Bluetooth and cars

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  • atgcpaul
    Veteran Member
    • Aug 2003
    • 4055
    • Maryland
    • Grizzly 1023SLX

    Bluetooth and cars

    I think every state I frequently drive in (MD, DE, PA, and NJ) has a hands free law regarding cell phone use. And I don't think these are very new laws. What baffles me is the number of people I still see with the phone stuck to their ear (forget about the amount of texting I still see). This isn't in old cars either where BT might not be standard or where the phone is too old for BT.

    I even saw one of our IT staff drive in today with the phone up to his ear. I just don't understand why some people haven't made the switch to using their car's BT.
  • leehljp
    Just me
    • Dec 2002
    • 8429
    • Tunica, MS
    • BT3000/3100

    #2
    I can use the BT with my wife's 2017 car, but on mine (2009), the mike is in the rear view mirror, and is very sensitive: speak a tad low as in turning the head to the left to look at the outside rear view mirror, it does not pick up; speak a tad loud and it clips the speech. It needs very consistent volume or it doesn't work. LOML's car works very consistently. LOML's previous 2010 Prius sounded like she was talking in a barrel all the time and difficult to understand. My 2009 sounds and works good if looking straight ahead and the speaker's (me) volume is almost monotone and A/C hater fan is not on more than at a low level. My wife got her 2010 Prius in 2012 and it sounded like that from the beginning.

    The ability to communicate clearly is drastically different from car to car on bluetooth.
    Hank Lee

    Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

    Comment

    • radhak
      Veteran Member
      • Apr 2006
      • 3058
      • Miramar, FL
      • Right Tilt 3HP Unisaw

      #3
      You could be talking to me (or about me) - but I live in FL where hands-free is not a law yet. I have connected the rest of my life to wireless and online, but I have not found BT to be good enough to be 'hassle free', even outside of cars.

      My RAV4 (2008) does not have built-in BT, but my wife's 2013 Corolla does, and she uses it all the time, and I find it not that seamless. First, it uses the car speakers, which means everybody in the car has to participate, willing or not. I drive my teenagers around, so that would be a bummer for me and for them. I have sat in the car when she gets calls from her brothers, or her friends, and its painful to be an audience to all that. Also, I like my phone calls quiet, without the booming echo the speakers inside the car cause.

      The other thing is, I found that because I don't have 'hands free', I tend to use my phone far less while driving - I very rarely call, and even while receiving I cut off calls with a brief acknowledgement and an 'I am driving' note. I am not sure I would use it even I get another car with BT. I don't even use BT to connect to my headset at my desk - I hated it when I tried BT headsets and then they ran out of charge; and I do prefer the solidity of the sound with a wired headset! Even BT connection to speakers from smartphone for music, is nowhere close to a wifi connection for clarity.

      I agree though - if anybody is using the phone frequently while driving, hands-free is better than not. And let's not even put texting (or other phone stuff) in the same realm - that's pure irresponsible of any driver, law or not.
      It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
      - Aristotle

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      • twistsol
        Veteran Member
        • Dec 2002
        • 2893
        • Cottage Grove, MN, USA.
        • Ridgid R4512, 2x ShopSmith Mark V 520, 1951 Shopsmith 10ER

        #4
        I have bluetooth in my truck (2014 GMC Sierra) which really works quite well and is clear on both ends. I use that when I'm alone in the truck, but if I'm with anyone else, they don't need to hear work conversations. Since more often than not I'm in a rental car anyway or have other people with me, I have an LG Bluetooth that I wear around my neck. Sound quality on my end is very good and not too many complaints from people on the other end. It also works well for the hours long conference calls I have to endure when working at home.

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        The bluetooth in my wife's 2011 Volvo has never really been clear and people on the other end can't hear you unless you are screaming at the ceiling of the car.
        Chr's
        __________
        An ethical man knows the right thing to do.
        A moral man does it.

        Comment

        • cwsmith
          Veteran Member
          • Dec 2005
          • 2737
          • NY Southern Tier, USA.
          • BT3100-1

          #5
          I don't understand it !

          Really, what in the world could be so darn important that risking your life or someone else's life, just so you can talk to someone? I mean, are you on your way to an emergency, trying to save a life, in conversation with a crisis center, someone needs your critical advice to stop a forest fire, launch missiles, head to the bomb shelter, dispatch troops, call in an air strike.... What????

