If you go to the itronic web site they have many DIY video's.
It seems very easy.
I will DIY.
I ordered a mobridge since I got a dealer close to me and he gave me a good price since I was the first to buy one from him.

 

Thought I would give anyone interested an opinion on the Itronics unit. I love this unit, it does everything the factory installed phone does.

The car, a 2007 CLK350, came "factory wired" for BT, although adding dealer installed BT would have cost $4000 according to my dealer. I can't believe that MB put no less then four buttons on the car, plus the instrument clustor function, and COMAND functions that don't do anything without paying all this money, but that may be just me. Having a button that does nothing, let alone four, really bugged me especially considering it is a $57K car so I looked for the aftermarket solution.

I did the installation myself even though it took about 10 hrs, only because I was afraid of damaging the car's modules. If I were to do it again, probably only 2-3 hrs. After a lot of firmware updates, provided by Itronics, it now performs beautifully. Here are the details.

1. The unit integrates with the MOST bus. I inserted fiber wires in the connector behind the COMAND unit.
2. At first I was told to power it with a switched 12V, which I did. However, there was a firmware update that disconnected the phone when the COMAND system was off. Connecting the 12V to an always on 12V supply allowed the complete COMAND system to work when the car was off, which is the original design of this car. This allows me to make a call through the COMAND with the engine off just by hitting the COMAND unit's power button. I was told the iTronics unit uses only uW when the unit is off, which I don't believe, but even at mW it shouldn't bleed the battery too much.
3. No additional STAR programming of the COMAND was need by the dealer.
4. The car's multiple CD unit and internal CD unit works as normal as does all other functions.
5. The steering wheel buttons all work great and as intended.
6. The COMAND "SEND" and "END" button work as well as the "Phone" interface on the COMAND unit.
7. The phones address book (directory) d/l and is available on the instrument clustor and on the COMAND display. The address book d/l is fairly quick although is not instantaneous.
8. At first the phone sound wouldn't always work through the COMAND, but this was fixed with a firmware update. Now it is 100%.
9. The quality is excellent. Even with the top down, I'm able to use the hands free phone. My understanding (and only a understanding) is the factory installed version doesn't work well with the top down because of the wind noise on the microphone. I installed the units mic just to the right of the instr clustor behind the steering wheel. It is essentially invisible.
10. A bonus is I can pair the BT with my internet table and listen to mp3's wirelessly. I could also used the wired audio cable, but BT is a lot more convenient. Itronics does not claim any support for this.
11. Itronics support was congenial enough and their timely response to email questions was good, although you have to do your own follow on for promised updates.

Would I buy it again? Absolutely. Hope this posting helps someone.

 

Thanks for the feed back. I hope mobridge is the same unit and there support is as good

 

2004 E320
Itronic bt+ipod installation complete. Itronic peeps were very helpful. Iam definitely a novice at installation but everything was very clear and somewhat easy. Lucky I had the exact mercedes in the video. Command unit picked up my BB 8700 and loaded my phonebook and meassages. Ipod menu was a little confusing but after chatting with the itronic guys it made sense, money well spent. I was about to install an aftermarket system I am glad I didnt. Thanks Itronic

 

I just installed the iTronic BT for Mercedes Benz with the iPod Upgrade in my 2006 E350.
The install was very easy after watching all of the videos available on youtube and the inCartornics.com web site. Here are the highlights of my experience.

After installing the unit I turned on my Tmobile Blackberry 8320 Curve and went into the BT config on the phone and set it to look for devices. It immediately located the Itronic device and began the pairing process. Very simple pairing process, punch in 1234 on my phone and Voila my phone was connected to the car. It automatically downloaded my phonebook (not from SIM) from the phone and also downloaded my list of recently dialed and received calls (very cool). I tried a couple of calls and the call quality was excellent. The people I called said it was 90% of the quality of a land line. Needless to say, I was very pleased. The noise cancelling microphone included with the iTronic was installed out of sight behind the rear view mirror, and the mic wire was easily run along the windshield on the right side and down into the lower panel on the passengers side beneath the glove compartment where the Itronics B T unit was installed.

The only shortcoming of the BT install was that the SEND and END buttons on my steering wheel didn't work and there was no telephone info in the speedometer display on the dash. I went to my local Mercedes dealer (John Holtz in Rochester NY) and asked them to use the Star computer to reprogram my car for a phone. They got the END button on the steering wheel to work, but telephone info is still not displayed on the dash. If anyone knows of a 06 E350 with the iTronic installed and info on the dash...PLEASE contact me with the details of what and how.

All in all Itronics has a great product and I highly recommend it over spending well over $2K for the MB phone installation and iPod. In fact, my Mercedes dealer was totally blown away by it and was hungry to find out where to get more info...they loved it.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

I've been using mine for about a year now. It's been good.

 

Hey folks- I bought one of the itronics kits w/ipod and have a quick question.

I notice on the instructional videos online they show the "simple" way to pop the shifter cover and "scoot" it back- then pop the ashtray out to get to the FIBER/CD changer area.

Of course- when I get into my car the shifter panel does *not* pop out as they indicate in the video.

Any ideas? I don't want to mess with it too much and end up scratching or breaking something.

Thanks!

 

I have a 2006 E350. I pulled back on the shifter cover and then pulled up with a reasonable amount of pressure/force and it finally popped up. It does pop up if you pull hard enough. That is the only way to get it up; there is no other magic. :-)

 

Thanks- I will go mess with it a bit more.

 

I ended up just having the bestbuy guys install it for 129.99. However- now that its installed I can't figure out what buttons do what for the ipod itself.

Clicking around it seems not intuitive at all to navigate playlists etc. on the ipod via the head unit. Any ideas?

(The bluetooth phone part works like a champ)

 

Hey guys, i accidently came across this thread and had to post. I purchased My ItronicBT+Ipod about a year ago and it works perfectly. I have a 2004 E320 with teleaid. I agree the directions were a little difficult and not to mention moving the fiber optic wires spooked me but I installed everything in abot an hour. Ive been able to connect all my blackberry phones and now have my iphone 3g connected to it. Ive been a total pest as far as having to do updates, but have always an immediate response from bryan (sales support). My ipod works great with my Command Unit. I am able to see my phonebook in my center cluster and on the command unit itself. I wish I could see Text messages on the command unit that would be awesome. Maybe they will have an update for that sometime soon. Not sure if they ever will. I am happy to say that I am satisfied customer.

Ipod controls are a breeze. You have to hold down the << or >> depending on what you are trying to do. If you are trying to get into music folders you have to hold >> for a few seconds then you will enter the folder and you will be able to play the music in the folder. if you have questions, I can help.

 

Installed it today and it works great

 

Indeed, it seems very overpriced at $899.

 

Mine did the entire phonebook- works great!

 

I had bestbuy do it- they charged 129.99 and were done within an hour or so. Great job

 

I know this is a very old post and also know that "cartronic" does not exist any more. but this question is for somebody that had experience with the bluetooth and ipod unit ITRONIC .
I installed the unit in my C230 2005 , that does not had telephone and the radio is what is called head unit "20" >

after replacing the fiber from the cd changer into the new "itronic" and supplied constant 12 volts.
the itronic start to work , with ipod control from the head unit plus the stearing controls, but all of a sudden , when I tried to make a secound call, the controls were no responding . I had to turn the radio off, wait a few mintes and turn it on again. and then it worked again . Im not sure is it is a instalation problem or may be something deffective with the unit but had this same problem like 5 times .

Thank you for any ideas !
Abel