[michael3011preston]

Good afternoon,

I have recently purchased a BMW 318i E90 2009 plate.

It has thw BMW Professional radio, with aux but no usb or bluetooth.

My previous car (Honda Civic) had the Parrot mki9100 installed.

My question is, do I go ahead and get the Parrot kit installed for around £200, or is there a way to have the bluetooth retro-fitted into my BMW (by a professional if it's complicated) for a similar price.

I would like to have music streamed from my phone over bluetooth, (so my sat nav interrupts the radio) and I'd also like to touch the phone as little as possible.

Any advice would be very much appreciated, I'm trying to avoid having another display in the car and would like it to be OEM.

Thanks,
Michael

[Somerset Jim]

I would look towards having a Denison kit fitted to your car. It would look oem and would mean you can use the steering wheel buttons IIRC.

[dest]

Adding bluetooth alone wouldn't give you streaming music, you need to add a combox to get that feature.
Ideally I'd go for a CIC idrive and combox retrofit, it would cost you about £1k but well worth it

[michael3011preston]

£1,000 is well over the limit I'd look to spend...
I've heard of dension kit, but never seen one installed. Have you any reviews? Can you recommend?

[dest]

I had the dension, it does the job in a round about way for iPod but should be fine the bluetooth streaming

[michael3011preston]

Quite a fan of the Parrot kit, would like the OEM route for bluetooth sat nav streaming but undecided...
Thanks for the option!

[ArsE92]

Originally Posted by michael3011preston

Good afternoon,

I have recently purchased a BMW 318i E90 2009 plate.

It has thw BMW Professional radio, with aux but no usb or bluetooth.

My previous car (Honda Civic) had the Parrot mki9100 installed.

My question is, do I go ahead and get the Parrot kit installed for around £200, or is there a way to have the bluetooth retro-fitted into my BMW (by a professional if it's complicated) for a similar price.

I would like to have music streamed from my phone over bluetooth, (so my sat nav interrupts the radio) and I'd also like to touch the phone as little as possible.

Any advice would be very much appreciated, I'm trying to avoid having another display in the car and would like it to be OEM.

Thanks,
Michael

The cheapest way to do it is with a Bluetooth gateway like this. Forget that it's Blackberry, they work with all Bluetooth devices.

Downsides are it needs powering via USB, it won't interrupt your radio with your phone navigation commands, and you can't control it with anything other than the phone interface. Get a decent mount for your phone though and the setup can work well.

You can probably get them for less than £20 too.

[michael3011preston]

Cheers for the advice. I'm not worried about spending around £200. It's whether I go for the Parrot mki9100 or whether the OEM can be retro fitted for a similar price with bluetooth streaming.

[corasdad]

i have this and work very well Bluetooth ,music streamer ect
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kinivo-BTC45...eywords=kinivo

[Pacman83]

My car has the BMW Professional unit, USB & Aux IN, but I can't stream music via the bluetooth. I guess that music streaming via bluetooth is different to the phone?

[dest]

Yes, as above, you need a combox for streaming audio

[sparkymarky]

I have the professional head unit, no bluetooth, combox or usb.


I installed the parrot mki9000. Bit fiddly but not too difficult.

Thanks to the parrot I now have handsfree, streaming bluetooth audio (samsung s4 and iphone 3gs) and usb (usb stick for music).

[michael3011preston]

Originally Posted by sparkymarky

I have the professional head unit, no bluetooth, combox or usb.


I installed the parrot mki9000. Bit fiddly but not too difficult.

Thanks to the parrot I now have handsfree, streaming bluetooth audio (samsung s4 and iphone 3gs) and usb (usb stick for music).

I debated installing it myself, I've installed the dension in other cars, but never done BMW. I'm always worried about the mic line and airbags....

You're the perfect person to speak to about this...

How do you select someone to call from your phonebook with no screen? I presume you have to actually handle your phone/ ipod etc. Also, what setting does the radio need to be on to play the music, or does it merely interrupt like it did in the Civic?

Also, where do you mount your phone? Another key decision...

Thanks for your help!!

[woggledog]

Originally Posted by michael3011preston

I debated installing it myself, I've installed the dension in other cars, but never done BMW. I'm always worried about the mic line and airbags….

