Hands Free Mount?

AlHos · Lifetime Member Joined: Sep 19, 2006 Posts: 9

I bought the Western Europe version of TomTom for iPhone which is excellent. I also bought the TomTom car kit for iPhone for my wife’s Smart ForTwo and it works great. However my car does not have an aux in port and so am not sure what would be a good solution for me to use the iPhone for navigation, music and hands free – any suggestions? Presumably it needs to be FM transmitter based? In case it affects your thinking, I drive a Hyundai Santa Fe.

Thank you all for any helpful suggestions!

Alan

Darren · Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 1:35 pm Post subject:

The simplest solution is an FM Transmitter but as I mentioned in my email discussion, the user experience varies considerably and depends on how many radio stations are active in the area you use.

Whenever I've used one I've found myself having to re-tune so often that in the end I just gave up.

The best option, albeit expensive, is to use an interface that hooks in-between your radio and the wiring harness to provide an aux-in or USB input. A quick Google found this which is compatible and provides iPod/iPhone connectivity for your Hyundai but it's not cheap! There may be other, cheaper solutions.

It may also be worth asking at a car audio specialist as they may be able to retro fit an aux-in?
_________________
Darren Griffin

AlHos · Lifetime Member Joined: Sep 19, 2006 Posts: 9

Thank you Darren, this does look like a good solution but I wonder if there is an alternative product which may be cheaper. I'm going to start searching down this route.

But does anyone know of any other solutions for my search for an all in one car kit?

Cheers

Alan

peterc10 · Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:43 pm Post subject:

I am no iphone expert so I may go off in entirely the wrong direction. But would not a bluetooth car kit (that supports A2DP) work? Something from THB Bury or Parrot?
_________________
Peter
HTC Sensation
Sygic GPS for Europe (No more TT "support"!)
Copilot for USA
Bury CC9060 bluetooth car kit & Brodit mount

mikealder · Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:43 pm Post subject:

The alternate to using the FM Tx units is to use Bluetooth but this requires the addition of something like the iO-Play or Parrot interface to the car, the advantages are better sound quality and no interference from radio station transmissions which do affect FM Tx units when on a long distance trip, trying to find a frequency that is free of transmission is getting ever more difficult these days in any inner city area - Mike

PaulB2005 · Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:47 pm Post subject:

Been using an ioplay in a Hyundai Coupe for a while now. £60 on eBay / Amazon and took 30-40 minutes to install.

Coupled with a Brodit mount I can't recommend enough.

AlHos · Lifetime Member Joined: Sep 19, 2006 Posts: 9

Thank you all for those replies. I am now looking at the ioplay and other similar solutions as you suggest. I am going to pull radio unit out first to see if there happens to be an aux in port on the back (it's a double din unit). Alternately I like the idea of the retro fit aux in ports which are lurking around the Internet.

MaFt · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:27 am Post subject:

I've one of these sat in my attic: Sendai 789

It has aux in via a normal 3.5mm jack lead. As well as CD player and Radio etc.

It might need some adapters to allow it to fit your specific car though. It was fine in my Rover 25 and only needed an adapter for the FM aerial (which is still attached to the stereo) to make it fit a standard connection.

If you want it you can have it for £25 which includes UK postage.

MaFt

mikealder · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:58 pm Post subject:

Another option is an FM Injection Box, this modulates the audio on to an FM band frequency and injects it directly in to the car radio aerial cable whilst disconnecting the external aerial when active, this avoids the need to re-tune the frequency whilst on the move to avoid interference.

The iO-Play is a better solution though as Bluetooth is far superior to anything using the FM as the transmission medium.

If your car has an amp fitted external to the head unit a SOT-1000 Kit can be used inconjunction with the iO-Play or Parrot, if you go for a Parrot make sure it supports BOTH HFP AND A2DP Bluetooth modes otherwise it will be a costly mistake - Mike

AlHos · Lifetime Member Joined: Sep 19, 2006 Posts: 9

AlHos · Lifetime Member Joined: Sep 19, 2006 Posts: 9

AlHos · Lifetime Member Joined: Sep 19, 2006 Posts: 9

Wow, just bought the io play at Halfords on discount from £120 down to £37 which is an amazing deal. The final part of the jigsaw is what cradle to use for the iPhone 4 which will charge it and so be a good compliment for running TomTom on it? Thank you SO MUCH for all your advice guys!

AlHos · Lifetime Member Joined: Sep 19, 2006 Posts: 9

Does anyone have a recommendation for an iPhone cradle with built in charger to compliment my recent io play purchase? Cheers

peterc10 · Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:47 pm Post subject:

I would always recommend Brodit active mounts - I am on my fourth now (different phones). They do one for the iphone. Not cheap but the best
_________________
Peter
HTC Sensation
Sygic GPS for Europe (No more TT "support"!)
Copilot for USA
Bury CC9060 bluetooth car kit & Brodit mount

mikealder · Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 8:25 pm Post subject:

£37 for an iO-Play unit is a real bargain, the Brodit holders are what I use as they offer a quality solution to securing and charging the phone whilst not damaging the car when fitting (no screws involved), check out the dsldevelopments web site as they are the UK agent for Brodit.

Have you got the iO-Play working in the car yet? - Mike

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