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Does anyone's audio & electronic equipment work seamlessly?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by RockerC, Jun 26, 2013.

  1. RockerC

    RockerC Junior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
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    Four
    As a new owner, and never having had this kind of electronics package in a vehicle, perhaps I am expecting too much? But it does seem as if there are many issues with the Prius electronic package. ( I have the 4).
    - My iphone 4 rarely shows my contacts when it connects, and seems to randomly 'lose' them after a while.
    - When my ipod is connected via usb, I can sometimes scroll quickly thru the artist list, but usually not. It is a laborious process going one page at a time, and it will try to play the first song on each page if my button push timing is not spot-on. Hard while driving, and I have hundreds of artists to scroll thru from 'A' each time I want to change.
    - My Satellite connection is terrible. Not worth paying a subscription for.
    - My radio will sometimes lose my preset stations, and I have to reset them all over again.

    These are just the first things, and so far there are issues with everything I have used, without even trying the sat nav system or anything else!

    Does anyone have a trouble free experience with all this stuff? It seems to me that all of this is pretty much worthless if it does not work as intended consistently. If it did something the same all the time, I could work around it, but when it is a seemingly random occurrence, it is more than frustrating.
     
  2. rdgrimes

    rdgrimes Senior Member

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    None of that sounds right, especially losing preset radio channels. You should document the issues with the dealer.
     
  3. css28

    css28 Senior Member

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    My iPhone contacts are a little squirrelly but I have no problem with the FM and satellite radio reception/presets.

    I don't do the iPod/USB thing so I can't comment.

    Compared to my portable Garmin unit the nav is a little cumbersome to use but hasn't messed up on me and the traffic feature is pretty good.

    All in all, while not seamless, I'm generally happy with the setup.
     
  4. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    I have no problem with any of my audio equipment or electronic equipment. In fact they all work very well.

    The loss of radio presets is normally a sign of a low 12V battery. Check your 12V battery and make sure it is 12V + after sitting for several hours and before making the car Ready.

    If your 12v battery is OK then it sounds like you may have a defective head unit.
     
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i don't use much. my usb works flawlessly, the xm was fine, but i didn't keep it. no problem with the presets, i don't have a phone, but my son uses his when he's with me, bluetooth is great for calls and music, don't know about contacts.
     
  6. RockerC

    RockerC Junior Member

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    I am pretty sure now that the reason I am not seeing contacts for my phone all the time, and also why I cannot seem to change more than one page on the USB/ipod sometimes, is because I am moving! When I stop, my phone contacts become visible, and I seem to be able to scroll quickly thru my Artist list on the ipod.
    This makes no sense to me. It will just encourage people to go to the phone directly to look up a contact, and it means that if I want to search for an artist when on the move, it takes a lot longer with attention distracted. I know I should not be doing this on the move, but I really don't see that I should have to pull over each time I want to search for a song I like!
     
  7. Mike Rosenzweig

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    I have the HDD Nav system in my Prius four and everything seems to work well, although Pandora can be slow during initiation. I did have to re-pair my bluetooth due to a phone issue, but ever since, the system has been rock solid and reliable. The HDD navigation is really nice...better than my Garmin.
     
  8. ursle

    ursle Gas miser

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    Ah, the op is learning that the phone only dials speed dial numbers while in motion, as does the nav only go to presets when moving, I agree, when the 12v is low anything can happen, but other then no streaming bluetooth audio in the gen 3, 11's, which I also have, no issues with any electronics.
    Sat radio is relative, in the northern us under trees it's spotty, radio losing presets is a dead 12v symptom, so, there's a slight learning curve involved with a new prii, but it's worth it;)
     
  9. Kiani Rumbo

    Kiani Rumbo Junior Member

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    I am having a problem with losing Bluetooth intermittently. Mostly my radio reports "no device is setup" after a couple of minutes of successful connection.

    Another problem (not sure if this is related or not) is I cannot select/de-select "Turn bluetooth Off" button on setup screen.

    I have 2013 prius Three.
     
  10. Eclipse1701d

    Eclipse1701d Prius Enthusiast

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    Yesterday I was driving and listening to music via my iPAD through the Bluetooth Connection. I lightning strike occurred about a mile ahead of me. I heard brief static and then my Head Unit rebooted, the Toyota Symbol appeared on the screen... After, everything was fine. I could understand if the strike occurred right in my proximity, but like I said, it was over a mile away... It was a little disconcerting to see that.
     
  11. 14T shelley

    14T shelley Junior Member

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    My wife's prius 3 is getting annoying with its bluetooth. The dealer has replaced the bluetooth unit and we have replaced her droid with another one but the phone still drops calls about 20 seconds into the call and the phone and bluetooth seldom auto connect when getting into the car. If a call drops the call the bluetooth on the phone has to be turned off to use the phone. Toyota corporate does not seem to care and the dealer is stumped.
     