          Are any of us really that important?

          I have a cell phone, it's a nice piece of technology. 99% of the time (probably 99.999%) it is off. I guess I'm just not important enough to have a need to be in touch unless it's an emergency. I used to keep the Ham Radio dual-band transceiver in the car, but that too was always off... only for emergencies. (I don't use either when I'm driving my car.)

          When I drive, I drive. Nothing is more important than that. Even my radio is off, unless I'm on a prolonged trip. My attention is totally where it needs to be.... on the car, on the traffic around me, and on the road.

          I was just talking to a friend this past weekend. We jokingly don't understand any of it. Everywhere we look there's people on their cell phones...even when walking side by side, they feel that someone else, on another phone is more important than the people at their side? And the back packs... every bodies got them. What do they carry and why do they feel the need?

          When I was a teen, I lived in the country. Used to hitch-hike 15 miles two or three times a week to see my girlfriend or hang out with my buddies. Winter or summer, rain, snow, day or night. I even went to school, rode the bus, sat in classes with other kids, sat through boring teachers and went to the weekend games. I never needed a back pack or a phone. And neither did anyone else!

          When I started to drive, I tripped for dozens and sometimes hundreds of miles. No communications at all. You had a folded up map in the glove compartment that guided you, should you lose your way.

          Is it really that amazing that any one of us survived? Or was it that we were a heartier lot, or more skilled, or perhaps more prone to understanding the God's of survival? I wouldn't think so, but there are times I wonder!

          Today we've got so much technology at our fingertips.. really fantastic stuff. But I think we abuse it, let it distract us from focusing on what's at hand, on things that are important to everyone's safety. Today I see car's wandering from lane to lane, slowing up and then moments later flying past me. See people walking into others, stepping off curbs without looking, even tripping over obstacles that are plainly there. Have we human's decided that talking endlessly is more important than using our eyes and our brains to safely navigate?

          How lost are we going to be IF we ever had a failure of that little device to work? All you have to do is look at the recent disasters I guess.

          Rant over,

          CWS
          Think it Through Before You Do!

          Comment

          • atgcpaul
            Veteran Member
            • Aug 2003
            • 4055
            • Maryland
            • Grizzly 1023SLX

            #6
            Originally posted by leehljp
            The ability to communicate clearly is drastically different from car to car on bluetooth.
            Good point. My main car, a 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe, seems to have very good bluetooth. My conversations appear to be very clear. I installed an aftermarket head unit into our older car so it could have BT amongst other things. I think I've finally found a good location for the speaker but it took a lot of trial and error.

            Comment

            • leehljp
              Just me
              • Dec 2002
              • 8429
              • Tunica, MS
              • BT3000/3100

              #7
              CW,

              Phones allow me to go places and be on "call" when otherwise I would have to just wait at a hospital, or stay at home and wait on a phone call for news, either good or bad - that may never come. Phones give me a life to move about. We could easily get into theological and religious discussions in this but this is not the place. My daughter is a supervisor for the department of Human Services, child protective devision in other state. Because of phones, she can be at home on weekends on call, or even visit us (her parents 300 miles away). Her physical presence isn't needed but her expertise and knowledge IS. I usually pull over when I am called (and on the interstate, if i can, if there is a pull off place) to talk with people who call (I am a minister and considered a minister's minister/pastor's pastor for churches over three counties). Our fire department in our county of 10,000+ is 90% voluntary. Our volunteer fire fighters are trained but they have other jobs. Their jobs and bosses support this. Phones allow this which greatly reduce the financial need to keep X number of people on call 24 hours at the three fire department stations in our county. Because of phones and radios, volunteers can respond and be at the fire station in 1 minute or less, or at the fire before the fire trucks get there.

              As a minister, I know that people EXPECT their minister to be there when there is a need. I am amazed at the number of people that actually expect the pastor to come home from a 1000 mile away vacation instantly to be with their family when a family member dies or is in a critical accident. IF the minister can't be contacted, the family and sometimes the church expect the minister to be fired or moved for being so unfeeling. I step in for ministers and pastors on a regular basis and try to defuse this mentality. Staying in contact in today's world is a necessity for DHS child protective devision, ministers, police, fire and disaster relief people. Those in need are so intolerant - but we are not allowed to say it like that when it is our family that is hurting. Get my drift? Phones help for instant need.

