Stereo - bluetooth.

Hi - I am confused a bit with BlueTooth (dentist gave me some white paint!). I only want a reas cheap stereo that is able to stream from an iPod Touch - not needed for iPhone or Parrot hands free or anything.

Trying to avoid cables and plugs if I can.

Is there such a beast <200!

Thanks for reading.

In my experience Bluetooth audio streaming isn't very good and also drains your battery pretty fast.Why avoid a cable!If its a looks thing then what about a head unit with a rear USB socket which routes through to the glove box!Then your iPod is controlled by the unit,totally hidden, gets a charge and you get top quality audio.

Just my 2c.

Thanks saxman - good idea - will follow that idea - that helps me a lot!

:)

I found blue tooth to be an " ok if there is no other option" solution, went back to the ipod via usb cable, there is nothing comparible.

JB Hifi has a Bluetooth (BT) headunit for $199 atm on their website. Generally BT headunits start at around $250-$300.

Some background to Bluetooth so you know what your looking for:
Bluetooth is a radio frequency standard for the low power, close range transmission of electronic data. The standard includes 'profiles' which do different things. Updates to the BT standard are called versions. To stream music you will need amaster device (iPod Touch) and slave device (headunit) which both include the A2DP profile (version 2.0 or newer) that streams audio in stereo at a high data rate. Some devices may only be version 1.1 compatible and include only headset profile which streams in mono at a low data rate. Headset profile is used for older carkits and earpieces.

Make sure the iPod you have and the headunit you buy are both BT stereo compatible not just BT headset compatible.

I like BT stereo but currently I use a headunit with front USB and a memory stick which I keep in the car. I don't have an iPod and hate cables too.

I use Bluetooth audio everyday all day has little effect on battery sound is good no problems my head unit was $300

There are ultra-cheap Chinese head units for around $100 with Bluetooth, I have one by "ELT" which is not too bad, "Domain" is another brand. The cheapest name-brand unit looks to be Clarion FB286BTB at around $140-$150 (or someone has one on TM for $99 res). This has no CD player, just AM/FM, memory cards, Bluetooth and an aux input.

I have a JVC head unit in my boat that is a AM/FM reciver, USB and BT only (no cd, tape ect) and I use only the BT funtion to stream music from my phone (Samsung) it dosn't seam to affect the battery life too much and the quality is not to bad. Head unit cost me $180 from JVC