  12. Chris S

    Chris S Active Member

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    2012 Prius
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    My Sat radio and back up camera seem to be the only reliable things in my head unit lately. I have a 2012 Three and have been using the iPhone 4S since I got it. Entune apps worked great for awhile and Bluetooth mostly but my iPod function often doesn't. I plug the phone in and it tries to play iPod but stops and says "function not available" some days if I try a second time, it's cool, other days I'll experiment over the 2 hour commute and never succeed. Lately Entune has been the same, tells me to check my internet connection. This week I may set up my wife's Samsung galaxy 3 and see if its just my iPhone but I'm more inclined to blame the Entune software. Shouldn't gripe too badly though, still need the update ;-) and hope that'll be my cure but I hear so many bad things about that too.
     
  13. Kiani Rumbo

    Kiani Rumbo Junior Member

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    So went to the dealer today and i was told that bluetooth system has a known problem and Toyota would need to provide a software fix. He could not backup this story with any compelling information, but was babbling something about android and Entune. But thee issue of bluetooth connectivity may not have anything to do with Android and Entune since BT is a standards based interface. Entune is not something that i see myself using much. i only want phone and audio streaming thru BT....

    So I asked the dealer to replace the unit. he agreed (the car is barely 1 week old). so now waiting to get it replaced....

    Thanks
     
  14. Eclipse1701d

    Eclipse1701d Prius Enthusiast

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    I read in a previous post the the iPhone works better for music if you only use the Bluetooth connection. Connecting it via the adapter causes some sort of problem. Try it.. My iPad wouldn't work via the adapter, but works fine via BT.
     
  15. Chris S

    Chris S Active Member

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    Yep, I've seen that too but with the iPhone, Entune doesn't work unless the phone is plugged in. I like the traffic and gas price apps it has, easy to use. Now, I totally hose up the head unit if I stream I Heart Radio on Bluetooth and then try to switch to iPod music. Usually I get in and try to pick one audio source and stick with it but its hard. I chose the Prius Three over the Two for the Stereo features and am mad that I have so many choices that don't work :-( I already replaced the speakers, I hate to do the head unit too, could've saved money and bought a Prius Two and a good Rosen, Alpine, or any other head unit that does the same for the same overall price and been happy. Crazy
     
  16. Eclipse1701d

    Eclipse1701d Prius Enthusiast

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    Chris,

    I saw another post where you can program the head unit with the cellular carrier info. This then allows access to entune via BT on the iPhone without using the cable. I wish I could find it... It was within the last two weeks... I have a Samsung and there are no problems with using that phone...
     
  17. Chris S

    Chris S Active Member

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    Thanks, I'll dig around for more info. This thread and my issues got me experimenting so I ran my wife's Galaxy S3 and my standard iPod and all worked great, Bluetooth, Entune, iPod music and streaming music. I'll test it more tomorrow during the commute and if it works, then the iPhone will be history, due for a Verizon upgrade in 3 months.
     
  18. eliotb

    eliotb Junior Member

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    2014 Prius
    Model:
    Five
    Is it possible to call up your phone contacts list while driving? I was unable to do that on a drive yesterday, though as soon as I stopped and was flipping through options I was able to find it. If one cannot get contacts while driving that forces me either 1) to spend time with the password on the phone (a government blackberry so I cannot copy contacts into the car) to find the number or 2) scroll through the placed/received calls to find a number I might have dialed.

    anyone know the answer to whether the contacts are disabled while driving?

    thanks.
     
  19. 14T shelley

    14T shelley Junior Member

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    I have posted before and after my wife talked with the "roving Toyota tec" it seems that one issue may be the OS used on Motorola phones. We have 2 droid Razrs using os 4.1.2 and they both lock-up and freeze the phone & radio. It is as though the system only allows one call when driving and then all goes sideways.... by the way we have a Prius level 3.
     
  20. Chris S

    Chris S Active Member

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    2012 Prius
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    Three
    I had all kinds of issues getting my iPhone 4S to work. Some days it'd play fine and I could run the iPod and Entune, other days nothing would work. I then tried my wife's Galaxy S3 running Entune on Bluetooth and a normal iPod connect and things would be ok for a day and the again, the normal iPod wouldn't play. I had an appt with Toyota to bring the car in this coming week to check the stereo ( display audio ) and update Entune for $29.95 since i was still running last year's version 1.8. Well, I called Entune this past Thurs and they said absolutely not to pay the dealer, they'd send the USB update. Yesterday it came, loaded fine, and.. Knock on wood.. it works like a dream. I couldn't break it. Ran Entune on my 4S, iPod music, Bluetooth, phone.. It all worked. Then i switched to my wife's Galaxy phone running Entune, my normal iPod, Bluetooth, and streaming music on the Entune apps. All worked and switched fast, unreal. An hour later I turned on the car and the radio asked if I wanted to pull an update for one of the apps, so it is now pulling OTA updates as well. I'm hoping the USB update did it once and for all and am mad I didn't just call months ago! Praying it keeps on working.


    iPhone ? 2