Bluetooth car stereo - bargain?!

welshblob

goonasuk wrote:

I think the saying of 'You get what you pay for' is apt here. Would go for something like the Pioneer, or buy a proper bluetooth handsfree kit if that is what you after.

Have you tried it ? As I said in my original post my factory fit clarion performed badly and that was a well known brand.

Youngen wrote:

I bought one of these and the handsfree works superbly.

Hi glad it works well, but define superbly. Is the mic pickup good despite being on the front of the unit and what about background noise? Also if a call comes in does it mute the cd\radio? How good is the remote as that wasn't pictured? Is it the infrared type? So many questons I know ;-)

Cheers
Rob

goonasuk

gromituk wrote:

"you get what you pay for" is exactly the opposite of what this site is about. I think you're talking about "brand engineering". You don't seem even to have tried the product, yet you're stating it's no good.

Where did I say I hadn't tried this product. I thought this site was about utilising your money in the best possible way, I read this as not wasting money either.

Have seen this unit in action for a brief period and it feels cheap, and the handsfree kit is not the best. I would say it gets frustrating from the quick play.

The sound quality is not that great.

Thats my opinion and am giving it.

Sorry if it goes against the grain.

Edit: If you want cheap and cheerful then this maybe for you but if the stereo was the main benefit you can buy new Pioneer, Kenwood, Alpine etc MP3 players for under a £100 these days.

gromituk

goonasuk wrote:

Where did I say I hadn't tried this product.

Where did you say you had? That's why I said "you don't seem" to have tried it. Thank you for enlightening us.

Have seen this unit in action for a brief period and it feels cheap, and the handsfree kit is not the best. I would say it gets frustrating from the quick play.

OK - but how much are these things worth to the bargain-hunter?

The sound quality is not that great.

In what way? Were you comparing it to a different product using the same speakers in the same car? Do you have objective measurements or have you done a double-blind test? That's the only way to compare these things.

Edit: If you want cheap and cheerful then this maybe for you but if the stereo was the main benefit you can buy new Pioneer, Kenwood, Alpine etc MP3 players for under a £100 these days.

With the same functionality as this?

MORPH3US

Its getting a bit like posting a computer in the bargain section here, someone always knows joe bloggs down the street that can build something better for less but never posts a link.

The point of posting this was not as a car stereo in the main, but a car stereo WITH bluetooth. To be honest, my car CD player was £40 from Argos and it does the job, I don't really care about "sound quality" as long as it sounds ok. With all the road noise in my 7 year old Citroen Saxo they all sound the same anyway. I am not into huge amps, brand name stereo's and huge speakers in the boot, I just want to listen to Chris Moyles on the way to work and Scott Mills on the way home. If I can do that and take a phone call through the stereo without having to turn on my bluetooth with one hand on the wheel, find out the battery is flat then i'll be more happy!!!

Would be interested in hearing answers to Welsh Bob's questions!!

M

Youngen_2

To Summarise:

Handsfree Quality:- The mic pick up is excellent.I tried this out quite alot yesterday and believe me its excellent.I dont have a comparison to offer but my personal experience with this unit is A+.
I also was dubious initially, but honestly its a real bargian.

When there is an incoming call it does indeed mute CD/Radio,then when call finishes it returns to CD/Radio.

Remote isnt the most attractive, but it does what its intended too.
oh and yes its the IR type

so the rephrase

"Cant go wrong for 80quid"

goonasuk

gromituk wrote:

Were you comparing it to a different product using the same speakers in the same car? Do you have objective measurements or have you done a double-blind test? That's the only way to compare these things.

Different make, but one was a Cavalier and one was an Astra, both use the same speakers as standard. Objective measurements are my ears, the £85 Pioneer MP3 player sounded better than this unit, using the same disk.

gromituk wrote:

With the same functionality as this?

Like I said if you take out the bluetooth part of it then yes.

All I am trying to do is point out that it seems a great deal, but is not that great in my opinion. There are better brands out there.

If you look on eBay there are quite a few of these types of units out there for less than £80 last time I looked. Completely unbranded etc.

goonasuk

Also would like to point out that the thread title has a '?' in it, implying that it is asking a quesiton (i.e. is it a bargain) - to me no.

For better quality in both terms of build and sound quality this IMO is alot better - could probably be had cheaper with a search around the ol Inter-web..

http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/4624.html

I'd also imagine that Pioneers customer support is better than Aldi's, never used Aldi's but Pioneers is superb, used them a few times when installing items and finding out compatibility between their products.

gromituk

goonasuk wrote:

Different make, but one was a Cavalier and one was an Astra, both use the same speakers as standard.

But they are different cars, and therefore have different acoustic properties, space in the doors (which form the speaker enclosures), etc - chalk and cheese.

Objective measurements are my ears

No such thing, I'm afraid. Look up the word "objective".

goonasuk

gromituk wrote:

But they are different cars, and therefore have different acoustic properties, space in the doors (which form the speaker enclosures), etc - chalk and cheese.
No such thing, I'm afraid. Look up the word "objective".

Sorry dude, a Cavalier and an Astra of the same year have similar door spaces. Both 5 door hatchbacks, speakers are all located in the same positions (i.e. in the doors and on the back shelf - only difference is the location of the tweeters but in both cars they fire in generally the same direct, they also have the same mount of plastic covering the tweeter to allow the sound through) - want me to go on!

And my objective is something that sounds good to me. i.e. the person that I would be buying it for, i.e I am not going to find reviews etc when I can listen first hand - if one sounds worse to ME but gets a better review somewhere on the net from someone I dont know - should I take the strangers view point or my own???

It's not rocket science - All I am saying is that there are better alternatives out there, and in MY opinion these units are not worth the money. It's an objective view thats all - all from MY experience.

MORPH3US

To be honest mate, the "?" in the title was because I hate posting things, especially computers and other technology because even if it was a bargain, as I said above, there is always someone who will come along with one 10 times better that they found for half the price.

Bargains are different things to different people, to me, I would never pay over £100 for a car stereo unless it has a colour screen and can play back dvds. Even then, I would think twice as i'm not made of money....

Incidentally, correct me if I am wrong, but the Aldi one comes with 3 year warranty, the one you link to doesn't specify which usually means its 12 months.

And when you "imagine" Pioneers support is better than Tevion (NOT Aldi, they are the retailer not the manufacturer) you are commenting on something you have not experienced (that you mention anyway!) the same as myself!

M