Customer Reviews

Sony MEX-BT3800U In-Dash CD Receiver MP3/WMA/AAC Player with Bluetooth

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

You get a lot for your money with this unit. Between the front auxiliary in, USB, and Bluetooth you have plethora of connectivity options so you should be able to connect anything to this unit for a long time. That's the unit's biggest plus. In fact, it can be a little bit annoying to have to switch through so many inputs via the source to get to the one you want (you can turn off aux in the settings though). You can also add optional HD Radio through an expensive adapter. I don't mind the lack of HD Radio since from what I've read, the execution isn't great yet with radios switching back and forth between the HD and analog signal and the signals themselves not being in sync.

The display is easy to read at a glance, and RDS (displays what is currently playing on the tuner) makes finding new radio stations easy. The iPod controls on the unit are a bit too complicated to bother learning, especially since you can use the iPod's own controls if you switch to "passenger mode". The buttons on the bottom of the unit used to switch stations and perform other operations have kind of a sharp edge a the bottom, which can make them sometimes a little painful to press if you don't aim high when you hit them. The USB will charge your iPod or other device fine.

The Bluetooth connectivity works really well, and sounds great. I use the Bluetooth stereo to stream music from my Motorola Droid with no problems. The Bluetooth hands free functionality is a bit basic since the unit won't display who is calling you, just that you have a call. Not that big of a deal at this price point. My phone will automatically pair the hands free profile when I turn the stereo on, but seems kind of hit or miss with pairing the Bluetooth stereo profile automatically. From using my phone with another Bluetooth speaker, it seems like it's more of an issue with the Droid.

One thing I find really strange with this unit is the remote functionality. If I use the head unit controls to turn on the unit / change source, the only control on the remote that will work is the off button. Vice versa, if you turn the unit on with the remote, all the remote functions work perfectly fine, but you can only use the volume controls on the head unit. Seek buttons, etc will not work. It took me a while to figure this out and at first I thought the remote control was defective. Again, this is not that big of deal to me since I would hardly use the remote, I just wish it was documented somewhere.

I wanted a stereo to pair with my Palm Pre, primarily so I can listen to music and podcasts via bluetooth. This does that wonderfully. I can even answer calls to my phone by pressing the main dial button and hear the caller over the car's stereo speakers. The built-in microphone on the stereo works OK while driving around town, but at highway speeds the engine noise, road noise, and wind noise make it so the caller on the other end can barely hear me unless I shout. I will be purchasing the Sony XAMC10 External Mic and expect that to take care of the problem, based on reviews for that product.

My only complaint is about the LCD display. It works great for most things, but when listening to the radio, there isn't enough room for the RDS information to display, so you'll quite often see words truncated and then the 2nd half of the word displays when the display moves to the next bit of info. It's a minor thing since I spend most of my time listening to bluetooth audio, but thought I'd mention it in case anybody else cares a lot about that.

I needed a radio to control my 2nd gen Ipod Touch and my Samsung Blackjack via bluetooth, and this radio does both and provides excellent sound quality in a sleek looking package with intuitive controls. Installing was a breeze (my previous radio was a Sony so I did not have to install the wiring harness). Ipod controls sort your music by album, artist, genre, etc. on the radio display. Not something you want to do while driving, but navigating to another song or album at a stop light is a breeze. After connecting the phone via bluetooth, answering was simple. Just push a button. I purchased the external microphoneSony XAMC10 External Mic for BT (Black) as well as the radio so I can't speak to the internal mic's quality, but with the external mic I had no ptoblems. Includes a remote with the simpler functions on it. This radio also controls my Sony disc changer I have been using since the 90's. I've always loved Sony products, and this radio just supports my choice in equipment. Great price too; Sony lists this unit for $199. Only con so far is no built-in HD radio tuner, but until that tech takes off I wouldn't worry about it.

Here is Sony's page for this radio:
[...]

