Jabra 100-46000000-02 Freeway Bluetooth in-Car Speakerphone (U.S. Retail Packaging)

In Maryland, we recently had our laws change so that mobile phone use and seat belt violations are prima facie offenses. Being a traveler to Washington, D.C. for business, I've managed to NOT be pulled over there, but now that my entire state does the same thing, I needed to come up with a solution for long stints in my car while still handling client phone calls and text messages. (I'm not one who likes Bluetooth ear pieces, etc.)On a few of my business trips, I rented Ford vehicles with "Microsoft Sync" included in the onboard packages. I absolutely LOVED the way my phone interacted with that system and responded to my voice. It made trips safer, IMHO, and also kept me from being dinged with fines and points on my license. Plus, using the AT&T Navigator application on my phone (provided by TomTom) through the system eliminated the need for a separate GPS device stuck to the windshield.So... my goal was to find a device that let me have as much of this functionality as I could get. The nice thing about Windows Phone is that you "pretty much" have all of the Sync voice functionality already built-in at SETTINGS | SPEECH. Once enabled, your phone will sound and behave just like the familiar Microsoft Sync system in those newer Fords.NOT being an Apple device fan, it's pretty apparent to me that there is a lack in the marketplace for anything specifically designed for Windows Phone. So, I went to the official Windows Phone website and looked over the devices they recommended and offered. This led me to the Jabra Freeway.First, the Jabra Freeway is by no means a large and clunky device. Rather, it has a sleek design and the button areas for the functions are intelligently placed and blue LED lit. I wondered how much tension the visor clip had because I was concerned that it might drop off of my visor and make me nuts while driving... No worries there! They, also intelligently, made it a VERY stiff clip so there's virtually no chance of that happening.The speakers are very loud and clear and the built-in microphone is sensitive enough to discriminate your voice over ambient sounds. When using the Windows Phone speech features, you are prompted when to answer, etc... so, you are stepped through what to do and have little room for mistake. (Plus, the voice recognition algorithm is scary-accurate.)At first, I thought maybe I didn't need to mess with the VoiceAssist system used by Jabra, but since you get one year of it free included with the purchase, I gave it a whirl. It works by calling their system via your phone... then answers in a very "Microsoft Sync" fashion. There's a bit of an annoyance with setting that feature up through their website and then exporting your contacts to the system... but, if you can dump your data to a CSV file, you'll be fine. The reason I have stuck with VoiceAssist thus far is that unlike the Microsoft Sync systems in those Ford vehicles, I haven't figured out how to "trigger" my phone to listen for a command. The Sync equipped Fords have a steering wheel or dash-mounted button to do this. The Jabra doesn't (at least not as I've discovered yet) do that. This is where VoiceAssist comes into play and works very well. So, if I specifically want to call someone in my contact list, I tap the VoiceAssist button and it dials out, answers, and then I simply tell it to call whoever or send a message, etc. For incoming calls and texts, Microsoft's Speech Services does everything, using the Jabra as a Bluetooth speakerphone, responding extremely quickly by answering a call, reading back a text, letting me reply, ignore or whatever. There is virtually no discernible lag or anything like that and signal quality is perfect.All-in-all, Jabra does Bluetooth the right way and they've done some serious thinking to make this device seemingly flawless. For that alone, Windows Phone users should get this thing if they need this kind of solution because of changing laws or for just some added safety and convenience. You won't find that you bought a device targeting Apple or Android and you just "deal with not having everything" function-wise. Your Windows Phone does everything with this Jabra Freeway.

12/15/17 Update! I use the Freeway with a Microsoft Lumia 950 XL with Windows 10 in my T/A and XLR convertible FM connect w/Stock Pontiac Monsoon Stereo System and Bose in the 08 XLR.. A really good thing about the Freeway is thier great product support. The firmware updating software can be downloaded from the Jabra Website, allowing the device's firmware to be easily updated to the latest release. Over the past two years, I have gone from versions 3.X to version 5.7 on each of my Freeways. The FM link has been improved with the firmware updates. The complete user manual can be downloaded also, which does help in getting a good FM link setup. For hands free operation the voice quality for both noise canceled transmit and recieve is better quality than any 3rd party BT hands free speaker phone I've ever tried, even with the top down. The noise canceling is excellent up to 40, but not so hot with the top down at 80mph.Keep on min USB charging cable, shielded or not work like anttenna and can grossly degrad the sound quality. I have found not having USB charging cables connected (At all) the quality of music played through the factory stereo is quite good, in fact excellentVoice quality using the Jabra Freeway mic and speakers, for a visor clip on Bluetooth hands free is loud and clear on both receive and transmit. I only use the FM radio link when I am streaming music. In fact, unless there is continuing use, the FM is disconnected.The FM function works quite well if one understands a bit about it and uses common sense using it. Wireless charging, by its very nature created radio frequency interference. So can cheep un metal shielded USB charging cables. I solved RFI by using good, as short as possible shielded USB cables. Using shielded and coiled USB cable with my wireless charger really cut down on the FM RFI. Having both the Jabra and Phone charging at the same time cause the most interference. On a full charge, the Jabra is good for at least 10-14 hours. No need to charge multiple devices at same time.If you travel open road, you will find FM stations on same frequency causing interference. The freeway has a function to search for a clear FM frequency. It's a must-especially in large cities.The Freeway is a very well supported, quite economic workable hands free Bluetooth streaming solution. It can take a bit of ordinary understanding and tweaking to get the best results.