Hello,

I'm thinking of getting an iPhone cradle/dash mount for my 2007 Fit sport. Seeing as my Fit doesn't have bluetooth, I guess I'll have to plug it in directly into the aux jack. However, I'd like to find a solution that is not too messy.

Unfortunately, the cigarette lighter port is stuffed well under the dash so the alien arm cradles are unfortunately out of the question as they can't fit under there, they don't look very good or stable anyway. An obvious solution would be to put the cradle above the air vents/hazard lights switch on the dash and connect a USB cable to the cigarette lighter and a 1/8" to 1/8" inch cable into the aux port but this unfortunately leaves a mess of 2 wires dangling in front of my nice clean stock dash/radio.

I've seen a monster cable that combines the aux port and lighter into 1 to get both sound and power to and from the iPhone via the serial port however, the product cost about 75$ and has consistently bad reviews for being poorly made. I'm considering the iOttie universal one-touch cradle (iphone 4 waterproof case skin kindle fire ipad 2 3 4S galaxy S S2 S3 nexus) but I haven't found a good solution for the audio or power.

Any suggestions?

 

did you find a solution you like? i'm looking at this to mount my iphone on my 2012 fit:

TinyURL.com - shorten that long URL into a tiny URL

and there are little tacks you can get to tack down cords to the console...

 

I did find the perfect solution! I dunno if you have Bluetooth in your car but I don't. Firstly, I got the iOttie one touch dash mount. I cleaned my dash with isopropyl alcohol and then stuck the sucker on there and it has never budged, in the heat or the cold. It clamps firmly on the iPhone and is easy to cradle and uncradle. It also leaves space for the headphone and dock connector and is compatible with iPhone 5. For 25$, it can't be beat! You can get it with free shipping from newegg.com I think.

iOttie Black Easy One Touch Universal Car Mount Holder for Smartphone HLCRIO102 - Newegg.com

Second, I got Belkin's Bluetooth hands free car kit. I plugged in the lighter and aux jack and passed the wires under my dash and out the other side of my steering wheel. I don't like the feel of the button so much but the one touch music and phone operation is fantastic! 95% of the time I use BT so no wires but on road trips, I connect my USB charger cable to the extra USB port on the Belkin charger and just charge that way. Note that some people like to mount their phone on the left of the instrument cluster; that's all fine and dandy but I didn't want my cables to cross over in case I needed to charge, so I mounted it right over the air vents above my radio and it does just fine right there.

Amazon.com: Belkin Bluetooth Car Hands-Free Kit for Apple iPod, Apple iPhone, BlackBerry,and Android Smartphones, US Version: MP3 Players & Accessories

 

Awesome, thank you! The iOttie looks great -- certainly a WAY better pri¢e!

Yeah I'm not nuts about the Belkin button, but it also seems like the best utility/price ratio; I was already strongly considering it, so your affirmation confirms it for me.

I have steering-wheel controls for my stereo, though, and I'm wondering if that will or won't work with BT... Do you have those, too?

Do you happen to have a photo of your setup? I'm a little confused about where you placed it and put the wires, but it sounds perfect.

Thanks so much for your help!

 

So I got the Belkin -- I returned the first one because the USB port was so tight, I felt like I was going to bust my iPhone cord pulling it out! But they all seem to be that way, so now I'm just hoping it'll loosen over time.

The steering wheel controls don't work to control the music (skip songs), when streamed from my iPhone through Belkin BT, which is a bummer. The work-around is that I can connect my iPhone or a flash drive to the car's USB, through which I have steering wheel control, and use the Belkin/AUX for phone calls. I just have to hit the Belkin button AND "mode" button on the steering wheel -- to switch to AUX from USB -- so I can answer the call.

I'll give it a try for a while, but I might ditch the Belkin and just attach the AUX cord from my iPhone when I get an incoming call. (Attaching the AUX cord automatically switches the stereo to AUX mode from USB, so the "mode" button step is eliminated. I'd just have to hit "answer" on the phone and then plug it in. Not awesome, but doable.) Or eventually maybe I'll pony up the extra dough for a more integrated BT system, like Parrot, which has more than just one button.

