Bluetooth questions

[David Freed]

I am thinking about getting a new cell phone. I am with Verizon and I have had my present very simple phone for about 4 years, so I can get it for free. I am looking at an LG VX5500 which does have bluetooth. I know that means it can communicate with other devices, but I don't really know much else. My wife just got one about a month ago so I know it would be a pretty good phone for me except for one thing. The ringer is not as loud as my present phone, and sometimes I can't hear it in the truck when I am driving. If I put my phone on the dash where I could hear it, I would be forgetting to pick it up all the time when I stop and get out. I don't want one of those silly looking things hanging on my ear when I am out of the truck, walking around, looking like I am talking to myself but I wouldn't mind using it while I am driving.

My questions,

Is there some device that I could mount on the dash that would ring, flash a light, etc when my phone rings?

Do those things you put in your ear ring or do they just take the place of a head set?

Can you use the phone normally when you are in range of one of those earpieces?

[Joe Mioux]

i never had much reason to use bluetooth, until I bought my new Ford Transit Connect.

The radio came with Bluetooth capabilities. Being able to make calls hands free and talk without having a cell phone up to my ear is just about the best thing I bought on this vehicle.

It has dramatically increased the safety of driving and talking on a cell phone.

It has made calling a whole lot easier because I can have my entire cell's phone book on it.

I don't know much about those ear things, but bluetooth and radio combination is great.

[David Freed]

The safety issue has never been a problem for me. There have been days when I would spend hours on the phone while driving. People are unsafe because they get busy talking and forget to drive. I have never understood that. I rarely try to talk on the phone in heavy traffic because I'm so busy watching that I can't carry on a decent conversation.

[Myk Rian]

Here are some things.
http://www.nextag.com/blue-tooth-car-kit/products-html

I use bluetooth to transfer photos from my phone, to the computer. I bought a little bluetooth USB plug that I leave on the computer.

My Wifes' Taurus came with Bluetooth. She likes the hands-free thing, as well as the car will call 911 if you get in an accident.

[Matt Meiser]

My Plantronics bluetooth headset does ring in my ear. I don't use it anymore in my own vehicle but do use it frequently when traveling and I take it in my wife's car if I know I'm going to be on the phone. Its pretty comfortable so I do just leave it on sometimes. You answer calls by just tapping the button on the side.

I find I have missed calls while driving with the phone is in my pocket, not because I can't hear it or feel it on vibrate, but because it doesn't have a good enough signal trapped between the steel door, steel seat frame, and my body. Put it on the dash or in the cupholder and it improves dramatically.

Sync (the Ford system Joe and Myk are talking about) is awesome. I have it on my F150. I use it with my phone and my iPod extensively. Ford and Microsoft are going to release an SDK for it shortly so I suspect there will be a lot of new features added over the next year. I'll probably take a look myself, though I don't have any app ideas. AFAIK, you can't retrofit Sync on a vehicle that didn't have it.

Bluetooth seems to be heavily phone-dependent. I had trouble keeping a Motorola headset and Motorola phone connected, so much that I just returned the headset. Then I got a palm phone which was OK with Sync and the Plantronics headset, but I'd still have to turn BT on and off on the phone about once a week to get it to connect. My new HTC Snap is rock-solid. The only time I have to reconnect is if I let the battery run down to where the phone shuts off BT to conserve battery.

[Curt Harms]

I have this one:Pioneer GPS (http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/CarAudioVideo/In-Dash/GPS-Navigation-Systems/AVIC-F500BT). Would I buy it again? Probably not, but the Bluetooth/Cell phone part works well. Several of the states around the Northeast have laws prohibiting hand-held cell phones while driving and the speaker & microphone on this GPS seem to work pretty well. I don't have my GPS wired into the truck's audio system and don't use the Ipod-type inputs. The phone would probably sound better using the vehicle's audio system.

[David Freed]

My Plantronics bluetooth headset does ring in my ear.
Does it ring loud enough to hear it if it is laying on the dash?



Here are some things.
http://www.nextag.com/blue-tooth-car-kit/products-html

I use bluetooth to transfer photos from my phone, to the computer. I bought a little bluetooth USB plug that I leave on the computer.
I looked through a few pages at the link you gave, but none of them are what I am looking for.

I always have my laptop with me. Would there be a way for the computer to detect that the phone is ringing and do something (a screen pop up or make a light flash or something)?

[Matt Meiser]

Does it ring loud enough to hear it if it is laying on the dash?

Nope--has to be on your ear.

[Dennis McGarry]

http://www.parrot.com/usa/products/bluetooth-hands-free-car-kits

http://www.parrot.com/catalog/products/parrot-ck3100-lcd/#top

Perfect for what you need.

[Rick Davidson]

I also have a plantronics. Mine does beep once in my ear when my phone rings. I tap the button on the side to answer or to end the call. I also don't like to wear mine a lot outside the car so I just turn it off when I am not using it and turn it back on when I am (only takes a sec). The phone automatically connects or disconnects when the blue tooth is on. What might work best for you is to go to a local car stereo shop and talk to them about adding hands free to your car. There are several options most of them though are stuck in the one vehicle. I have found though that if you get a nice ear piece bluetooth that is comfortable to wear it is not to bad.

