Grom Vs Parrot?

[ridgersIS300]

Ok guys, so the dilemma, have been reading up on the grom audio kit (with Bluetooth) on here and it looks like a great piece of kit. If it was your £150 odd what would you get the grom or the parrot 9200i?? I have no experience with the grom (but have seen the installation guide on here), where I've had parrot kits before and think they work very well :-/

Would I need an additional sot lead for whichever I choose?

Any advice appreciated....

[jomo]

I,v had both in my is200, the grom was soooo easy to fit and worked very well as a music source but i didnt use it as a phone calling source due to the parrot 3200 i had fitted.

If you want the parrot to go through the cars front speakers then you'll need a sot cable which are not the best in the world to fit, as they come with the bare essential fitting instructions!

I ran a seperate speaker under the dash for my parrot and took power from the back of the radio, ann when i had it all working together it was great, music paused while you made a call, and the Iphone tomtom came throught the car speakers.

The parrot and grom kit i fitter are the older type to the ones your looking into so dont know if this helps any?

But for your £150 you could buy both these off eBay!

[rincewind]

I've recently had the Grom. Ipod wise, unbeatable. Doddle to fit and sounds absolutely superb - full control from the iPod. However, I've recently bought the BTX Bluetooth add on and that's not been such a success. It refuses to automatically bond with any phone at all, and you have to manually bond it on startup. Not only that, once every couple of weeks it won't connect at all and I have to go through the whole initial bonding process again. One more gripe, sometimes when I use it the iPod screen shows a large tick and the only way to get rid of it to regain control of the iPod is by unplugging it and reconnecting the plug - not ideal when driving. It's since totally packed up with a loud buzzing through the speakers. I've been in touch with Grom and they have admitted trhat some users do get problems but they've not been able to establish why. To give them thier dues, they said send it back for a replacement, which i have just done and am awaiting the replacement.

All personal experience of course and it was the BTX 2, not the newer BTX 3 unit.

So, Grom Ipod = brill, BTX Bluetooth = not so brill.

Paul

[stevlee]

I too have the Grom Bluetooth kit, and I use it for both audio and phone calls. All I can is a simple setup and all cables are provided in the install kit. The Bluetooth phone will auto pair when ignition is switched on. Only gripe is, you do have to slowly turn on the ignition wait for a few seconds before turning it on. If you can in a hurry, then it seems the grom is not initialised or something, therefore the Lexus CD player don't detect the CD-changer which is the Grom kit.

[rincewind]

Only gripe is, you do have to slowly turn on the ignition wait for a few seconds before turning it on. If you can in a hurry,

Can you explain a bit more?

[stevlee]

I find with my Grom, if I turn key to on then immediately start the car, if im in a hurry, then the Grom is never recognised by the stereo, no matter what you do it won't work, you have to turn off/on the car, to get it working. However, if I turn the key to On, wait say 5s, taking the time to put on seat belt, open up the wing mirror, then start the car, then the grom kit will work everytime.

[rincewind]

Ta much, I'll try that when I get the replacement. Must admit, I love the Grom Ipod adapter. Paired with the stock (but excellent) stereo in the IS200, sounds fantastic.

[ridgersIS300]

Ok so decided to buy the grom with the aux in and also the Bluetooth adapter. I couldn't justify spending an extra 20 odd quid for an iPod integration cable. Generally, once I'm listening to an album/playlist I don't change it until its finished. Also I already have a USB charge thingy in the 12v socket to charge iPod :-)

Just waiting for delivery now, bl00dy bank hols lol! Fingers crossed it'll be an easy install.

One more question, how do you know when the Bluetooth is paired to your phone? Does it make a beep noise like in a parrot when it connects?

[stevlee]

If it is connected to Bluetooth, you can change track using the stock stereo while in the middle of a song too. Its an easy install, just make sure you tape the edge of the plastic dash, and take it again and again, the back of the stereo is razon sharp against the dash. Yes it makes a soft beep via the car speakers when Bluetooth is connected.

[ridgersIS300]

I've now installed my Grom kit and I'm really pleased with it. Very easy to install and there is enough room behind the factory stereo to place the grom unit and all the wires. Had a bit of a panic when the Bluetooth wouldn't connect with my Iphone 4s, however a quick google search and a firmware update was all that was needed. Cannot fault the system, Bluetooth connects first time eveytime and is on a par with my previous parrot kits. I don't have to wait for the ignition or anything. So happy I spend £100 on this instead if the equivalent parrot :-)