Customer Reviews

Sony MEXBT3700U CD Receiver Bluetooth Hands-Free with Integrated Microphone (Black)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I got this head unit because I got an iphone 3GS (previous iphone models do not have Bluetooth audio streaming (A2DP)) and wanted something that would give me as many options of integrating it with the car stereo as possible without spending a ton of money. I also didn't want to have to pay extra for the bluetooth attachments that you have to add on to the bluetooth ready head units.

-BLUETOOTH AUDIO STREAMING
The audio bluetooth streaming is great sound quality is very good (I am not a picky audiophile so can't say if sensitive ears would notice anything wrong with the quality), I actually listen to local radio stations through their internet streams through the iphone then bluetoothed to the car stereo because its better sound quality then what I get out of the tuner (any tuner not just this one, I live in a bad radio reception area between 2 markets). The stereo usually picks up my phone (for both phone and audio) within 30 seconds of turning on the car. I have had to reset the bluetooth (takes about 20 seconds, push one button twice) every few weeks because it will start to get skippy but it is a pretty minor inconvenience. Listening to Pandora through the Iphone to the car stereo is awesome, and has greatly improved my commute.

-Bluetooth Phone connection
Connects within 30 seconds of starting the car. Sound quality is good. And the microphone that is built in actually works well, this shocked me I was sure I would have to either yell or buy an external mic but the one that comes in the head unit picks up my voice fine I have not had a complaint about people on the other end of the call not being able to hear me. Another good thing about the mic being built in is that it saved me $60 on the installation that they would have charged me to install an external mic. The transition between phone call and what was playing before the call is automatic and fluid.

-USB input
I have not gotten a chance to use this because the bluetooth has worked well. It would be nice if it had a USB on the back of the unit in addition to the one on the front so that you could run a wire hidden behind the console plastic and have it connect where ever you wanted it to without it cluttering up the car (that is the main reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars).


Overall I love this unit because it was fairly cheap and it does exactly what I wanted it to do in respect to integrating with my Iphone.

I saw this on a shelf in a local Fry's. I had already tried and returned the MEX-BT2700U last year. I had a few minutes to spare so I tried it. Looked and sounded good. When I confirmed that you can use the Bluetooth Phone with the Internal mike, or get an External mike, I bought it on the spot. For $200, I might add.

The Bluetooth works well, even with the Internal mike, which is behind the faceplate. I'm still amazed that it works as well as it does. May spend the $30 and get the XA-MC10 External mike when Sony has them in stock.

The music sounds great, too. Much better than my 2-year-old CDX-GT630UI. But the best part? Sony added a circuit called DM+. It's for digital music only thru USB, like iPod or my Sansa Clip. It adds quite a bit of punch and re-EQ's things. Sounds way better than thru the AUX port. And you can navigate the music selection on the Sony's faceplate. On iPod, you can let the iPod guide things, but I use the Sony to navigate.

For $150, it's a great buy. If I get a new car, I'm buying another one of these quick.

This stereo is outstanding, period. The features that it has plus the ease of use makes this probably the best bluetooth stereo on the market. First of all the blue tooth is fantastic. Within seconds of getting in your vehicle and turning on the power, the stereo finds your phone and connects it automatically, whether you have it in a case, pocket, or whatever. Then your free to receive and make calls, listen to music or whatever. My number one concern would be whether it worked with the iphone? Well if that is you question, I can answer it for you. Yes it does. You can receive calls, make calls, and use voice control right from the receiver. There is no need to touch your phone.

Second it has a USB port on the front of the receiver. You can connect just about any device to it that has a USB. They say that you can connect the iphone for more control, but I am happy using it through the bluetooth. One thing I do love about the USB port is that you can listen to digital music with a thumb drive. Since my entire music collection is digital now, I just bought a big enough thumb drive to hold my collection, now I have my entire music collection on my vehicle stereo without carrying around one CD. You can control folders, files and names straight from the receiver. It will display the folder name, and the song name and artist on the receiver.

Now if you have a passenger in your car who doesn't have bluetooth or USB but wants you to listen to something on their MP3 player, this receiver has an auxillary port. Just plug your phone, MP3 player, or other device using the input and you are good to go

Being that it has so many features and controls, you will need to take a few minutes to learn how to operate all of the features. Once you do its a breeze. With these features and this price, you can't go wrong.

Oh it does have a CD player on it and I have listened to it to make sure it works, but there are so many other convenient ways to listen to music that you will forget all about CD's and the player.

