Road Angel RAX-621BT

I love how they call this a car stereo! My idea of a car stereo is an old tape deck thing with radio (that sometimes worked if you were lucky!) wedged in to a little red Fiesta. If it was a posh car, you got a CD player instead of a tape player… This thing is so much more advanced than one of those things, it’s more like a ‘Driving Assist Technology Asset’ (see what I did there?) than a stereo in all honesty.

Firstly, it links up with your phone, allowing you to pretty much use whatever you have on your phone via the touchscreen including taking hands free calls, playing audiobooks and of course, listening to music. It’s worth noting however, that only music playing and calls can be managed via Bluetooth. For everything else, you’ll need to ensure the phone is plugged in via the USB portal. This also means, even though this is compatible with them, there’s no wireless play for iPhones so be warned! It has a decent sized screen at 7” and relies on the same kind of technology as your mobile for the touchscreen so it’s quite sensitive and responsive to your touch, leaving you to do the minimum on the screen so you can focus on your driving.

This unit is also compatible with reversing cameras and steering wheel controls but you will have to buy these separately of course and won’t be able to take advantage of the Parking Assist until you do. To get all the bells and whistles you end up paying quite a bit… A final word for the installation: unless you know what you’re doing, you’re going to have to pay someone to install it for you! This is not an easy one to wire up for the average car owner. RRP £349.99

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