Has anyone tried the new InCarTronics MOST Bluetooth hands free kit? It was finally released and has an introductory price of $899 until 6/12/08.

http://www.incartronics.com/

Wondering if it's worth it, as I'd like to have a phone integrated with the COMMAND module for my 05 W211.

Thank you,

-David

 

Here's the text from the email announcement from their waiting list for the kit:

It is FINALLY available! The new bluetooth system for M.O.S.T. fiber
optic Mercedes Benz cars, called iTronic(TM) (formerly code name Stage-2).
We now have a product to cover every Mercedes built since 1999!
InCarTronics (formerly EuroCarPhone.com) has made an incredible product
that you have signed up on the waiting list for at
http://www.InCarTronics.com.

We are very very excited about the new product. Let us tell you about
some of the features.

The iTronic(TM) FULLY enables all the factory phone functions of your car.
Your steering wheel buttons will work and the sound will come and go
from your sound system. It will mute the radio and you can answer the
calls on your dash or steering wheel or even on your phone. If your
phone is capable of phonebook upload, it will show your phone list on
the radio and on the dash. Caller-id information is also displayed.
BONUS! - The same unit, can also optionally control an iPod! Either
when you order initially or later on, you can turn on iPod
functionality and control your iPod from your radio and steering wheel.

For those of you that have already pre-ordered you unit, they will
arrive to you by June 12th. All orders will be received by June 20th
for orders placed in the next few days. For an introductory period of
the first 100 orders placed from today, you will receive a $50 discount
off the normal price of $949. For $899 you can have full factory
functionality for a fraction of the factory price. PLUS the system is
compatible with all phones from all carriers. PLUS you can also get
iPod integration!

We now carry ipod and bluetooth systems for BMW,SAAB, Porsche, Audi and
many others. See all the details and place your order at
http://www.InCarTronics.com

 

Anybody order one of these? -David

 

Haven't ordered yet, but I am interested in this too. Hopefully someone will post a review soon.

 

Just ordered today. I couldn't resist any longer. I'll let you know how the install goes!

 

In W211 from 2004-2007 it is more compatible than 2002-2004. This is because of the software revisions of the head unit and audio gateway.

InCarTronics claim to make it but they are only marketing it for Mobridge in LA. They have a policy of claiming it to be their product and thats not entirely true.

So be sure you can wire it up yourself and do the software coding. The phone buttons wont work if you dont already have a phone kit. Those need a Star Diagnose to activate. They forget to mention that in the marketing.

If you have an existing phone kit you will need to bypass that before you go further- so that means pulling out the equipment shelf to sort out the fibre optics. There is a little more work involved than the claimed plug-and-go.

If it sounds too easy and too good ... you know what to do. Ask lots of questions.

 

Tell me whether you get yours soon. I had ordered one about a week ago and have not received yet.

 

The supplier MOBRIDGE has them on Pre-Order only. Might take a while. InCarTronics claims to have a backorder of 4000 units.

 

in december 2007, i emailed eurocarphone and asked these questions

hello

i own a 2006 e-350 and a 2007 c-280 and have a few questions concerning the argos unit

1.are the argos stage 2 units the same for both cars? e-350 has full command and nav and the c-280 is non nav

2.does the car require a version coding after installation like an OEM retrofit does?

3.and most importantly...does the blutooth shut off when the car is turned off? there had been reports in forums that OEM blutooth stays on even after the car is shut off thus causing a problem if your car is nearby your house when your home, such as for me my garage is attatched to my house.


here is the reply:

No, they are different units, and no coding needs to be done. It does shut off completely.

note the answer to my 2nd question about version coding...so unless they are lying to me..the answer is no version coding needed for argos

 

Version coding is for several things.
- Cluster display so you can see the incoming number
- Optical ring coding so that the head unit can store its location
- For those with voice control it is somewhat important.
- Then also you may consider flashing the module firmware for older cars (early MOST variants). Usually after flashing you need to version code the module.

If you do not code the instrument cluster the cluster has no phone menu and in some cars the uncoded head unit thinks that there is no phone (especially A-class and B-class). Some people may find that annoying because none of the phone buttons on the head unit will work. In some cars if the cluster is not coded then the buttons for phone answering dont work.

For version coding to take place in a 2008 you must be connected to the internet via your Star Diagnose. This allows you to send activation codes for the car back to Germany so that the function can be opened online. This is called Online SCN.

As the design of these cars evolves it will be increasingly more difficult to install aftermarket modules. Certainly for cars made before 2008 it is much easier because those older cars can be coded by standalone Star Diagnose with no internet connection.

The reason why these aftermarket modules dont shutdown totally is because they don't have a wake-up signal. The sleep signal is a copper pin which is one wire that goes to all optical modules. When the car is locked the signal goes silent and puts all of the modules into sleep mode. Without a wakeup signal the modules can not boot up again.

What happens in the aftermarket modules is that they have to design a circuit which consumes as little power as possible and run it all of the time. If they tweak the board design just right they can get incredibly low power consumption. Thus the boards are on standby and not sleep. Which is why they can be active and "poach" the phone call if the phone is too close to the car.

