caverman

I would like to add a way to play MP3 and/or Pandora off of my Android phone. I've read a little bit about the aftermarket add-on like Grom products but I wanted to see if I could get any more pros/cons on those products.

I don't need to use bluetooth to stream my music but having a good bluetooth connection for hands free phone calls would be nice. I'm mostly looking to hook up my Android phone to play Pandora and/or a way to plug in a mini-USB with all my music that I can play.

Any suggestions or experience with the products out there?

tcr101

iTrader: (2)

I used the grom USB3 for the aux cord. Worked great just be careful with unplugging the aux cable. I'm pretty reckless and it took about 2 years for the cable to "not work". Simple 10$ fix for a new cable from Grom and just had to get to the USB unit. One thing is to make sure they send you the right harness. It kind of sucks when you have everything opened up to find out the harness is wrong and have to wait for the new cable to be shipped. Don't have any experience with the bluetooth units.

Viastech is another great option, but more expensive from what I recall.

LS430cb

I went with the Itsy Isimple.

Tmiken

I installed the USA SPEC BT45-TOY yesterday. Bluetooth calling with streaming capabilities, steering wheel controls, adds usb charging port and an auxiliary input. Simple plug and play install.

4cylinder

I have a Bluetooth FM transmitter sitting in the cigarette lighter next to the shift lever, with easy-to-feel buttons so I can manipulate it while keeping my eyes on the road. You can get a good one for $20 or less on Amazon. Mine has two full-speed USB ports for charging phones which is awesome. It even allows me to play off a 3.5mm connection or a micro SD card or even a flash drive plugged into one port if I choose.

My transmitter allows me to answer the phone, pause/resume music, and skip to the next or previous track. The track control functions will work with any Android or iOS music app, including Pandora and Spotify. Volume can be controlled with the car's own ****. On Android, if you hold down the pause button you can activate the OK Google voice control feature. If you're using the phone for GPS navigation the guidance prompts also get routed through the car stereo and automatically pause your music when they occur, closely mimicking a factory install in a new car.

I'd recommend going this route - dead simple and if you get another old car without modern tech you can move the transmitter over :P

This is the model I have: So far it's worked very well.

caverman

Hmm....pretty interesting. That's cheap enough to give it a try and chalk it up to experience if it doesn't work. My only kicker I see with it at the moment is it just kind of being in the way as well as I put my phone cradle right on top of the ash tray cover.

By chance can you post a picture of what it looks like in your car?

BryanHall

x2 for the Grom unit. I installed it last week in about 20 minutes. USB to my iPhone and I am able to use Spotify, Pandora, podcasts, Waze etc. Had one issue where it froze up when I pulled the cable and swapped to my daughters phone mid song, other than that its been pretty solid. Steering wheel controls all still function which is nice. I got it off Amazon for $160 with a couple trim removal tools.

caverman

With the Grom unit, is there a way to plug in a small USB memory stick with all of my MP3 on and just play the music from there?

BryanHall

Yes. I think you have to setup the folder structure per the instructions that come with the Grom.

Daspyda

iTrader: (1)

Very interesting.

What DIP setting did you use, and where did you mount the unit?

https://www.usaspec.com/p-322-bt45-toy.aspx

Their website states $229 - Amazon has it for $143 w/Prime 2-day shipping.

Daspyda

iTrader: (1)

For a simple AUX input on face of radio unit - http://factoryradioservice.com/lexus...s-c-41_42.html

Tmiken

I have a non-nav, non-ML. I set the switches to use the SAT function. When you take the center console apart there is a nice little nook on the left-hand side above the gear shift. I placed it in there and then drilled a hole into the ashtray so I could run a permanent aux in wire and have it tucked away.

caverman

Which Grom unit did you get and did you buy a USB extension cable or anything like that?

caverman

Looks like Grom and the USA-TECH is the same price. I'm guessing most have either installed one or the other and haven't really done a comparison between the two?

BryanHall

This is the one I got.
It comes with a 3 foot USB extension that I ran up under the console and plugged in an Apple Lightening cable next to the seat. Stashed the box in the same spot Tmiken did, plenty of room.