Sony MEX-BT2600

Author's product rating:   

How is the Sound Quality?	Good
Ease of Installation	Difficult
How is the Look & Design?	Excellent
Range of Features	Excellent
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Stylish, Not Expensive
Disadvantages:	Hard to use at first, Difficult to Set - Up

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Sony Stereo - MEX-BT2600

This is the upgrade to the MEX-BT2500 which was a very popular stereo and still is. This new model is a cool looking stereo from the quality and trusted brand Sony, it is stylish to look at both when turned off and on.
After always having Sony stereos when this new one came out we decided we'd get if for our Renault Laguna, the old one had worked with the steering wheel controls but unfortunately this one doesn't as you have to buy a separate cable to connect it up to your steering wheel controls.

Setting it up and Ease of Use

This is definitely not the easiest stereo to set up the first time we put it into our Laguna it went in fine and worked perfectly getting used to all the settings and functions does take a while though, but it isn't exactly a basic stereo so if you do not like taking a while working out all the buttons this stereo is not for you, buy a simpler one!
A few weeks after having this our stereo in our Citroen Saxo broke so we decided to replace it with this one as we use this car more and needed a stereo in there. We put it in just like we had the Laguna but it now doesn't store the settings and the Bluetooth doesn't work, it needed two wires changing over to make it work in a different car all though it doesn't say anything on the box about different set up for different cars.
So eventually we have it all set up and working and its absolutely brilliant, with our up-rated speakers it sounds brilliant I would definitely recommend upgrading your car speakers as standard ones are not made for aftermarket stereos and the sound distorts when the volume is turned up. Then you should get the best out of the stereo.

Some cars might need additional wires and a new facia panel if the standard stereo is a built in one and you often need wires to make it work with the digital display, this is mainly in newer cars such as an 05 plate Vauxhall Astra. If you need these bits you can usually buy them from your cars main manufacturer dealer or somewhere like eBay, places such as car accessory shops also sell kits to fit some cars but do not usually have a very wide range.

Bluetooth

We use the Bluetooth function a lot and it is great, you can take incoming and make outgoing calls if you set it up with a Bluetooth compatible phone, it will turn any music your playing off automatically so you can take your call through your cars own speakers. This is a completely legal and safer way of using your phone in the car.

You can also use your phone like a mp3 player/I pod, we have a lot of music stored on our phones and this stereo can be set up to play them from the phone without any wires via Bluetooth.

Styling & Looks

I personally think this is a great looking stereo with a easy to read LCD display that along with the buttons lights up when the stereo is on not only does this make it look good it makes it easy to see the buttons to use them.
The buttons are stylish and well set out on the stereo front, the main stereo is black so fits in with any cars surround.

Features

*Drive-S for uncompromising sound and extended durability of the CD drive

*52x4W S-MOSFET amp delivers window-shaking power and also reduces sound distortion for extra quality sounding music.

*Hands-free talking via Bluetooth hfp and built-in microphone which is a safe and legal way to use your phone while driving.

*Stereo wireless via Bluetooth A2DP, AVRCP, allows music to be taken from any Bluetooth device and can play it without loosing any sound quality.

*CD/CD-RW/mp3/WMA playback

*13 Segment LCD display for highly readable playback information on an easy to read screen.

*Front AUX-IN for direct connection of your portable music player

*Front + rear/sub switchable

*Remote controller supplied (RM-X304) ideal for people in the back that want to change the stereo track over without distracting the driver.

It also has a re-movable front so you can remove it when you leave your car in a car part etc, so it does not attract theves by the fact you have an aftermarket stereo. You can either take it with you or hide it in your car.

*Joystick RM-X4S ready

Instruction Manual

This stereo comes with a manual for installing the stereo to your car and also one for operating it and understanding all the features the stereo has. I don't really read instructions but I flicked through them and they seem to be full of useful information and I am sure they would be a great help to anyone wanting to learn all the features by reading the instructions to get the best out of their stereo. It comes in various languages and you can also download the instruction manual from the Sony website if you ever loose the ones that came with your stereo.

Price & Availability

We bought our one of these from Halfords but they are available in most car accessory shops as well as various online shops.
They are currently £159.99 in Halfords and that includes free fitting if you want it, they also sometimes have offers on certain stereos that I have seen including this model before.
They also come with a standard 1year guarantee.

My Overall Opinion

I personally love our stereo of this model and am very happy with it, yes it can be complicated to set up and use but once you are used to it then it was worth it.
I think it is a great price for a Sony stereo that should last ages.

I'm giving it a good rating not excellent as it is hard to set up and get used, the only other small problem is you do not get maximum quality out of standard speakers but I think you would find that problem with most car stereos unless the standard speaker set up is a really good one the sort of quality I would expect to find it an Audi not my little cheap French cars, other than that though everything else is brilliant.