![Motorola T215 Bluetooth Portable Car Speaker[Retail Packaging]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Sgk0cs4JL._AA200_.jpg)
This is by far the best Bluetooth speakerphone I've tried. People tell me they can't tell I am in the car. Even at highway speeds, it doesn't pick up any background noise at all. I have this mounted to the visor of my SUV. The only problem is because the roofline is high, I was told I sounded soft. I flipped the visor down about 3 inches (it doesn't obstruct my view at this height) and the sound is now fantastic I'm told. I've tried many speakerphones and this one is the best by far. It has a mechanical slide on/off switch so you can leave it off and flip it on instantly when the phone rings. No delay or missed calls while holding down an on/off button. It also has a mute button and volume up and down buttons. It gets sufficiently loud and sounds good and clear. I'd recommend this over any speakerphone at any price. Best of all it was under fifty bucks at Amazon!
We also have the Motorola T325 which is similar but has automatic on/off which makes connectivity automatic when you enter and exit your vehicle and a couple of other things the T215 does not. I do like the auto connect and disconnect of the T325, but... The T215 seems to be a bit better at understanding voice commands the first time around and seems to have a bit longer battery life than the T325 ( both have great battery life ), I also think the speaker on the T215 is a little clearer. Both are good units , If you have no problem turning the T215 on and off as you enter and exit (it will automatically connect when you turn it on) then the T215 is the best choice. I give it 5 stars because It does everything it is supposed to very well , it is simple ,easy to use.
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This speakerphone does not quite perform to my expectations. Here's why:
1. It has a built-in feature that it "automatically powers down when you leave the car". This is false advertisement by Motorola. It does not power down when you step out of the car and shut the door close. Rather, it goes to standby mode only when you walk away from the car beyond the Bluetooth range (at least 10-20 yards or so). It is a fine feature if you leave your car on the street or on a parking lot by a shopping mall. However, when I park the car in my built-in garage at home, the phone remains in the Bluetooth range and connected to the speakerphone inside the car as long as the telephone is pretty much anywhere in the house kitchen, living room, home office... All calls on cell phone at home continue to be routed to the speakerphone in the garage unless I physically turn off the hands-free device, which is very awkward to do because the power switch is a tiny slider, or disable Bluetooth on the phone (but then what is the point of auto-off feature?).
2. Supposedly, the device should go into standby mode some time after it looses connection with the telephone (this is done to preserve the battery) and wake up automatically when telephone gets into the range again. In my experience, this feature does not work. As long as T215 stays "awake" (perhaps some 10-20 mins), it indeed reconnects. However, once it goes into standby, in my experience it never connects back on its own, does not respond to any button pressings, and the only way to get connected again is to use the tiny power switch to turn it off and then on again.
3. When your telephone rings, T215 does not duplicate the ring. It remains perfectly silent until you press the answer button. What it means is that if you hear your telephone ring or vibrate, you can answer. If you telephone is in a purse or deep in your pocket and you do not hear it ringing, T215 will NOT alert you about incoming call in any way. This is the most frustrating. I can live with the tiny power switch, but I expect that my bluetooth device lets me know that there is an incoming call!
4. The claim that it has a "powerful 2 watt speaker" is also misleading. I am sure Motorola has found a way to prove that the tiny speaker which they put in can withstand 2 watts of power perhaps for a millisecond, but sound volume in operation is nothing even remotely close to what one would expect from a 2 watt speaker. I found that even at max setting the volume was on the low side for noisy driving conditions.
5. Power switch which just has to be used with this device is so tiny that it is not convenient to use. Essentially, you have to slide it almost with your fingernail.
6 The device has 4 buttons which are labelled by imprinting in silver color on silver background. While it it not hard to memorize what they mean and layout is logical (answer is on the right), the labels on buttons are hard to see if you forget what they are.
7. While not critical, the unit neither announces nor displays the caller ID.
To be fair, there are several pros as well:
1. Noise cancellation seems to be working well. The sound quality is good. People on the other side of the line tell me that they can hear me loud and clear.
2. Visor clip works well and keeps the device steady.
3. Charger is micro-USB and can double up as a charger for at least some cell phones.
4. The device can connect to up to six different phones. This benefitial feature has a built-in drawback: if two or more family members with paired phones are in the car, the device does not announce which phone it has chosen to connect to, and there is no means to switch between the available and paired phones to connect to the driver's phone. It does not appear that it can connect to several phones simultaneously.
I initially rated this device one star and strongly recommended against it. However, after I read other reviews trying to figure out what works better, it turned out that there is not a single speakerphone that does everything right. Many other speakerphones, including Jabra, share the same issue and many have their own. So I guess, it is just as good or as bad as anything else on the market.
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This speakerphone was recommended to me by my uncle and cousin. My cousin wears hearing aids and needed something like it. I was impressed with the sound quality and ordered one for myself and couldn't be more pleased. Unlike Jason, I can hear the phone ring loud and clear. Maybe he needs to turn up the volume on his cellphone. I have ringtones set for different people and that's how it comes through on the speakerphone unlike my Motorola earpiece. Can't recommend this product anymore highly!
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I own 3 different types of bluetooth speakers but this is unquestionably the best of the three. Some give it fewer stars because they're comparing it to bluetooth speakers that are extremely more costly. I do my evaluation based on the cost and effectiveness. But honestly, even when compared to more expensive speakers it compares fairly well. My car is very noisy inside and yet callers still here me fine, which is amazing to me. I also here just fine. If you don't want to spend a lot of money, this is a great buy!
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This is a great radio. It is dual VHF/UHF (2M and 70cm bands) receive and transmit but it will scan many more including the NOAA radio weather channels. Plenty of memories and the ability to break memories into banks such as local repeaters or local fire/rescue.
