Kinivo BTC450 Bluetooth Car Kit (Hands-Free, AUX Bluetooth Adapter for Cars with Ground Loop Noise Isolator, 3.5mm Aux Input, Apt-X)

Since my Mazda3 does not have Bluetooth support built-in to it, this Kinivo device was the next best thing for me to hook up my Android phone wirelessly over Bluetooth to my car's AUX 3.5mm input, and then to playback music/podcasts and take calls over it. Other than the power connection to my phone (as needed), it stays completely wire-free, and eliminates the pain of trying to conceal/route an audio cable to where my phone is mounted on the dash.On the negative side, it does attempt to mess with the original audio levels a bit, has no apparent noise reduction, has a very small audio lag, and a limited cable length. Still, for the $35 price tag and the simplicity of the design, it does very well and the negatives are not enough of a problem for me to knock off a full star for. I'd give it a 4.5 if possible. Truthfully I was a bit leery of this no-name-brand at first, but it looks like they make a good product. Details below.Requirements:1) This BTC450 is an AUX-based unit, which means your car's stereo must have a 3.5mm female input jack on the front faceplate, in the glovebox, in the armrest, ... somewhere. Most cars started having them either by default or as an option since the mid 2000s. My 2007 model has one inside the armrest.2) The unit has a single 3 foot cord coming off the circular microphone/control, that then splits into two cords of 1 foot each for the power and audio. So you must have a cigarette lighter plug within 2 feet of the AUX input, and a clean/flat place to mount the mic/control puck within 3 feet of the split. You could get an extension for the audio cable if need be, but the power port can't be further than 4 feet away from the puck (3ft + 1ft) since the power cable is not-removable.3) Bluetooth support on your phone or MP3 player. It needs to be v2.1 compatible, which is somewhat standard for phones in the past couple years.4) I highly recommend getting a "ground loop isolator" like this one, PAC Ground Loop Isolator, to go in-line between the unit and your car's AUX. At least in the case of my last two cars, I've had problems with a nasty buzz noise when hooking up any type of audio device that is also powered by the car.Initial syncing was dead simple due to the bluetooth 2.1 support: press the center puck button to "advertise it" to other devices, choose it for pairing on your phone, and you're done. No PIN or software needed.Auto-Connect! A big plus for me is the fact that it powers off when the car is turned off (no forgetting), it auto-powers-on and connects to my phone within seconds of ignition (no pushing a sync button), and it stays on the entire time even when there is no audio (no power-saving). This is not the case with the battery-based MotorMouth & Belkin units which don't react to power loss/gain. No batteries in the Kinivo means it is not portable, but then again if it's always in the car and always plugged in, I don't see the sense in having a battery anyway. When the car is turned off, the phone detects the loss of connection and pauses the music while it attempts to reconnect - finally giving up and pausing until you say otherwise. The cigarette lighter adapter for power is smaller than most, so it's nicely unobtrusive. Now your mileage may vary if your car does not power down the cigarette lighter plug when the car is turned off. Most do, but if yours does not, you run the risk of draining your battery.Microphone quality is actually quite good. My voice was clear and distinct when used with my voice recorder app. People I called could hear me even when the microphone was 90 degrees to my right, as opposed to right in front of me. However when road noise and A/C noise came on, it was picked up as well. There appears to be no intelligence to filter or deal with that noise. This was not a deal-breaker for me because I could still be understood and didn't need to repeat myself. It was just not as clear and was more difficult for the caller to hear.Sound quality was surprisingly good. I used a good-quality, thick 3.5mm stereo audio cable as the "standard" while switching back-and-forth to compare. The Kinivo seemed to increase the stereo separation a bit, making the music more enveloping and clearer. The volume was higher than what was received on the cable (setting "10" instead of "16"), which theoretically means a cleaner signal and less need for amplification. A bit of a negative: the bass level was noticeably enhanced, such that I had to use my car's equalizer to take it down to "-2". Some may like the bass - I don't. The unit advertises support for Bluetooth A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) for high quality stereo audio transmission with a minimum bitrate of 345 Kbit/sec. I admit I'm not a die-hard audiophile, but I know low bit-rates and bad encoders when I hear them. In this case there was no discernible drop in the audio quality itself on my mid-range car speakers in a quiet environment. The connection was solid with no audio dropouts after testing it during several hours of driving to/from work. When a call comes in, it pauses the music, and resumes when done.The puck controls were intuitive and compatible with my Galaxy Note 2. There are two buttons on the edge for track skip/previous, and the center button starts/plays/pauses music. It brought up the Google Music app automatically and picked the current playlist. The microphone is in a small opening on one side of the puck. In the bluetooth settings for the phone, I could choose whether to enable it for phone calls, for media, or for both. Very convenient if you don't want both. The puck comes with a sticky pad to adhere it to some place in your car. I did not test it, since I had no need. I let it sit in a groove in the center console.There was a small audio delay when adjusting playback from the phone. For example, when "pause" is pressed, the audio would continue for a split second and then stop. Not enough to be a problem, but not the immediate response you would get with a hard-wire.I finally settled on buying this unit, but the other big-name competition I choose from were:Belkin Bluetooth Car Hands-Free Kit, US VersionScosche motorMOUTH Plug and Play Bluetooth Handsfree and Streaming Audio Car KitGriffin Technology BlueTrip AUXI skipped these others due to complaints about the lack of auto-connect on power-on and audio quality issues.

