When you think of Myron & Davis, your first thought is probably video products. But now they offer a Bluetooth hands-free kit that is fairly simple to install and very easy to operate. For a retail price of $199, you can put away the phone and keep your hands on the wheel while you drive and talk.
The BT-700 package contains a hideaway control unit, microphone, display unit, display unit extension cable and installation hardware (zip-ties, zip-tie adhesive mounting pads, screws, double- sided adhesive). Bundled with it, a vehicle-specific Y-harness enables the Myron and Davis Bluetooth kit to practically plug and play in the vehicle. It allows the hands-free kit to attenuate the radio volume and transmit the incoming phone audio through the front speakers of the vehicle. While the Bluetooth kit was pretty self explanatory to install, the installation documentation for the harness and the Myron and Davis system could have used some additional detail.
The Myron and Davis microphone can be mounted with either the supplied mounting adhesive or mounting clip. The clip allows the microphone to be clipped to surfaces in the vehicle where the adhesive would not hold. Starting with the microphone, I removed the overhead console and mounted the microphone using the supplied adhesive against the side of the console closest to the driver. The microphone cable was then routed into the headliner before I reinstalled the factory overhead. Ensuring to leave a few inches of slack within the headliner (to allow for future console removal) I routed the microphone cable across the headliner and down the driver's side A-pillar.
At this point it was necessary to remove the dash trim bezel from the vehicle. Thankfully, GM engineers made this process simple, requiring just my bare hands to disengage the mounting clips holding the trim bezel in place. With the bezel out of the way I took the opportunity to remove the three 7mm bolts holding the radio in place. Prior to pulling the radio out of the dash and disconnecting the harness, I checked to ensure that the security code had been provided, just in case. While the radio was out of the dash, I routed the microphone cable across the interior of the dash and into the cavity vacated by the radio. I then proceeded to connect the microphone, 16-pin vehicle-specific Y-harness and display unit extension cable into the hideaway control unit before placing it into the dash. Using the supplied zip-ties, I mounted the hideaway control unit to the large vehicle harness running across the dash.
With the Y-harness connected to the Myron and Davis hideaway unit, I connected the female end of the vehicle specific harness to the radio harness connector in the dash. With the installation at the halfway point, it was time to mount the display unit. After some thought, it was decided that the display unit would be mounted to the dash trim bezel, just to the right of the HVAC controls, below a small storage compartment. Using the supplied adhesive tape I mounted the display unit to the trim bezel and set the bezel aside.
Re-installing the radio was almost as simple as its removal. Instead of connecting the OEM vehicle harness to the radio, I connected the remaining end of the vehicle-specific Y-harness. The harness took a little force to seat properly, and this could be attributed to the connector coming from a different supplier than the OEM manufacturer. Once the harness was seated, the radio went back into the dash and was secured with the 7mm bolts.
The last thing to do was connect the display unit to the extension cable and reinstall the dash trim bezel. When I first connected the display unit, the entire panel lit up - the buttons and the LCD display - and I thought nothing of it. I proceeded to re-assemble the trim bezel and with the installation complete, I turned the vehicle on.
Looking through the instruction manual, it made no mention of the display being illuminated even while the vehicle was off, or how to turn the unit on or off. After a quick call to Myron and Davis' technical support department, it was determined that the harness the magazine had been supplied with was a pre-production unit. While this issue is not something that the typical user would experience, it is worth noting that the technical support department was quick to offer an easy fix for the situation. I simply had to cut the power lead going into the hide-away control unit and re-route it to a switched accessory power source. Within 20 minutes I had the vehicle disassembled, fixed and reassembled.
After that minor inconvenience, the system worked flawlessly. When I turned the vehicle on, the display came to life and allowed calls to come through the factory audio system loud and clear.