Cypher94

So I've been searching about BT for my 06 E55 for a couple weeks now and I never realized that the shop that I work for sells the Tooki units. Since I had my discount to use and we could have the unit here in a couple days and covered under warranty, I decided to purchase one. Before I get to the review, heres a little background for everyone that has searched and searched for adding BT to your cars:

My E55 did not come with an MHI kit, nor was there a piece in the center console that I could just plug the factory bluetooth module into once I purchased it. I believe the total price to buy both units was going to be around 1k if I remember correctly, not including labor. Cars that were phone ready (had the MHI kit already) only needed to buy the Bluetooth piece from MB. I, having the worst luck ever, bought a car without it.

So...I ordered the Tooki piece and it arrived at the shop a couple days later. The hardest part, was taking the COMMAND unit and the CD changer out. The shifter console also has to come up. Once everything was out, took about 5 minutes to plug in the fiber optic and tap power and ground. Then putting everything back together. Total Job time was under an hour

Pairing was simple to my Blackberry, and the COMMAND console knew there was a phone present immediately. It downloaded all my contacts to the COMMAND also. It does take a couple minutes to sync up, but I have a lot of contacts stored. One annoying thing is that it arranges FULL names alphabetically. For example, John Smith would not be under J like on my phone, but would be under S for Smith. If you want it to be like your phone, you have to store the name in your phone under the first name only...ie. you would put the first AND last name in the first name field. The other thing worth mentioning is that it only stores the first number in the phone book. So if you have multiple numbers on the contact, it will only sync the first number. Call quality was clean and clear. The volume is adjustable to by the radio volume knob. So far, everyone has said that they can hear me the same if not better while Im on my bluetooth.

All the phone buttons on the COMMAND work fine. No programming was needed via SDS for the car to recognize it. HOWEVER, if you want your steering wheel to be able to control your phone and have the caller ID pop up in your cluster and be able to go through your phone book through your cluster, you will have to have SDS programmed to Phone PRESENT. I have yet to do this, so I can't confirm operation via the steering wheel. I am having SDS programmed in the next couple of weeks when I get a chance to drop the car off.

Overall I am very happy with the unit. Works perfectly and so far I have no complaints. I paid well under the 1k or so I would have had to spend on the two MB pieces and it seems to work the same.

Hope this helps those of you who are looking for adding Bluetooth to your cars and was as confused as I was when I started looking. Any questions, feel free to ask and I'll try to answer as best I can.

*****Update*****

I just noticed that the SMS button on the right side if greyed out. I don't know if it will become active once I have SDS programmed. I'll update everyone when I do.

Bellevue_E55

Great info. Can you PM me the price you paid? I was about to go with the mObridge

Cypher94

PM sent

E55Bullet

me too! Price and where to buy..

GedaBlaq

+1 Pleeeeeassss!

nick 55

FYI, MB has slashed the price for the phone install kits for the 05 and newer cars. I think retail on the kit minus the bluetooth puck is about $290.

Nick

rluvsbenz

Does this work for other car? Like a BMW 740I. If so can you pm price and were to buy.

Cypher94

PM's sent to everyone that asked.

rluvsbenz...they do not have a bluetooth unit for your car.

beauphus

im curious as well...please send pm for pricing. thx!!

bassn_07

Could you please pm me pricing info.

Cypher94

PM's sent to beauphus and bassn_07

MJ50

does tooki use factory mic?

Cypher94

Unfortunately no...I mounted mine in the corner of the rearview mount piece on the drivers side. its not conspicuous at all. I could have mounted it in the trim of the speedo cluster to hide it, but I didnt feel like drilling out the trim piece.

NEMES1S

depending on the price of this unit, I'm not sure I'd go through all the trouble when I could spend around 1100 for a better nav system w/ ipod integration and bluetooth. Is there anything that this system doesn't do that a factory installed unit would? pm pricing info too please

Cypher94

Nemes1s...Im not selling these units...im providing a review of the one I purchased. It its an add on piece to your factory COMMAND that gives you bluetooth access. I do not have a factory unit nor have I ever played around with one so I do not know what the piece I have will not do compared to the factory piece. What I paid is going to be less then what you can probably get it for because the place I work is a dealer for it.

NEMES1S

I totally understand where you are coming from, and didn't mean to offend anyone, but I know I was checking out some nav-tv add-ons and it was cheaper to add a nice aftermarket unit. What is a common price for these, and does it come as a kit with all the goodies needed for installation (minus the small splice/connectors/usual wiring junk

Cypher94

You should be able to find one for less then 700. It came with everything needed for install...the BT piece, the mic, fiber optic splicer, and fiber optic plug adaptor. All I had to add was electrical tape.

ray_huge

Are you talking about the MHI Kit for $290?

Cypher94

UPDATE

Just had my SDS programmed for phone present and everything comes up in the cluster. All the buttons on the wheel now work to use the phone. SEND, END, scroll through phonebook, see whose calling, duration of call etc.

So far I havent had any issues using the steering wheel buttons to make and receive calls.

dpavid

is this the kit you installed?

http://www.navtv.com/product/24/took...eShowProduct=1

Cypher94

yep