Best Gadget/Accessory Type thing?

Enygma

What's the best gadget or accessory type thing you've bought for your car?
Best phone holder, notepad holder, that type of thing.

ds20prefecture

Enygma wrote:

What's the best gadget or accessory type thing you've bought for your car?
Best phone holder, notepad holder, that type of thing.

A telescopic magnet-on-a-stick. Invaluable for retrieving 9mm reverse thread wierdo-pitch bolts from the depths of the undertray when you drop them.

I didn't buy it, it was a gift.

EDIT:
Oh, and a 40GB iPod instead of a 10CD changer.

Balfa

A cup-holder increaser!
Koreans underestimate the size of american cups, so we had to buy something that sticks in the current cup-holder and has much bigger cup holder sticking out the top Except we've only used it twice, or something

So my answer is probably just the sun-visor cd-holder.

AMurphy

A real nut-lug socket with about 24" of telescopic extension.

However, I saw a "possible presant" the other day. Given the car pre-dates in car CD's etc. and no great urge to add one.

The item was a cigarette plug with an inbuilt small range fm transmitter, into which you can them plug a std USB dongle loaded with your MP3 files, tunes, books, whatever.
Set the device output frequency, and your radio to the same band and off you go. Longwinded, but no drilling required.

ds20prefecture

AMurphy wrote:

The item was a cigarette plug with an inbuilt small range fm transmitter, into which you can them plug a std USB dongle loaded with your MP3 files, tunes, books, whatever.
Set the device output frequency, and your radio to the same band and off you go. Longwinded, but no drilling required.

Cool - where did you see that? Any links?

navi_5445

You can get those FM yolks on the net they're (technically) illegal to own either here on in the UK so you can't buy them here.

Best gadget: Digital tyre pressure guage.

green-blood

yeah I'm too lazy - links man links, I needy

bruce wayne

ds20prefecture wrote:

A telescopic magnet-on-a-stick. Invaluable for retrieving 9mm reverse thread wierdo-pitch bolts from the depths of the undertray when you drop them.

I didn't buy it, it was a gift.

EDIT:
Oh, and a 40GB iPod instead of a 10CD changer.

I have to ask...how are you connecting this into the back of your radio....I have a dell digital jukebox and am trying to connect it into the back of my factory fitted gamma radio in my VW Passat. The americans are telling me i need an aux adaptor, but the irish garages are telling me that they dont do them and the uk websites are telling me the adaptors they have wont do the job......

HELP......anyone.......

woosaysdan

if you get an i-trip, this will sit on top of your i-pod and will broadcast the signal, so there will be no need to go messing with the back of the car stereo!!!!

declanoneill

woosaysdan wrote:

if you get an i-trip, this will sit on top of your i-pod and will broadcast the signal, so there will be no need to go messing with the back of the car stereo!!!!

If you get a Belkin radio transmitter it'll work with anything that has a headphone jack and not just your iPod

(N.B. drawback: needs seperate power source, either AAA batteries or cig lighter in a car)

_sheep

Bluetooth car kit, without question

Phone stays in pocket, no hassle.

declanoneill

_sheep wrote:

Bluetooth car kit, without question

Phone stays in pocket, no hassle.

Which one do you have, I've often wondered about the one that sits in the sun visor. Do you pull down the visor, press a button and hey presto. Where does it draw power from? ATM I use a bluetooth headset which I think is the mutts nuts, but I don't always remember to put it on before starting off.

ds20prefecture

bruce wayne wrote:

I have to ask...how are you connecting this into the back of your radio....I have a dell digital jukebox and am trying to connect it into the back of my factory fitted gamma radio in my VW Passat. The americans are telling me i need an aux adaptor, but the irish garages are telling me that they dont do them and the uk websites are telling me the adaptors they have wont do the job......

HELP......anyone.......

I think your head unit is a Blaupunkt, like mine.
This is the cable I used: http://www.bluespot.co.uk/stock/auxin.asp

You'll need power, but I'm sure you can get a car charger for the Dell.

