The Parrot kit is very cool and very cost effective. I helped a friend install one in his car, but he decided to pull it out for a number of reasons and go with a totally different solution.
These are some of the trade-offs:
- If you have DSP, the Parrot kit can not mute the CD audio. The reason is that the CD player feeds its audio signal directly to the DSP amp and bypasses the radio entirely. So, if you get a call while listening to the radio, you must switch the radio to Tape or AM/FM to hear the call.
- The BMW system integrates with the vehicle's display (either the MID or Nav), so you can see the phone's address book and dial directly from the address book. You would have to get the Parrot CK3100 or 3200 to get this capability, and then you would have to have the aftermarket display somewhere mounted visibly inside the car.
- When a call comes in, the BMW will show the name and number on the instrument cluster too. This is very cool, and no way to match that with the aftermarket kit.
- My friend had significant alternator whine with his Parrot. Who knows if it was a one-off, but we could not get rid of it.
- It is hard to hide the Parrot microphone so that it looks totally factory.
- The noise cancellation technology in the BMW microphone is superior to the Parrot. Therefore your callers will hear more ambient noise (road, wind, etc.) with the Parrot.
To be fair, the Parrot CK3000 ($118) with a steering wheel interface kit ($175) would cost about $290 total. However, it would only be comparable in features and performance to the Acura BT system, where you can only voice dial and pre-record number tags. The CK3000 (and Acura) systems do not sync with a phone's address book. To more closely match the BMW system, you would have to get the CK3100 but deal with the negative aesthetics.
For me, the decision to get the BMW kit was easy. First, the BMW Bluetooth system is the best that I have seen in any car at any price. Second, I like the totally hidden and totally integrated installation of the BMW system. Third, the car is the best there is, why cheapen it with an aftermarket solution when something better is available.
I would choose the Parrot in a second for any car that does not have the BMW Bluetooth system available for it. But, the BMW system is just too good to let the Parrot in.