Bluetrek's SurfaceSound Compact

[JackDaniel69]

So Ilounge wrote a wonderful article about how to fully integrate your iphone with your car. And part of the "optimal solution" they offered includes using Bluetrek/Contour Design's SurfaceSound Compact. But after searching all over the internet trying to find a place that sells it I keep coming up short. There only seems to be one place offering it, MobilePlanet Inc. However I'm a little hesitant about purchasing from them because they have really bad seller reviews and very few good ones. Has anyone else bought the SurfaceSound Compact? Where did you get it/How do you like it? Anyone use mobileplanet before without problems? Thanks for the info.

[vsolis]

i have used mobile planet in the past (about 3 years ago) before it was purchased by expansys and was happy with my order. since their acquisition, i too have been a little hesitant to order from them.

as a alternative to the surfacesound, i was looking into getting a anycom solar car kit (http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/product/sku__AY003) from sharper image. the compelling feature is that it's solar powered, so there wouldn't be any dangling cords to my cig adapter.

[JackDaniel69]

I really like that bluetrek one though, the battery life is like 21 days standby and 15 hours talk time. So it isn't that often you'd have cords dangling down to your cigarette lighter.

[vsolis]

i know what you mean. well, i bit the bullet and went ahead and order the bluetrek from expansys-usa. i'm crossing my fingers that it will arrive and i won't have buyers remorse.

[JackDaniel69]

Let me know how it works out, cause I'm pretty close to ordering it myself.

[wstanley]

I ordered from them and received it pretty quickly. They even called me the day after I placed the order to verify some stuff about the shipping address.

[JackDaniel69]

I ordered from them and received it pretty quickly. They even called me the day after I placed the order to verify some stuff about the shipping address.

So how do you like it? Does it work pretty well?

[vsolis]

according to the expansys website, i should be receiving my surfacesound on 2/18. i'll let you know what i think about it.

[wstanley]

The sound quality is OK and it clips neatly on my visor. Because of the angle of my visor, you can't really see the buttons too well and thus I would prefer more of a tactilely (is that a word?) discrete button with a more obvious click. The sound quality appears good. The device came charged so I haven't yet had to try that (I want to run the battery fully down before the first charge). Design wise I think the mic arm is more novelty than necessity (unless there is some audio reason I don't understand driven by the flat panel design) for the car; I can see it as much more useful when used as a stand at home for example. Activating it does drop it into my field of vision but it isn't an excessive distraction by any means and I'm sure I'll get used to it. Paring with the iPhone was pretty straightforward.

BEGIN BLUETOOTH RANT

This is a cool handsfree device and it is a shame that I'm paring it with an Apple device because Apple has chosen to insult their customer base with crippled bluetooth. My 6 year old cheap LG handset could voice dial, my Motorola RAZR could voice dial, the Sony Erricson W810i I gave up for the iPhone could voice dial. State law requires me to use hands-free in the car. In other words, this isn't a cutting edge capability and it is an actual necessity from a legal and safety standpoint. I can only assume that Apple has chosen to cripple BT intentionally. Why jeopardize the safety of your best customers? Is it to drive them toward AT&T's $5 per month voice dial add on? That's saying something about how Apple views its customer base (willing to throw money away for something that should be standard as long as we've got the cool phone). Is it husbanding content so that future firmware updates appear to have something of substance to add? Is it to encourage early adopters to move up to the 3g iPhone when it becomes available? Maybe there are good reasons for no voice dial in bluetooth, but I don't see them and thus I'm concluding that this iPhone may be my last Apple product (and certainly my last early adopter Apple product).

END BLUETOOTH RANT