Parrot Mki9100

[blake918]

I finally bit the bullet and installed a bluetooth car phone. I was tentative about buying one since I've heard mixed reviews on the Apple forums about which ones work, which ones don't, problems after firmware updates, etc., etc. I saw that Parrot advertised the MKi9100 to work with my iPhone's software version, so I figured I'd give it a try. The car kit was about $200 from Amazon, and the ISO speaker was $36 from Crutchfield. It took about 2.5 hours to get everything installed.

Having installed a Nokia carphone in my '95, I pretty much duplicated the install for my '99. I was sorely disappointed that many of the wires on the Parrot's wiring harness were too short to make it to the desired location, such as the mic cable, mute wire, and the always hot power wire. I relocated the mic to a different location than I originally wanted, and I'll extend the power and mute wires later. As of now, I don't have auto muting, and I had to connect the switched and always hot wires together in order to get the car phone working until I get around to extending those wires. I was not even remotely interested in tapping my car's stereo wiring harness to play the calls through the door speakers, so I bought the ISO speaker from Crutchfield. It plugged right in to the Parrot's wiring harness without any trouble. The wireless remote that controls the system is not shown, but it will be attached to the dash, left of the steering wheel.

The 9100 connects and syncs with my old (back when not everyone and their grandmother had one) iPhone with 2.2.1 software. It synced and it downloaded all of my contacts without any issue. It automatically reconnects without any problems either. It also connects to my iPhone with the included cable and plays the music I have through the speaker. It would be a neat feature (it also has a stereo input and a USB port) if I had the 9100 wired to the car speakers. The cable does charge my iPhone which is nice, and I might use it on occasion to listen to a podcast or something.

Some pics before, during, and after the install:

The control box is pretty small:

Test...

Mic

The speaker is attached to the fuse box cover

[blake918]

Some other shots...

Paired up and ready to go

Charging

Contacts (of course you click the letter, and it brings you to those contacts starting with that letter)

Playing some Dallas Wind Symphony

Got my windows tinted the other day to the maximum legal limit: 40/20/10

(^It's a parking permit, not a bumper sticker)

[jainla]

Wow that looks really cool. You're the first person I've heard of who's installed one of the Mki series kits. Good job!

Glad to see the contact sync works with the iPhone; my brother has been looking for a BT solution for his car and I was curious as to if the Parrot kits would work with it. Parrot seems to be really good about releasing firmware updates to correct problems and respond to user issues. All the initial issues I had with my contact sync have disappeared after a couple updates.

Are you happy with the sound quality? Have you tried the voice command functions yet? How do they work?

[1990LS400]

Are you happy with the sound quality?

I can tell you that Blake's voice through his new Parrot handsfree kit was crystal clear when he called me while driving on the highway in what he said were windy / noisy conditions. I actually couldn't tell when he stopped using the Parrot handsfree and went to talking directly on his iPhone.

Now ... if I can only get Blake to buy that Bury activeBase and activeCradle for the iPhone I found on eBay. Blake ... spend mo' money! ;) jainla, this is the Bury System 9 you told me about that charges a Bluetooth phone, has available interchangeable snap-in phone cradles, and an external antenna connection. The activeBase on eBay is $73.49 and all the System 9 snap-in cradles are $64 each. You're right too about the Bury System 9 being the same product sold as an option in Europe and the U.K. by Toyota and Lexus dealers with Toyota and Lexus logos.

[blake918]

Wow that looks really cool. You're the first person I've heard of who's installed one of the Mki series kits. Good job!

Glad to see the contact sync works with the iPhone; my brother has been looking for a BT solution for his car and I was curious as to if the Parrot kits would work with it. Parrot seems to be really good about releasing firmware updates to correct problems and respond to user issues. All the initial issues I had with my contact sync have disappeared after a couple updates.

Are you happy with the sound quality? Have you tried the voice command functions yet? How do they work?

Cool! I didn't know I was one of the first! This kit has more features than I thought I wanted, but I like being able to plug my phone in to the cable to listen to podcasts (and not have to burn them on to cd's or go through the tape adaptor). I'm going to see some family members with 3G phones next week, so I'll post back about how that works out. According to Parrot, it should work for the 3G too. I'll try to avoid upgrading the firmware on my phone and Parrot since I hear that it can cause trouble. It's probably more of a fault with Apple since they do screwy things with the Bluetooth.

I haven't had any trouble with the voice commands. I just tried a few, and it understood each of them without any trouble at all. I had to read the Parrot forum to find out how to sync the remote to the system since the instruction book was wrong. You'd think someone would check these things before printing.

I hope I can get someone to go drive my car and call me so that I can hear how it sounds. I took it as a great compliment to the Parrot when I was talking to Jim and he asked if I had made it home yet....all the while I had been home for at least 10 minutes! :D

Are you happy with the sound quality?

