however cannot give it 5 stars as for me it does not work as intended. Will try another type of phone and will follow up the review.

great product, 04 Sep 2008
easy to use and great sound, much cheaper than many other very similar products and just as good

Speak up I can't hear you, 22 Aug 2008
Based on people's reviews here I purchased a SP5050. When pulled over on the side of the road its great, its good at speeds of 40 MPH or less. BUT.... if you are a motorway driver..... :-( I cannot hear the other person at all and end up straining or worse still rise up in my seat to get my ear closer to the device- not a very safe thing to do at speed! I have tried a number of mobile phones paired to the device, I have phoned many other parties, I have ensured that I have an excellent cell coverage. I came to the conclusion that although its a lovely form factor, great to pair with etc. It's just not fit for purpose.

I tried Jabra support who suggested I delete the pairing and reset the device- all to no avail. I will have to return mine and consider another device- probably the parrot.

A must Speakerphone by Jabra, 04 Jul 2008
A great piece of electronics from Jabra. I had one of their headsets and had no problems. I wanted a more upto date headset so ordered a SP5050. Easy to set up, pairs straight away with my SPV C600 and sounds great. Sounds quality is good even at motorway speeds. Only down point is it only comes with a car charger, no Mains kit. You need to buy a 12v to 240v inverter which runs 1 amp. Looking on site only cost about £4, £5.

Superb Speech Quality, 26 Sep 2008
Upgraded to this from a Supertooth Visorblade. Very small and compact with great speech quality. Visorblade suffered severe voice echo - callers now report superb clarity. Pricey compared to other products on the market, but well worth it for the speech clarity and small size. Only criticisms are no AC power adaptor included (charging in car is pointless as most power sockets are now ignition controlled, and a trailing lead across the steering wheel when driving isn't smart!), sun visor bracket is quite thick preventing sun visor fully closing, and mute button isn't desperately easy to operate whilst driving. In summary - the best of several I've tried, if voice quality rather than features is what you are after.

Neat hands-free solution, 03 Sep 2008
Very clear when in use, voice prompts work great with my Nokia 6500 Slide.
The charger is the same as for the Nokia phone, so I can use the charger I got with the HF-300 for either unit in the car.
Sometimes when dialing out there is a second or so delay before the person on the other end hears my voice. Now I know it happens it's not such a problem, but it can be a bit awkward if they think at first there is no-one there.
Very good battery life so far.
Highly recommended.

n95 8gb user, 06 Aug 2008
This handsfree works brilliantly. It pairs easily, and is fairly loud. I use it in a van and car, and I would highly recommend it! I used several headsets before this, and got fed up of losing them, but this does a better job and has an excellent battery life!

eternally-charged speaker, 17 Jul 2008
I thought when I charged it for 25 minutes the first time, it would last for a week. Now it's been nearly 60 days since I charged it that one time, with one hour daily use (10 minutes of which are spent on phone calls). It also sounds great and the range of the speaker to the phone is about 20 steps; however, if you return to the range within 5 minutes, it will automatically reconnect; otherwise, it will shut down automatically to save the charge. I chose this item because it uses the same charger as my Nokia mobile. It also works well as an indoor speaker next to the computer. It also comes with attachments that enable you to hook it to you car visor.

On the minus side, nothing!

P.S. Check the photo to compare the size.

Good product, 15 Jul 2008
I bought this to replace a Plantronics bluetooth headset - the over-ear loop contiually breaks and I find them uncomfortable - so I thought the Nokia carkit looked ideal.
The Nokia product has a large speaker and very simple controls, but don't write it off as not being 'gadgety' enough. You don't need mega-functionality with these devices when you're driving, you need simplicity and ease of use. I pair mine with a Blackberry 8820 and a Nokia 6021 - no problems. When I get back into the car I just hold down the dial button on the Nokia unit and it pairs with both devices instantly.
Nokia supply an in car power adaptor only, which was fine for me (although I did a first charge from a mains adpator, so that I could play with it before fitting into my car, which took 10 seconds).
Voice tags work perfectly and I didn't have to rerecord any of them. The speaker volume is loud and I can hear perfectly over town, country and motorway levels of noise. The microphone is good and none of the people I have spoken to have noticed an issue with volume or echo.
The unit is more expensive than others on the market, but I have not had the problems of lack of speaker volume and microphone echo that other cheaper units suffer from.
I compared this product to Motorola's T505, but prefered the Nokia product with it's own built in speaker as I find that FM reception varies as you travel around the country depending on the local radio stations and retuning whilst on a call is not an option.

Not as competent as I expected, 04 Nov 2008
Reading the write up I had expected it to use RDS to break into whatever was on the radio or music and give me my phone call. Instead I find that the radio has to be retuned to the chosen Venturi frequency before I can hear anything.. with my Espace this involves a fair amount of fiddling around as it has a read-out on the dash and a remote control. Like most others it won't download the phone-book either. It does most other things competently and the download sound quality is fair.

Venturi Mini V. HTC TYTN 2, 13 Oct 2008
I bought the Venturi Mini mainly to reduce cables in the car and play audio via Bluetooth and FMrather than make phone calls which the Nokia CK-7W which I already had does rather well. The fact that the Venturi provides a USB Power Supply was very attractive since it will supply electricity to my Road Angel. Please bear in mind that any little problems I have run into may be down to the Venturi or the TYTN; I do not have the time to try another device with the Venturi! Firstly make sure the TYTN is not paired with any other device in the car by Bluetooth; if it is it may pair with the Venturi but it will not dock properly on subsequent occasions. If you would like it to dock and play music the best solution I have found is for the TYTN to have switched its screen off in power save mode! I think it docks every time like this. The trouble is, if you try to restore the screen manually on the TYTN to see the album art the music jumps. The best solution I have found is to press the white telephone button on the Venturi after docking and getting the music to play. Then press the green button indicating "Redial" as if to make a call and then the red as if to disconnect the call on the same unit. If you are lucky the screen will return to the media player on the TYTN after a short while and the music may not jump on occasion!
Other reviews that you might have read indicating that the strength of FM signal is a little weak are true. Nevertheless if you search your car radio you will find spaces of about 1.2 for 1.3 MHZ between stations and if you tune the Venturi appropriately the sound quality is perfectly acceptable. The new Parrot costs over twice as much and has no USB Power Supply but I am reading all the reviews!!
Mike Farnham.

seems like a great product, but cant charge 1000ma ppc phones, 27 Sep 2008
This would be a great product, with the ability to charge your and listen to mp3/take calls at the same time. This would especially be useful for phones that have a single headphone/charge point. But if you connect a usb lead to the venturi, it will only charge 500ma phones not pocket pcs.


The best gadget ever!, 06 Mar 2008
I love this product!! I was really unsure about how good it would be - i thought that the description of what the Venturi does was over-the-top, but it really does deliver.

It is a doddle to install & very easy to connect to the phone via Bluetooth. The sound quality is very good when playing music - there is only a small amount of interference on the frequency i have selected, and this is mostly inaudible when mixed in with the normal sounds of driving... even more so when driving at high speed.

Taking & making phone calls is also very simple. The sound comes through the car speakers very clearly & i have been told by my friends that they can hear me just as clearly, even though the Venturi is nearer the passenger side than the driver's side, due to the positioning of my 12v socket.

This is the first review i have ever written about something i have bought online. I am just so chuffed that i can now listen to my music collection whilst on the move i wanted to let everyone else know!!

BUY THIS GADGET!! You'll love it.

Good but could be better!, 06 Mar 2008
The Venturi Mi