I love my car but it's just old enough that it doesn't have built-in Bluetooth. I had been using a Bluetooth earpiece for several years but I find it annoying. I keep forgetting to take it with me and I even lost it once and had to buy another one. My wife's car has integrated Bluetooth and I had been looking at solutions that are compatible with my car. I'd seen a lot of speakers that hang off your sun visor but I don't think I like that design. I then found a small device from Belkin that plugs into your aux jack and mounts somewhere on your dashboard. It was $79.99 and had fairly decent reviews, but then I found this.The Kinivo BTC450 looks very similar to the Belkin but is literally half the price. I figured for $39.99 I could take a chance and see if it worked, and if it didn't, it would be a lot easier to swallow than the $80 Belkin.I have to tell you this is a great device. I have had no issues with it and works great. Since there are really no settings for this, everything has to be done through your phone, which in my case is an iPhone 4S. To use it, you need to plug the power adapter into the 12-volt socket and the aux cord into the aux input. In my case, they are in my center console under the armrest. Then you mount the device somewhere you have a nice flat surface, which in my case is on the panel near the gearshift. Now, turn on your car's power and pair it with your phone. It's easier to pair than any other device I've used. To use it, you need to select the auxiliary input on your stereo.This device can be used for two things. First and foremost, it allows you to make handsfree calls. I've yet to actually make a call while driving, but I've received several calls and all you need to do is push the big button to answer and again to hang up. If you're listening to the radio or a CD, you'll first need to change the stereo's input to Auxilary so you can use it (if you don't the other person will be able to hear you as the microphone is built into the device, but you won't be able to hear them).The second use is that it allows you to stream music wirelessly to this device. For years I've been plugging my phone (and before that, my MP3 player) into the aux jack using a 2 or 3-foot cord. Now I don't need to do that anymore. Less wear and tear on your headphone jack and you no longer need to use the phone's controls to change tracks. Instead, there are two buttons on the top of this device that allows you to skip to the next or previous track. Need to pause the song? Push the big button. If no music is playing and you push the button, it will start playing. The sound quality is indistinguishable from a wired connection. I recall in the past people had to use a wireless FM transmitter to play music from a portal CD player to a car stereo. I had trepidation at first regarding this device because of that past experience as those never worked well and this is light years beyond that technology.What's really nice is that if you are listing to music and someone calls you, it will pause the music player, allow you to talk, and when you are done, it unpauses the music where it left off. Another great thing is that this unpairs from your phone when you turn off the car and re-pairs when you start it back up. You don't need to manually do this which is nice and you shouldn't have an issue when you leave your car and the Bluetooth is still activated.Just a few caveats...first time I received a call with this unit, the ringer, which plays though your car speakers, blew me away. It was way too loud. I had to turn down the ringer volume on my phone. If you use your stereo's volume knob, then you'll have a hard time hearing to the person you're talking to, therefore you will need to find a happy medium. Also, I had to turn up the volume on the music player (which I believe has no effect on your battery unlike a wired connection) because when you skip tracks you hear a loud beep confirming the button press. If you don't adjust the volume on your phone, the beeps will be extremely loud and annoying. Luckily, I was able to find the correct volume levels. Also, if you turn up the volume on your phone, you won't need to turn the volume up so high on your car's stereo. When I first started using this device I heard a buzzing sound coming from my speakers. I saw that Amazon was selling a ground loop isolator that would supposedly fix this, but it turned out my car's stereo was turned up too high so adjusting the volume on the car and the phone took care of this problem.I should also note that the 12-volt adapter has a USB input so you can charge your phone using a separate charging cable. This is a nice feature. It also comes with an extension cable for the aux wire if needed.The wires coming out of this unit are very thin and I assume delicate. Since my unit is mounted near the gearshift in the center console and the cord runs along the top of the center console, I ran a risk of catching it on something and I am sure a good yank would damage it. So what I did was got a wire wrap from Home Depot, wrapped it around the cable, and then pushed it in the gap between the bottom of the center console and the floor. This way, very little of the wire is exposed and therefore it should be very safe from damage.While not as nice or convenient than having Bluetooth built into your car, this is the best option I've seen and kills two birds with one stone -- I can use it for calls as well as listing to music and I don't need to worry about plugging anything in each time I enter the car. Definitely recommended!