palmOne Car Kit for Sprint

**Jay Grindell** · 05/15/2004, 06:37 AM

I see that the new Treo 600 updater (1.20) for Sprint PCS is now available on the palmOne site. It says that the palmOne car kit is now supported. Has anyone tried the car kit and what are your experiences?

**cue79** · 05/15/2004, 09:47 AM

Personally, more intrested in this one : http://www.seidioonline.com/ProductD...D-SMGF1HSTR600

If I can plug a GPS into this bugger, then it becomes the ideal unit. PalmOne wants $200 for a car kit that simply a charger unit. While I like the fact that it can be integrated into the car, I'm on a lease so it doesn't matter to me

Anyone else? Any other solutions out there? GPS anyone?

**dlbrummels** · 05/15/2004, 09:51 AM

Great Solution !

**Marcus Adolfsson** · 05/15/2004, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by Jay Grindell

says that the palmOne car kit is now supported. Has anyone tried the car kit and what are your experiences?

The THB/palmOne Car kit works fine with the Sprint phones after the 1.2 update - I tried it myself this morning.

**GalenMD** · 05/15/2004, 12:16 PM

Originally Posted by cue79

Personally, more intrested in this one : http://www.seidioonline.com/ProductD...D-SMGF1HSTR600

If I can plug a GPS into this bugger, then it becomes the ideal unit. PalmOne wants $200 for a car kit that simply a charger unit. While I like the fact that it can be integrated into the car, I'm on a lease so it doesn't matter to me

Anyone else? Any other solutions out there? GPS anyone?

The only reason for me to update to the new firmware was to use the CarKit. I have been waiting for this for months. Now that it is here, I am not so sure that I want one. First, it's $200 smacks. That is a lot of dough for a car kit. The Seido one is far less and for and add'l $90, I can get the GPS receiver. The only thing that concerns me about the Seido is that the speaker is incorporated into the unit, and faces the wrong way!! I can't believe the sound quality can be all that great. I drive a convertible and am concerned that I won't get good sound. I also can't use any speakerphone when I'm driving with the top down, so I am considering blowing off the idea of any speakerphone and using a wireless headset such as the Jabra FreeSpeak.

**Cyril** · 05/15/2004, 05:15 PM

Originally Posted by GalenMD

I can't believe the sound quality can be all that great. I drive a convertible and am concerned that I won't get good sound. I also can't use any speakerphone when I'm driving with the top down, so I am considering blowing off the idea of any speakerphone and using a wireless headset such as the Jabra FreeSpeak.

I drive a convertible and use the speakerphone. Unless you drive very fast or are in the vicinity of a another car with a 2kw stereo at full volume, its not too bad, though I usually have the Treo connected to the car speakers (which can be very loud

).

**BS Mann** · 05/15/2004, 06:04 PM

Originally Posted by Cyril

I drive a convertible and use the speakerphone. Unless you drive very fast or are in the vicinity of a another car with a 2kw stereo at full volume, its not too bad, though I usually have the Treo connected to the car speakers (which can be very loud

).

I have my Treo connected to my car stereo by a cassette adaptor, and when people talk to me, they say my voice sounds very tinny, and they hear themselves echoing. Will a car kit eliminate these problems? I like being able to hear the incoming call on the car's speakers, seems clearer than using speaker on phone or Jabra headset, but no-one likes talking to me because of the outgoing sound quality.

**cue79** · 05/15/2004, 06:51 PM

Originally Posted by BS Mann

I have my Treo connected to my car stereo by a cassette adaptor, and when people talk to me, they say my voice sounds very tinny, and they hear themselves echoing. Will a car kit eliminate these problems? I like being able to hear the incoming call on the car's speakers, seems clearer than using speaker on phone or Jabra headset, but no-one likes talking to me because of the outgoing sound quality.

It's supposed to. Car Kits are supposed to have noise canceling junk built itno them, in order to eliminate echo. My car kit for my 6035 (phone before treo) worked great as far as noise canceling goes. At this point, I'm waiting to see reviews of both the Sedio & and PalmOne kit before plunking 200 bucks down in either direction. While GPS is a great feature, voice quality is probably #1..... So who's buyin?

**lb505** · 05/16/2004, 09:59 AM

The PalmOne support page says their unit will mute any radio, cd or tape that is playing when a call comes in. Does anyone know if the Seido unit does the same?

FYI, Dan's Cellular Accessories has the PalmOne unit for $140 on ebay.

**catlook** · 05/17/2004, 12:33 PM

1) treo store says car kit works with sprint treo 600 now, but palmone says the compatible version won't be available until the end of may. Is palmone make changes to hardware? or is it the exact same phone and therefore safe to buy now?

2) treo store offers two versions of the kit: regular and regular plus hardwire harness. the palmone store offers just the second option (apparently) and it's priced inbetween the treo store offerings. Is the treo plus version the same as the palmone version?

3) what is involved in hardwiring a car kit? does hardwiring force you to mount the kit in certain places on the dash? do you have wires dangling around? is it relatively easy or do you need professional installation? (i know "relative" is a vague term...i'm handy with a screwdriver and can field strip my my stereo and computer components for a move in under 30 minutes

)

thanks.

**tjd414** · 05/17/2004, 01:00 PM

Originally Posted by marcus

The THB/palmOne Car kit works fine with the Sprint phones after the 1.2 update - I tried it myself this morning.