Eventually someone will go to the trouble of making the modules totally compliant, this is why KWP2000 was mentioned. Once you have a KWP2000 function in your board you can hook up the wake-up lines, probe the board with a factory diagnostic and read the version number, supplier name and so on. This may also then allow flashing over OBD - depending on the design of the system.

As a rule of thumb, all of the current production models of aftermarket MOST modules conserve power but never go to sleep. You will notice that the MOBRIDGE unit has been very carefully designed not to drain the car battery. I dont know about the others.

 

Is this thing for pre 2008?

Or is it any better then $250.00 BT puck i have installed in my 2008 E350?


but ether way sounds overpriced.

 

As time goes on it will get harder and harder for non-Mercedes workshops to install modules in cars and activate them.

Since Mercedes have a firm policy on installation it then rests on a small number of well-equipped independent workshops / technicians to provide the service.

 

i think you misunderstand....its the OEM phones kits that dont shut down and have problems if your car is too close to your house...its documented in this forum somewhere...but i dont know exactly where

 

I am aware of the "delay time" on the OEM BT unit. It is a feature controlled by the phone and not the car. The phone has to be set to CONFIRM each time you want to couple with the car. If it is set to AUTOMATIC it uses the car as soon as it is close enough if the unit is running from the last exit of the car.

 

The photo InCarTonics is using in the promotional material is only the iPOD kit and not the Bluetooth kit. The BT kit is in production stages only. This is because the BT kit needs to have a microphone attached in order to answer the phone and clearly there is no microphone port on the image provided.

There is only iPOD, Optical (with power) and AUX in with a rear mounted SD flash slot. The microphone port is missing because these units are not shipping today.

A clever use of marketing to fund production.

 

well we shall see...i just bought one

they said 7-10 days...so unless i paid $900 for the ipod...i should be getting the argos stage2 by then

 

If it looks like the one in the photo it is just the Mobridge kit. There are 3 Mobridge kits, iPOD, Bluetooth with iPOD and MX radio with iPOD. So you get iPOD either way.

 

The InCarTronics website (http://www.incartronics.com/ordermb.htm) lists Bluetooth w/o iPod, Bluetooth w/iPod, and iPod-only.

 

i get it now...ive read the other thread in the other forum ...you dont like incartronics...ok you win....hows that

 

If you go to Mobridge you will see there is a MX + iPod coming out too.

 

Sorry, but I dislike ... someone walks into a forum with a picture of an ipod kit claiming that they are selling a bluetooth kit for $900. Then they say they are recently into production (still being made) and then they say they have 4000 backorders (@$300 a pop at the factory thats about 1.2M) and then they say it will come in 10 days.

No actual photos, no install HOW TO, no caveats on specific cars.

I didnt make this stuff up .... I read it on the forums like everyone else. Maybe you enjoy this kind of caper. I hope it works out.

The project was initially meant to be for video iPod so that you could see the movies OR play the music. Obviously that idea was ditched because it was too much effort. It was also supposed to have direct support for Mercedes microphones without fitting new ones. That idea got dumped too.

Yet on the website Mobridge (the real supplier) claims it was only brought to market late because it was a no compromise unit and no corners were cut.

 

well i guess you are also calling them liars as they said their product isnt from mobridge..in any event...i really dont give a rats a$$ as long as the product works. hes also got a money back in 30 days or so if not satisfied...if i dont like it..ill return it.

 

I got mine last week and was going to take it to my dealer to install. However, could not get an appointment till next week. So friday afternoon I gave a shot at installation. It was actually a lot easier than I expected. The only weird part was plugging in the orange fiber optic cables. You have to kind of trick the cable out of its holder. I called them about it and they explained it a little better than the instructions depict. Anyway, it really was basically a plug and play setup. Works great with my Blackberry Pearl....everything has been working great so far. Displays, steering buttons, keypad all works. Not sure what this "encoding" talk is, but I did not need to do anything extra.

 

Photos ?

If you didnt have a phone kit you need coding to enable the cluster function and in some cars the head unit wont accept the phone function till it is coded. Just depends on the car.

If you dont want all the display information then it doesnt matter. In some cars it works as it is and in some cars it doesnt. You can't get a cluster display without a PHONE=PRESENT coding. In most cars since 2007 that is not possible without a dealer system. In cars with old phone kit it is not necessary.

How does this integrate with Teleaid ?

 

Let's not go around guessing in that case. InCarTronics would need a MOST chip developer permit with OASIS, an IPOD developer agreement with Apple and a MOST co-operation agreement to be allowed to sell the hardware, then also a TYCO agreement for connectors and an agreement for the OS used in the onboard Blackfin processor and another agreement with Parrot to OEM the Bluetooth boards and by chance there is another company competing with Bryan doing EXACTLY the same thing and for some strange reason the InCarTronics boxes look exactly like the Mobridge boxes with the same holes in the same places.

I have land for sale in Atlantis ... water views.