2018 new owner hates entune

I did the voice training 3 x.

 

Have not.. I’ll have to do that thanks

 

Voice commands are useless with entune. Carplay and Android auto won't come to these headunits in the 3rd gen, unless they did a mid gen refresh and update the headunit with the right hardware, ie new Camry, Avalon. Won't work on current systems. The big alpine unit is like the ones for the jk, low res screen, janky interface, old hardware internally-they keep recycling the same internals and charge an arm and a leg for. And a pricey adapter for everything, even their cam is 340 bucks.

 

Thoughts on the 4400 vs 6400?

 

I don't mind the functionality of Entune.

I do mind the screen resolution and how awful it looks, especially when trying to use the backup camera.

I want to upgrade for that alone.

 

Paper is obsolete the second it is printed.
In Dallas, Austin, or Houston (or most major cities) there is so much construction a paper map is a death sentence.

 

• GPS is frustratingly bad:
  • Forces you to use the old school 'general to specific' way of entering an address. Choose state. Choose city. Choose street. Choose number. At each step, cross your fingers that the map card actually has the correct (or any) data.
  • Search function is a joke. Try finding the nearest [insert your favorite eatery here]. You can fight for 10 minutes with the Places of Interest's frustrating interface and lack of data until you finally give up, or you can open Google Maps on your phone and have a route planned in 10 seconds.
  • UI in map mode is visually busy and anything but intuitive.
  • Requires a physical modification to the wiring harness to allow the passenger to enter destinations while transmission is in Drive. Given how crappy the system is overall, this really doesn't matter, since my passenger will be entering the destination on Google Maps anyway.
• Bluetooth connectivity is flaky. Multiple times a week I have to reboot my phone to get the head unit to connect to it. Just turning Bluetooth off/on is not enough to fix this. Has to be a reboot.
• Audio interface is flaky:
  • You never know what mode or track is going to come up when your phone connects.
  • The "RND" (shuffle) feature does not work predictably. Sometimes it will not be illuminated in the interface, but the system still shuffles, or vice versa. Toggling the feature sometimes has no effect or the opposite effect of what the interface says it's doing.
  • Browsing your device for podcasts does not work most of the time. Other times, it will let you browse and choose a track, but the system then will play a DIFFERENT track.
  • Podcasts often cannot be started from the head unit's screen, even if the correct podcast's info is displayed. The play/pause button has no effect. Can be fixed by opening the podcast app on the phone and playing the episode from there, at which point the head unit's play/pause button will work.
  • No ability to scrub within a podcast track.

To be fair, the overall sound quality is fine, and the head unit's basic functionality is there. But for anything other than FM radio or USB stick-based music, I installed one of those little magnetic phone holders, and I use my phone with the Entune head unit nothing more than a very expensive and not very functional Bluetooth mic/speaker.

 

Voice recognition and Navigation are abysmal. Ask for directions to the nearest 7-11 and it gives me directions to a steak house 1,000 miles away. It has also directed me a mile out of my way around a circle only to pass my original location before getting underway to the destination. Complaints to Toyota corporate and the dealer fell on deaf ears.

 

I am waiting for CES 2019. AFAIK, Kenwood is the only one making head units with least 720p screens. Their next one is supposed to have wireless CarPlay.

 

They won’t improve ENTUNE 2.x any further. It is an old system.

 

I see that a lot of people replaced the head unit with a pioneer head unit .Two questions...if you change it will the backup camera still work .And want pioneer head unit did people use.

 

Not in my Tacoma (yet) but in my wife's Highlander we replaced it with a Pioneer deck that provided wireless Carplay and had navigation. If you buy from a place like Crutchfield and chat with one of their techs, they'll get you squared away with everything you need including the adapter to make sure your rear camera still works. I'd highly recommend buying the Maestro add-on which will help retain the majority of your Entune's vehicle customizations as well as more. Maestro attaches to most of the higher end Pioneer systems (as well as other brands) but make sure you confirm this before buying.

Also, if you get a Pioneer system with built-in Nav... just a word to the wise, don't bother trying to tap into the stock GPS antenna, just place the Pioneer GPS antenna to the top of the head unit. This way the antenna will be hidden and the metal base of the head unit actually helps its signal strength. We did this in the Highlander and it worked out great.

Sorry for not providing specific model numbers for the Pioneer. I purposely didn't as they have newer units available. Features that were important to us were wireless carplay, wireless mirroring (our unit has wireless mirroring for android and wired for iPhones... that was fine at the time), and built-in GPS.

 

$1,100 Dmh-wc6600nex 9" Capacitive Touchscreen, Modular Chassis – Wireless & Wired Apple CarPlay & Android Auto, Amazon Alexa, Bluetooth, HD Radio, FLAC, Backup Camera, Hi-Volt RCA

Dmh-wc6600nex. Yes backup canera works and the maestro sto2 adapter allows me to use the factory gos antenna.

 

I bought this adapter for the GPS antenna and ended up not using it. I'm pretty sure the Pioneer unit I bought had the wireless carplay wifi antenna built into the provided GPS antenna so this wasn't a good option.

 

I had a Pioneer AVIC-8200NEX left over from my Jeep Jk. Because it stranded me so often, I moved to Toyota for reliability and toughness, which this truck obviously has. Entune Bluetooth was fine for podcasts and some music, but it never got loud or really clear. So first, I tried the speaker upgrade I read about here. Replaced the four mains with Kickers, and the tweeters with the Subaru recommendations. It was better, but not close to what I had in the damn Jeep.

Then, I tried installing the Pioneer a couple of times and had problems which prevented me from keeping it in the truck. So I tried a Sony from Crutchfield, which played calls from only one interior speaker. Calls to tech support led me to return that radio as well.

All the while, the Pioneer sat on a shelf in the garage. I ultimately tracked the issue down to a faulty wiring harness (which is surprisingly difficult to get, given that the radio was/is only 4 years old) and soldered that into the loom. There were a LOT of wires to tuck- the Pioneer harness, the Toyota adapter harness, and the Maestro, but it worked out.

I pulled the dash apart for what felt like the thousandth time and connected everything up and the Pioneer finally fired up.

Apple Carplay, all by itself, is a worthwhile upgrade, and the music is MUCH louder and clearer now than with the stock HU.

Because the HU is wired for Carplay, I just zip-tied the mic to the lead and it doesn't vibrate against anything and is clear and evidently sounds good to whomever I'm calling. Does it look ideal? It does not. But it's just me and the dogs and I'm a function over form person anyway. I may take the time to put it in the headliner and secure it in polyfoam or something similar. If anyone has any leads on doing that, I'd appreciate it.

I should also note that I'm using a 67designs TacoRail in my truck, and that my phone is up in my line of sight while connected up.

It works very well, and I'm kicking myself that I didn't do it sooner.

Looking back, that Entune unit, which is now collecting dust on my workbench, was a huge step backwards, even from my '13 Allroad.

Having said that, I should also mention that the 8200 has been back to Pioneer in CA 3 or 4 times for just not working- I don't know how much to attribute to Jeep wiring vs. Pioneer issues, but I haven't heard anyone else with so many issues. In the Tacoma, the 8200 is working just fine. I'm hoping it stays that way.

 

Oh, and I should mention that my backup camera works great (higher resolution screen), and I'm able to see vehicle information (tire pressure, voltage, etc.).