Skoda/ Blueconnect Handsfree Kit Review

[Parsko]

For anyone that is interested, here is my review of the Skoda/Blueconnect bluetooth handsfree kit.
I was pretty happy with the Nokia CK7W that I installed it worked really well with my Nokia N95 phone and would even relay the voice commands in route guidance mode to the Roomster speakers. The only downside was it could only connect to one phone
I decided I wanted one. I had it dealer fitted when my service was being done at a cost of £299 complete (ouch!)
Once installed you need to go through the setup procedure, this can only be done by voice. With the ignition on you press the Blueconnect phone button to be greeted by a female American voice who gives you several options of menu. We started with Setup and Pairing this went well with all my voice instructions being understood without fail. Once my N95 was paired the phone will answer incoming calls either on auto (in the phone menu) or by pressing answer on the phone or the Blueconnect button. Making a call would involve pressing the phone buttons to select a contact and then call. Now here is the first problem, there are no ringing or dialling tones over the Blueconnect. If someone calls you, you only get the lady (lets call her Candy) say “incoming call press Blueconnect button to answer” this is only necessary if you don’t employ the phones auto answer. Dialling out there is no audible indication of what is happening until somebody says hello. I find the volume ok but not brilliant as it uses its own speaker in the unit and not the car speakers I have it set to max at all times, everybody says the calls from my mic are clearer than with the Nokia Ck7W.
The next feature is the phonebook again accessed through the menu. You have to input your contacts by voice and have the option of adding a number for Home, Work, Mobile and pager to each contact. Again the numbers are given by voice with a reasonably high degree of recognition but when Candy does get it wrong you will
probably have to try for several times before she gets it right (it wont pay to get angry with her) as with most women. I have found the best success rate by speaking in an even constant almost robotic tone, much to the amusement of my neighbours, this has nearly a hundred percent success rate. Once entered making a call to a phonebook entry is pretty simple, one press of the Blueconnect button and say Call Candy asks for a “Name please” you say the contacts name and she repeats it and asks if this is correct, answers “available options are Home, Mobile etc”
Say mobile and before placing the call Candy says “Calling John Tomas Mobile is this correct” answer yes and the next thing you hear is John saying hello.

All of this if not a little long winded worked pretty well with my unlocked unbranded Nokia N95 with the latest firmware, However when I upgraded my phone (after confirming compatibility on the Blueconnect website) I found my problems
started. I did not delete the N95 from the Blueconnect memory before selling it and as soon as I put the ignition on in the car Candy got stroppy on me asking me for the passcode every 10 seconds and refusing to be silenced. I couldn’t even pair my new Nokia E90. There were no resets in the manual and no clues as to how to calm Candy down so I did what I could by turning the ignition on and off and pressing combinations of the Blueconnect buttons both individually and together, eventually this did the trick and Candy calmed down letting me get back to the setup menu where I deleted
the N95 and paired the E90.
There were more problems, the E90 would make and accept calls made on the handset but when voice dialling would crash and restart. I duly deleted all the Blueconnect contacts and painfully re-entered them all to no avail. I contacted
Blueconnect who told me the fault was the phones firmware and this was how it stayed until yesterday when Nokia made the updated firmware available to O2 branded Nokia E90’s. My new phone is now back and working OK with the Blueconnect.
One other problem you might want to consider is unlike the Nokia CK7W Blueconnect will not seem to relay the voice route guidance over its own speaker via Bluetooth from the phone so you can either have handsfree calling or route guidance not both.
Good Points.
Neat tidy installation which looks factory fitted
Works well with the correct phone.

Not So Good
Price, properly fitted latest Nokia/Parrot kit better value
Volume could be better
Compatability, Checking manufacturers website is no guarantee it will work with your phone if the phones firmware is not up to date.
Setup, bit long winded
Dial/Ringing tones, there arn't any.
Dont expect your phone voice navigation to work with it.

Expensive mistake
probably!

[VRStu]

Good honest review.

I have to say I removed one of these from an Octavia recently and the owner didn't realy have anything good to say about it. I have to say I was quite surprised at the amount of hardware with this unit and the amount of cabling 'tucked' away in various places.

I'm no fan of Parrot stuff but IMHO it is a lot better than the Blueconnect. I always thought the Nokia kits were prety good too, I like the very discrete controller they used. I had a SE it that used a small LCD display and a sort of 'commander' type controller which worked very well but the controller was quite bulky.

I think VAG are in grave danger of being left behind in terms of the Bluetooth offering, almost all Fords seem to have it fitted these days.

[Parsko]

Thanks Stu, now its up and running again with my new phone it will stay in place, its a good bit of kit but just not as versatile as I had imagined tbo it seems like a universal solution sold to many car manufacturers and adapted to fit. The company that makes it is a massive US company that seems to be into everything.
Johnson Controls Inc. | en
Just look at the products and solutions page.

[VRStu]

Yeah I've posted that link up before, as you say it's an off the shelf part.