[This is a reader-contributed article]
For the longest time my wife has wanted a hands free system in her car so that she did not have to use a headset or handle the phone while driving. Her description always included a cradle setup, but she did not know where to put the cradle in the car (a 2002 Audi A6).
For her birthday this year I finally took the initiative and did some research. I found that there are some very good bluetooth solutions out there. My wife’s Treo 700p is — mostly — bluetooth capable, but more on that later.
For various reasons, including good reviews, reputation (Motorola seems to know a thing or two about voice communications), features and price I went with the Motorola IHF1000 Car Kit.
There really didn’t seem to be much to the kit when it came in the mail, though: an interface (they call it a UIM for “User Interface Module”), a control module (a rectangular black box), a 5W speaker, a microphone and a wiring harness. I thought the speaker was redundant since I had planned to use the car’s audio system for receiving calls, but that plan changed as installation progressed…