cb radio with bluetooth??

see the post cobra 29ldtBt

 

They are on sale right now at the flying J

 

Well, I broke down and bought it today. Here is a short review.

Quick on the fly: It works!

Now for deeper.

Its about the size of most 29ltd's. A bit smaller then my NW WX that I already have. It looks great. The color is sharp with black on blue LED's. It does not have the signal tracking feature of my NW WX, but it seems to squelch the good and bad signals out just fine. I think the RX audio a bit better then my NW WX. Might just be me, I don't know. One major thing to note, because of the extra bluetooth feature, the mic uses a 5 pin connector instead of 4 pin. This means most common after market mics like road ranger, dyna, and D104 astatic mics will not work with this radio. I am sure the techie guy could wire one up to work, but dont expect to buy one off the shelf. It wont fit. (I expect these things to be popular, if not spur other models from other companies like Radio Shack and Undien, so it may be something on the market later) It should not be to much a problem because it comes with a decent dynamic mic gain.

OK, so thats the CB side of things. Now for the blue tooth:

It works much like a hands free headset if you know about those. You basically setup your phone to look for a new device out there. (this may be the hardest part because every phone is different, and may be setup to automatically look for a headset you already have. Your cell phone provider should be able to assist you with the cell phone side of things.)

On the CB Mic, there is a bluetooth button. This works just like the blue tooth button on your normal headsets. If you hold it down for 6 seconds it turns on the bluetooth functionality. I believe it was a 4 second hold down after that that sent the signal to pair with the cell phone. (You should only have to do this one time). After that, if your phone rings, it will send a tone into your CB Speaker also. If you hit the button on the mic, it will pick up the call. The CB will be "off" and the phone call will be crystal clear, and I mean CRYSTAL CLEAR into your CB Speaker. (Note: I would recommend an external speaker for any application of CB) At that point, there is a small mic on your larger mic. Its hard to see. Its a small pin hole. So you talk into the mic (But you dont have to Push to Talk) and listen through the speakers.

I seem to be heard perfect when I turned the mic dynagain down. Not sure if it was just a fluke. I was told I had more treble that way. So I am guessing its a bit bassy with it turned up.

I am happy with it all together. For a few bucks mroe then most good bluetooth headsets, it does everything it says it will do. Headsets like blue parrot and blue eagle (in the 120 dollar range) work great and block out a LOT truck noise for the other caller, but suffer from what all headsets seem to suffer. They are hard to hear for the driver. With the CB its as LOUD as you want it to be. I did not get any complaints of noise on my end at all in multiple calls. The other great thing about it is the reason I tried it. Battery life on most headsets is about 1/4 the life of the phone battery. Seems most times I needed it, it needed to be charged, just from sitting idle all day. With it built in the CB, no charging EVER!

Although it may not be true handsfree, no CB I know of yet truly is. They do seem to have an external optional mic for the bluetooth input that plugs into the back of the radio which would make it truly handsfree, but not perfectly wireless. I guess you could clip it right on your belt or something. No matter what, CB and ham radios do not fall under Handsfree laws, so its legal in handsfree states I would assume.

Good little radio. Looks good, and I can finally hear my calls without straining.

 

Thank you WC5B. That is some good info.

 

I'd be more concerned about not being able to get a good mic for the cb aftermarket, and I'd like to see the look on the cb guys face when you bring that radio in for a tune. If you don't care about that stuff then it sounds decent

 

I agree with you.

 

Just a sort of update. In regards to the mic, I have been getting pretty amazing comments on the radio. When I tell them about the problem, they are amazed to find out I am not using an aftermarket. Apparently Cobra thought about this issue and put a decent mic element in the thing for a change.