Howdy,

Anyone here use bluetooth headsets in their car? I felt like I wanted to look like a total tool, so was going to get one for that rare phone call I get in the car, but unless I 1) always have bluetooth on and 2) always wear it in the car just in case, there's no point, right? I assume that I couldn't turn on bluetooth, and wait for the headset to connect before answering... that'd take ages, right? Any experience? I've no car kit and don't want to wear it all the time when driving.

Well you can get a Bluetooth car kit (like a speakerphone that ties into your radio) instead of an actual headset, but Bluetooth would have to be on all the time still.

Unless you are on a sufficiently advanced smartphone and have a predictable schedule. On Android I use Timerific to control the state of WiFi and Bluetooth depending on time of day. So for example WiFi and BT are turned off during working hours, WiFi turns on when I am home, etc.

Hmm, well i'd use tasker to turn it on when it detects in it's in the car (awesome app, check it out if you don't know it - turns on wifi / gps / all sorts based on your location or a dozen other things, not just time etc.) So turning BT on isn't necessarily a problem I guess. Charging the headset would be crappy too though I suppose. How long does a charge typically last?

I have an fm transmitter which is working great, but phone calls don't play through the headphone socket, and I think the microphone would be too far away in the holder.

It isn't a headset, but I've got a Motorola T505 in my car and absolutely love it. Since it can pipe all audio through the FM radio, it makes phone conversations much easier. The downside is that after a few minutes, the FM transmitter turns off unless you're playing some sort of audio. I usually solve that one by playing Pandora. The other downside is if I forget to turn off the T505, the Bluetooth signal is strong enough to reach into my house, in which case if someone calls, the audio is still being routed to the car. That's made for a couple of embarrassing calls.

I would sometimes but the things don't stay very securely in my ears. OK when I'm fairly static, but turn my head fairly rapidly and it shoots across the car, and that's a disadvantage. If I was buying a new one, it would probably be a sunshield mounted thing or something that plugs directly into the cigar lighter socket (like a dozen other things....I've got a four port extender, but the car interior begins to look like the back of a computer...just need some lined listing paper and a couple of damaged USB thumb drives. And extra dust...need the dust.).

Go fast enough, and no one notices...take it off at your destination though

Right, that's why you need the car kit. It connects over Bluetooth and then uses an FM transmitter to play the audio over the radio. It will also have a more sensitive microphone than the one built into the phone, and often you can mount the microphone close to your head (like in the sun visor).

Some are more like Bluetooth speaker phones, in that they simply contain a loud-speaker and a microphone. This might be a better option for you if you don't want to deal with the FM transmitter.

Actually, you might even want to look into a new car stereo that has integrated Bluetooth. That would be the best option, by far, though naturally has the highest up-front cost.

buying a new stereo is NOT the best option! I think I'd be looking at about £600 for my Volvo S40 just to get a line in! Well I bought a headset for £15 and we'll jig tasker to enable bluetooth somehow. As I spend 4 hours a day driving, being able to call would be useful.

I thought about something like that for general audio connectivity, but then if I figured that if i'm plugging in the power cable, might as well plug in a stereo cable too, and the BT reciever will still need powering somehow anyway. None of this was thinking about phone calls really though.

---------- Post added 17-02-11 at 08:12 PM ----------

Yeah, but I'm tight...

Mine is battery powered and running both BT and the FM transmitter, I get a few weeks off a charge. However, I don't drive anywhere near as much as you do. Not to mention you get a lady with a lovely British accent telling you when your battery is low.