Goodbye Entune! Thank god...

Ditching Entune must be nice! I have no idea why carmakers keep trying to push that crap now that Apple and Google have figured out immensely better ways to accomplish the same thing. I guess they want fools to pay $170 for map updates despite the fact that Apple Maps and Google Maps are updated continually at no extra cost. I usually just tell my Apple Watch where I want to go and it gives me turning directions. It sucks not having the big map, but I'm not there yet.

I just got an amp installed with my factory system. Thought about installing it myself but am now glad I shelled out the money to have a pro do it. It took him about five hours. Since I saved about $130 on the amp, it was almost break even on that part. Here's what I got:
Rockford Fosgate R600X5 Prime Series 5-channel car amplifier — 50 watts RMS x 4 at 4 ohms + 300 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms at Crutchfield.com


I didn't want to spend the extra money on the replacement stereo or subwoofer yet. I knew a CarPlay system would set me back at least $500, and I don't even know if the ones that cheap are worth it. Plus you add in the adapter to keep the steering wheel controls and it gets pricey. But MAN THOSE APPLE ICONS LOOK NICE IN A PRIUS v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon)! Hope you like that!

I may be tempted into a subwoofer soon. The amp I got is five-channel, so hooking up a sub is just getting one with a box, placing it and running one set of wires from the amp to the sub. But it's hard to figure out what I want since it's hard to decide on a size and all. Yours takes up a ton of space, which recently for me would've been annoying when buying some plywood and 2x4s. But the other 99 percent of the time, no big deal!

Curious: Do you have your sub bolted down or anything? That looks like a non-slip mat you have. Anything that sits in my Prius will fling around if I make any turn. There's not really any good place to attach a sub box that I can tell without drilling holes through something I don't want to drill holes through.

 

frodoz737 | PriusChat Click on Media.

 

Although coverage has gotten better year by year, there are still many areas where phone based navigation does not work due to lack of data service.

 

You can now download and store Google maps on your device (iPhone, iPad, Android) if you expect to have service problems:
iOS tips and tricks: How to save offline maps on Google Maps | SiliconANGLE

 

That's great but it's usually a surprise when there is no cell phone data or voice service - don't know how I would plan ahead and download maps for these surprises.

 

Google Maps (at least on Android) caches the area around your route when you begin navigation, so even if you lose connectivity half-way there, it will still properly navigate. You'll lose live traffic updates and re-routes, but it'll work.

 

I just got a new GM car with Android Auto (I still have the Prius v). I've been experimenting with it for the past week and found the navigation feature will not work if there is no data connection. I had the Google map areas I needed downloaded to the phone. I was in the car in a data dead zone and tried to navigate to a address. I entered the location though a voice command and it could not respond to the request. It will work if you already have your destination input and you are en route.

If you are in a dead zone, you will not be able to navigate to a new location through the Android Auto. This is one instance where the Toyota GPS is better than Android Auto because it doesn't require a data connection. Otherwise, it is no contest. Android Auto is far superior. The maps are accurate and the traffic reports are better. The interface is infinitely better.

I keeping and old Garmin GPS in the GM car as a backup.

 

I believe that's because Voice Search itself needs to have data in order to process the commands. Had you entered the address manually via keyboard, it would have worked, as long as it was in the area you downloaded. I just tested this on my phone with a downloaded area and airplane mode.

You can enable voice search with no data connectivity. Head to Settings -> Google -> Voice -> Offline speech recognition, and download the "English (US)" package.

 

I gave it a try. I had an old Android phone with Google maps installed and a large map area downloaded. The phone did not even have a sim card and no wifi connection. The directions worked perfectly if I typed the address in but not with voice recognition. I could use this old phone with a 16 Gb sd card and a few map downloads as a great gps with Android Auto! Voice recognition did not work with offline voice recognition enabled. The new car has an on-board wifi hotspot. I tried connecting the old android phone to the car's wifi and everything worked perfectly. Even the voice recognition.
After a week of playing with Android Auto, it really makes me want to dump entune and get a new head unit for the Prius.

 

CJ,

Are you happy with the bezel that came with the installation kit? I replaced my head unit a long time ago in another car and I really hated how cheap the bezel looked.

Michelle

 

Do you still get the various mpg screens that was included in the stock unit?

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Speaking of Entune, last year's update helped a bit. Anyone know what the current version is and where to download it?

 

Windows Phones never had an Entune app. However, from WP8.1, you can use the phone's Bluetooth networking to connect to the Prius v's internet and data using apps. Works a charm.