Ladies and Gentlemen,

I apologise if this is a beaten horse - I could not find anything about this matter using this forum's search engine.

The thing is I just became a happy and proud owner of a twenty month old GS430 with the Levinson audio system. Here is the beauty parked right outside .

One of the deficiencies of this car IMHO is lacking the ability to hook up with a blue tooth equipped cell phone, to provide for hands free conversation when driving.

I would appreciate any information on this matter - recommended brands, ways to obtain one, installation tips, etc. I am located in California.


TIA,
Agasfer

 

There were a number of posts in 2004 about installing Bluetooth kits although they can be a little hard to find. Here is one involving a 03 GS300 with Nav/Lev: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ight=Bluetooth

The most difficult part always seems to be to find a mute point so that the audio system will mute automatically during a call - it was probably easier on the older Lexus cars that were prewired for phones since the one of mute points in the OEM phone wiring could be used - I found three mute points on my 00 LS. Otherwise, installing a phone car kit is not too difficult if you are comfortable with doing some interior disassembly to run wires and hide components.

If you live in a metro area of CA, there are probably quite a few installers around too.

 

Kansas, thank you for this pointer. I was hoping there was something designed explicitely for Lexus.

There is a link to the Toyota/Lexus tech info site in that thread. I think I will try researching that site to see if there is a dedicated hookup in the car. I am in the SF metropolitan area, indeed should not be a problem to find an installer (I just don't want to pay too much for that )

 

I installed a Sony HCB-30 unit into my friend's '04 Cadillac Deville. It's a handfree bluetooth unit with a wired remote that mounts anywhere on the dash. The remote controls volume, pickup, hangup, mute, etc. Installation was very easy but I'm very comfortable working with electronics. It comes with it's own speaker or you can purchase an addon kit and wire it to your car's speakers. It also has a "mute" output to turn of the factory radio/CD while on the phone.

I plan on using the same unit in my car once I make the jump to a Bluetooth phone. I've driven my friend's car numerous times and it works flawlessly. Especially nice is that the unit will continue to function for up to 1 minute after the car's ignition has been turned off. This allows you some time to finish up your call without letting the car idle.

More info: (first link from google) http://www.mphone.co.uk/bluetooth/hcb-30.html

Picture:


I highly recommend this unit!

P.S. This truly does work with non-Sony phones too. My friend uses a Nokia with it.

 

audax, thank you for this info - I'll have a look at it too. But I somehow expected this thing to use the car audio system for telephone - having it's own speaker for this bluetooth gadget seems redundant. But maybe I'm dreaming too much :-)

 

Good luck with your new toy and WELCOME to the site

 

"It comes with it's own speaker or you can purchase an addon kit and wire it to your car's speakers."

The addon is called "Advanced Music Mute". The part number is HCE-16. Avg cost $35.