Bit of history.
Had a full hands free kit in my old car, sold car and got new phone with bluetooth.

So instead of getting another full hands free kit I got one of the car visor blue tooth things. The one I got seems to be quite a good one, Sony Erricson, but its not that great in practice in my car. I can hear the conversation really well through the speaker, but the microphone is not great and the caller can hardly hear me. I have tried many different locations in the car, tried shouting, tried everything.

So, two options are to get another fully fitted car kit, or get a bluetooth ear piece.

But before I buy one, are they actually any good?

I only intend to keep it in the car, only for receiving the occasional call. I will probably get a cheap one off e-bay, nokia BH-200 or 210, that sort of thing, so will be less than £20.

But I've never used one, so what are peoples opinions of that sort of thing?

Thanks,
Steve

EDIT TO ADD:
are there any really good sunvisor ones for me to look into instead of my Sony HCB-100 ???

[Edited on 31/10/08 by balidey]

Ive got a sony ear type bluetooth hands free (cant remember name) and its great. Now got Nokia phone and still works well. Only downside is that if you are in car for long time they can become uncomfortable, but OK for a couple of hours or so.

I did have a chaeper make one for a while (might have been jabra or something like that) and it wasnt much cop. Although im no expert id tend to go for one like Nokia, sony etc.

My wife has used a nokia ear piece that I bought for her, until the hook over the ear broke (which I was able to repair, but she still doesn't use it.)

I use a Jabra ear piece, in conjunction with a nokia N95. I drive a taxi for a living so an efficient ear piece is very necessary. It is more money than the cheap nokia, but, it IS, so simply to use, comfortable to wear for 10 hours, very easy to recharge (about every 3 - 4 days) and , i my opinion, worth every penny I paid for it. But I've just found it cheaper on ebay. Lin ky


Hope this helps.

My own experiences are as follows:

1. uncomfortable
2. not loud enough for the street let alone in a noisy car. in a tin top it works ok, but still not loud enough.

Mine is a Motorola, as with the phone. I never use it anymore.

I dont think the other one i had was Jabra thinking more about it.

Cant fault the sony one. First one was sony too - perfect until it got crunched under the cars seat runners

I've got a pair of bluetooth headphones that I use. They'll play mp3 stereo from the mobile until a phone call comes in then the microphone switches on....

look at the gadget show website...suzi did a test of these things and came up with some interesting results.


hope that helps.
cheap is nasty in these ear pieces.....

On my third earpiece and find the Jabra the best and can easily forget you are wearing it after a while.

them ear peices just make you look like a tw4t id go for the kit pick them up on ebay for ok price ive heard people rave on about the parrots but never tried one

best technique in my experience is to get one of those fancy ear pieces, realise its shite, chuck it out of the window, and hold the phone to your ear.

Much more efficient.

They work fine except with mine it's a nuisance remembering to switch the thing on.

If you leave your phone's bluetooth feature on when not using it, it reduces battery life significantly.

What are these mobile telephones of which you all speak ?

on a similar note - i bought a nissan note - it comes with bluetooth built into the cars radio - you can have a full address book on the radio, 5 fones connected - it auto pairs with the car once you turn ign on - and has a microfone on the roof near rear view mirror.. sound of the caller comes thro the speakers.. no ear peice to wear at all and works fantastic.. using N95

yea your not gonna change your car to buy one but if anyone is thinking of a new car - it really is one of the best bits of kit i have seen on a car in ages.. simple to use and legal!