5 replies to this topic

[takai]

Went for a bit of a look at the big three HUs in the $300 price range on the market atm. Namely the Alpine CD125EBT, the Pioneer DEH7350BT, and the JVC KD-R826BT.

Now i would have thought that auto-reconnect would have been a pretty basic feature on these units, and indeed all the specs say they seem to support it. However, the only one i managed to get it working on was the Pioneer.
The JVC which was at JB didnt have the BT adapter installed, so i wasnt able to play with that one either. But the model up from the R826 refused to auto reconnect, and the CD125EBT would intermittently reconnect, maybe 1/10 times.

What im trying to work out is whether this is simply par for the course when it comes to the bigger manufacturers? I would expect it coming from a cheap factory in China with 0 hours development and testing time put into the software, but i would have thought that at least these big three would have invested a bit of time into that sort of quality control.

FWIW, it was with an iPhone4, although the two other guys who were at JB at the same time had a 3GS and a Samsung Galaxy S2 and neither of them could get the Alpine or the JVC to auto-reconnect, and the Galaxy didnt reconnect to the Pioneer either.

Up until now i was leaning towards either the Alpine or the JVC DAB+ head unit with the optional BT adaptor. But perhaps a separate BT handsfree is the go.

Thoughts?

Edited by takai, 14 August 2011 - 11:20 PM.

[Captn_Awesome]

My clarion connects automatically to my iphone4 about 90% of the time.
occasionally it drops off and I have to re-pair it but its probably once to twice a month. Bugger all really and I believe that the iphones are a price to get right with BT handsfree because they dont use the normal type or something (bluetooth is all magic stuff to me)

I'd suggest having a look at a clarion unit as well
Personally I've always swayed to alpine and more recently clarion units. Pioneer I've never had a bad experiance with just never really been blown away by them. JVC I used to be a fan of as they were best value for money - but I've since decided that I dont really like them.

How are you testing the reconnect? if your going into airplane mode this seems to f*** with the system with bluetooth connection I've found.

[takai]

Yeah, i havnt tried Clarion yet. None of the stores ive been to have had Clarion decks on the display wall.

Been testing them by pairing the unit up and then popping the faceplate off to simulate the HU being turned off. Waiting until the iPhone drops the connection and then putting the faceplate back on to restart the unit.

[beentheredoneit]

With Bluetooth you will need to turn your phone off atleast once a week. Remember most phone are like computer. Turning it off is like a reboot. I use to get min one customer a week with this problem. With some pioneer you search for the phone from the unit are have to set it older ones. Iphones are preety good. Note some Telstra phone will not work right. My 2 cent and experience is Sony Valve and work well, thoe news one audio setup is harder to use.

Once again my 2 cents

[Stone]

takai, on 17 August 2011 - 12:50 AM, said:

Yeah, i havnt tried Clarion yet. None of the stores ive been to have had Clarion decks on the display wall.

Been testing them by pairing the unit up and then popping the faceplate off to simulate the HU being turned off. Waiting until the iPhone drops the connection and then putting the faceplate back on to restart the unit.

Quite a lot of them only try to connect when they first turn on, which is when the accessory wire is powered up, not when the face is placed on the unit. You might have better luck if you could actually simulate what happens in a car.

[Pulse-R]

no probs with reconnect on Alpine unit - Nokia N97 and GalaxyS