 

Ok so i can't link to images from imageshack from my ipad so ill have to add them later. Why don't you simply use the button on the Belkin device to skip songs? You have to double tap the button to skip to the next song and you can use the controls on the steering wheel to control the volume.

One of the reasons I like the Belkin device so much is that I feel like it's added safety. I drive a manual transmission car and there's moment nothing more dangerous than fumbling around trying to answer a phone while you're driving. Belkin's one touch operation allows me to manage calling and music without distracting my attention from the road.

 

Yeah, I'm driving manual, too, and I agree. I just don't like the double-tap much; seems like I just turn it off instead of skip the song, like 20% of the time.

The car stereo also allows me to toggle through playlists, etc, more easily, and displays the name of the song, if I use the USB.

Thanks so much for your help! It's not a big deal if you can't load the pics, but if you feel inspired, that will be lovely

 

the double tap is like the code for 30 lives in contra... you gotta get the timing right

 

I love the iOttie -- great suggestion! 2 of my friends have bought it now, having seen mine.

The Belkin bluetooth, though... No one can hear me on that little mic when I try to use it for hands free phone operation. Where do you have yours mounted? Any advice there?

Thanks again for the iOttie rec -- what a win!

 

That's my setup. I leave it plugged in the lighter jack, and I passed the wire under my dashboard and out from behind the steering wheel. Perhaps you have a faulty unit. Callers have absolutely no trouble hearing me even with road noise. I would send it back to Belkin for an exchange if it doesn't work properly. I actually use it paired with turn by turn navigation of Google maps and I find it works very very well. For zero dollars I got a half decent GPS with voice navigation!

 

MTLian, thanks for posting this photo of your set up. I've been looking into this same bluetooth car kit and was thinking of placing the mic/button in a similar location. Would you mind taking a photo from further back just so I could see how long the cables are and to give me an idea of what the 12V/AUX area looks like when it's plugged in?

 

my custom white powder coat since this morning:



That's a picture of my cig lighter socket, my aux in jack and and some newspaper that I put under my all season mats to soak up some of the salt that comes out from under boots and keep it from eating up the upholstery. The Belkin product is fantastic with the FIT because the aux and cigarette lighter are side by side.

There's no real point of taking a picture from far away because the cables are super long AND there is a 1/8 inch (headphone juck) male to female extension cable provided so even if your aux in port was in your trunk you'd have way enough wire to get there. I passed my cables under my dash and out the steering wheel and I still left the little garbage bag tie on the cable to keep it partially coiled up and I'm not even using the extension.

 

P.S. my apologies for the crappy pic. I'm sure you could make the wires look way neater by tucking them better and perhaps using a little tape under the dash but I can't be bother since it is low on the dash on not very noticeable. All in all a very clean setup if you ask me.

 

Hey MTLian, thanks for the photo! I'm definitely sold on the kit now =)

 

I got a Motorola hands-free Bluetooth thingie a while back. Highly rated; the best in fact. Worked terrible. Harder to use and lower quality than iPhone speakerphone.

I came to a simple conclusion for myself: Shut up and drive.

 

Been using in my '08 Fit for a couple of months; works very well, keeps your Aux input free, has an on/off button so you can leave it plugged in all the time, and you can charge thru it, too. Going to look at that iOttie to hold my iPhone5 -- thx for posting it.

 

I ended up not getting a Belkin and got this instead:

Kinivo BTC450 Bluetooth Hands-Free Car Kit for Cars with Aux Input Jack (3.5 mm) - supports aptX : Accessories

It's a similar concept to the Belkin unit, but I like the fact that it autoconnects when you start the car, and there are physical buttons for forward/back. It also supports Apt-X, which should allow for higher sound quality if your gadget supports it. Unfortunately, iPhones do not yet support it. Anyways, sound quality for both music and calls is great!

I have to figure out how to set the volume correctly however, because calls seem to come in really soft so I have to turn up the volume, and then when the call ends it goes back to the music and it's a lot louder than before the call, so that's the only hiccup so far.