The Sony MEXBT3700U is basically a good player. My only hang-ups are that the buttons are tiny (especially the preset buttons) and that my usb mp3 player (Sansa c250) wasn't being read properly by the receiver. If you don't have an ipod, here's the trick--in usb mode the receiver can play up to 128 folders, each containing up to 500 songs; buy a thumb drive and arrange your songs so that you don't exceed the 128 folders. I took approximately 1000 songs and copied them to 6 new folders on a 4GB thumb drive (so the file path is thumb drive letter:\new folder\song title). When I use the thumb drive in the receiver, it shows the six folders and then each of the 100 plus songs in them. I can now access all 1000 songs and control playback (including playing all in shuffle mode) of your songs through the stereo knobs, which is exactly what I wanted to be able to do with this receiver. The bluetooth is great, too.

I bought this radio for my car to replace the factory installed radio,to work my ipod and the bluetooth for the phone.The radio/ipod connnection is good .I made mp3 cd for the car which sounds great.I did not buy the external mic for the bluetooth phone which people complain they can't hear well Good system but buy the external mic for using the bluetooth phone.
update found that the mic setting was at HF ON which when you set it to HF OFF the microphone for the phone works better. Still enjoying my ipod touch in the car

This unit works very, very well. I always continue to shop after I buy to see if I made a good choice, but here I did. I LOVE all the input options. And the bluetooth syncs perfectly with my blackberry every time, both for the phone function and for the audio/MP3 player bluetooth function. People can hear my voice in my noisy car (convertible) over the bluetooth (with the top up) with the built in mike. It reads my USB thumb drives laden with MP3's perfectly. It's easy to turn on and off without looking too hard. It works perfectly.

Two related criticisms however: First, there are a lot of buttons with multiple unclear functions if the functions are labled at all. You will spend a lot of time with the manual getting the functions down. Second, it comes with a really poorly written manual. The people who write manuals should have to watch people try to deal with them.

But having said that, I'm getting it, and the functions I've figured out work perfectly. It's a keeper.

UPDATE: I've like this unit so much, I bought another and put it in my BMW. I'm really pleased. Also, I've never understood why a car stereo would come with a remote. How far are you going to get from it. But now that I have the remote, I get that too. It's much easier to operate this unit while driving when the buttons don't bounce with every pothole and bump. Remotes move with your hand. Now, I really like having the remote in my hand while changing volume, channels or skipping tracks.

I could go on and on about how amazing this stereo is, but I won't. The bottom line is that it is an unbelievably great solution for an iPhone with stereo bluetooth. This is what I was waiting for! Now, the iPhone connects within 10 seconds of starting the car, and is ready to play my music and podcasts with crystal clarity. If a call comes in, the music fades and the stereo rings. I just push a button on the stereo head unit and say "Hello!" The internal mic behind the faceplate produces surprisingly good call quality--as good or better than my Plantronics Voyager headset.

The USB function works perfectly with the iPhone, even allowing you to use the iPhone's interface to control the music, which is a must for me. There's no way I'm driving down the road trying to sort through all my music, podcasts, and videos through the car stereo. How in the world is that the safer option? The ability to charge in the car is great, too.

I installed this myself into my '04 Explorer and it was a pretty simple job. The bottom line is that, if you have an iPhone 3G/3GS and a car, you really should buy this stereo. At $170, you just can't beat it.

PRO: I am sure you know better than I do. Everything works fine. Price is low and come with all functions, ie: Bluetooth, Front USB, AUX, MP3, AM/FM....

CONS:
* If you have your ipod connected with USB and your phone paired with BT. It mutes the music while there is incoming/outgoing phone call and it resumes my music while phone call ends. This works perfectly.

If you have your ipod connected with BT and your phone paired with BT. It still mutes the music while there is incoming/outgoing phone call and it DOES NOT resume my music while phone call ends. I have to go back to my ipod menu. Select output audio to my ipod speaker then select output audio back to BT in order to resume my music playing on my stereo. Yes, this happens every single time and disappoints me a lot. =(

** I have my phone pair this unit with BT and valid code. Ideally this unit would connect to my phone automatically once I start my car. Once a while the unit does not like my phone and I have to reboot my phone and connect it manually. It would work for a week and loop again. Sad!

This product is great. The bluetooth handsfree system works great, great sound, very easy to install and just a great deal.

Excellent sound quality EZ to use in every function and Handsfree that is as simple as touching the volume control and your phone is answered then you are talking literally thru your speakers touch volume again and you've just hung up nothing easier