[Jim Becker]

David, you should be using a hands-free device (either a headset or a car hands-free) while monitoring/using your phone in your vehicle if you are driving. And yes, you WILL hear the ring because it will either be directly in your ear or in the area near your head. And as some folks have pointed out, more and more vehicles come with bluetooth handsfree "standard" these days. Professor Dr SWMBO's Prius has it and it's really well done. My Highlander doesn't (it's a 2006) but I use a BlueAnt ST-3 handsfree device. I do have a Bluetooth headset and will sometimes use it in the car if I'm going to be doing "stop and go" type things while on a call...I don't have to switch audio devices that way.

[Myk Rian]

I looked through a few pages at the link you gave, but none of them are what I am looking for.
If you can't find anything there, it isn't made.
My Wife has the LG VX5500 phone. She leaves it in her purse and the car connects to it. Very simple to use.

[David Freed]

Thanks for all the replies and info. I think one of the Parrot models that Dennis gave a link to might work for what I need.

[Harlan Coverdale]

I'll second the BlueAnt ST-3. Clips to the sun visor. Mine is easy to hear and be heard on, and when I get a call, it flashes a light and makes a noise you won't miss. Battery life is excellent. I take mine into the house every week or two and it recharges via a USB port on my computer.

[Jon Lanier]

I have a LG VX5500. I have NO problems hearing the phone ring. Are you sure that the ringer is not turned up on the phone?

I was in a store and it went off (Ohio State Fight Song) and the whole store heard it. Fortunately, I was in Ohio and everyone cheered and gave me a thumbs up.

[Matt Meiser]

You're real lucky you weren't in Ann Arbor!

[Myk Rian]

"M Go Blue"

[Dave Schreib]

I found the bluetooth agravating. I would forget to charge it. It would sometimes lose it's connection to my phone. More than once I would be using the phone without the bluetooth and get too close to the car where the bluetooth was - and the phone would transfer functionality over to the bluetooth - rendering my phone useless and I would lose the call. I went back to the old school headset with the cord that plugs into the phone. I am much happier with that set up. Just my $.02.

[David Freed]

As far as bluetooth already being in a vehicle, I don't think it is an option in trucks (yet), and I can hear my phone when I am driving my car or pickup. Besides my newest vehicle is a 93 model. Again on the safety issue, anyone that can't talk and drive couldn't begin to handle the responsibility of driving a truck, especially oversize, which I do fairly regularly. I will be the first to say that there are a lot of people driving a truck these days that shouldn't be.


I'll second the BlueAnt ST-3. Clips to the sun visor. Mine is easy to hear and be heard on, and when I get a call, it flashes a light and makes a noise you won't miss. Battery life is excellent. I take mine into the house every week or two and it recharges via a USB port on my computer.
I didn't see anyone else mention BlueAnt, but that looks like it would do what I want.


What might work best for you is to go to a local car stereo shop and talk to them about adding hands free to your car. There are several options most of them though are stuck in the one vehicle.
The company I work for actually does let each driver spec out all options on the truck when they buy them new every 3 years, which is unheard of anywhere else, but it will be 2 more years before I get another truck.


I have a LG VX5500. I have NO problems hearing the phone ring. Are you sure that the ringer is not turned up on the phone?

I was in a store and it went off (Ohio State Fight Song) and the whole store heard it. Fortunately, I was in Ohio and everyone cheered and gave me a thumbs up.
"The ringer is not as loud as my present phone, and sometimes I can't hear it in the truck when I am driving."

When I said that in my original post, I meant I couldn't hear my phone, in my belt clip, over the truck noise. My present phone ringer is louder than any other phone I have heard. If I set it on the dash i can hear it very well, but as I said, I would be forgetting it all the time if I did that.


I found the bluetooth agravating. I would forget to charge it. It would sometimes lose it's connection to my phone. More than once I would be using the phone without the bluetooth and get too close to the car where the bluetooth was - and the phone would transfer functionality over to the bluetooth - rendering my phone useless and I would lose the call. I went back to the old school headset with the cord that plugs into the phone. I am much happier with that set up. Just my $.02.
I didn't realize the phone quit working when the bluetooth was on. that makes me have second thoughts.


Lots of good info in this thread. It gives me a lot to think about.

[Jim Becker]

I didn't see anyone else mention BlueAnt, but that looks like it would do what I want.

That would be...me...who also mentioned the BlueAnt ST-3. Excellent product and very reasonably priced. No funky radio transmitter, either...:p

[Mark Engel]

David, I have an old Parrot Easy-Drive bluetooth unit that I am no longer using:
http://www.parrot.com/usa/products/pdf/easydrive/

You can have it to see if it will work for you. Just let me know your address and I will send it out.

[David Freed]

That would be...me...who also mentioned the BlueAnt ST-3. Excellent product and very reasonably priced. No funky radio transmitter, either...:p
I read through all the posts twice and still missed it. :o Sorry about that.