dear forum, maybe it sounds strange to you, but here in europe things are a little different...

i am looking for a radio, which i can mount completely hidden (most likeyl inside glove-box) and that has a rf-based remote (not infrared). i know the "hidden stereo" stuff, but these are lacking a very important feature, which is mandatory in my country and that is a bluetooth hands-free for the usage of mobile phones...

so can you please recommend a radio (can be also a "regular" DIN model), with these functions:

• FM
• single CD
• MP3 (Aux via SD or USB or...)
• Bluetooth (hands-free)
• RF-remote (!)

these are not available here, so i would source online and directly from the US.

thank you, alex.

 

I don't know of any RF-remote radios, but what I did in my car was use this:

http://www.logjamelectronics.com/pacirx.html

Basically you put one end, the "eye", where ever you want. And the other end goes in the glove box.
It relays the IR-signal so when you have the glovebox door shut you can still control the radio.

BTW, the link I provided isn't the cheapest, but it has the best description. I paid about $30 for mine.

 

I put a wired marine remote in my ashtray and the head unit is in the glovebox, that isn't "hands-free" though?

Search around at Crutchfield and they may have something.
They've been around forever and I've used them several times over the years, very helpful customer service and the stuff always fits and works like they say it will.

http://www.crutchfield.com/

 

X2 on the Crutchfield recommendation. I've also ordered from them many times. They ought to have several radios of single DIN size that have everything you want except the RF remote. Why is it so important that it be RF? Is IR against the law? Or are you just hoping to be able to control the radio via remote and the remote won't have line-of-sight to the head unit as that will be behind the glovebox door?


By the way, you should inform your authorities that the use of hands-free headsets/bluetooth does nothing to increase safety in mobile phone use while driving. Studies have shown that it is the simple fact of talking to someone not in the car that causes the distraction that leads to accidents. It's not the holding of the handset in your hand while driving. The rate of accidents for hand-held mobile phone users and that of hands-free mobile phone users is the same. Check the fourth paragraph in the "draft letter" by the NHTSA at this website:

http://documents.nytimes.com/documen...stration#p=263

Many U.S. states are implementing "hands-free" laws, and they'll end up doing nothing to decrease the rate of distracted-driving accidents where the distraction is talking on a mobile phone.

I know this has gone a bit beyond your question! I just got thinking about it after reading your post.

 

thank you for your feedback !

@EKi: i guess i will go for that ir-extender, i did not see such a gadget before..

@Bluevista: crutchfield looks great, but they donīt like to ship to europe, they say.

@jaunty75: maybe i could inform my authorities.. but honestly, it is a law for the past 6 years now and i personally do not use anything else then hands-free inside the car. i feel uncomfortable without it and maybe even unsafe.. traffic is different in central europe (we are the guys doing 100mph on the autobahn without being the fastest..)

summary: i will go for a modern standard stereo and use the ir-extension (rf would be against the law, but i would use it anyway) and put the stuff inside the glove-box.
another job to be done until spring.. hehe..

 

I was in Italy two years ago and saw it first hand. Our host was driving 150-160 kilometers per hour, which is about 95 miles per hour, on the freeways in a Fiat minivan. He drove fine, but a car moving that fast takes a lot of room to stop, and reaction times have to be much quicker than they do at typical highway speeds in the U.S. (65-75 miles per hour).

When you drive at nearly 100 miles per hour or are even just a passenger in a car going that fast, you quickly realize how much skill is involved in driving a racing car. But at least at the race track, you're more or less surrounded by other professional drivers. On the regular highways, there can be anybody behind the wheel.