• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Accessories REVIEW: Kensington Bluetooth LiquidAUX Car Kit

drPheta

Well-Known Member
I have the Kensington LiquidAUX Bluetooth Car Kit.
2007 Honda Element, Aux/12V plug on the passenger side dashboard (roughly 4 feet away).

See: Amazon.com: Kensington LiquidAUX Bluetooth Car Kit with Remote for Music Phones: Cell Phones & Service

MP3 and music audio sounds pretty clear, though audiophiles will be disappointed. I'm used to listening to internet radio and satellite radio, so audio quality only needs to not hiss and pop for me to be happy. Besides, my car has a boat load of road noise, so no biggie.

Call quality sounds crisp for the incoming portion, as in I can hear the other party loud and clear. Unfortunately, the other party has a hard time hearing me. If you know what the speaker phone gives the other party in terms of call quality, imagine it being SLIGHTLY softer sounding to them. So, I can hear them perfectly fine, but they have a slightly harder time hearing me (compared to me being on speakerphone, and they on regular headset). Being closer to the microphone doesn't improve anything, and I could be 1 foot from the microphone or 5 feet from the microphone. It sounds the same to them regardless. They describe me as sounding muffled. Speakerphone already sounds muffled, and bluetooth with the Kensington sounds softer and still muffled.

The remote is a nifty feature, too. It controls the native audio player for play/pause/fwd/rwd. It also controls Slacker for play/pause/skip. AWESOME! Voice dialing doesn't work (though I hope FroYo fixes this).

Overall, I'm happy with the product and will use it while driving and simply speak a bit louder and slower while on the phone. Maybe FroYo will improve call quality enough to make this a better headset, but at least it's great for bluetooth audio playback.

Sorry, no pictures as of yet, because it's dark. I'll try to remember to take some tomorrow.
 
I promised photos. Here you guys go. A few things before we get to the photos.

1. Mount is a SoundGate M2 with the disc Gorilla Glued to the back of my battery cover.
2. The micro USB cable is routed behind the dash from the charger (USB part of the Kensington LiquidAUX). The exit hole on the driver side was made so that I can retract/extend the cable as needed (see the photos).
3. I mainly drive using Portrait mode and rarely use landscape. I took photos anyway to let you guys see how the setup works.
4. I know my Volume button is blocked by the phone in the mount. However, my car has Volume/Audio controls on the steering wheel.
5. The steering wheel mount for the Kensington LiquidAUX is strapped to my handbrake, and it's super convenient where it is.
6. I purchased SwitchPro Widget so that I can have an on screen toggle button to activate "Display Always On". No more fumbling with lock/unlock.


With this setup, I'm very happy. The microphone on the LiquidAUX still sucks, so with the phone where it is, I just use the phone's speakerphone function for conversations.



CarMount01.jpg

CarMount02.jpg

CarMount03.jpg

CarMount04.jpg

CarMount05.jpg

CarMount06.jpg

CarMount07.jpg
 
Thanks. Love my Element, but hate the road noise. And, I even have RAAMat everywhere with Ensolite foam (doors, tailgate, floor, roof, rear quarter panel).
 
I've got Parrot's MKi 9000 bluetooth hands free kit installed in my Element. It's got a remote mike and people can hear me pretty well with it, but it costs around $170. If I had know about the Kensington kit I probably would have gone with it. It would have been a much easier install and a lot cheaper. I use the Soundgate mount also. Love my Element also, but hate the noise to.
 
Right no I'm just using a Moto Rokr bluetooth for all my audio and also phone calls. Work really well , people can hear me I can hear them. My only gripe is having to turn it on and off, and turn on the transmitter each time and then having to manual connect my phone each time I get in the car is also a pain. Wish it would fully connect automaticlly
 
Back
Top Bottom