Bluetooth in a car

paulney

Diamond Member
Sep 24, 2003
6,909
1
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I recently bought a GPS unit (Nuvi 760) which has bluetooth support for the phone, and an FM tuner, so theoretically you can pipe audio output through you car speakers rather than through a tiny built-in speaker.

The problem is that FM tuner is underpowered, and FM reception on it sucks. It can be totally killed in certain areas, and what you get is static.

But some car stereo units fully support bluetooth, so you can not only hook up your phone, but stream music from it as well. So, I was thinking: would it be possible to have a chain of bluetooth connections:

phone -> Nuvi (already works) -> car audio to stream the audio output.

Has anyone tried to do it?
 

nervegrind3r

Lifer
Jul 12, 2004
16,267
5
81
unless ur gps is sitting on top of your radio, dont bother with fm transmissions to the radio, or bt through the radio, it blows. I have a garmin 660, and messed around with to the point of finding that it sucked.

do you have a bluetooth capable stereo system to begin with?

 

paulney

Diamond Member
Sep 24, 2003
6,909
1
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Originally posted by: nervegrind3r
unless ur gps is sitting on top of your radio, dont bother with fm transmissions to the radio, or bt through the radio, it blows. I have a garmin 660, and messed around with to the point of finding that it sucked.

do you have a bluetooth capable stereo system to begin with?

No, and hence the topic. I want to find out if I can build a bluetooth-enabled chain-link of my cellphone, Garmin and an aftermarket stereo unit.

Why would BT through the radio suck? BT is a digital signal, and should cover the entire area of the car and more... The BT link between my cellphone and Garmin works well enough. My wife has Acura TL with BT enabled there, and phone conversations are a breeze.
 

nervegrind3r

Lifer
Jul 12, 2004
16,267
5
81
Originally posted by: paulney
Originally posted by: nervegrind3r
unless ur gps is sitting on top of your radio, dont bother with fm transmissions to the radio, or bt through the radio, it blows. I have a garmin 660, and messed around with to the point of finding that it sucked.

do you have a bluetooth capable stereo system to begin with?

No, and hence the topic. I want to find out if I can build a bluetooth-enabled chain-link of my cellphone, Garmin and an aftermarket stereo unit.

Why would BT through the radio suck? BT is a digital signal, and should cover the entire area of the car and more... The BT link between my cellphone and Garmin works well enough. My wife has Acura TL with BT enabled there, and phone conversations are a breeze.

sorry if I stated it wrong, I meant fm transmission from the nav to the radio sucks, not BT. I have a car with bt built into the radio, and its excellent for cell phone use as well.

As far I know with bt, it works in pairs, meaning on two devices can talk to each other at one time, not 3. I could be wrong, but maybe someone else can drop some info.
 

paulney

Diamond Member
Sep 24, 2003
6,909
1
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Ugh. That would suck. I wonder what's the deal with FM tuner being so sucky - form-factor constraints for a more powerful one or what.
 

Pabster

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
16,986
1
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It is the limit on the transmit power by the FCC. They can't put out much juice and are easily overbeared by fringe signals and crosstalk.