I purchased this for $119.99 from Amazon, it sounds much better than my old Kenwood system and was only $20 more. The built-in Bluetooth is great, people say I sound "Distant but pretty clear" when I use it while driving, obviously the quality decreases with speed/road noise. I drive a Lincoln so the interior noise is pretty low, I imagine it would be harder for people to hear you on a call if you have a noisier car, Like one person who reviewed this complained. I think it's common sense that a microphone that's that far away from you is going to pick up other noises other than your voice, it's just a matter of how far away it is and how noisy your car is. Of course, the external mic should solve this.
All in all, a good system. My biggest complaint is that only the display dims when you activate the dim, the buttons stay the same, and are pretty bright. Sound quality is very good on cd's, radio or mp3 player though. I have a Sansa Fuze and this head unit doesn't really work with it, only detects a couple songs, but I can just use the front Aux and the controls on the device. PTY system is awesome, allowing me to select a genre (news, weather, talk, rock, jazz etc...) and then it scans frequencies in range for it.

FM: Excellent reception. Has 'RDS' Radio Data System. Name of song and station info for many stations displayed. Not many have this. CD: Excellent. Quick-BrowZer® with Jump Mode and Zappin(tm) technology is cool. BT: Easy initial sync, auto sync everytime. Auto sync with last device connected. My phone S.E. w518a, always great connection. BT AUDIO: Great sound quality. Hit seek (on radio or steering wheel) and jog to next song on phone. COOL. BT PHONE: Excellent. Hear everybody great. Turn up or down volume of stereo as needed. Comfortably interrupts any music source to let you know incoming call. Push of button answers, push hangs up, two pushes redials last #. Does NOT have Phone Book Access Profile. No caller ID or even calling # displayed. To see who it is, you look at your phone or answer without knowing. Dial from phone. MIC: external mic a MUST, however, it works EXCELLENT and you are clearly heard. AUX: Great. Sounds fine for music and voice. IPOD use fine. NO rear AUX but they say you can buy adapter to change your CD changer control to a rear AUX. Have not tried USB. DISPLAY: Face lights too bright. You can dim display, but not face lights. You can shut radio off to standby, showing time with lights on, or you can easily power it completely off and no light at all shows. Face lights don't bother me anymore & I do a lot of night driving. REMOTE: Good. Basic controls.

I've had this installed in my Toyota Highlander 2004 and Corolla 2003 for two months now and it's great! Sound is very good with the factory standard speakers, and it plays my CDRs wonderfully. The USB input is even better; you end up using the seek button to forward through the songs, though, so you wouldn't want more than a couple dozen of your favorite songs on it at a time. Certainly enough for a commute to work.

The built-in microphone works OK. It requires raising the volume on your cell phone to max so the other side can hear you, and it's still kinda soft. If you intend to use the Bluetooth phone capability, spring $30 for the external microphone. You're supposed to run the mic cord under your dash, up the trim of the car, and mount it on your visor, but I found it easier to drill a hole in the tray of the car radio adapter kit. Once you have the BT phone up and going it is awesome. When someone calls, you press the volume button and now you hear their big booming voice through your car speakers. Very nice and very clear.

Installation requires you to be mechanical enough to uninstall your factory radio and stick the new one in. I bought the adapter harness to work with my specific cars. I can't imagine trying to do this without it. You do have to use a butt splice to attach the adapter harness to the radio harness. However, you get to do this on your workbench instead of in a cramped car, so it's not bad even if you're not used to crimping. For the first setup, I was so scared of crimping I bought some Posi-Loc connectors which require no skill whatsoever to attach.

It does leave an annoying beep sound when you turn it off without pulling the face plate off. Sony features this as a security device so someone doesn't steal your radio. I think their engineers simply built it in without asking, and when the marketing team fielded complaints they shrugged and said "I can't redesign it now"....

Also, the Bluetooth phone doesn't pick up the external mic when giving it verbal commands. This isn't so much of a big deal; if you mostly only call one person (i.e.-your significant other **ahem, right?**), you just hold down the volume button for 3 sec and it will redial your last number called.


My setup:
Sony MEX-BT3800U
Sony XAMC10 External Mic for BT
Stereo Install Dash Kit Toyota Highlander 01 02 03 04
Stereo Wire Harness Toyota Highlander 01 02 03 04

This stereo is exactly what I was looking for, which was:
A cheap stereo.
A stereo that DOES DO bluetooth audio streaming(A2DP) out of the box.
A stereo that DOES have usb.
A stereo that DOES have aux front input.


