Sony MEX-BT5100

Everything u can want in a Headunit.

Bluetooth works good with talking and playing music from your phone you can control music on your phone through the radio via bluetooth. The radio has caller I.D. timer phonebook, you can call and hang up with the radio. The joystick is easy to use except when trying to adjust volume while driving if you hit a bump the joystick is sensitive and will cause you to change stations while trying to adjust volume. The radio is very easy to set up and use( user friendly ) except when trying to adjust sound quality there is no simple Bass or Treble you have to use the presets, it is simple enough to use but not always the sound your looking for or you will have to use the EQ that you shouldn't try to adjust while driving. This radio has a lot of bang for the buck, but can get expensive if you add HD radio & I-Phone or I-Touch options. I gave this radio a 4 rating on Durability but really not sure because I haven't really had it for more than a year but I have had other Sony radios in the past and never had any problems. I gave it a 3 Rating for overall because of the issues with volume control while driving & sound adjust-ability. I gave it a 5 on features because it has a ton of features for the price. I gave it a 4 on Value because it is cheap for all the features but can get expensive with add-ons.

I purchased this stereo mainly for the bluetooth and its hands free capabilities (I spend a lot of time in my car). Not only does this allow me to have phone conversations over the stereo, but it also allows me to play the tons of music which I have stored on my phone. Only cons are the on-board microphone whose quality some callers complain about, but just speak up and it works ok.

I really liked the convenience of having hands free without having to fumble around for an ear piece, then finding that is not charged etc. So that alone was nice. But the person on the other end always complains they cannot hear me. I began dropping the faceplate down while on a call since the mic is behind it. That seemed to help a little, but I still had to pretty much yell at it.



The other issue is that after a couple months I could no longer hear outgoing calls using either of the phones I paired it with. The screen says "withheld" when you try to call out and there is no mention of this term in the instruction or troubleshooting section of the manual. I phoned support and they suggested trying the reset button. That did nothing. So I am packing it up and sending it in to get fixed/replaced. Of course I have to pay to ship it there. Make sure to keep every piece of packaging and the box just in case.



The face plate is VERY difficult to get on, and more so in the dark. I take it on/off every time I drive. So you would think I am a pro after 6 months but that is not the case. Half the time it goes flying onto the floor. I still struggle and curse it. I didn't even know there were face plates this hard to put on. Although this is my first stereo with a plate that drops down to put in the cd, so maybe they are all that hard.



I also wish you could make the clock font larger. The screen is huge but they make the clock too small to read if you ask me. And the glare on the screen makes it practically unreadable during the day. I turned off the background images because it was literally impossible to read the clock with it on.



One other very annoying issue was trying to send my contacts from my blackberry. I was aware that it only allows you to store 50 contacts. Ok fine I thought. I was not aware that it is not smart enough to let you select the 50 you want from the blackberry. It only lets you send the first 50 contacts. This option is supposed to be there to use a group on the Blackberry menu, but there is no way to "select" it on my blackberry. Maybe a glitch with Blackberry, I don't know. But it was really lame. So long and short is I spent over a week researching a workaround. From Outlook flag the 50 people I wanted, export ALL Outlook contacts to a csv file and save it for later, delete all outlook contacts EXCEPT the 50 I flagged, synch with my Blackberry, push to the stereo, then import the csv full contact list back into Outlook and synch again with the Blackberry. Does that seem like a lot of work? Well it is, and a little scary too, to delete all your contacts!



All in all, I still like it because of the bluetooth functionality so will continue to use it when I get it back from the manufacturer that is.

I got this sony stereo 3 years, but lost the interface. ordered the same model, because it's simple to use, looks good not like other stereos, and i like that it produces very good sound, has bluetooth and the price is not too bad at all. Good stereo good price. Never had problems with shipping and handling. Responsible and serious company.

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