How good are Subaru's gadgets - nav, bluetooth, satellite radio, etc.

[shrike92]

I tried streaming some 256kb/s mp3's off of my phone over bluetooth today and the sound quality was quite poor. The highs are terrible and I think it maybe the speakers as opposed to the bluetooth. I have the same problem with the HD radio. The highs just sound terrible, no matter what I do with the EQ.

I tried connecting my android device over USB and it wouldn't find the music on my sd card. Couldn't really find a way to browse folders through bluetooth either. Looks like USB thumb drive or pandora over bluetooth is the way to go.

If anyone has replaced the speakers perhaps they can give better insight on this.

[jeebus]

Originally Posted by Thongpocket

Its terrible. Go aftermarket for $400 and you will get a better unit. Phone has to repaid EVERY time i get in. GPS works 40% of the time, other 60% its searching for signal. Ipod scrolling takes forever. Will not remember to keep random setting for ipod. Bluetooth audio is good. Speakers are alright for stock. Its no reason to go premium to limited tho.


EDIT: I have 3 Android devices. Anytime I try to steam audio via Bluetooth it cuts in and out like a CD skipping badly. I gave up.

I get no skipping or popping with iPhone BT.

[soconfoozed]

To pile on, I find it inexcusably dumb that the headunit can't handle non-English characters.

From an engineering perspective, it's almost harder to do things that way.

[dori.]

Originally Posted by jeebus

I get no skipping or popping with iPhone BT.

Same but with Motorola Atrix (android). Maybe depends on the manufacturer

[Deslock]

The BRZ head-unit has some faults, but it's better than most OEM models and it gets the job done. Overall I give it one thumb up.

Good:

1. Maps are reasonably legible, detailed, and smooth. Doesn't compare to Google maps, but what head unit does?
2. Split screen is nice.
3. iPod playback has decent options and is quick.
4. Screen is responsive to touch (some older resistive screens really suck).
5. BT streaming and handsfree are pretty reliable (depending on the phone... see more below).
6. Voice recognition is usually accurate (sometimes has difficulty).
7. No issues downloading address book from phone.
8. Somewhat legible in sunlight.
9. Auto-brightness and night colors works well.

Bad:

1. GPS signal often lost shortly after car starts. Sometimes reacquires quickly, sometimes doesn't (this known issue is expected to be resolved with a firmware update and antenna modification).
2. Navigation voice recognition is sluggish (have to wait between entering number, street, and changing town).
3. USB flash playback is slow and options are limited (it sucks... I'm using an old iPod nano instead).
4. Doesn't remember shuffle after car is shut down.
5. Interface is clunky (general screen layout: button sizes, locations, etc), especially navigation.
6. Handsfree sound quality isn't great.
7. No way to interface with phone's Google search results.
8. Mediocre screen resolution.

Some have complained about poor BT reliability, but in my experience that has more to do with the phone's OS:

• iOS: Usually reliable.
• Android 4.0.2: Somewhat reliable. Required rebooting the phone once in a while and crashed the phone occasionally.
• Android 4.0.4: Required approving a pairing request every time I got in the car, had to reboot the phone to get it to work half the time, crashed the phone a third of the time.
• Android 4.1.1: Has been reliable so far.

My other experiences with BT pairing (Prius, Ford Escape w/ Microsoft Sync, some speakers) have been similar. YMMV.

[DSPographer]

Originally Posted by Thongpocket

Its terrible. GPS works 40% of the time, other 60% its searching for signal. Ipod scrolling takes forever.

My GPS unit was searching for signal about 90% of the time until I got the fix. Now it is locked 99.99% of the time.
BT streaming from my Atrix worked fine when I tried it, but I usually just use a 16GB thumb drive for my recorded music.

[dolph]

Originally Posted by soconfoozed

To pile on, I find it inexcusably dumb that the headunit can't handle non-English characters.

From an engineering perspective, it's almost harder to do things that way.

As all things in engineering go, "that depends"

[Stu L Tissimus]

It's not horrible by any standard but there are a few things that are infuriating to me.
- Response time in GPS.
- Losing signal if you start the car underground, and not picking it up again for miles.

And as a software developer, it does indeed strike me as strange that a global car developed in Japan doesn't have Unicode (read: non-Latin characters) support.

I remember hearing rumors of a firmware update...

[Turbowned]

Jeez I hope they do update it before I get my hands on it early next year. Otherwise the added "benefit" over the FR-S seems a bit less. I still don't want to mess around with non-HID headlights and manual climate control (or even a key-start ignition, for that matter lol) so I think it'll be a BRZ no matter what.

[jflogerzi]

Originally Posted by Turbowned

Jeez I hope they do update it before I get my hands on it early next year. Otherwise the added "benefit" over the FR-S seems a bit less. I still don't want to mess around with non-HID headlights and manual climate control (or even a key-start ignition, for that matter lol) so I think it'll be a BRZ no matter what.

I look back, and really wish I would have just gotten the BRZ. The little extra's really do make it worth it.

[Epictetus]

Bluetooth phone and audio connections work great from a Windows Phone. The Samsung Focus and the Nokia Lumia 900 paired easily and are working perfectly.

[xxscaxx]

i guess i'm alone in this but I rather enjoy the stock HU as of right now. I had a pioneer unit in my STi before this and I like this one better.

The only thing that annoys me is you have to physically touch the screen to skip to the next track. They really should have incorporated that into a physical button so i don't have to take my eyes off the road (I know you can use the audio commands but its very annoying to do). Only other thing I can think of is I wish they had a little LED light to indicate your phone is connected to the HU like the pioneer unit had.

I'm sure it can be way better but as far as connections go etc its worked perfectly. The whole text message playback is a little wonky but its a nice feature to even offer but again, you are forced to look at the screen to hit read or ignore.