Very simple install.
Very simply bluetooth pairing(I did have to read the pairing manual, but i would have figured it out eventually had i not, just hold in the bluetooth button on the front of the stereo till the bluetooth icon blinks. this means the stereo is in discovery mode, meaning other devices can only find it when this is blinking, then once paired the device always pairs with it when it is within range. Complete simplicity)

I would suggest this to everyone who needs to stream bluetooth audio to their car speakers, it has CD-player quality.

My set up sounds tremendously good for being as follows:

Moto Droid running Pandora App(free music streaming radio) through the bluetooth channel on this stereo.

I was a little bit worried by some negative comments, but the combination of features at this price was too much to pass up. Installation was a breeze once I realized that all three red wires from the Stereo Wire Harness Saturn ION 03 2003 had to be connected to the one red wire from the radio's harness. Then, I had to actually read the instructions to figure out how to turn on Bluetooth pairing. After that, everything was slick. I haven't had much time to test the built-in microphone, so I can't say whether I'll need the external microphone. iPod and iPhone control through the USB connector work perfectly, and connection via the AUX connector works as expected. I haven't succeeded with Bluetooth audio from my iPhone, since I use my Motorola Razr as my connected phone, but I was able to play music from the Razr! In short, in spite of some frustration with connecting the wire harness I am delighted with my new sound box!

UPDATE 5/21/2010: So far I have had no problems with the built-in microphone as speakerphone. I have had several conversations while driving and heard no complaints. The unit flawlessly pauses the playing iPod when a call comes in, and resumes it when the call is over. I have also switched over to using my iPhone (first generation) and only miss my voice controls from the Razr.

This is the second Sony MEX unit I've installed for personal use, but the first one purchased from Amazon. The other was purchased from Best Buy for immediate availability, but I saved $60 via Amazon on the second unit. Both have been flawless to date (running 6 months and 2 months respectively). My bullet points:

Easy installation, good manual, cost effective, feature rich, good audio, and reliable performance.

My iPhone 3G works well via both USB & Bluetooth. For those of you wondering if the Bluetooth music interface offers the same fidelity as a direct USB connection, I would have to say no, but it is very close. Some depth and crispness is lost via Bluetooth, but a worthy compromise for the flexibility BT offers. I found the BT to work up to 30 feet away from the unit before breaking up. In terms of iPhone/Pod/Touch, I particularly like the option of controlling the device from the Sony face controls and/or remote. In addition, you can still navigate music on the iPhone/Pod/Touch directly. Reading the manual, you'll discover that you can make adjustments to the lights, display, auto-off, dimming, beep tones, etc., so the unit is relatively customizable.

Two things I'd like to see improved: The remote should be able to turn the system on. Currently, it only turns it off (unless there is something magical I'm missing). Secondly, I'd like to the power-on button to be more obvious/convenient. Currently, it is the "source" button that is a bit small for my liking and would be marginal for those of you with sausage fingers and reading glasses.

All in all, I am quite pleased and would buy another unit without hesitation.

Just got my Sony mex-bt3800u headunit...
I'm very happy with it. After searching for the nicest headunit for me
I'm glad I chose this one.
First of all the design is slick and shiny and the blue lighting gives the unit
a really nice touch.
It's got all the vital features you can expect from a headunit:
USB, Aux, cd/mp3/wma... and offcourse bluetooth connection
which works absolutely great. I can hear the person who calls very clearly
driving on the highway or inside the city and people say they can hear me well.
I'm unsing the built in mic integrated to the panel and so far don't
see any reason to connect an external mic.
Bluetooth audio also works quite well but I'm not really using it
because my 16gb Disc-on-key holds lots of music and the sound quality
is awesome, even when connected to my old original 2002 speakers that
came with the car. It's really convinient to browse the different
music libraries. Names of albums and songs appear correctly.
The remote has all the important functions on it.
Bottom line:
Best value for such a great price.