Nokia CK-200 Car Kit Includes ISO Cable

I recently got a new car and my employer put in a bluetooth car phone kit from another manufacturer (Parrot CK-3100) I wasn't impressed with it from the start, it was clunky to operate and felt poorly made. Worst of all is it just wouldn't work with my phone properly - a Windows Mobile V6.1 based device, specifically in-call volume was pitifully low, it was unusable! An engineer was sent with a new unit but that was no better, proving it was an incompatibility issue. I contacted the manufacturer who told me that as my phone was launched 2 years ago they were not interested in fixing the issue!

I had enough! so started looking around, the Nokia CK-200 looked good, although its so new there is very little information or reviews around for it.

I took a gamble and bought one, its not very expensive at all (about the same price as the CK-3100) having watched carefully how the engineer took my car apart I fitted the CK-200 myself, it was easy in my Honda as a SOT ISO adaptor lead had been fitted for the Parrot kit. The SOT cable adapted the Honda's own connections to ISO connections. I had ordered the ISO version of the CK-200 with the CA-160 ISO cable. It all just plugged together! Mounted the display up on the centre console, tie-wrapped everything secure (behind the heating control panel in my case) fixed the wireless remote with strong double sided tape to a flat area and.... powered up. It worked. I paired my phone, called my voicemail and was DELIGHTED to hear it BOOMING out loud and clear!

I have been using it for a week now, I recently updated the software but have not had a chance to see how much difference that will make. But straight away its been a pleasure to use, the remote control feels good, the software is responsive and intuitive, it just gets on with its job! have no problem hearing the caller at high speed and everyone can hear me fine using the microphone in the display. It looks fantastic too.

Any issues? well the weak spot of the kit is I would say the display mount could be improved, its a bit fragile looking, you wouldn't want to keep unplugging the display from it. I installed it by removing the sticky pad and sliding the plate in-between two bits of trim.

The display connector fits to the mount via a small plastic ball joint which is quite sloppy, the display can flop about even under braking! I have found a solution to this of stretching a small bit of plastic bag over the ball before fitting it in its socket, tightens it up really well.

Its brilliant how you can take the display to your PC and update it via usb (needs a CA-101A usb cable very cheap), the CK-3100 you had to take the PC to the car and do it over bluetooth..my employer locks out bluetooth on our laptops for security so its not possible.

Other thing for my wish list would be the ability to get contacts from the SIM, I keep my contacts in the SIM instead of the phone so I can switch easily if the phone fails. The CK-3100 managed to retrieve my contacts from SIM but the CK-200 can only retrieve from the phone contacts memory.

I have a work around for this, and as I don't add contacts very often its not a big issue! I 'select all' and copy all my SIM contacts to Phone, maunually sync. with the CK-200, then take the SIM out my phone, clear the contacts and then put the SIM back in.

Since updating the memory I now have 'spoken menus' but I tend to have the volume up high for calls, but then the spoken menus are VERY loud! it would be nice if it had separate volume settings for spoken menus and calls. I have switched them off for now.

The ring tone is not very loud and there are no settings to make any choice of tones, it does mute the car radio though so you won't miss the call.

Finally as I found last night, obviously the remote is run from a little cell battery so cannot be illuminated, you need to practice finding it in the car at night! although once you find it, it is easy to use just by touch.
It can also be attached to the steering wheel, my old car had this system on the built-in kit and I hated it but some may prefer it.

In conclusion I am delighted with the CK-200, although my phone is not on the tested list, it does meet the bluetooth specification required and works completely! This has saved me having to change my phone, all the expensive software I have put on it, the accessories etc etc. The electronics module is small and amazing how much power comes out of such a little thing!

I was getting sad with the other kit as I missed not being able to keep in touch with my colleagues, now its good to be able to have a conversation again. I shall be putting the other kit on an auction site shortly!

For about the same price this product make the Parrot CK-3100 a bit redundant product now.
It is an ex-parrot! - if you know you Python.

One very last thing, I found the installation instructions a bit confusing at one point, there is a diagram of the CA-160 cable module, it shows the cables to the CK-200 box coming out the same side as the cables to the car radio, I found it was actually the other way around, the cables to the CK-200 box come out the CA-160 module on the same side as the cables that connect to the car speakers, perhaps Nokia may want to check this. I worked it out after a while.....

Most difficult part of fitting to my 2003 VW Passat was the removal of the radio from the dash. The kit fitted without any mods to the wiring of the car and worked first time with no gliches. It is easy to use safely while driving and has no hidden problems that I have found. I could not get used to the buttons/wheel fitted to the steering wheel and quickly moved it to the dash.

Having my own mobile and a company one, I dediced the CK-200 would be the best option for me. I have been using it for the last few while away on business and when connected I had to remind myself on several occasions that the connection was wirelss, it is that good.

The display is very clear, totally removable and includes a bag for easy storage. The backlight can be any colour you wish due to the RGB colour selection. I did find that during the day, the standar ICE White with no dimming was great for sunny conditions with sunglasses on, and was not too bright at night either. I did try an orange, auto-dim option and found this was great until the sun came out and I could not see anything with or without sunglasses!

Pros:
Fitting: easy if you have ISO connectors
Ease of Use: very easy and it switch between phones in a matter of seconds
Price: very good for the features provided

Cons:
Comes with an ISO connection. My car is old and does not support this method. There is an alternate kit that Amazon does not appear to sell that includes the wiring harness to fit 99.9% of cars. Even more annoying, nobody, and I mean nobody online sells these cables to connect to non-ISO radios. I ended up buying some cables from an online reatailer to become 'donor' cables that were butchered. Yes I could have used the ISO cable that was included, however I would never have been able to sell or re-use the kit in another newer car.

Overall, I have given this 4 out of 5 due to lack of being able to get the cables from Nokia or a reseller. Buyer beware.