IOGEAR Solar Bluetooth Hands-Free Car Kit w/ Crystal Clear Sound & Up To 13 Hours Talk Time (GBHFK231)

Pros: Bluetooth and charging work fine. Simple to operate. Self contained with no dangling wires. Good instructions. Inexpensive.

Cons: Tinny speaker sound quality in the car and muffled sound quality on the other end.
I have owned a number of cell phones including the very basic freebies. The speaker sound quality of the GBHFK231 is below than all of my cell phones in speaker phone mode. It's very tinny.
On the other end of the line, the voice is understandable, but muffled. The voice quality of the speaker is low fidelity and is near to not being recogizable.

Other Thoughts: Resetting the unit per instructions on page 28 did not change the sound quality. The poor sound quality does not appear to be a defect but is the result of cheap construction.

Manufacturer Response:

Thank you for choosing IOGEAR and we apologize for your experience. Please email us with a phone number to contact you at support@iogear.com. We will be more than happy to contact you with quality service and process an RMA. Once again, thank you for choosing IOGEAR.

Pros: After reading the reviews, I decided to try this. So far, I have had no trouble with it. The sound quality is very good on both ends with more volunm than necessary. The $13.00 price is great with the rebate but I haven't received that yet. When I return to the vehicle after shopping, I hear it beep indicating that it has reconnected. Battery life is good. I haven't had a chance to try the solar charger yet. I would definately recommend this to others.

Cons: None thus far.

Other Thoughts: But it, charge it for 3 hours (I charged mine thru my computer), pair it with your phone, make a test call. You won't be disappointed if it works like mine does.

Pros: Works as its suppose to. Clear conversations on both sides. (I did not try 2 phones or solar charge.)

Cons: Cheaply made. After a couple of days use the device beeped and the button fell off. After that the button just keeps falling off with every use. It look like one of the clips was broken. Thus making it almost impossible to answer with it while driving. Product didn't last a week.

Other Thoughts: Their tech support refused to send a button. I have to send it back to them via a RMA which they gave promptly. I even offered to pay for it. I bought this item for $12.99 with free shipping. It does not appear rational that that we both pay about that much for shipping of the whole item instead of them sending me a little plastic button. I am really disappointed with IOGEARS sevice.

Manufacturer Response:

Thank you for choosing IOGEAR and we apologize for your experience. Please email us with a phone number to contact you at support@iogear.com. After speaking with you today we processed an RMA for your devise so the issue can be resolved in a timely fashion. The button you are describing is a part that is not stocked and is not user replaceable. This button is most likely broken so we offered to replace the entire unit. I am sorry but one way shipping is part of the RMA procedure. Once again, thank you for choosing IOGEAR.

Pros: easy set up with HTC 3D

Cons: loud comfy

Other Thoughts: get it won't regret it.

Pros: Solar, loud sound, great range, hands-free. I have used this for about a month and feel safer driving with this, and never had to charge it since the initial charge as recommended.

Cons: None, I love it and am planning on buying a second for my wife

Pros: Solar charge is great, never need to plug in. Pairs easily. Sufficient sound quality.

Cons: Range is so good, it does not disconnect when I come in the house. Only way around this I can see is manually turning the unit on/off every time, which is quite aggravating. I'm contacting tech support to see if they have another solution.

Manufacturer Response:

Thank you for choosing IOGEAR and we apologize for the inconvenience. I would suggest turning off the Carkit when you get home. The range is 30 feet so it will stay connected to your phone unless you are out of range for 3-5 minutes. The GBHFK231 has an auto turn off feature but you must be out of range for 5 minutes for this to work. Once again, thank you for choosing IOGEAR.

Pros: I got this last year on a really good sale here at Newegg. I previously had a Motorola unit with all kinds of bells and whistles, but hated the cords dangling down when I forgot to charge it. The solar charging is great for me and I love that it turns itself off. I also move it to the visor when speaking so I am more clearly heard.

Cons: The only con is that one of the suction cups gave out on the windshield clip, so I had to replace it. Other than that, it's been rock solid.

Pros: Has never needed a charge, shuts off automatically if not used, good sound quality on both ends of the conversation, sound is louder than needed, ringer is louder than needed, simple to use, pairs with both cell phones, great value. For the price, definitely earned 5 eggs.

Cons: None I can think of. I move the unit from my windshield to my visor prior to using which does improve quality but this is more common sense and I really can't call it a con.

Other Thoughts: This unit is a great value and unless you need amazing sound quality, it should work fine. I use this unit daily on a 45 minute commute and callers cant tell I'm using a hands free unit. When I switch back and forth between cell and hands free unit, people on other end can barely tell. I was able to pair two cell phones to my unit but have read of complaints of others not being able to make it work. Some complaints may be caused by the cell phone itself. I use an inexpensive Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V and an AT&T Samsung Galaxy S Captivate.

Pros: The solar is great, and I have never had to charge. It ALWAYS works with my cell phone unlike the terrible Blue Ant I got that almost NEVER works with my cell phone. Never fails to pair and has great range.

Cons: Sometimes the range is too good and I forget it's on in my car and my phone will find it when I'm out walking my dog. It's a little quiet on my end, but the other end never complains.

Other Thoughts: I use the windshield for charging, but the visor clip when on the phone (and it will charge when powered on) so that I can hear. I just wish it was a tad louder, so I dropped an egg.

Pros: Not that many pros

Cons: I got tired of trying to get it to work. Maybe I didn't try hard enough but in this age of technology, you should be able to set something up and it just works.