I have a 2003 F250 crew cab and was wondering what anyone is using for a hands free blue tooth in their truck. The wife has a new Edge with the micro soft sync and I love it. I was wanting something similiar or something at least works good. Suggestions and comments appreciated.
Thanks

 

I have a Parrot CK3100. Works very well.

www.driveblue.com

 

I haven't tried any of the hard mounted blue tooth systems. I use a jawbone bluetooth from AT&T. I am able to listen to the radio and talk in a normal voice and don't have to keep asking for them to repeat themselves as I do when I use the phone against my head.

 

I have the Ford Mobil Ease unit in my 07 F-350. The sound quality on the receiving end is great. I really like the stereo system interface. On the tranmit side it does not work as good. I think the mic is substandard. Feature wise it is basic but has everything I really need.

In my car I have the Motorola IHF 1000. The overall quality of the Motorola is better. Voice recognition works better and the people I talk to seam to hear me better. (could be in part due to less road noise in the car) The only down side is the tiny speaker that I need to have with it. I could have interfaced it into the sound system but they could only do that if you have a 4 speaker system. My car has 8 speakers on the factory system and the installer said he would have to cut wires and put in relays etc to make it work. He did not have a high level of confidence that doing that would be worth the effort.

Again, with the motorola or Mobile Ease the features are not what the new microsoft system has but they work fine for what you need. If you take the time to program them you can just tell it who you want to call and it does the work.

Motorola was $250.00 cheaper as well. But I still really like the sound system interface of the Mobile Ease from Ford. If I could get a better mic I would be happier.

 

I have blue tooth in my truck, but I have done an extensive audio aftermarket system recently(went from Kenwood system to a Pioneer system a couple of days ago). I have the motorola as well and I like it alot and the pioneer system is definately worth doing the upgrade.

 

Mine is built into my stereo.....I have the Dual XDVD8183. I just installed it, and it seems pretty good so far. If I have music going, it will mute it automatically so I can hear the ring and answer. People can hear me just fine, but I have to turn the volume up fairly loud to hear them.....and after a certain volume, they tell me they hear themselves echo. The bluetooth part linked up easily and works pretty good though.

 

On the Pioneer it actually has a picture show up on the screen, so even if I had the phone on silence I would still know a call is coming thru, pretty cool. It also mutes the volume on the radio(or whatever AV source is coming thru).


There was an initial echo when I first hooked mine up, but I just tweaked the settings and no problem after that.

 

How does the microsoft sync system work? Is part of the Ford radio? Could a 2005 F250 be upgraded?

Thanks, John

 

Hello, the micro soft sync works great thru the radio. After you pair your phone you just get in and it will automatically connect to your phone. If you are on the phone when you get in the car it will pick up and switch to the car when you start the car. It has two small mics in the rearview mirror and sound comes thru the cars speakers. To answer a call you can just say hello and it will take the call. To call someone you can tell it to dial and it will ask you for the number. If you have the contact in your phone book you can just give it a name to call. I have been checking and the best I can find out is that you won't be able to do this in vehicles that didn't come equipped with it. I would be the first to go for it if someone figures out how to do it or something similiar. Here is a link to the closet thing I have found although it does lack some features http://www.autointelligence.com/ai/blueconnect.asp . Hope this helps any more questions just let me know.

 

The pioneer system that I was telling you about does just about all that the factory system that you are talking about does. The difference being is that you have to touch the screen(on my radio anyway) or just a normal button if it's a standard aftermarket radio. It has caller id and the name(if entered) and the number is shown on the screen, something I don't think the one your talking about does. To get what you are wanting it would require going all out on the sound system in order to get all(or close to all) that you are wanting and you'll get some nice bonus features as well.

 

tex25025 thanks for the help. I have been checking this route out. It sounds good a little pricey but a lot of goodies. Where did you buy yours at?

 

I bought mine thru crutchfields website. I got the radio, bluetooth and backup camera(avic Z2 was the radio I got) as part of a kit and that kit was less then what pioneer was suggesting just for the radio itself(about 100 dollars, but considering what your getting, it's worth it) and then I got the xm/nav traffic tuner seperate but still thru crutchfield and then I got the Ipod adapter thru circuit city because they were out of stock at crutchfield. It is a wonderful setup and worth the money. It took a solid day for me to install it. The whole set I got for about a 100 dollars more then what the radio by itself went for.

 

You are not going to be able to add the Micorsoft Sync system to your truck without a lot of money and work.

If you want a cheap and easy solution that permanently installs in the vehicle, look at a Parrot unit, like was mentioned earlier. A decent unit that includes caller ID is the CK3100. Here is a link to their website with more info. You can also look around at their other models if you want.
http://www.parrot.com/usa/products/ck3100-lcd

Otherwise if you are interested in doing a complete sound system upgrade I would recommend the Kenwood DNX7100 head unit, with the KCA-BT100 bluetooth kit. I personally have a Kenwood setup that I am very happy with. Check out my gallery for pics of my install. Here are a couple links to the items for sale at a good retailer with great prices.
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...d+DNX7100.html
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...KCA-BT100.html

 

I had the kenwood system in mine and it was alright, it did it's job, but since I've upgraded to the pioneer it was just a night and day difference. Plus the pioneer has always had better graphics.

 

i have the Parrot CK3400 with a IMATE KJAM (Pocket PC Phone with Microsoft activesync)
works GREAT! soulds great! looks great.



eysham