I can tell you that Blake's voice through his new Parrot handsfree kit was crystal clear when he called me while driving on the highway in what he said were windy / noisy conditions. I actually couldn't tell when he stopped using the Parrot handsfree and went to talking directly on his iPhone.

Now ... if I can only get Blake to buy that Bury activeBase and activeCradle for the iPhone I found on eBay. Blake ... spend mo' money! ;) jainla, this is the Bury System 9 you told me about that charges a Bluetooth phone, has available interchangeable snap-in phone cradles, and an external antenna connection. The activeBase on eBay is $73.49 and all the System 9 snap-in cradles are $64 each. You're right too about the Bury System 9 being the same product sold as an option in Europe and the U.K. by Toyota and Lexus dealers with Toyota and Lexus logos.

You are evil! The new smell hasn't worn off the Parrot, and I've barely had it wired up and muted for a day, and you're trying to get me to buy another carphone! In the past two weeks I've spent more money on this car than I care to remember. I think it's time for you to upgrade those prehistoric phones you have! The 3G is only $200! I know that will get you something like 40 Nokias, but it's time to get some modern technology! haha

I forgot to tell you that your first and last names sound great in the British accent that the Parrot lady speaks with! LOL I wonder if they all have British accents?

[1990LS400]

I think it's time for you to upgrade those prehistoric phones you have! The 3G is only $200! I know that will get you something like 40 Nokias, but it's time to get some modern technology! haha

Hey ... some people think my Nokia "eye-phone" is pretty cool!

[blake918]

I think it's time for you to upgrade those prehistoric phones you have! The 3G is only $200! I know that will get you something like 40 Nokias, but it's time to get some modern technology! haha

Hey ... some people think my Nokia "eye-phone" is pretty cool!

Nicely done! So after we subtract out the scotch tape and printer supplies, are we looking at 35 "eye-phones" instead of 40? lol I had a good laugh at that one!

[jainla]

I haven't had any trouble with the voice commands. I just tried a few, and it understood each of them without any trouble at all.

That's good to know; one of the reasons I picked the Blackberry over the iPhone was the speaker independent voice recognition; if more kits had that back then I might have picked the iPhone instead.

I hope I can get someone to go drive my car and call me so that I can hear how it sounds.

Call your home answering machine; that's what I did when I was testing mic placement. You won't have a full duplex conversation but you can hear how your voice sounds on the other side.

This kit has more features than I thought I wanted, but I like being able to plug my phone in to the cable to listen to podcasts (and not have to burn them on to cd's or go through the tape adaptor).

Yeah and it also charges the phone which is a nice bonus. I bet with the Bluetooth on the battery won't last long; I'm always surprised how quickly mine runs down after a couple of long conversations in the car. I think the Mki has line-level outputs so you still have the option to patch into the LS's audio system and listen to ipod/iphone audio through the speakers; then be covered for calls with the external speaker. And having the remote and the display means you could hide the ipod/iphone and still flip amongst the tracks.

Where did you stash the phone and connector? Center console box? Glovebox?

Now ... if I can only get Blake to buy that Bury activeBase and activeCradle for the iPhone I found on eBay. Blake ... spend mo' money! The activeBase on eBay is $73.49 and all the System 9 snap-in cradles are $64 each.

Yeah that's the cheapest I've seen; which is ridiculous b/c the mount plate in the UK sells for something like 20 pounds; although with shipping I'm sure it would be closer to $40. There's got to be some way to get that stuff on this side of the pond without paying a huge markup...Canada?

I think it's time for you to upgrade those prehistoric phones you have! The 3G is only $200! I know that will get you something like 40 Nokias, but it's time to get some modern technology! haha

I'm afraid Blake is right Jim. If you want a Blackberry you can go on Amazon and get the Bold for $150; or the Curve for even less. Their hardware subsidies are really high. Also AT&T is selling (or was selling) refurbished iPhones on their site for $100.

Come over to the Dark Side Jim! Come to the Wireless Wonderland!

[blake918]

Call your home answering machine; that's what I did when I was testing mic placement. You won't have a full duplex conversation but you can hear how your voice sounds on the other side.

Haha I did that too! It sounded perfect. I guess I'd just like to be on the other end and to have the full effect.

Yeah and it also charges the phone which is a nice bonus. I bet with the Bluetooth on the battery won't last long; I'm always surprised how quickly mine runs down after a couple of long conversations in the car. I think the Mki has line-level outputs so you still have the option to patch into the LS's audio system and listen to ipod/iphone audio through the speakers; then be covered for calls with the external speaker. And having the remote and the display means you could hide the ipod/iphone and still flip amongst the tracks.

Where did you stash the phone and connector? Center console box? Glovebox?