To get the A pillar housing off takes a small flathead screwdriver for the plastic AirBag tag, then it's a small bolt. Tape the wipe down against the metal so it doesn't get in the way, and you'll have no need to go anywhere near the Airbag

You're the perfect person to speak to about this...

How do you select someone to call from your phonebook with no screen? I presume you have to actually handle your phone/ ipod etc. Also, what setting does the radio need to be on to play the music, or does it merely interrupt like it did in the Civic?

Also, where do you mount your phone? Another key decision...

Firstly, Siri works perfectly well with the Parrot.

secondly, the MKi9100 does have a screen, so easy enough to select a contact. I have my mounted directly below the AC console

Lastly, for mounting, I've a Kenu Airframe (http://www.kenu.com/products/airframe) which works perfectly in the central AC vents, although two things to note:

1. It blocks the Hazard / Unlock buttons
2. You'll need to mount it on the bottom most vane to keep it the most secure

Other than that, simples.

Don't forget that you'll need one of these also: http://www.justcarkits.co.uk/acatalo..._84099AUX.html This particular one is a little more expensive than the officially recommended one from parrot, but it does means that you don't end up with eleventeen miles of wiring. This particular one also comes prewired so that you can use the head unit amp instead of the merde parrot amp (a bonus is that you retain your reversing sensor sounds)

[dy63]

Originally Posted by dest

Adding bluetooth alone wouldn't give you streaming music, you need to add a combox to get that feature.
Ideally I'd go for a CIC idrive and combox retrofit, it would cost you about £1k but well worth it

if combox and full cic retrofit from professional radio costs around 1k tell me where from

[michael3011preston]

Originally Posted by woggledog

To get the A pillar housing off takes a small flathead screwdriver for the plastic AirBag tag, then it's a small bolt. Tape the wipe down against the metal so it doesn't get in the way, and you'll have no need to go anywhere near the Airbag

Firstly, Siri works perfectly well with the Parrot.

secondly, the MKi9100 does have a screen, so easy enough to select a contact. I have my mounted directly below the AC console

Lastly, for mounting, I've a Kenu Airframe (http://www.kenu.com/products/airframe) which works perfectly in the central AC vents, although two things to note:

1. It blocks the Hazard / Unlock buttons
2. You'll need to mount it on the bottom most vane to keep it the most secure

Other than that, simples.

Don't forget that you'll need one of these also: http://www.justcarkits.co.uk/acatalo..._84099AUX.html This particular one is a little more expensive than the officially recommended one from parrot, but it does means that you don't end up with eleventeen miles of wiring. This particular one also comes prewired so that you can use the head unit amp instead of the merde parrot amp (a bonus is that you retain your reversing sensor sounds)

Didn't realise you had the one with the screen, I thought you said MKI9000.
If you've any photos of the screen and the mount that'd be great... the mounts look fantastic.. I'm ordering one now!

I think I'll pay a professional to install it, they did it in my last motor for £180, but will ensure they use the lead you suggested. The parrot amp was horrendous so glad it can be re-routed. I obviously want to retain the reverse parking sensor sounds.

Thanks for all your help!!!

[woggledog]

and



and somewhere for the remote:

[michael3011preston]

Legend!! Thanks for the pics :-)
Did you have to put a hole in the ashtray part or just feed the wire through?
How much did you pay for the mount?? I presume you open it up and it closes and grips around the phone, rather than staying in the position?

[woggledog]

righty, the display just tucks under the plastic below the AC controls. It's taped in, as the adhesive that comes with the parrot just doesn't stick, and certainly won't in this weather

regarding the remote: No wires needed: Tis, erm, remote! I think it uses bluetooth to the main parrot unit and has a small coin (CR2025 IIRC) battery

The mount I got for around £25. Have a look at the website, it's quite ingenious

[michael3011preston]

Thanks for your pictures and assistance. Once I've the Parrot lnstalled I'll be going for the mount. I've been after a decent looking one and sick of the tat on eBay. None of them looked any good, that does.
I know the remote doesn't have wires, I was referring to the parrot display as to whether you created a hole for the display lead to pass through or whether it was just through a gap. Thanks

[woggledog]

Just through a gap. The plastic is quite flexible

[sparkymarky]

Yes it was the mki9000 I installed - no screen. You can either handle the phone for contacts or you can voice dial (just say the contact and the mki9000 auto dials with no physical phone handling.).