MOTOROKR T505 Bluetooth Car Kit | List Price: $139.99
Discount Price: $89.99
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Brand: Motorola
Binding: Wireless Phone Accessory
Features: - Stream music from your phone to the T505 and through it to the car audio system, using the FM transmitter
- High quality audio conversations in even the noisiest environment with powerful 2 watt speaker. Use your car speaker systems for surround sound.
- Surround sound audio experience without the hassles of pro-installation. Easy pairing, simple clip on visor and guided FM operation. StationFinder¿ for easy lock in of FM station.
- Echo / noise cancellation and surround sound deliver high quality audio in even the noisiest environments
- Easy pair, audio caller ID, large easy to reach button, removable visor clip all enhance ease of use
Good enough for my wife (most non-tech person I know) [Posted on 2008-07-10]
Please no flames --- this is not a wife joke. She would want a cell phone with call and end buttons, and nothing else. I had to install bluetooth on her car to comply to recent CA law.
My requirements -- USB charger, simple to operate, and works well enough (sound quality) so that she will actually use it. T505 is the ONLY one with USB charger and have good enough review on Amazon and other geek sites (as of July 2008).
Good
1. T505 is really small. It is about the size of Moto V3 phone, and about twice as thick at the thickest part.
2. The T505 design seems to be optimized for the driver side visor mount. My wife's voice is clear, seated at the driver seat, but children's voice from the backseat seems to be muted more (perhaps noise reduction function cuts in at some lower sound levels). Great and clear voice when listening to a call from T505, and little to no road noise, even when my wife is driving.
3. T505 Speaker volume is loud and clear enough to be heard everywhere in a car, even with highway background noise.
4. FM transmitter works fairly well, and the related echo cancellation (car stereo output to microphone) works well -- I had to think about this problem to realize how well the echo cancellation was working.
Bad
1. Power On/Off button and the FM transmitter On/Off button are in the back of the unit. And you have to remember that On/Off is on the left (the same side as [send] button), and FM transmitter on the right.
2. There really SHOULD be a button that transfers voice from the T505 to the phone (and vice versa, though a toggle) to allow for seamless private conversation and back to speaker phone. Due to CA law, perhaps this is not as bad omission, but still a glaring omission.
Helpful Hints/Comments
1. I almost entered this as T505 problem, but it is NOT a T505 problem. If I pair more than one phone to T505, it pairs with the first one T505 finds (or actually the phone that finds T505 first -- technically correct statement). When the T505 is paired with the wrong one (meaning it should pair with driver's phone, but how does T505 know?), the phone that is paired with T505 must release the connection first (most phones have menus after menus to do this, or just turn off the bluetooth connection on the phone) so that the other phone (the right one) could then request for the connection. Now I found some new Bluetooth handfree units offer a handy button to sever the connection so that the other phone could get connected. So a possible solution for this is:
- Turn off Bluetooth connection on all phones but the driver's phone, or
- DO NOT PAIR multiple phones to the T505.
Either of the abov solution would work. I chose the latter, and deleted bluetooth device connection on all my phones to T505 except for my wife's.
2. Again, my wife does not charge phones/devices, until battery is completely discharged. So I had to provide "permanent" power to T505. Motorola miniUSB port is not standard and must use Motorola (or compatible) charger (some proprietary connections, e.g.allow for wired earbuds on that same port). So I had to connect the miniUSB power to T505 permanently, and to do that, I needed about 10' cable to route around the windscreen. I just could not find long enough Motorola car charger to purchase, so I made one from a Motorola car charger, cut in the middle, and another USB cable to patch and extend the cable. Red to red and white to white wires, and electrical tapes to secure and isolate all the wires. I DO NOT suggest anyone to do this unless you know what you are doing! The result is that T505 is now always charged, always on the visor and works well for my wife.
Conclusion:
Good solid product and works well. I'll purchase one more and install in my car (the same way with power extension).
S Cook, Benicia, CA [Posted on 2008-07-12]
As most Californian's know, July 1 was the first day of "hands free" driving in the state. Up until mid-June, I had tried a ear bud tethered to my Blackberry as well as a Garmin Nuvi 360. I hated them both - the audio quality on the Nuvi stunk and the wire was awkward and uncomfortable. After looking around on the Internet, with nothing particular in mind, I stumbled across the Motorokr T505. In that the reviews were pretty good, and it satisfied my threshold criteria, I took a chance and ordered it. I'm glad I did. It's a wonderful item. I wanted something that was portable that I could run through my stereo speakers. Specifically, with the speakers facing away on my Nuvi, I couldn't hear the audio from the callers very well. With the T505, that's not a problem. I love running the audio through my stereo speakers, wherein I can control the volume of the call with my stereo's volume knob. I can pop it from my work car to my personal car with ease. I love it and highly recommend it for someone who doesn't want the hassle of hard-wiring a Bluetooth kit.
Back it goes [Posted on 2008-07-13]
I just opened this device and spent a half an hour trying to get it to work with my iphone. The speaker phone may work, but I don't care. I really wanted a way to play the music from my phone in my car stereo without all of the wires. The device doesn't have the ability to charge, except in the car. My car's power isn't hot with the key off, so I need to drive for five or so hours before it is fully charged (also loses the value of the no-cord benefit).
Suffice it to say that it doesn't work with the iphone. Here's a novel concept Motorola: Why don't you put a list of the devices that it works with in the documentation or on your website? While you're at it, maybe spend a whole hour writing the documentation so it is reasonable.