How about a review, please ...

Originally Posted by BS_Mann

but no-one likes talking to me because of the outgoing sound quality.

As my cousin Vinnie says, "Are you sure" it's the sound quality?

**MovieGene** · 05/17/2004, 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by catlook

1) treo store says car kit works with sprint treo 600 now, but palmone says the compatible version won't be available until the end of may. Is palmone make changes to hardware? or is it the exact same phone and therefore safe to buy now?

I believe Marcus tried a Sprint phone with the updated firmware and it worked fine in the GSM carkit. There was a post somewhere around in here in the last couple of days.
Also, my source at THB-USA says there is no difference in the kit for the phones. They were waiting for Sprint/PalmOne to finalize the carkit app for the CDMA phones.

Originally Posted by catlook

2) treo store offers two versions of the kit: regular and regular plus hardwire harness. the palmone store offers just the second option (apparently) and it's priced inbetween the treo store offerings. Is the treo plus version the same as the palmone version?

The hardwire involves connecting it to your battery. There are no wires that are really visible with this install. Take a look at the pics on my website of this same car kit already installed in my vehicle.

Originally Posted by catlook

3) what is involved in hardwiring a car kit? does hardwiring force you to mount the kit in certain places on the dash? do you have wires dangling around? is it relatively easy or do you need professional installation? (i know "relative" is a vague term...i'm handy with a screwdriver and can field strip my my stereo and computer components for a move in under 30 minutes

)

thanks.

I wouldn't try to hardwire one by myself. I have a copy of the instructions in the box for my "new" carkit that is being installed tomorrow. After the install guy opens the box, I'll scan the instructions and try to post them.

I actually don't like the TrendTalk unit. The speacker is mounted behind the cradle, and just doesn't sound great. The kit I'm getting installed tomorrow is the VoiceTalk DSP unit that has a seperate speaker which mounts elsewhere in the car.

THB USA allows you to order direct from them, for other options available, check here

**catlook** · 05/17/2004, 11:43 PM

Nice review, Movie! One last question for you...clarification really. I have gotten the idea (either from a thread or the treo store notes), that the kit offered here and at palmone includes integration with the car stereo, for auto-muting of stereo when a call comes in. However, on surfing the THB site and reading about the trendtalk base, which is what is included in these offerings, it appears that no stereo integration is included. Does your currently installed version auto-mute the radio/cassette/cd?

Thanks!

**Marcus Adolfsson** · 05/18/2004, 09:35 AM

The TrendTalk DSP (our hardwire version), includes a mute line for the stereo.

Later in the week we will also carry the VoiceTalk DSP, which offers a sound out port (for stereo speaker integration))

**MovieGene** · 05/18/2004, 10:16 AM

Originally Posted by catlook

Nice review, Movie! One last question for you...clarification really. I have gotten the idea (either from a thread or the treo store notes), that the kit offered here and at palmone includes integration with the car stereo, for auto-muting of stereo when a call comes in. However, on surfing the THB site and reading about the trendtalk base, which is what is included in these offerings, it appears that no stereo integration is included. Does your currently installed version auto-mute the radio/cassette/cd?

Thanks!

I don't have the auto mute pieces installed. The VoiceTalk kit is being installed as I type, and I opted not to go with the auto mute items. I also did not want to integrate it into my car stereo system.
I drive a Saturn which isn't a really noisy vehicle, so I didn't think the extra mess was worth it.

Check here for the radio mute piece.
And here for custom harnesses instead of the radio mute piece.

**catlook** · 05/19/2004, 11:02 AM

How is your VoiceTalk unit, now that it's installed? Do you have (or need) Sprint's VoiceCommand? I assume so. If you don't have VoiceCommand, it seems the advantage of the VoiceTalk unit is the detached speaker, rather than the speaker on the base unit, behind the cradle. Is that correct? Or are there other advantages?

Thanks for passing on your experiences

**MovieGene** · 05/19/2004, 01:38 PM

They installed the unit yesterday.
The voice activation features do not work because the Treo does not have built in Voice Activation. In theory, if I changed the cradle and put in a phone wiith built in voice activation, it would work. I've spoken to THB and they are working on an application for voice dialing for the Treo 600.
I'm vaguley familiar with Sprint's VoiceCommand. I'm currently using Cingular's VoiceTalk. The car kit doesn't access it.
However, the extra 3 buttons also function to answer the phone, and raise/lower the call volume. (In addition to accessing the voice activation if it was on the Treo)

The detached speaker seems a little better now that's it's not right behind the phone. There is no feedback whatsoever. I don't know if this is because the speaker is moved and/or due to the DSP being part of this kit.

I have the install instructions sitting on my desk, I'm hoping to get it scanned and posted. (I think I wrote somewhere I would do this when I opened the box)

**MovieGene** · 05/19/2004, 03:30 PM

I threw a pdf of the carkit instructions here.

It's a pictoral instruction set and is two pages long.

**catlook** · 05/19/2004, 03:39 PM

movie...iget this error accesing your link:

Sorry, but the page or the file that you're looking for is not here.

:/

**Minsc** · 05/19/2004, 04:29 PM

Can anyone speak to the sound quality of the DSP vs. non-DSP models of the THB kit? I would think Sprint customers would see little benefit to the DSP version, as CDMA already cancels out most background noise. Possibly there's other advantages though...?

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