Zaffer

I know this topic has been beat to death, but haven’t found any real good info posted recently about this.

Buying a 2006 e350 4Matic Wagon with HK system and prewired for Bluetooth. My wife has a mobile vet acupuncture business and would like factory Bluetooth, but will the puck work with newer phones? She has a iPhone SE (2016). Don’t want to spend the $200 to find out the puck is too old when I should have bought the wire harness and radio to utilize the factory system.

While there is information out there, it’s about 3-4 years old, which is ancient by technology standards. Ideas/suggestions?

Thank you!

rapidoxidation

Try before you buy. Surely the current owner of the car will be happy to let you try to connect/use the phone prior to purchase, especially if you have a wad of cash to show your intent to purchase.

Zaffer

There’s no pick in the car yet, so no way to connect the phone. The car is owned by my company and I am purchasing it for personal use. I just got done doing the balance shaft. Just want to check and see if the pick is worth getting out of there are much better, if slightly more expensive, options. Not looking to spend a ton, but also don’t want to frivolously spend money on something that won’t work or won’t work well.

cetialpha5

I have the puck in my car, I think it's the same for 2006. They're not $200, they should be cheaper on eBay. Seems like they're around $150 now but maybe cheaper ones will pop up, some completed auctions have sold for $60-$95. Still works fine on my current phone which is a Samsung S10. The brown one is the 3rd gen and the silver one is the 2nd gen. Get the brown one, less issues with it. I believe B67876131 is the right model number but you can double check before getting it.

rocky472

I have 2 2005 E320's with Factory Bluetooth. One has the silver MB puck and the other has the Motorola V60 puck. Both work with a iPhone with a couple caveats. I use the connection to hear navigation announcements and make phone calls. Neither will stream audio. The Motorola V60 puck will not display signal strength but otherwise works as expected. The MB puck will not initially respond to navigation announcements but will start working after making a phone call from the radio interface. I have tried a iPhone 7 and SE.

Andre91

My 2008 has the silver bluetooth puck that came installed from the factory. It worked reliably with a couple of iPhones and now my Galaxy Note 20, but it never worked reliably with my old Galaxy S8. Never could figure it out, but it just wouldn't connect unless I happened to be on a call when I got in the car.

The bluetooth system in these cars works for call audio and access to your contacts and call history, but does not have the capability to stream audio or use sms.

cetialpha5

That's why the brown puck is better. That's the third generation one, the silver one is the 2nd generation. Never had a problem with my S8 on it. Sometimes if you have problems, you delete the pairing on the phone and redo it. The 2010-2016 W212s are better, bluetooth is built in, no need for a puck and also does audio.

Zaffer

Yeah, and also newer technology. That being said, they’re also much more expensive than the $2,500 I’m getting this wagon for, which includes the balance shaft being replaced and a detailed service history.

I work on these cars and while the w212’s are nice, the w211’s are simpler, even if some of the technology is older and more finicky.

Onyxthecat

I use this one and it works great.


https://mr12v.com/the-products/ols/p...mand-ntg1-ntg2

wonderwilley

I’d highly recommend dumping the factory Bluetooth, and getting one of these. So much better

https://gromaudio.com/store/most_ada..._optional.html

cetialpha5

For $300, I'd rather just replace the entire comand. You can get complete Android audio systems on Aliexpress in the $300-$500 range and they would would have bluetooth in addition to Android Auto/Apple Carplay etc.

wonderwilley

Your right, I thought long and hard about that one. What turned me off was the analog adapter. I’m a slight bit of an audiophile. Mercedes worked so hard to run that amazing digital connection through out the car, I just couldn’t bring myself to convert it to analog. The HK system is actually quite impressive. I’m sure it would still sound good, just not as good. Just my two cents.

Zaffer

Yeah, I looked into replacing the COMAND unit with an aftermarket one, but in order to do it right I would need the $300 harness adapter to retain the H/K system and all functionality, plus whatever radio I decided on, so most likely looking around $600-800 total. Plus, I’d like to keep the originality if possible.

My wife is running two phones in the car: one for GPS and her business phone for audio/calls. She likes using the phone for GPS because she can mount it on the left hand side of the windshield for easy visibility. She runs a separate phone for audio/calls so that way they don’t get interrupted with GPS.

Since I already have the aux. input, I figured the factory Bluetooth would be good so she can retain full factory functionality. If it doesn’t work out well, I’ll look into the other options above and resell the puck.

I especially like the puck idea as I currently need to replace the DME due to the main chip malfunctioning, so that an unexpected $1,000 repair. I’m having it cloned to an unlocked/rebuilt unit with a lifetime warranty (theoretically), so we’ll see.

YasS

Why not look for an '09 E350? They come with an updated COMAND that has integrated Bluetooth?
My E350 sedan has it, but I've never used it since I got a Bluetooth adapter to stream music from my phone.

Zaffer

My wife needs a wagon for her business (Mobile Veterinary Acupuncturist) and we are getting this wagon for $2,600 all in. Has 126,000 miles and was very well taken care of.

Zaffer

Quick update: I bought the 3rd gen Bluetooth puck and it works just fine with my iPhone SE2020. My wife said the call was clear and sounded like I was talking on my phone instead of Bluetooth.

I just want to thank everyone for pointing me on the right direction and supplying good part numbers so I could get the newest puck possible!

mildenbenz

Sorry I was late to your question. For anyone else reading this thread for info, I bought both the silver and the brown/black pucks for my 2008 E350. Both worked well with my Samsungs and paired very easily. The silver is cheaper because people think the black one is better because it is newer but I could tell absolutely no difference after using each for about a month. I kept the silver one and made money selling the black one. Your mileage may vary.

Zaffer

I looked at what was available on eBay and while there was a price difference between the two, there wasn’t a big difference between ones with the paperwork that were in good shape cosmetically, about $10 - $15 difference. I think the 3rd gen is smaller, but it’s hard to tell from the pictures.

Thanks for the update between 2nd and 3rd gen pucks as that was what I was trying to find and couldn’t, at least not anything newer than 2017, and technologically speaking that’s a lifetime!

gogydm

The silver one has two different part numbers in the US, one having newer hardware and software revisions. Mine works with no issues with all phones I've tried pairing it with.