Hands Free Bluetooth Car Kit - a target for thiefs?

I quite fancy getting a bluetooth car kit, possibly this one....

http://www.expansys.com/zoompic.aspx?type=item&i=120562

....but I wondered how 'nickable' they are?

Would I be asking for trouble to mount it in the way shown in the
picture? ie clearly visible from outside? (I know if I left a GPS
cradle on display then the car would probably be broken into)

Is it possible to mount a unit like this tucked out of the way (eg
near ash tray) or would it mess up the sound quality?


Thanks

David Bevan
http://www.davidbevan.co.uk

On 22 Mar 2007 15:33:34 -0700, junk@davidbevan.co.uk wrote:

>I quite fancy getting a bluetooth car kit, possibly this one....
>http://www.expansys.com/zoompic.aspx?type=item&i=120562
>...but I wondered how 'nickable' they are?

I guess if you left it in the car whilst parked it would be
'nickable'.

>Would I be asking for trouble to mount it in the way shown in the
>picture? ie clearly visible from outside? (I know if I left a GPS
>cradle on display then the car would probably be broken into)

If it was mounted "out of the way" - AND removed it when you're not in
the vehicle so that only an empty cradle was visible - you'd be safe
apart from entering and exiting the vehicle ;-)

I've got an empty cradle on my dash vent (clearly visible) and work in
Dingle Vile - Wolverhampton for non-Baggies fans - and the empty
cradle is not a target as it's worth a few pence. It's the times you
forget the phone, leave the GPS module, or get in/out of the car you
need to worry about!

No more dangerous than a "standard" "give us your keys or we'll knife
you" situation... unlikely in the case of my car ;-)

>Is it possible to mount a unit like this tucked out of the way (eg
>near ash tray) or would it mess up the sound quality?

Try it with temporary "sticky-pads". Older Parrot units used to be
sensitive to mic' locations - like the plug into the cigarette lighter
bases with mic's on a 10' cable ones. Newer ones seem to be better.
Indeed, the oldest Parrot (Parrot Blue IIRC the one downstairs) ones
were mono-directional without an external mic'! :-(

On Thu, 22 Mar 2007 23:11:01 +0000, Stuart Millington
<news@dsv1.co.uk> wrote:


>
>No more dangerous than a "standard" "give us your keys or we'll knife
>you" situation... unlikely in the case of my car ;-)
>

Standard !

Sun reader ?

On Mar 22, 11:11 pm, Stuart Millington <n...@dsv1.co.uk> wrote:
> I guess if you left it in the car whilst parked it would be
> 'nickable'.

....is it posible to remove them once mounted then? I thought that they
were hard wired to the car stero? - or do they come with a cradel?

Thanks

David Bevan
http://www.davidbevan.co.uk

junk@davidbevan.co.uk submitted this idea :
> On Mar 22, 11:11 pm, Stuart Millington <n...@dsv1.co.uk> wrote:
>> I guess if you left it in the car whilst parked it would be
>> 'nickable'.
>
> ...is it posible to remove them once mounted then? I thought that they
> were hard wired to the car stero? - or do they come with a cradel?
>

If I were you, I'd stretch to this one
<http://www.expansys.com/p.aspx?i=112175>

A bloody-minded git could snip the wire and remove the dash unit,
however, all the gubbins are installed under the dash/behind the radio.

On Fri, 23 Mar 2007 06:47:50 +0000, uknewsfan <uknewsfan@aol.com>
wrote:

> Sun reader ?

That's a contradiction ;-)

On 23 Mar 2007 01:31:31 -0700, junk@davidbevan.co.uk wrote:

>...is it posible to remove them once mounted then? I thought that they
>were hard wired to the car stero? - or do they come with a cradel?

Depends on the model. Some, like the one Jono mentioned are two boxes.
But, if this is a single box and it's just got the three wires (2
power + radio mute) coming from it via standard cables you - could -
mount it with a switched connection block to allow it to be removed.

OTOH if you're that worried about someone stealing a wired unit, you
may be better off with a decent quality non-wired unit - either
cigarette lighter mounted or one of the visor mounted rechargeable
ones. This would also let you move them between vehicles.