Product Description
Sony MEX-BT3800U In-Dash CD Receiver MP3/WMA/AAC Player with BluetoothAmazon.com Product Description
Sony’s MEX-BT3800U is a great way to add Bluetooth and media power to your vehicle, with 52 Watts through four channels. Make hands-free calls or stream audio from your compatible devices. You can also play back CDs and CD-R/RWs, along with MP3/WMA/AAC files. A front auxiliary input is great for connecting external devices, and you can enjoy full iPod contr… More >>
#1 by M. Hagler on July 2, 2010 - 7:12 pm
I needed a radio to control my 2nd gen Ipod Touch and my Samsung Blackjack via bluetooth, and this radio does both and provides excellent sound quality in a sleek looking package with intuitive controls. Installing was a breeze (my previous radio was a Sony so I did not have to install the wiring harness). Ipod controls sort your music by album, artist, genre, etc. on the radio display. Not something you want to do while driving, but navigating to another song or album at a stop light is a breeze. After connecting the phone via bluetooth, answering was simple. Just push a button. I purchased the external microphoneSony XAMC10 External Mic for BT (Black) as well as the radio so I can’t speak to the internal mic’s quality, but with the external mic I had no ptoblems. Includes a remote with the simpler functions on it. This radio also controls my Sony disc changer I have been using since the 90’s. I’ve always loved Sony products, and this radio just supports my choice in equipment. Great price too; Sony lists this unit for $199. Only con so far is no built-in HD radio tuner, but until that tech takes off I wouldn’t worry about it.
Here is Sony’s page for this radio:
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Rating: 5 / 5
#2 by H. Sahni on July 2, 2010 - 9:09 pm
You get a lot for your money with this unit. Between the front auxiliary in, USB, and Bluetooth you have plethora of connectivity options so you should be able to connect anything to this unit for a long time. That’s the unit’s biggest plus. In fact, it can be a little bit annoying to have to switch through so many inputs via the source to get to the one you want (you can turn off aux in the settings though). You can also add optional HD Radio through an expensive adapter. I don’t mind the lack of HD Radio since from what I’ve read, the execution isn’t great yet with radios switching back and forth between the HD and analog signal and the signals themselves not being in sync.
The display is easy to read at a glance, and RDS (displays what is currently playing on the tuner) makes finding new radio stations easy. The iPod controls on the unit are a bit too complicated to bother learning, especially since you can use the iPod’s own controls if you switch to “passenger mode”. The buttons on the bottom of the unit used to switch stations and perform other operations have kind of a sharp edge a the bottom, which can make them sometimes a little painful to press if you don’t aim high when you hit them. The USB will charge your iPod or other device fine.
The Bluetooth connectivity works really well, and sounds great. I use the Bluetooth stereo to stream music from my Motorola Droid with no problems. The Bluetooth hands free functionality is a bit basic since the unit won’t display who is calling you, just that you have a call. Not that big of a deal at this price point. My phone will automatically pair the hands free profile when I turn the stereo on, but seems kind of hit or miss with pairing the Bluetooth stereo profile automatically. From using my phone with another Bluetooth speaker, it seems like it’s more of an issue with the Droid.
One thing I find really strange with this unit is the remote functionality. If I use the head unit controls to turn on the unit / change source, the only control on the remote that will work is the off button. Vice versa, if you turn the unit on with the remote, all the remote functions work perfectly fine, but you can only use the volume controls on the head unit. Seek buttons, etc will not work. It took me a while to figure this out and at first I thought the remote control was defective. Again, this is not that big of deal to me since I would hardly use the remote, I just wish it was documented somewhere.
Rating: 4 / 5
#3 by Matt on July 2, 2010 - 11:10 pm
I wanted a stereo to pair with my Palm Pre, primarily so I can listen to music and podcasts via bluetooth. This does that wonderfully. I can even answer calls to my phone by pressing the main dial button and hear the caller over the car’s stereo speakers. The built-in microphone on the stereo works OK while driving around town, but at highway speeds the engine noise, road noise, and wind noise make it so the caller on the other end can barely hear me unless I shout. I will be purchasing the Sony XAMC10 External Mic and expect that to take care of the problem, based on reviews for that product.
My only complaint is about the LCD display. It works great for most things, but when listening to the radio, there isn’t enough room for the RDS information to display, so you’ll quite often see words truncated and then the 2nd half of the word displays when the display moves to the next bit of info. It’s a minor thing since I spend most of my time listening to bluetooth audio, but thought I’d mention it in case anybody else cares a lot about that.
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by A. Perry on July 3, 2010 - 1:04 am
FM: Excellent reception. Has ‘RDS’ Radio Data System. Name of song and station info for many stations displayed. Not many have this. CD: Excellent. Quick-BrowZer® with Jump Mode and Zappin(tm) technology is cool. BT: Easy initial sync, auto sync everytime. Auto sync with last device connected. My phone S.E. w518a, always great connection. BT AUDIO: Great sound quality. Hit seek (on radio or steering wheel) and jog to next song on phone. COOL. BT PHONE: Excellent. Hear everybody great. Turn up or down volume of stereo as needed. Comfortably interrupts any music source to let you know incoming call. Push of button answers, push hangs up, two pushes redials last #. Does NOT have Phone Book Access Profile. No caller ID or even calling # displayed. To see who it is, you look at your phone or answer without knowing. Dial from phone. MIC: external mic a MUST, however, it works EXCELLENT and you are clearly heard. AUX: Great. Sounds fine for music and voice. IPOD use fine. NO rear AUX but they say you can buy adapter to change your CD changer control to a rear AUX. Have not tried USB. DISPLAY: Face lights too bright. You can dim display, but not face lights. You can shut radio off to standby, showing time with lights on, or you can easily power it completely off and no light at all shows. Face lights don’t bother me anymore & I do a lot of night driving. REMOTE: Good. Basic controls.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by Mattan Biran on July 3, 2010 - 2:59 am
Just got my Sony mex-bt3800u headunit…
I’m very happy with it. After searching for the nicest headunit for me
I’m glad I chose this one.
First of all the design is slick and shiny and the blue lighting gives the unit
a really nice touch.
It’s got all the vital features you can expect from a headunit:
USB, Aux, cd/mp3/wma… and offcourse bluetooth connection
which works absolutely great. I can hear the person who calls very clearly
driving on the highway or inside the city and people say they can hear me well.
I’m unsing the built in mic integrated to the panel and so far don’t
see any reason to connect an external mic.
Bluetooth audio also works quite well but I’m not really using it
because my 16gb Disc-on-key holds lots of music and the sound quality
is awesome, even when connected to my old original 2002 speakers that
came with the car. It’s really convinient to browse the different
music libraries. Names of albums and songs appear correctly.
The remote has all the important functions on it.
Bottom line:
Best value for such a great price.
Rating: 5 / 5