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Author HCB-30 review
Lewmar
T68 gold
Joined: Mar 28, 2003
Posts: 11
From: Los Angeles
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Posted: 2003-05-02 01:28
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I purchased the HCB-30 bluetooth car kit from Expansys, and installed it myself in my Audi TT. It took about two hours, and the hardest part was fishing the wires behind the dash.

I put the microphone in the OEM location, which is a behind a small grille 6" aft of the rear view mirror, mounted the supplied speaker in the passenger footwell, and the control box under the dash on the drivers side, just above the dead pedal. All are completely hidden from view. The only visible part of the system is the small control switch, which is on the dash just above the stereo.

I'm happy to report that the system works very well; there is no audible echo and minimal background noise; callers report that they can hear me clearly. The controls are easy to use and voice dialling works great. It would be nice to have caller ID announced, but from other posts I've read here, it seems that's not possible.

The only criticism I have is that switching phones is a pain. One of the reasons I wanted a bluetooth kit is that my wife always leaves her phone in her purse, then swerves all over the road trying to get to it when it rings. I assumed that once her phone was paired with the system, it would automatically connect whenever she used my car. Not true; if the kit was last connected to my phone, it looks for that phone and ignores hers (even though both phones are paired). To connect her phone, it's necessary to go into the bluetooth setup menu on the phone and tell it to connect to the HCB-30. Needless to say, she's not going to go through this every time she uses my car...

Here's some photos of the install. As you can see, it's pretty much invisble...

cockpit

The black thing in the corner is the speaker

Microphone

Black Box (need to tidy up the wiring)

Control

Control
De Neel
T610
Joined: Jun 25, 2003
Posts: 3
From: The Netherlands
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Posted: 2003-06-26 17:07
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Hi, I am thinking of buying it myself. Got just one question. Here in Holland everybody is advertising that you should use professional help to place it in your car. But is that realy nescessary?

Thanks for your reply!
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