I don't know anything about stereos, so I don't know what line level outputs are, but since no one makes an adapter harness for my old car, I went with the external ISO speaker to avoid tapping the stereo wiring harness. I can tell you that this thing came with A LOT of wires. I ended up clipping some of them to get them out of the way (I'm not installing this thing in another car, anyway). Did you have any problems with wire length with your 3200 like I did? My mic was way too short, and the mute and power wires were probably 18" which is waaaaaay too short. Does the lady in your Parrot have a British accent too?

I really do like browsing my music from the Parrot's screen. The iPod/USB/Stereo input cable is in the lower console; that's the one cable/wire that they made a good length. I'm thinking about relegating my iPod shuffle to car duty, so that I can leave it in the lower console and not have to plug and unplug all the time. The the control box is sitting below the carpet at the transmission tunnel--the same spot as Jim's if you've seen his pictures before.

Come over to the Dark Side Jim! Come to the Wireless Wonderland!

It's so awesome to connect to the carphone with the phone still in my pocket! How about a pretty white iPhone to match the LS, Jim??

[jainla]

I don't know anything about stereos, so I don't know what line level outputs are, but since no one makes an adapter harness for my old car, I went with the external ISO speaker to avoid tapping the stereo wiring harness.

Basically one of the outputs from the Parrot is a line-level (i.e. CD changer or ipod direct out) connection. You might be able to splice those wires into a pair of RCA jacks and do the whole silent-cd thing to connect the output of the kit (and the ipod when it's playing) to the stereo.

Did you have any problems with wire length with your 3200 like I did? My mic was way too short, and the mute and power wires were probably 18" which is waaaaaay too short. Does the lady in your Parrot have a British accent too?

Yeah I had to extend the mic cable; it was about 2 feet shorter than it needed to be. I actually found a 2.5mm extension cable so that was easy. The wires seem to be designed so that the blue box will sit behind or below a standard DIN car stereo; mine is at the rear of the center console box so it was too far away. I had to build a custom harness to connect the Parrot to the phone connector under the center console anyway; I think I added about 3 feet of length. I think she does have a British accent but I've changed the voice recognition so it runs off the Blackberry as I didn't want to record all the voicetags for the names in the phonebook. I like the ringtones though; sounds like an old school car phone.

I really do like browsing my music from the Parrot's screen. The iPod/USB/Stereo input cable is in the lower console; that's the one cable/wire that they made a good length. I'm thinking about relegating my iPod shuffle to car duty, so that I can leave it in the lower console and not have to plug and unplug all the time.

Yes I did the same thing after I resurrected my old iPod; it's now the car pod and it pretty much lives in the glovebox full time; i haul it back into the house every so often to sync it up. It's nice not to have to haul the ipod back and forth from the car and I'm sure it's easier on the cables and connectors. Also I figure since I've already digitized the music it's easier to manage all of it from itunes rather than a USB stick or some other storage mechanism. I'm liking this new digital media world!

[amcdonal86]

What percentage tint are on your windows?

Stupid me. I see it now on your first post. Wow, it really doesn't look stupid with different levels of tint on the windows!

[blake918]

Yeah I had to extend the mic cable; it was about 2 feet shorter than it needed to be. I actually found a 2.5mm extension cable so that was easy. The wires seem to be designed so that the blue box will sit behind or below a standard DIN car stereo; mine is at the rear of the center console box so it was too far away. I had to build a custom harness to connect the Parrot to the phone connector under the center console anyway; I think I added about 3 feet of length. I think she does have a British accent but I've changed the voice recognition so it runs off the Blackberry as I didn't want to record all the voicetags for the names in the phonebook. I like the ringtones though; sounds like an old school car phone.

I wish mine had customization like that. I really wish I could turn the screen saver off, which is a Bluetooth "B" that bounces around the screen. Perhaps I'd find something if I Googled it later. I was glad that I didn't have to record any voice tags since the iPhone doesn't do that on its own. I wish I had thought about extending the mic cord. I probably would have needed a min. of two more feet. But the spot I put it in isn't bad since one of the heads of the mic still will peek out even with the visor down...

Yes I did the same thing after I resurrected my old iPod; it's now the car pod and it pretty much lives in the glovebox full time; i haul it back into the house every so often to sync it up. It's nice not to have to haul the ipod back and forth from the car and I'm sure it's easier on the cables and connectors. Also I figure since I've already digitized the music it's easier to manage all of it from itunes rather than a USB stick or some other storage mechanism. I'm liking this new digital media world!

I was going to use my really old iPod, but that one is so old that it was back when they were only Mac compatable and used Firewire instead of USB!

Wow, it really doesn't look stupid with different levels of tint on the windows!

I was shocked that the different percentages blend as well as they do. You almost can't even tell.