While driving down Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles several weeks ago, I found myself stuck behind what is unfortunately becoming a cliche on wheels. Some guy in a black BMW was weaving perilously between lanes crowded with traffic, his eyes locked on his precious little cell phone. In frustration I honked my horn at the offending driver, who, without lifting his eyes from his phone, very expertly gave me the finger. I fantasized about a cop swooping in and busting him. My feelings are not unique.
Everywhere, anti-cell- phone sentiment is on the rise. After a husband and wife were killed and their two kids injured in an accident caused by a cell-phone-using driver in Suffolk County, N.Y., a law was passed prohibiting the county's 1.4 million residents from yakking on mobile phones while driving, unless they're equipped with hands-free systems. New York's new law is set to take effect Nov. 1. Legislatures in some 40 states are considering bills limiting cell phone use in cars.
While various studies present conflicting findings on the safety of phoning while driving, nobody will argue that it makes sense to keep both hands on the wheel. Manufacturers have flooded the market with hands-free devices of three basic types: permanent car kits, portable car kits and headsets. Each has its pros and cons.
Permanent car kits are the most expensive solution, but they're also the only truly hands-free choice. You'll pay between $200 and $300 to buy a system and get it installed. (Nokia's Complete Kit costs $180 uninstalled; Ericsson's HF 7600 is $200 uninstalled.) Don't try to do it yourself, unless you love the idea of drilling holes in your dashboard to install things like an RF (radio frequency) adapter, junction box, cradle, speaker, microphone and other miscellaneous hardware. Leave it to the pros. Once a permanent car kit is installed, all you do is put your phone in the cradle and you're good to go. You can set your phone to answer automatically when it rings, so you don't have to take your hands off the wheel. Since the sound comes out of the car speakers, permanent kits can be configured to mute the stereo automatically. Before you buy a kit, make sure it offers "full duplex" (which allows you and the other person to talk at the same time), or else it'll feel like you're using a CB radio.
The best thing about portable kits is that anybody can install them, and they can be moved from car to car. They plug into your car's cigarette lighter and come with speakers and microphones that clip to the visor. They're a lot cheaper than permanent kits, running between $50 and $150. (Motorola's Easy Install is $60; Nokia's Hands Free is $120.) The advantages end there, though. Portable kits are for masochists. While even permanent kits' sound systems are subject to the intrusions of traffic sounds, engine noise and talkative passengers, portable kits are much worse. They won't mute your radio or boost your signal. And because they're portable, you'll have to deal with clunky cradles, suction cups, mounting brackets, Velcro patches, visor microphones, power cords - suddenly, in your quest for simplicity and safety, you're holding things together with paper clips and baling wire.
A better choice, and by far the cheapest, is a headset. Plantronics makes a number of combo headset-microphones that plug into your cell phone. The sound quality is better than a car kit's, and if you have a phone that features voice-activated dialing, you'll have to touch only one button to place and receive calls. My favorite is Plantronics' M135 ($45), which is small and sleek and doesn't make me look like a ham-radio freak circa 1962. The Plantronics M1000, a wireless unit that weighs less than an ounce, looks like the thing that used to stick out of Lt. Uhuru's ear on Star Trek. It uses Bluetooth technology to transmit and receive
