# The hands-free microphone sucks. Are they all this bad?



## g-man_ae (Jun 20, 2001)

Our Beetle came stock with basic Bluetooth hands-free. The mic is terrible, the caller on the other end hears a lot of garbled words and noise. Most of the time we end up having to use the phone itself.

My CC is much better. My father-in-law's Prius is much, much better.

Do Beetles just get crappy mics (if so, what's a good aftermarket alternative?), or do we need to have it replaced under warranty at the dealership?


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## JPeezy (Mar 30, 2007)

i havent had an issue with mine use it on a regular basis.


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## vdubjettaman (Mar 31, 2004)

i've had some comments while on the bluetooth about the background noise, but that's true for most any Bluetooth that I have experienced.

I'm more frustrated that my Bluetooth doesn't always find my phone. It works great for a while, then a few days it just doesn't find my phone. I haven't changed the settings at all. :screwy:


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## JPeezy (Mar 30, 2007)

im wondering if me having an rns 315 has anything to do with better reception.


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## GTarr (May 17, 2012)

I've got the base Turbo (no RNS315) and have had no problems with the hands-free. Seems clearer to me than the BT headset I used to use.

GTarr


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## drtechy (Jun 3, 2009)

Same here, on mine from time to time and never have any complaints.


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## Obnoxiousblue (Oct 31, 2006)

I have the 2.5, I guess what would be called the "bottom of the line" radio. (Though not the real low end "rental market" base)
I use the hands free microphone frequently, and have never had any issue or one complaint (or comment at all for that matter) about he sound quality.

To vdubjettaman
I found my phone would also not like to pair with the radio at odd intervals. Then I realized, occasionally I pair to my iPad for audio streaming. The next time I would get in the car, the Beetle would look for my iPad (usually in my backpack) so I couldn't discover my iphone... I resolved the issue by turning BT off on my iPad intentionally, when I don't want to stream audio. 

Have you used any other device that your car might be looking for?


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## Hackintosh (Jan 5, 2012)

I don't seem to have a problem wight he mic in the car it works well for me when my wife calls me and she's driving the beetle i can some times tell she's driving across a bridge or has the blinker on, or if the fan speed is set high, but other than that it sounds fine. I think people on the other end of the beetles phone call are not use to hearing some back ground noise seeing as most phones now a days have a background noise canceling


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## vdubjettaman (Mar 31, 2004)

Obnoxiousblue said:


> To vdubjettaman
> I found my phone would also not like to pair with the radio at odd intervals. Then I realized, occasionally I pair to my iPad for audio streaming. The next time I would get in the car, the Beetle would look for my iPad (usually in my backpack) so I couldn't discover my iphone... I resolved the issue by turning BT off on my iPad intentionally, when I don't want to stream audio.
> 
> Have you used any other device that your car might be looking for?


No iPad or tablets or any other device being used, just my iPhone4


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## g-man_ae (Jun 20, 2001)

Sounds like a warranty issue then. Thanks for the sanity check, Vortex :thumbup: 



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## TDIBeetle14 (Apr 19, 2014)

*Better than my 2008 Mercedes*

We've found the mic in our 2014 TDI Beetle is excellent. I've talked to my daughter while she's driving the car and it's like she's in a soundproof room - no background noise at all. Her boyfriend also commented on how good it is. And like I mentioned above, it's waaay better than the mic in our 08 Mercedes C Class.


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