So, in my loud S2k, I've always had a problem using my phone. Before Bluetooth, it was tolerable, but people always complained in was noisy because of my exhaust.

When we had to start using bluetooth, the combo of my loud car, and my crappy hearing made things almost impossible.

I found a few bluetooth devices that were loud enough for me to hear them, but they would always complain about all the background noise and it was hard to hear me.

I found a few headphone type units with great noise reduction mics were they could hear me great, but the earpiece sounded like shit to me, plus they were bulky and ugly.

Well, finally found a unit were I can hear everybody great! And the mic is so good with noise reduction so they can hear me!

Plus, it's small, can stream bluethooth, and you can even plug an ext source into it, which works even when the battery goes out.! And, you can just use it for general noise reduction on long trips! This is by far the best unit I've tried, and I've tried a dozen or more, so I wanted to share it with everyone!

http://phiaton.com/ps-210-btnc

The price goes up and down on Amazon, I've seen them as low as $99

http://www.amazon.co...eywords=phiaton

 

When I upgraded my audio head unit I went with a Sony HU with bluetooth phone, it works surprisingly well, very clear both ways.

 

I tired a couple of HU sith bluetooth built-in. And of course, I could heear everybody great since it came over the car speakers. But, I couldn't find a unit that people could hear me well. Regardless of whether it had a seperate mic, or one built-in to the face, it didn't sound good to the other party. Especially with a loud exhaust, on the freeway, and no way with the top down.

What model head unit do you have may I ask?

 

I have the DEH6400BT and haven't gotten too many complaints from using the external mic which I have attached on my steering column.

 

Great to hear! The best small form factor headset I've found is the Jawbone Era, but it's still very far from ideal. I'd be curious to know how the Era stacks up against the Phiaton - have you compared the two?

Like davidc, I've had no luck finding a good place to put the mic on my Alpine BT headunit, even with noise cancelling enabled, so I gave up and went back to the Jawbone.

 

No, I haven't tested it directly against that Jawbone, but I did test it against the first two gens. This bluethooth far, far, far outperforms anything I've ever tested it with. I even use it for it's noise reduction abilities just when I'm on a long drive!

 

I've used the Plantronics voyager pro and the Jawbone Prime, Icon and Era and the Era is the first one with a loud enough speaker and good enough noise cancelling to be usable with the top down. The Prime and Icon barely worked with the top up. I'll definitely need to check out the Phiaton

 

I have a long flight coming up, so I used that as an excuse to pick up the Phiaton btnc. Very impressed so far. Noise canceling is very good for the price, especially in combination with the half-in-ear design. The seal is not as tight as some canalphones I've used, but these are much more comfortable. The big test will be to see whether the NC is good enough to compensate for aircraft noise. For phone calls, they're slightly louder than the jawbone era for phone calls, and the mic seems much better. I was able to have a conversation going 65 with the top down without having to yell or press the speaker into my ear, which says a lot. They could hear me, and I could hear them, which is not always true with the jawbone. I do wish the phone volume could go louder, though. The music function can get very loud, but for some reason, the phone function maxes out at a much lower volume.

The big question marks are the build quality and the wires. The unit is nice looking, but the wires are very thin and the case is lightweight plastic, so I'm a bit worried about leaving it in my car full time, with the extreme temperature swings and general banging around. davidc1, do you leave it in your car full time? The wires and shirt clip also make getting it turned on and set up a bit of a hassle, which may limit the its utility for short trips. I can pull out the jawbone, get it connected and in my ear in time to answer a phone call, but not so with this headset. For car use, I'll probably only use it for longer trips.