[ronzo]

OK so I wanted to get a bluetooth setup for my car without having to take out a loan. I figured bluetooth transmitter pops on to the docking pins on the bottom of the iphone. No problem, theirs a few of them around but the problem is no one makes a simple receiver that has a 3.5 mm plug that will plug into an auxilary input! Theres a Transmitter/receiver setup by iskin called the Cerulean TX that only works with docking pins, (ie..transmitter plugs into the pins of the itouch, receiver plugs into the docking pins of your ipod stereo speakers, radio, etc. for 149.99 . I believe Griffin Tech makes one too for the same money.
http://www.iskin.com/ceruleantx/
Sony also makes a unit called the hwsbta2w bluetooth transceiver approximately $60.00 that can do either, transmit or receive and can also be used in the car but from what I could gather is rechargeable so if you ran out of juice, you'd have to wait til you got home to recharge it as far as I could tell and it looks a bit bulky for the car but it hard to judge from the pics I've seen. So needless to say I was a bit frustated that a simple setup like this was not available. By the way, If you're saying to yourself, "you can transmit bluetooth directly from the iphone to a bluetooth unit....WRONG! The bluetooth that comes in the iphone is not A2DP (AKA -Stereo).
So in my search I came across the ZOOM 4355 Bluetooth Transmitter -$39.95, that includes the shipping, not bad and then it dawned on me that I already owned a set of Macally Bluewave BlueTooth Wireless headphones-$30.49 from geeks.com. So what you say, that still doesn't help you with a bluetooth setup for the car. WRONG AGAIN!
Because the Macally bluetooth headphones come with an auxilary out so you can plug it into any auxilary in plug of a stereo, radio, receiver, AND a car stereo receiver that has an auxilary in plug which I just happen to have! So I bought the Zoom 4355 Bluetooth Transmitter which by the way, gets power directly from the ipod/iphone, hopped in my car with it turned on the stereo, turned on the headphones, plugged the Zoom into my Iphone and VOILA! Stereo Wireless bluetooth!
Now I have my Iphone clipped to my sunvisor with excellent access with no wires and it works great. I've only been using it for a few days and have no complaints as of yet although I have lost the linkup a couple of times but I was in a shopping mall so I figured with all the different frequencies flying around the area that probably had something to do with it, I'll no for sure after i use it more, but I have no problems on the open road.
But I must say that I wasn't sure if it would work because some adds for the product said "for ipods", others said "ipod/iphone" and when you plug it in to the iphone, a screen pops up and says "this device is not for the iphone", but I ignored it closed the window and it worked. It also takes a bit longer to reconnect after a phonecall or text so that is a downside if you get a lot of calls.
But my phone is jailbroken and I use a go phone sim because I don't use the phone for much more than, Hi, I'm on my way, Goodbye". So it's not a big deal for me.
All in all, I have to say for the money spent, I am quite satisfied with the results. Also, the Macally headphones run on 2 aaa batteries which I use rechargeables and keep an extra set with me so if they run out, pop a fresh pair in and recharge when I get home. I also decided to try a set of MOTORKR S9 bluetooth headset that I got for $50.00 on ebay. So I'll be in the car with my bluetooth setup, drive to the mall, shut off the Macallys, turn on the Motorokrs and head into the store. So far so good. The Motorokrs are ok but I find the sound a bit tinny sounding but not bad and their a little difficult to get used to. Just getting them on your head correctly has a learning curve to it. I give 'em a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10.
Once again though, for a bluetooth on a budget setup, I have to say I'm very satisfied with it so far, but if I do begin to see bugs in the sytem, I will repost and report on that too

Update:4/16/08 still no complaints and I also found a unit made by Jabra for $50.00 that plugs into the headphone jack(which will need the adapter for the recessed jack). But the main obstacle still remains to be a simple receiver. I wouldn't be surprised to see a transmitter/receiver package deal in the near future, it just seems to be a logical step in an Iphone accessory.

[stocis]

informative post. thanks

[ronzo]

This is a follow up of my previous post:
Well after a week of my "do it yourself bluetooth" setup I have come to the conclusion that it's a bit more aggrivating than it's worth. But I must say that I can't honestly say that it's the fault of either product. As I used it more, the Zoom Transmitter and the Macally headphones just kept disconnecting too much. I'm assuming the Zoom would work better with a Zoom receiver, which they make, but not for in the car. I got the feeling that as I was driving along, the Zoom would try to connect with the strongest signal available, which could very easily be the car next to me. So I decided to buy the headphone jack adapter,(Thanks for nothing Apple! What were you thinking!), and connected the Macally transmitter to the headphone jack of my Iphone and after a couple of hours use already, I haven't had one disconnection between the transmitter and headphones, simply because, I believe, they are a matching pair. By the way, neither of these setups pumps the phonecall through your car stereo, it will mute/pause the music then you can answer the phone which is why I like having it clipped to my visor so I can just hit speakerphone. Just my personal preference and the whole reason behind this venture. I really just want to be able to clip my Iphone to my visor for easy access wihtout wires hangin' all over the place. So I still expect someone will make a matching transmitter/receiver setup for the car in the very near future....I mean, I thought of it, so I'm hopin it's gotta be on the drawing board somewhere! If not, does anyone know how I can copyright my idea? In the meantime, I just have to be sure to keep my batteries charged and be patient.

[stocis]

Originally Posted by ronzo

If not, does anyone know how I can copyright my idea?.

um no way to do that sorry once u've posted something online there goes ur copyrighted work heh.. u may get to the level of granting licenses (not really a copyright)..

if u really want to make money out of this i suggest delete this post and make a website offering a "how to"

[ronzo]

Thanks, but I was being a bit sarcastic when I posted, I kinda figured as soon as I opened my mouth, I gave up my rights, Ha! Just makes me wonder how you get something like that done without having it stolen. I mean you have to tell somebody in order to get the thing off the ground right? That's a process I'd like to see from drawing board to the store shelves. Thanks again.