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Hi - same experience as marriedblonde, and as I look after about 30 phones and kits for work, I'll add to this - no-one with a bluetooth kit is happy with it. Admittedly we havent got the parrot one, weve got nokia in some, and other cars with bluetooth already enabled (SAAB 93, Toyota Prius x 3, etc etc.)
The reason SEEMS to be that the bluetooth kits, while providing decent functionality, do not provide a separate antenna for the cellular function - they depend on the signal that is being transmitted from and received by the handset itself.
The hardwired kits DO have a separately mounted, larger antenna, almost all of which are up at the top of the windscreen, though the BMW has a roof mounted one.
The one most consistent criticism of the bluetooth kits is the constant dropping out.. and none of our hardwired people complain of this.. I didnt hesitate to go hardwired in my own car cos of this (and my previous bluetooth experience) and am very heppy.
However.. I believe Nokia now do a bluetooth kit which is a full cellular phone in its own right and DOES have the extra antenna - simply uses bluetooth to grab the SIM data, and then 'emulates' your handset rather than uses it for the cellular transmission.. but I also understand it only works with a couple of phones (they have to support this SIM reading feature, not the phone book but the full SIM network details) and I havent tried it so cant comment!!
good luck..
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I had a SE HCB-30 in my old car which always worked faultlessly with both an SE 610 phone and then a Motorola V600. No external aerial though
The current car has a Motorola bluetooth system (quite which I'm not sure) which has an "discreet" integrated phone aerial stuck to the inside of the windscreen which certainly works as in deepest darkest Wales I could only get a signal if I plugged the phone into the holder in the car. Also although it does drop the connection occasionally on long journeys, I'm minded to blame the phone (which is getting a bit elderly) rather than the system as the only fix seems to be to turn the phone off and then on again.