IO Play handsfree car kit

UKDTweak

UKDTweak

UKDTweak

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Joined
2 Dec 2002
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N.Ireland
Hi

Was not sure to put this in Motors or Mobile Phones section as it could fit both, so decided here, sorry if not the right place.

I am thinking of getting an IO Play Bluetooth Handsfree car kit.
The idea is that it comes with a bluetooth module and an amp and wires into your existing car stereo harness so that when a call comes in on your phone, the stereo music stops and you hear the caller through the car stereo, you can also stream music from your Bluetooth device via the IO Play through your stereo speakers...

This is all fine, however, I have upgraded my car stereo so that it has an external amp that runs two 12" subs in the boot.

Is there anybody on here that has an IO Play and a similar setup? When the IO Play takes over for a call or you stream music from an mp3 player or your mobile, does the sub still work, I assume not as the IO Play connects between the headunit and your car speaker wiring and therefore would not be able to send any signal through the stereos RCA's to the sub amp?

Secondly, do you think it was worth the money, can be bought for sub £80 new, were as a cheaper alternative would be a bluetooth visor kit which can be bought for +/-£20 in some cases such as the Jabra 200, which seams to get good reviews, though it would mean having to have a charging lead on top of the lead I already have for my mobile, luckily my car has two power sockets in the cabin...
Also, visor kits tend to be lower volume/quality as they only have an internal speaker/mic, plus having to remember to charge it and also turn it off and on each time I get in/out of the motor, were as the IO Play would be on as soon as I turn the ignition and come with a 60w amp to play the sound through your car speakers.
 
Does your head unit have a 3.5mm jack in?

I got a Scosche motorMouth II for my car and it works for streaming and calls. Nice and neat too!
The only problem with it is the small battery :(
 
There should be a phone mute wire in the ISO connector of your head unit (normally one of pins 1-4), this should cut out all audio including the sub. Check with the manufacturer of the bluetooth kit and head unit to see if this is supported.
 
Yeah, there is a tele mute lead on my stereo, JVC DVD player.
So the IO Play would not work with my subs... so that rules out the mobile streaming music option, so perhaps the cheaper Bluetooth Visor option is better... no point wiring in a system that will only pass mobile calls through the stereo if a visor job will work well...
 
Call quality is fine. Echo cancellation isn't perfect according to the other end, but clarity is good.

Music(mp3, flac etc - whatever your phone can play) is good
Comes with a little splitter cable so you can use your 3.5mm jack for an mp3 player, but if a call comes through it mutes that and brings the phone through the stereo speakers

Mine sits near the gearstick where the jack is, but you get about a metre of extension so you can position it closer to your mouth
 
I ended up buying a Sabertooth Buddy, clips onto the visor, sound quality is good on both ends, works very well and allows me to have both my personnal and Work phone connected at the same time, which is handy for when I am on call.
Cost was half the price of the IO Play and no wires etc, naturally it does not play sound through the stereo, but has plenty of volume anyway.
 
I have an IOPlay and I think it's great

Sound is nice and clear and according to people I am talking to unless I have the window open the phone side of it is crystal clear.

IIRC the IOPlay does have the mute wire so it would kill the sound from your sub just fine but it does mean that while streaming music from a bluetooth device you would not have the sub working.

The only fault I could give the IOPlay is that it is not multipoint so only one phone can be connected at a time.

This would be fine for most people but both me and the wife have bluetooth phones so both can pair with it if but if we are in the car together then only one pairs and not always the one belonging to the person driving.

The only solution I found was to install an app on the wifes phone so that it enables bluetooth as soon as it loses connection with the wifi so if we were both in the car together mine would have already paired before her bluetooth kicked in. And since I always drive when we are together this option works fine.
 
Andre said:
Call quality is fine. Echo cancellation isn't perfect according to the other end, but clarity is good.

Music(mp3, flac etc - whatever your phone can play) is good
Comes with a little splitter cable so you can use your 3.5mm jack for an mp3 player, but if a call comes through it mutes that and brings the phone through the stereo speakers

Mine sits near the gearstick where the jack is, but you get about a metre of extension so you can position it closer to your mouth
Click to expand...

thanks for that, picked one up from the bay, for cheap so i will report back :)
 
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