I finally found a device that works the way I want/need [Posted on 2008-07-14]
Let me start by saying I really wish I had known about this device before I shelled out $350 for a professionally installed BlueConnect system. While this review is not intended for the BlueConnect, I do want to point out what never worked well so I can then tell you what DOES work well with the Motorola T505.
The BlueConnect is an all-in-one device. It is installed in the overhead sunglass case bin in my vehicle. While its speech recognition is outstanding, that's all that's outstanding. It has a decent amount of volume but I have a very hard time hearing the person I'm talking to while driving 50+ miles per hour. Also, many people have complained of not being able to hear me.
So somehow I stumbled on a review of the T505, and thought, "Why not".
I'm not going to say it's perfect. To me perfect would have been hard wired into my vehicle so I never have to think about charging it. But it's not designed to be permanently installed so I'm not going to knock it down on rating because it can't be.
I am finding the volume of the speaker to be sufficient for most of my driving, but I absolutely LOVE the option to route the caller through my speakers. Now I know I can hear the other person no matter the driving conditions I'm in. I also love the fact that I can stream radio, listen to my MP3s or my Audible files. I had a cassette adapater I would use to do that...but with this nifty device I can do it without a bunch of wires.
One thing I wasn't sure about was how well I could receive a call on the device if I didn't already have it turned on. I only saw one comment about this scenario so I do want to comment on it. If the T505 is turned off and your phone rings, simply powering the T505 on via the back power button gets it up and going and answering your call in plenty of time. The act of long pressing the power button powers the unit, connects it via Bluetooth to your phone and then automatically answers the call. So only one button press. You have to familiarize yourself with the tones to understand exactly when the call is to the point of answered. I have found myself saying hello too early. But there are tones to notify you of the successful Bluetooth connection and then the answering.
Routing the call through the speakers on the car can easily be done while on an active call. Simply press the fm button and "she" announces the station you should tune to. I haven't gotten confirmation from the person I've talked to, but the booklet says the caller won't hear her announce the fm station. They get put on hold so to speak. As soon as you are dialed in with the radio it's back to talking. If the connection should deteriorate, simply press the fm button again and she'll give you another station (while putting your caller on temporary hold).
I truly wish I had known about this device!! I feel like I wasted a WHOLE lot of money. In tests that I did with voicemails to myself the call quality was as good or better than the BlueConnect. The two things this can do that BlueConnect can't...
1) Route through my speakers for times when road noise is too loud to effectively use the built in speaker, and
2) I can physically move the microphone closer to my mouth so callers can hear ME better. Neither of these is possible with the BlueConnect.
At this point I'm trying to decide if I should leave the BlueConnect in the car (never to use again), or spend the money to have it professionally uninstalled, plus purchase a replacement sunglass bin. It's ridiculous...I will have spent $300 or MORE on something I'm not going to use that's inferior.
I also love that the T505 can easily be taken with me in any vehicle I should travel in. I haven't tried it out yet for conference calling. For me, the types of calls would be a situation where it's just me on a call (dial in), so the phone speaker itself would probably suffice. But I think this would be really good for a true conference call where you have several people at one location.
I consider myself picky...I've never been truly happy with any of the hands free devices on the market. But this one has won me over. The last thing about it that I love is the incredible talk and standby times. I think 18 hours of talk time (2 weeks of standby) is very acceptable. And because it takes a mini USB charger I can easily bring it into work to recharge it with my Blackberry charger, or bring it into the house. The point is, I already use this type of charger in my daily life so it's that much less of a hassle to recharge the device. And in a real pinch it can be plugged into the cigarette lighter adapter and used while being powered that way (not ideal since that would mean a cord running up to the sun visor, but would work in a pinch).
There is an auto off on the T505 but as others have pointed out, if you don't get far enough away from the device it's going to keep the connection. For me, at work it would never be an issue, but at home I could see it being an issue. I leave my phone in the kitchen which is directly next to the garage. So I'll have to be careful to remember to turn it off when parking in the garage. But for my use, I'm not a power user...I'm not going to be talking on my phone every time I get in the car. But I did want a safe, hands free way to talk and this is it. One button press to answer a call even when it's turned off. I also really like that to initiate a call, it does activate the third party program on my device for speech recognition. That makes calling someone in my address book much easier (though sometimes I have to start over...but that's the fault of the software on my phone...not the T505).
I'm a very happy user of this device. And since most places that sell it have reasonable return policies, I say you have nothing to lose by trying it out. Just make sure you familiarize yourself with its operation prior to trying to use it while driving. If you do that, and get comfortable with where all the buttons are, what they do, and what the tones mean, you should find this device easy to use. Hands free.
Doesn't work w/iPhone [Posted on 2008-07-15]
If you're looking for a hands free phone device you're fine, but as a previous reviewer said, and I can now confirm, it won't work to play music w/your iPhone. Though this is advertised on AT&T's website as being compatible w/iPhones I found this blurb on Motorola's web site:
Q: Will the stereo bluetooth audio work with my iphone?
A: No, for the stereo bluetooth audio to work with your Motorola Bluetooth stereo accessory, the device it is connected to will need to support a profile call A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile). There is not yet support for the A2DP Bluetooth profile on the Apple iPhone or iPhone 3G.
So keep looking iPhone users.
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