Hands-free phone in octavia estate

[Paul_Bowden]

I know that this post will reveal my almost complete ignorance, but experts in these forums have been so helpful in answering questions in the past that I hope you'll be tolerant!

I have just bought a new Octavia Elegance 1.9 TDI Estate and simply want to fit a system which enables me to use my phone entirely legally and as efficiently as possible; I don't want to do anything to mess up or compromise the interior of the car and I don't really know where to start.

The Skoda fitted option looks expensive (£240+, as I recall), but Halford's are selling the Parrot at £99, with fitting included. Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on this or, perhaps more importantly, any other suggestions and advice? There are probably loads of issues of which I'm not aware, so please don't be afraid of pointing these out!

A very sincere thank you to anyone who takes the time to read and reply.

PAB

Lincolnshire

[shark_90]

I think the Parrot that is fitted at £99 is a dumb device that just answers or drops calls. It will put the call through the stereo which is great, however if you wish to call someone on it then you are forced to use the handset to do so - which is illegal.

If you are going to go down the Parrot route then you should be looking at perhaps a tried and tested CK3100. I've had them in several cars and while they are not as good as most OEM stuff, they are very good.

[PSM]

I have a bury cc9060 fitted to my octy. About the same price as the Parrott but has much better voice recognition and can read out text messages too. It has a detachable colour screen too. I wrote a little review a while back so a search for bury 9060 should pull it up.

[Tomo1971]

Another vote for the Bury CC9060, have it installed im my Freelander. Its about £100 from the net, £200 from halfrauds (Go Figure?).

Small touchscreen, Voice answer, Voice dialling (uses voice regognition rather than learning your voice), downloads phone book (even with N95!!), reads text messages. Absolutley the best car kit I have ever come to use. There is NO need to get your phone out of your pocket while driving at all.

If you bought this (or a parrot) all you would need is a suitable ISO adaptor for the back of the Skoda Head Unit so that the calls mute the stereo and calls are routed through the speakers.

Fitting should be simple enough, Head unit out, upper cubby box out, A-pillar trim off, Interior light unit out, which are all easily done.

Steve

[SimonJ]

I think the Parrot that is fitted at £99 is a dumb device that just answers or drops calls. It will put the call through the stereo which is great, however if you wish to call someone on it then you are forced to use the handset to do so - which is illegal.

If you are going to go down the Parrot route then you should be looking at perhaps a tried and tested CK3100. I've had them in several cars and while they are not as good as most OEM stuff, they are very good.

AFAIK if the phone is held in a mount then it is not illegal to press the buttons on the phone.

[Paul_Bowden]

Thanks to all who have replied (further comments very welcome!)

It looks like the Bury is well worth investigating.

Sadly, I shall need someone to fit it - any recommendations/warnings on that score (I live near Grantham in Lincolnshire)?

Thanks again.

[gadgetman]

My Nokia kit recognises voices perfectly fine.

Unlike the Sat-nav unit in the mk4 mondeo which is crap. Every "call...." request dials the same number

[wja96]

As regards fitting it, Carphone Warehouse do a regular free fitting offer if you buy the kit from them, and it's usually quite reasonably priced too - but I wouldn't write off the factory kit. It's much better than many add-on units and it can be controlled from the multi-function steering wheel and maxidot if you have those. PM Lummox at Unit 18 about what sort of price he can put a genuine unit into your Octi for, it's a big part of what he does now I think.

[wja96]

AFAIK if the phone is held in a mount then it is not illegal to press the buttons on the phone.

Correct. You're just not allowed to hold the phone. It's still incredible how many people you see driving around (usually in expensive convertible cars) with the phone at their ear.

[bengie]

every bluetooth handsfree kit i have used can do voice dialling via the handset and i always use the handsets voice dialling.

[Tomo1971]

every bluetooth handsfree kit i have used can do voice dialling via the handset and i always use the handsets voice dialling.

Thats correct, but many of these require you to programme your own voice into the phone for each voice dial. Also, there is often a limit of the number of voice dials you can have when going through the phone. Also would require pressing a button on the phone to initiate the voice dial and without a holder for the phone that would be illegal.

The Bury kit (and no doubt some others) have voice recognition built in and so no need to learn your voice. Granted, some phones have voice recognition too and uses that for their voice dials, but they tend to be the more upmarket/expensive phones.

Steve

[bengie]

yeah i know some have to save individual voice dials but i thought they didn't do that anymore? i know my phones for the last maybe 3 years have done proper voice dialling and also i've never had to press a button on the phone for voice dialling as its always worked through the handsfree kit and i got my first kit a few months before it became legally required(4 years ago maybe).

[wja96]

also i've never had to press a button on the phone for voice dialling as its always worked through the handsfree kit and i got my first kit a few months before it became legally required(4 years ago maybe).

The better Nokia phones with Nokia handsfree kits do this automatically and they 'interpret' the spoken word and try and match it with a stored number. You can sometimes also just say numbers to dial out.

[Pinty]

Just to add my bit, don't buy the Skoda BlueConnect device which Skoda UK tries to sell! It isn't up to much, takes the place of your sunglasses holder and someone told me that you can't even use it when the car is in motion!

I have got the Skoda OEM Bluetooth capability - which can be purchased from eBay or from european sites. I had an expert fit it (vrSTU!) which was smooth and seamless. It integrates perfectly with my Columbus Sat Nav but it would work through maxidot if you don't have a columbus. The microphone is hidden in the interior light housing and there are no visible wires. It goes without saying that the radio is muted when you make a call... I can't recommend it enough!

The terrible euro exchange rate is forcing up the cost of these kits but you can probably still get one for about £250 and have it fitted by someone who can follow Stu's blow by blow instructions on his web site.

[Paul_Bowden]

Many thanks for this last really helpful post (and all the others.) Unfortunately, though, I don't have either Columbus or Maxidot, so it doesn't look as though this would be an option for me.