HD Weather and traffic {Does it ever work ?}

Mine works fine, here in the Houston area!

 

Mine works pretty well

 

First, if you have your phone linked via the Entune app, then you can set the radio to get (at least) the weather via the phone if there are no HD-FM stations in your area. I'm not sure about traffic. There's an option on the radio to set HD-FM only or HD-FM as the first choice, phone as second. Once set you should be able to get weather (and maybe traffic).

Now as far as the Entune app itself... There is some pain in the butt set up you have to go thru on a Toyota web site to register, then you load the app. Now each time you start your truck, not only will it make a bluetooth connection to the phone itself, but the truck will use the data connection on the phone to get additional data. Its a nice arrangement. At least on the premium system, the radio will also get its updates via the phone (not sure about others).

What else besides traffic and weather? Look at the apps your radio has - pretty much all of them require them to get data (via the phone) to be useful). How useful these apps are depends on what you make of them. Personally I like the search for nearby POI's (restaraunts, gas stations, etc) for when I'm out of my local area. I did once buy tickets for a movie as I was driving to the theatre, that was kinda cool, not something you do everyday, but cool that I could.

BTW - XM has nothing to do with any of this its an audio source only.

 

Hey Larry, thanks for the response. In doing a little research myself I've come to find (I believe) that the Entune app and it's features are only useable on the Entune premium and above systems. I've learned that the "Entune plus" is only "Entune" in name only…it's basically a glorified radio/cd/bluetooth player w/ a couple of useful/useless (take your pick) "apps" thrown in for show. Enjoy your Entune Premium!

 

The weather/traffic features are nice I guess (in areas where they work). I just wish Toyota would have sprung for an on-board temp display and some other very basic features like a MPG gauge, compass, etc...stuff I had in other vehicles 10+ years ago.

The traffic feature is kind of funny in the DC area, because every major road is usually red. I use Google maps for my navigation since it bases traffic on info from other users in the area, plus all of the info that gets transmitted via HD radio signals.

 

Only partial true. I checked the Entune manual and indeed traffic and weather via the phone is a Premium only feature, but the rest of Entune features are available. Now the manual never specifies what apps are available via Entune, so could be the list is different, but you should have something.

Hey, its free, link your phone up and see what you get!

 

Folks, I just picked up a 2014 Doublecab Tacoma TRD Sport with the HD radio including weather and traffic. Weather and traffic seem to function correctly. It seems that the GPS tracking is built in and the unit has much of what is needed for navigation. Is it possible to add navigation to this radio?

I have my phone telephone and audio hooked up to the HD radio via Bluetooth. Both features work.

Secondly, I downloaded the Entune app onto my iPhone 5s, but when I attempted to register, the app had me scan the VIN bar code, and it said that my vehicle doesn't support Entune. Is there a work around to get the Entune apps to work on my radio?

Thanks

 

Good question, but Toyota has published very little about the system. I also have the Entune plus and my weather and traffic work correctly here in Tampa. My big problem is that the phone part of the system drops all my calls after 15 seconds. The phone syncs, contacts are transferred, seems ok, and then it hammers my calls right when the counter hits 14. I opened a case with Toyota, they told me to keep checking the website. Yeah whatever.
I think the Entune Plus systems have a little bit more functionality then the basic unit, but not enough memory to support Apps or Navigation. A basic North America map is fairly large (enough to choke my old Garmin) so any radio is going to need around 8 gig just to hold all the info. Add in some Apps and 16 gig is a decent starting size. Did Toyota opt for a large memory in the Entune Plus radios? Probably not. You may be able to get a hold of the Nav App and maps, but they probably won't load into your unit. There were a few guys on the Corolla forums who were playing around with different Entune loads, but none were able to get Nav functions into a basic or Entune plus version of the radio. I think Toyota has that locked down.

 

Thanks SilverJack, I've come to the same conclusion. I don't have any trouble with my telephone though maybe yours will get corrected soon.

 

The HD traffic and weather suck. Not useful IMO. I do like the rest of the radio interface tho. An outside temp gauge would have been much for useful. I don't need to look at my radio to see if it's raining!

 

I agree. The closest HD radio station to me is 15 miles away and at a different elevation, so the temperature isn't a good representation of where I live. It's better than nothing and at least I know the temperature of where I'm traveling too. It is ridiculous that we don't have a temperature gauge on the truck. I'm pretty sure the fuel injection system is reading the ambient air temp in order to compute the correct fuel mixture. There aren't many amenities on these trucks, they are about as bare bones as a vehicle can be in 2014.

 

In my opinion, they have the app maps backward. The traffic app should give you a list of accident locations and the weather should give you a local radar map. Every morning my traffic map has all the roads yellow and the weather apps tells me the daily forecast (useless on both accounts). What I need to know is specifically where the accidents have occurred and where it's raining (or snowing). It would also be great if the unit could talk to my ECU and display outside temp and miles to empty. Toyota has given the Entune a big screen (and price tag), but they don't put anything useful on it.

 

I have yet to see mine work, even when the HD is in range.... P.O.S.... just like the FM and XM reception. Entune...no, Outatune!

 

I don't have any issues with my FM or XM reception. Mine is on par or better than my other vehicles.

Are you able to pickup HD FM radio stations?

 

DougInNC, you are correct, the Entune app will not let you register. The Entune Plus like we have is the bastard child of the Entune family... or the OutATune family as I like to call it. Only the next Entune up gets use of that APP.

Now I'm getting registration requests from XM saying that my trial is about over. IMO, the reception sucks so bad, it's not worth reregistering. They are however down to $4.99/month for 6 months with auto-renew. Unfortunately its the basic plan, 130 channels, of which I listen to about 6 and one isn't part of the package.

 

Worst "feature" of my Tacoma. I really hope there was some kind of consequence for the numbskull that made the decision.

 

Try this. I have finally found HD FM stations in my area, but the weather feature still won't work unless i travel to a larger city. My town is 50,000.

Video... https://www.google.com/search?q=how...droid-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

 

About a year ago I spent literally hours trying to get Travel Link. It does not work with the Siriusxm radio supplied with my 2021 Tacoma. What's worse the technical telephone help doesn't know this, thus all the wasted time with them. My Toyota dealer even went through reloading software into the radio. That was just more wasted time. I've had it with Siriusxm. At this point they would need to pay me to use their service.