Belkin Hands-Free Bluetooth CarAudio Connect Aux

I own a 2006 BMW 325i convertible that only has Bluetooth for phone calls. Unlike the latest car systems, I can't use Bluetooth to connect for music or audiobooks, that is, until now! Before I purchased the Belkin Bluetooth Kit, in order to listen to content, I used a device that connected from the iPhone's 30-pin connector to the auxiliary jack in my car. It worked well, but it needed to be connected and disconnected every time I got into or out of the car. Somewhat of a pain, but that was the limitation of my car's audio system. Enter the Belkin Bluetooth Car Kit! I saw it offered as a flash deal on Amazon, and immediately knew it was what I needed.It installed in a flash. The audio plug, a standard 3.5mm jack, goes into the auxiliary input of your car. You decide where to place the small Bluetooth button which also contains the microphone for phone calls (I put mine to the left of the radio, right of the steering column), and the power adapter fits into the cigarette lighter socket. Now you're ready to go!. The audio cord is only about 6 inches long, which is great if your aux jack is in the radio console. Mine, however, is in the glove compartment (totally inconvenient) so I had to use the supplied audio extension cord in order to reach it. I like this design of optionally using the extension cord because if the aux jack is near, it makes for a much neater installation. The power connector, however, has a very long cord which is connected to the Bluetooth button. I left it neatly wrapped since my cigarette lighter socket and the mounting point I chose for the Bluetooth adapter are within inches of each other. Needless to say, every car will be different, but I think this adapter offers a lot of flexibility for almost any installation.Pairing with my iPhone 4 was effortless and didn't require the passcode of 0000. The phone then connects seamlessly to the Belkin Bluetooth adapter when you enter the car. All audio, from iTunes to phone calls, comes out of the car's speaker system but without any wires to the phone. I don't even take my iPhone out of my pocket now, unless I intend to use the GPS, in which case I put it into the windshield adapter.This is sooo much easier than manually plugging in a cord. I just get into the car, without fussing with my phone, and start listening to my audiobook or Pandora. If your iPhone is close to being out of power, you're using the GPS, or if you're on a long trip, the Belkin power adapter also has a USB connector so you can connect your charging cable as you normally would to keep your phone charged. (Note that the charging cable is not included with the kit.)I don't see any reason that this device wouldn't also work with any smartphone that has Bluetooth, e.g., Android, but I don't have one and therefore didn't test it.I contacted Belkin tech support to find out if it was OK to leave the adapter plugged in, and their answer was that it would not drain the battery when not it use. I'm not sure I agree with that since, in my car, the blue light changes to red and stays on, but I'll report back after a couple weeks to see whether it has any affect on battery life. According to the User Manual, it should go into sleep mode and the light should go out, but that doesn't happen on mine. It's possible that this is because the cigarette lighter socket on a BMW is always on, even when the ignition is off. I'll experiment with this and report back.This device is a terrific addition to my car. I hardly notice that it's there and it makes listening to audio from my iPhone a lot easier than it was before. Knowing what I know now, I like this device so much I'd buy it even if it wasn't part of an Amazon flash deal.Saturday, September 8, 2012 I'm adding this update after having used the Belkin adapter for a couple weeks. I still love it. The only anomaly I've discovered is the color ring that glows around the diameter of the button. From what I can read in the manual, it should glow blue when I'm properly connected and playing a selection. That seems to be what it does when I first use it, but it then changes to solid orange, which is supposed to indicate that the device is on but not connected. Well, it's obviously on and it must be connected since it's playing the selection I have on the iPhone, so for some reason, the lights are just screwed up. It doesn't make any difference in performance, so I wouldn't change my recommendation of the AirCast.Another nuance I've encountered is the inability of the device to go to sleep by itself after 10 minutes of inactivity. We have an indoor garage with the family room and kitchen in relative proximity to the door to the garage. Apparently it's close enough that I'm still within Bluetooth range, which means that if I want the device to go into sleep mode, I need to hold the button down for a few seconds and turn it off manually. Again, not a big deal, but something that may or may not matter to you. I'm actually kind of impressed that the Bluetooth is so persistent that it stays connected even through a closed door!It handles phone calls perfectly, and callers are telling me that the audio quality is fine. Just a tap of the button answers and hangs up, while your audio selection is paused until your call is finished. In other words, it behaves exactly as you'd expect it to.More to come as I live with it a bit longer!

I've been looking for a product like this, mainly to listen to podcasts from my iPhone5. I had been using an audio cable to my car's aux port, but it's a PITA to do this for short trips or when making multiple stops. There are a few other products out there that do what this product does, but I was not impressed with the reviews I saw (on Amazon and NewEgg) till I found this Belkin.You sticky-mount the big button (pictured in product page); actually the sticky material is on the back of a round magnet, and the button itself (with the wire) sticks magnetically, good for being able to pull it off temporarily and hide it. The button also contains the microphone for hands-free calls, so you need to find a flatish surface big enough for the button and as close to your mouth as possible -- no easy thing on today's cars with lots of controls and every surface rounded. I found a spot for it that barely met these conditions, but I really didn't care a whole lot about the hands-free talking because I mostly needed the audio output connection for the podcasts.The end of the wire from the big button splits into a "cigarette ligher" plug and a standard analog audio plug for the car's "Aux" input. There's a few inches of play between the two plugs for when the cigarette and audio sockets are close together, but a separate audio extension cable is provided in case your cigarette and audio sockets are farther apart. In my case I had them both together in the center console, but that means the wire from button has to run all the way to the console ... you should be aware that you'll probably have to deal with a wire hanging around from the button if you want the microphone to be in a good location.After the button is mounted and the two plug-in connections are made, and the car is on (some cigarette sockets are always on, but most cars only supply power when the car is on), the button should then show a subtle orange light. To pair it, you press the button for several seconds until it blinks blue. Then, you go to your bluetooth-enabled phone, turn on bluetooth if needed, and use the phone's menu to find the bluetooth devices list. On my iPhone5, the Belkin device was recognized in a few seconds; I selected it and few seconds later it was successfully paired. No PIN was needed; painless pairing. At this point, the big button has a solid blue light, indicating it is connected to a phone.After that, normal operation is super easy. I select my audio content and it starts playing through the car stereo; sounds great. Turning off the car pauses the audio (some other devices may have different behavior, I don't know). Starting the car again, the big button is orange, and you just have to push the button briefly. It will turn blue after a couple seconds to indicate it's connected to the phone again, which also starts playing the audio again from where it was paused. Nice! Exactly the easy behavior I was looking for. It would be good if the Belkin would automatically re-connect when the car was started, but this is a minor nit, and for all I know it's a limitation of bluetooth itself.I just did one test of making a call through the device (to a voicemail). When I listened to the playback, my voice was barely understandable. Since the microphone is several feet away and you're in a very noisy car, that's kind of expected IMHO. If you're looking for a device to make lots of hands-free phone calls from the car, this isn't the device for you. Better to get a bluetooth single-ear headset for that. I got this device for podcasts; hands-free phone calls are a bonus, but I would only use it to answer a call by yelling "I'll call you back shortly". According to instructions, you can also use the button to initiate a call with voice dialing, but I didn't test this.As a way to easily play audio through your car from your phone, this device is great. Highly recommended. (My 5-star rating is based on ease of use and audio play performance, not phone call performance.)