Entune...would you buy it if you were buying a 2012?

I decided against the entune in my 2012, simply because that display looked like it was going to be very annoying while driving!

 

I was in the exact same situation in December, it wasn't really the money that stopped me from getting the entune, but the fact the XM had all the features I wanted and not that annoying screen that is always moving!

 

no

 

Just ordered mine...with Entune. Comes with the 6.1" screen and JBL speakers. I'll give you guys a review when it gets in around the end of feb. MSRP is over $1900 but nobody ever pays full MSRP...I hope because I sure didn't. I like the options, the features, and don't want to go aftermarket. I'm sure that in 3 years when they try to charge for some of the services there will be some hack somwhere to get it free...but it might void the warrenty on the Entune that I don't care about. Oh well.

 

I am glad I purchased the Entune stereo. The uses for this are incredible. I use Pandora (My Lists), Phone (Speak my Contacts & it calls them), SAT(Fee after 3mo. Still debating since I live in the City. But road trips to the Midwest where AM is the only station...), HD FM (Didn't know what it was until my new Taco, works great), Fuel Prices (Saved $.22c a gallon yesterday - PRICE LESS. get it!!), Stocks (very much needed the closer I get to Retirement) , Traffic Alerts (In the city on my Commute can save me 20-30 mins., Weather (just look outside, but forcast helps with if I'm going to wash the Taco or wait.) I know this is alot of features that probably most won't use, but for me I Like it. If you have a iPhone you do have to use the connector cord for the Apps. but not music on the phone or your functions of the phone. ALSO IT USES YOUR DATA PLAN ON YOUR PHONE so be careful of the amount. I have been grandfathered with unlimited data, but will compare the next months useage and post how much I used. Don't think you have to use connector cord with the Driod phones. Also the USB connector with a 32GB memory stick = thousands of songs so not sure again about continuing SAT. IMO I would buy it again if I had it to do over, but look a www.Toyota.com/entune and decide!! There are different Entune systems and the one I received doesn't have the CAR mode that would be nice since it tells you how much air pressure in each tire and your fuel economy. Hope this helps. PM me if you have specific ??'s

 

Lets see not only do you have to pair your smartphone and use your smartphone data plan to access the apps in entune, but once the three years is up you have to pay:


Sounds like a win.... for toyota

 

I chose not to get Entune. I have an iphone 4S with Siri. The Bluetooth links great with the iphone. I can hit the iphone home button to activate Siri and it comes over the trucks speaker/mic system. Works really well. I haven't bothered loading contacts into the truck yet because it's so easy with Siri.
Plus, I'm pleasantly surprised with the sound from the 6 speaker system.

 

Would I purchase Entune? Absolutely not (and I didn't). For me, it's a complete waste of money. I certainly wouldn't use most features while driving and and I don't sit around in a parked vehicle long enough to mess with it.

Further, it would never last as long as I intend to own the vehicle. Even if it doesn't break outright, it will surely be obsolete in just a few years. Besides, if it does break, who at the local Toyota dealership has the skills to fix it? Assuming it's even still available at that point, they'll certainly have to replace it entirely, which isn't going to be quick or cheap.

I think it's far wiser to just purchase separate, stand-alone, devices which can be easily and cheaply replaced when they break or are obsoleted.

 

x2!

 

Now that I have had it for a few months I think it is a POS! If you want a navi go with kenwood.

 

I ordered my 12 Tacoma last week and opted for the Entune option. I will be retiring my 97 Ford F-150 Step side and converting to being a Taco owner It seems that it is still an evolving system and I am willing to give Toyota the benefit of the doubt on the long term use. Hopefully it will all work out. The wife got her Highlander back in December and opted not to get it since she recently purchased an upgraded GPS device since she travels a lot and can take that with her. Since I don't fly to other cities on a regular basis I thought having the navigation, etc built in already would be a good option for me.

 

Good choice, you will like it.

 

Does anyone know of some good Entune resources (i.e. forums)? Compared to the nav in my Jetta TDI, this thing is a bit lame, or it's me!

Is there any way to link the NAV volume to the radio volume? Seems the nav volume is fixed, not proportional to what ever the master source is, say the radio.

How do you get the thing to adjust the volume based on speed?

Since half the functionality is disabled once you start moving, how do you get around that? I had to dial into a conf call the other day, it was fine, I dialed in before I started moving but then the call dropped and I had to enter 10 digit conf # again but the retarded keypad was locked. So I had to dig the phone out of my back pack in the back seat and fumble around with the phone while driving on the highway. Seems safer to just leave the keypad available while driving.

 

That is a pain, especially compared to the German cars that just warn you and let you proceed. We had a Lexus a few years back and there was a hack to allow the Nav and DVD to play while moving. I had to cut the speed sensor wire and parking brake wire going to the head unit and install a switch. I have no idea how to do this on a Tacoma but somebody out there might have some idea.

 

As for the volume setting based on speed just go to your bass, treble, and balance screen. If you look there is a tab to tab over, toward the top of the screen. This will take you to the page to turn on and off the automatic sound adjust feature. Hope that hepled.

 

Do you have the voice control? It can be used when regular input can not. The radio, GPS and Phone all have different call volume. Just click on the little speaker icon in each mode to change.

And you are not wrong the whole navi/entune this is lame. Aftermarket would be better.

 

Yeah, I figured out different volumes for each, but I was expecting it to work like the Nav in my TDI. If I have the radio volume up loud, it would reduce it by some #, say 50% and then the NAV voice comes on at a volume some % of total volume. The Entune just has the radio blaring and the NAV voice trying to compete at some fixed volume. Seems like they ran out of time to implement some basic features or refinements.

 

I would say there aren't any refinements. Its like JBL pulled it out of their a$$ at the last moment and made it as cheap as possible.

On the volume how ever I know what you mean I have not found any type of auto adjustment like that.

One thing that drives me nuts is if you are listening to the radio and navigating then you get a phone call it cuts the radio but not the navi voice. When this happens the person on the line can hear the navi voice. This makes me sound like a tool when I get business phone calls.

My stupid auto dimmer for day/night does not even work. Its Crap, Crap, Crap.

 

I wouldn't say it's crap...The voice recognition works much better than the one in my wife's infiniti, and it picks up and drops off of my iphone pretty seamlessly. My biggest complaint is that the screen is flush with the dash so the glare on a sunny day makes it virtually worthless (I haven't seen a system in a tacoma that's set back to avoid this like in most cars...). Also the most kick ass thing about the backup camera in the infiniti is that it "stitches" together 4 cameras for a 360 view (I don't think you can get that integration with aftermarket systems) and you can park it with an inch or 2 to spare confidently. Maybe it's un-manly to talk about back-up cameras but in our old house with it's dinky garage they come in REALLY handy.

 

No Entune for me. If I want to chew up data with my iPhone, I might as well just use the phone. Besides, I fell in love with my truck the first time I saw her picture on the dealer's website. It just wasn't worth it to me to pick another.