              Trying not to get "religious", my wife is what some would call a "pray warrior" and yes, she is often called for such emergencies. She does as much ministering and praying as anyone and calls to her are not for "hope as in maybe or wish" for help, but for prayers that brings results. Prayers that bring results don't happen "after the fact."

              By the way, I will never forget a time in Japan when I got a call while driving on the expressway and pulled over to the side, way out of the way, to answer a call originating from a friend in Hawaii (and who was about to take off (flight) to come to Japan). While I was talking the police pulled up behind me and asked me why I stopped. I told him, To answer the phone call from overseas. The policeman smiled and thanked me for doing that, but gave me a warning that I might get hit, even though I was more than 10 meters from the road!
              Last edited by leehljp; 10-03-2017, 07:43 AM.
              Hank Lee

              Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

              Comment

              • LinuxRandal
                Veteran Member
                • Feb 2005
                • 4889
                • Independence, MO, USA.
                • bt3100

                #8
                CWSmith I pretty much agree with.
                The big issue is people think their time is worth more then their or someone else's life. Of course distracted driving isn't just about phones (had a friend hit for the first time at 65, because someone dropped their cigarette, driving the opposite direction).
                As a cell phone user, neither my phone (candy bar style Samsung, without camera), nor my vehicle (2001 GMC Sierra), have bluetooth. I don't think that is generally available on phones that meet my needs (battery life of a week, basic phone, no texting, cost me $100 or less a YEAR). My vehicles tend to go until dead, never had a new vehicle, don't want the payments.
                As a person who takes orders over the phone, my experience with Bluetooth and speakerphones in general, is they lied to you and you lied to yourself. If the phone is actually loud and clear, then I hear you, and everyone your with, and it is hard to tell who is talking to whom (you to them, all of you to each other, all of you to me, etc. etc). Most speakerphones, do NOT come in clear. It sounds as if your whispering, while having windows down (driving noises), and when your calling places with equipment, talking to someone on a landline, I need clear communications. Please hang up and call from somewhere NOT moving, talking INTO the SPEAKER on the phone (not using handsfree), and NOT while doing something else (give the person your talking to, the same respect as the person your doing a transaction with, as well as those in lines behind you). I've told a lot of people call back, and that is happening more often. **** your phones, is how I feel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
                She couldn't tell the difference between the escape pod, and the bathroom. We had to go back for her.........................Twice.

                Comment

                • cwsmith
                  Veteran Member
                  • Dec 2005
                  • 2737
                  • NY Southern Tier, USA.
                  • BT3100-1

                  #9
                  Lee,

                  You are an exception and I totally agree with the use of and the availability that you need in your services to others. I would never, ever be against that and am thankful for the technology that keeps you in touch with others in need. So too am I appreciative of anyone who needs to be in touch for their service to others, whether in be EMS or whatever.

                  But, that is a fairly low percentage of the people who are on their phones. I see people driving and texting and even reading while driving. Just the other day, right here in the middle of city traffic, some guy rushes through a clearly marked YIELD... he doesn't turn his head or even look up... he's reading his phone, head down looking at the thing. Every two weeks I drive to Painted Post and back, which is 150 miles round trip. Every single trip is fraught with people driving erratically, on their phones and not paying attention to either their speed, the lane they are supposed to be in, or the traffic around them.

                  Annoying, but not dangerous, are the people in the stores. I'm shopping and they're blocking the lane, talking on their phones and not paying the least attention to their position. I really don't appreciate someone in the middle of a store (or any other public place) arguing with someone on their phone, or going over their purchase list or talking about what a great time they had last night. Really?!

                  So while you are a welcome exception, there are just too many others wrapped up in their phone conversations as it they are the most important people in the area. I realize this is never going away and of course the technology is simply mind bloggling. I just wish users would display some sense of manners and keep safety in the forefront.

                  CWS
                  Last edited by cwsmith; 10-03-2017, 06:31 PM.
                  Think it Through Before You Do!

                  Comment

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