SuperTooth HD Review

While this device was certainly the coolest and most iconic looking non-phone device at this year’s CTIA Pepcom in Orlando Florida, we had some rather large reservations about putting such an oddity in our vehicle when connecting a handset to our stereo via a headphone wire would do. Boy were we wrong. Not wrong about it replacing our in-car stereo, but wrong about the idea that this device is more than what it appears. Behold a gateway into the future, this is where in-car device relay is going, ladies and gentlemen, SuperTooth HD ho!

This device, like I said, is rather iconic. The folks at SuperTooth certainly have some talented industrial designers working for them – the simple execution of this bluetooth speaker for your car, with it’s subtle orange accents and perfectly wonderful plastic and metal construction showing their skill without a whisper of the over-the-top nature of most peripherals. You’ve simply to attach the device to its visor clamp with the built-in magnets, stick it above your head in your vehicle via the sun visor, and you’re on your way.

A few button taps here, a connection to your Android device there with your easy-to-use Bluetooth functions that are already built in to your handset, and you’re on your way to using this speaker as the hands-free access to your Android smartphone that you didn’t know you always wanted. This device is capable of connecting to two Android devices at the same time, connects to your car or USB charger if you plan on using it in your office*, and has “up to 20 hours of talk time” – a claim we found to be just about right, having the device in our car for about a week, using it as a speaker every time we drove and having no trouble with reception, loudness, or anything else for that matter until the battery ran out on Friday.

*If you should have the notion in your head that you’d like to use this somewhere other than the car, the magnets on the back of the device will certainly come in handy. We’ve also used the device in the office connected to the in-out bin that sits above yours truly’s desk. Well done!

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This device was able to read incoming email, read incoming SMS messages, and make outgoing calls relatively well with voice commands. It’s always a strange situation talking to a device like this in a car when you’ve got a car that’s not brand new and full of traffic-noise-canceling technology, but the SuperTooth HD did do quite a nice job. Perhaps you recall our review of the Motorola Roadster, another in-car bluetooth speakerphone device. How does the SuperTooth HD add up against that? It looks more advanced, works VERY similarly, and it sounds, if I’m remembering right, that is, a bit more clear.

The SuperTooth HD has a Twin Speaker V Array Technology (two 2.5 watt speakers and a 5.4 watt amplifier), and it shows. The accepting of commands appears to be working a bit better as well, certainly due in no small part to the dual-mic setup the SuperTooth HD has going for it. Noise cancellation is always a plus.

Wrap-Up

Is this device worth the $129 you’ll be paying for it in the SuperTooth store today? It all depends on how long you want to wait for this technology. SuperTooth HD appears very much to me to be the most advanced application of said bluetooth to car-based speaker technology in play today, but in the future this functionality will certainly be built in to cars on the regular. But how long will that be? I’m sure you won’t be seeing that in the amount of time it takes for this device to ship to you from SuperTooth. Therefor, it’s time to buy! Get to it!

I think you’ll also be thrilled to know that their other speaker, the SuperTooth DISCO is pretty amazing as well. Head over to SlashGear to see that review.