External microphone

[Mac-iRon]

Does anyone know if the Tomtom carrkit for Iphone has any option to connect an external full-duplex microphone in order to by-pass the internal speaker? I'm looking for the best and most affordable option to navigate and make calls with a better quality.

 

[mikealder]

With the car kit the GPS signal and power is fed via the docking connector, the Bluetooth is used only for the audio, for the best set up consider a dedicated handsfree kit for the phone calls and the car kit to provide the GPS signal, Power and a secure holder for the iPhone - Works a treat like this (its exactly how I use it, my handsfree kit uses an external microphone which is positioned near the top of the "A" Pillar) - Mike

 

[Mac-iRon]

Thanx for your response Mike. In other words you use the TT-kit next to e.g. a Parrot-set ? This option would set you back round $ 400,00 although it would be the best way I admit since TT has the gps-chip built in. I was just wondering if I could save some money connecting an external microphone. Ronald

 

[mikealder]

The Bluetooth kit I use is something called iO-Play as that supports both A2DP and HFP modes so you can have two devices connected at once. Its not cheap but is fantastic in use, with the car kit holder there is no way to connect an external microphone other than going down the BT Route - Mike

 

[jetaray]

Does anyone know if the Tomtom carrkit for Iphone has any option to connect an external full-duplex microphone in order to by-pass the internal speaker? I'm looking for the best and most affordable option to navigate and make calls with a better quality.

If you are asking a way to have a wired headset connected to the Tom-Tom kit, I don’t think it is possible.

If you just want a good wired connection you simply use the headset jack on the top of the iPhone. Once a headset jack is connected all audio is routed to the headset, meaning the Tom-Tom speaker is turned off and all music, GPS directions, and phone calls will be heard thru the headset. If the headset has a boom microphone attached all speech will be picked up by that microphone. This item Computer PC Headset Smartphone Adapter, Dual 3.5mm to Single 3.5mm will allow you to use a variety (in quality and price) of different headsets available. This will be the cheapest thing to do and will give you superior communications (depending on the quality of the headset) assuming you don’t mind having a wire hanging from the phone to your headset. There are Bluetooth headsets that are of very good quality but expect to pay a premium price, some will cost more then your phone.

There are also other hands free adapters (with a microphone and speaker integrated) that will connect into the headset jack on your phone. A Google search will most likely show a variety of items available.

 

[Mac-iRon]

Thanx for your reply Jetaray. Actually your solution comes close to what I was hoping for, namely plugging in an external microphone and letting TT-software control whether music is played or incoming calls are being answered and reproduced. Since I understand the TT-kit does not have such option I tend to choose for a separate Bluetooth-kit like the Parrot MKi9000 combined with a Broadit or Carcomm holder. The iPhone 4 GPS chip will then be on its own but since it' has more or less the same chip the TT-kit comes with I hope it will have sufficient capacity to work flawlessly.

 

[jetaray]

It won’t look as neat if you could have used the Tom-Tom audio connector, but it will work.

This is what you are trying to do right?

1) A hard wired microphone connected directly to the iPhone for better sound quality.
2) Tom-Tom to control audio out when the app is giving driving instructions.
3) Music to stop when receiving and making calls.
4) Have all audio, music, GPS commands, and conversations output thru car speakers.
5) A cheap solution giving your callers good audio quality.

To make this work you insert the adapter I mentioned previously into the phones headset jack, connect a quality microphone to the microphone connector, and connect a stereo cable to the speaker connector on the adapter and route this to the car stereo iPhone input.

In this configuration the Tom-Tom software will lower the music audio level and allow you to hear the GPS instructions through you car stereo speakers. When a phone call is placed or received the phone stops the music and then conversation audio (other callers voice only) is heard over the car stereo speakers.

I would think you could buy a cheap adapter and microphone for less then twenty dollars to test things out and see if they perform to your satisfaction.

Just curious but is the Tom-Tom microphone not working for you, for example garbled calls, other party can not hear you, or you sound distant?

If you are hard core you could always open the unit up and splice an external microphone with a long cord into the kit replacing the original microphone.

 

[Mac-iRon]

That's exactly what I meant Jetaray!, although I would substitute "cheap" in point 5 to "unnessasarily expensive". I'd rather spend a little more money on a good solution then throwing it away and buying something unsatisfactory. The information about the TT-kit comes from fora but I can understand why, the mic not being full-duplex (only 1 person can speak at the same time). Your reply gives me an extra option deciding what solution to buy for my car:

1. TT or Magelan (iPhone 4) carkit with external full-duplex mic
+affordable
+extra gps-chip (need for with iPone 4?)
-extra plug, cable & handling
2. TT or Maggelan carkit with additional bluetooth system like Mike suggested in this thread
+Neat
+good sound and speech quality
+external gps-chip (need for with iPone 4?)
-double features (gps, audio)
-thus unnessasarily expensive (?)
3. Active carkit + bluetooth streaming system
+Neat
+Active carkit more solid then TT or Maggelan?
+No Velcro solution (only TT, Maggelan seems to fit fine)
-More expensive
-No external gps-chip (will iPhone 4 be needing it?)

Anyone feel free to advise & help me decide! --Ronald

 

[jetaray]

Sorry I didn?t mean to imply you were cheap, but understand the need to keep cost in perspective.

This is a fairly new product from Griffin Virtual-Hideout | Griffin Hands-Free Mic + AUX Cable Review . I think this adapter looks nicer and includes the microphone. You will notice in the pictures they plug the microphone directly into the aux port on the radio. This is not necessary; you could add a simple stereo headphone extension cable. You plug the microphone into the extension cable, place the microphone in a better position to pick up your voice and connect the other end of the extension cable to the aux port of the radio.

I do not own an iPhone 4 but have read that the built in GPS receiver appears to be very good. If you don?t already have one of the GPS kits I would try your phone without them first you may find it does a good job on its own.

Hands Free Kit at Amazon
Amazon.com: Griffin GC17090 AUX Cable with Handsfree Microphone: Electronics

 

[Mac-iRon]

Now that's good information! The Griffin-cable looks a lot better too, I might give this a try. Thanx a lot for your good advice! --Ronald