Hands-free devices for safer driving

Nicole Lee, Associate Editor July 3, 2008

As of July 1, 2008, California and Washington joined New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Washington D.C. with a hands-free law that forbids talking on a cell phone while driving. That is, unless you use a hands-free device. The conventional wisdom out there is to use a Bluetooth headset of some kind, which we certainly recommend, to comply with the laws. We especially like the Aliph Jawbone 2, the Jabra BT8040, and the BlueAnt Z9i. All of these headsets feature noise-canceling technologies that will be useful in and out of the car.

For those of you who simply don't want the hassle of buying a separate headset and are looking for a cell phone, we highly recommend the LG Decoy from Verizon Wireless, which is one of the first cell phones to have a built-in Bluetooth headset in the back. Finally, you can use Bluetooth speakerphones to make or receive calls as well, and our favorite is the BlueAnt Supertooth 3. If you want a two-in-one device, the Garmin Nuvi 880 is a GPS handheld that can be paired with a cell phone and be used as a speakerphone as well.

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