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Rosen Install - Can't get simultaneous audio to work with Nav...

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by merneric, Sep 23, 2011.

  1. merneric

    merneric New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2011
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    Location:
    USA
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    Hey all,

    I just installed my rosen last night...was pretty straight forward thanks to numerous posts on here and youtube videos. Seems to work ok, except that for some reason I can't get anything to play while in navigation mode, which is pretty annoying. The manual says that "While in Nav mode, you can listen to music...for details on how to change settings, see the System settings section" but I can't seem to find that anywhere.

    BTW, it is a 2010, type IV with JBL, also installed the sirius+ipod adapter.

    Thanks!
     
  2. merneric

    merneric New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2011
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    Location:
    USA
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    Well...I got it to work...but I'm not sure how, which is kind of scary. I wound up pushing a bunch of buttons, going through menus, etc, and all of a sudden it started working. Nearest thing I can figure, is that maybe when I was testing my Aux Input, and then switched back...that somehow that triggered it it on, but I'm really not sure.

    The system definitely has its quirks, but I knew about most of those from the threads here.

    Thanks anyway.
     
  3. cptdave

    cptdave New Member

    Joined:
    May 22, 2011
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    Location:
    Rocklin, CA
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    I have had my Rosen install in my 2011 Prius since May of this year, and find that although the unit has some good points, it has many more deficiencies. The unit was installed by the dealer when I bought the car. I have a Nissan Murano and Dodge Ram with built-in nav systems and SiriusXM radios and both are far superior to the Rosen. Some of the shortcomings:

    1. The display itself is not up to most car standards. The display is not bright enough for easy use on normal sunny days. In addition, it does not dim enough in low light so it is distracting when driving at night. This is especially true when the Sirius radio screen is up so that you can change channels or see what songs are playing. The display controls do not change the brightness or contrast enough, and the controls (like all menu items on this unit) are buried deep in many steps that cannot be easily changed unless you are parked and have alot of time.
    2. The navigation unit seems to find most of the POIs that I look for, the map data is missing some newer roads that should have been on a unit that was new in 2011.
    3. Unlike my other cars, no radio or other data is shown on the map screen while in the nav mode, so you need to switch back to the radio mode to change channels. Most other units have buttons to select favorites so that you don't have to leave the navigation page.
    4. In navigation mode, the voice instructions only tell you to turn left or right, but not the street name. This is confusing when approaching intersections where there are many streets connecting in the same area. Both my other car units, my two garmin units, and the google nav function on my phone are far superior in turn-by-turn instructions since they tell you what street to turn on. For this reason, I mostly use my android phone for turn-by-turn navigation.
    5. In nav mode, the rural areas of the map show in a dark green color which makes it more difficult to see where on the map the road goes and where the vehicle is on that route. Maybe it is because the instruction manual is very difficult the use, but I haven't been able to change this to a light background.
    6. In nav mode, the names of the streets are small font and hard to read on an already-deficient display. The only way I have found to see street names in a large enough font to read is to operate in the driving mode instead of the overhead view, but then only the next closest street name or two are visible.
    7. In radio mode, the Sirius does show the names or the artists and songs and other data, but the text is very truncated and only shows a limited number of characters. While driving and listening to football last Sunday, the text was so truncated you could not read the last part of the score on the screen (e.g. the display showed "DAL 20 SF __" , where the __ part ran off the right side of the display and was not visible). It also truncated the channel number of what channel the other games were being broadcast. This is very annoying when you are trying to find the other games while driving. Also, when using the buttons on the steering wheel to advance through channels on the radio, it only advances through the stations you have preset on the page you are on; it does not advance through the channels preset on the other two pages, or better yet, to advance through all the channels on Sirius. Using the tuner knob on the unit is difficult since it takes alot of turns to advance the radio channels just a few numbers. This is a really bad radio interface.
    8. Having the ability to connect the iPod is good, but the interface is weak. You have to hold your finger on the scroll arrows on the interface to scroll to the artist, song, etc. which is not really doable while driving. Also, I wonder why it doesn't display album art since the unit obviously has video capability in the DVD mode. The cables that connect the iPod and USB units to the unit are in the glove compartment, and are extremely long and very thick; it seems like these could have been made of thinner cable to help with space.
    9. The bluetooth phone unit connects easily and sounds good, but the ability to make a call using the display is not good. The unit displays the numbers of the last made, received, and missed calls, but it displays only the numbers and not the names (so you have to know the number of who you want to call) of who you called or who called you. You can recall by pressing these numbers on the display, but the numbers are so small and close to each other that you frequently press the number next to the one you want. The unit has no built-in phonebook to load frequently called numbers. This is an capability that has been around for years now, and is available on my other navigation units.

    The unit has a couple of good points. I like the speed monitor that tells you when you over the speed limit. This is valuable when on road trips through rural areas and towns where you sometimes enter speed restricted areas with little warning. The music sound through the system to the built-in Boston speakers in the Prius is very good, especially using the iPod. It also has been good at finding restaurants, gas stations, and other POIs when on a trip.

    It is possible that I am not aware of how to overcome some of these issues since the documentation is not great. Although the unit works, I would not have bought this unit if I had been aware of these issues
     
  4. PaJa

    PaJa Senior member

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2009
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    Location:
    Czech republic
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Ad your navigation's experience:
    Most of your negatives are NAV SW related. The HU is a standard WinCE unit, you can use any other navigation SW: TomTom, iGo, Primo and etc or newest version of your current sw. It is not unusual, that SW producers are releasing new versions minimally twice a year.
    If new roads are missing you need to update map files. For iGo and primo sw there are many skins which upgrade the UI to better then original view. Start at gpspassion.com web site and you will find more or look for some experienced installer in your proximinity.