I put my iPod Dock in my ashtray, hooked up an iPod car charger to the 12V post behind the dash and powered the dock from that, then took the line out from the dock to the back of the head unit.




Failing that, check out www.dension.com - they may have something for the Dell jukebox.

bruce wayne

i tried that bluespot website, but if you notice at the bottom, it states that it wont work with the VW gamma model......which is essentially a rebranded version of your radio....something to do with a less sphosticated version of the software in the radio wont recognise the player.

I have the Belkin fm transmitter, but I'm not a big fan, looking for a neat solution,. I like the idea of just a cable that plugs into the headphone jack of my player.

I dont have an ipod by the way I have a dell digital jukebox (1st Gen)
http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/dj?c=ca&cs=CADHS1&l=en&s=dhs

ds20prefecture

bruce wayne wrote:

i tried that bluespot website, but if you notice at the bottom, it states that it wont work with the VW gamma model......which is essentially a rebranded version of your radio....something to do with a less sphosticated version of the software in the radio wont recognise the player.

Hmmm. I reckon that bluespot could be a bit more helpful there. I reckon the VW badged ones have no selection for Aux on their "Mode" button, but you should be able to fool the head unit into thinking that you HAVE a cd changer connected. I vaguely remember somthing about connecting 2 pins on the lead together to make this happen, but I can't find the reference anywhere.

This product claims to do what you say, but looks expensive and complex.

Have you considered a new head unit? You could pick up a second hand Blaupunkt for f.a. that would connect straight to your existing speakers and have support for the aux in. E.g. http://tinyurl.com/59zuh.

Sorry to hijack this thread (it seems to be all I do)

bruce wayne

i have been looking into it,a nd have come accross this product on the halfords website

http://www.halfords.com/opd_product_details.asp?id=19088&type=0&cat=311

there is a cd changer button on my head unit, and obviously a connector for it at the back, and i really dont see why i can'nt just connect it up, select cd ont he head unit and press play on my mp3 player ? The reply I got from blue spot was

You will not be able to add an aux-input connection to your factory-fitted radio, even though it has a CD changer port. These radios are 'built to a price' and do not include such extra facilities.

The only option is to replace your radio with a better specified Blaupunkt aftermarket model!

I am having mo uck getting a straight answer from any of the Irish VW garages as to if this might be the case.....

I might send halman a mail asking about the aux adaptor...£50GBP !!!! versus £7GBP

CrowdedHouse

Accessory- I nominate the Wheel brace,the cross or X type with the 4 sockets,better than most that come supplied

robo

I gotta a magnetic pad to put on my dash board that I can put my mobile on without it falling around the place. It is a black little pad that I got in America for about $5! Should have got a few of them cos I haven't seen them over here at all.

AMurphy

ds20prefecture wrote:

Cool - where did you see that? Any links?

A cow-orker showed me his.

I'll see what I can do.
As for the illigality of having this "FM transmitter" item, yeah right, with a small army of these we could destabilize the nation and overthrow the Gov........ one great big noisy pharrrrrt coming right up. :rolleyes:

edit; Here we go;
https://www.designtech-intl.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=188&lastcatid=12&step=4

I use the brighter light bulbs from this co on my cars, as well as the reversing beepers.
I got a set of EU lamps for the minivan and replaced the 25 watt indicator and rev bulbs with the 50W (1156). Looks good.

AMurphy

robo wrote:

I gotta a magnetic pad to put on my dash board that I can put my mobile on without it falling around the place. .....

Got something like that, except it was more like a sticky jel pad (post-it note sitcky). Unfortunately it did not take the hot sun long to convert it into a dried-out, non-sticky plastic crisp.
Back to the ashtray or the cupholder.....

ds20prefecture

AMurphy wrote:

Here we go;
https://www.designtech-intl.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=188&lastcatid=12&step=4

Thanks - looks fine, except why would they not provide a charge to the USB device while they are there