klegrow

Quick question for you guys......how good is the iPod control on the Nav model of the RX 450h? I know plenty of cars out there will play the music, but can you actually use the voice command to pick songs, artists, etc? If not, what can you control with the voice and menu?

turbospecc

I believe the only voice commands are skip, pause, on/off etc. Nothing like Ford's SYNC.

All in all the iPod interface is extremely basic and pretty bland to look at, although straightforward to use. Everything appears in big blocky lists, there is no quick scrolling, no cover art, and when not on the audio screen, the track only appears in very small letters at the top of the nav screen when you change tracks of adjust the volume. It's extremely disappointing compared to the systems in the competition.

Argelius

Pathetic for a 2010 year vehicle...

I8ABMR

thats cool . I had to add a Lexus I pod adapter after I bought the car. It wasnt even available until I had owned the car for a few months. You guys gave a bit more of a modern set up built into the car

klegrow

Okay, so the manual says that there is the ability to pick songs and stuff through the Nav screen (no voice). However, it only works when the car is in park. Useful, isn't it?????

encore888

Hmm, makes me wonder how different the function would be vs. picking songs from the HDD song library that is available on the RX 450h in Europe and Japan. My experience was picking through the playlists and going to different songs, and I thought it was quite similar to the way one navigates through mp3 CD lists on other Lexus models. It works well, yes there is a lockout, but you can work around it to a degree. I just go from folder to folder, or playlist to playlist, and I feel the song title is large enough.

Hal56

only works in park?

damn lawyers.

ebarron

Do I understand correctly, that you can only pick playlists/songs from your ipod while the car is in park when using the 450h's nav system? (I have a 450h I'm waiting for paperwork to clear on, an important feature for me was its ipod integration)

turbospecc

On the 350 you can while in motion, you are NOT locked out. However there are some quirks to the system. Play extensively with it before you make a decision.

DigMyM35x

Hi all. Reading this thread with interest as we are getting ready to pull the trigger on a 2010.

I realize this is a tall order but I was wondering if anyone could explain the functioning of the iPod (via the USB connection) while the car is in motion. A lot of people are hearing bits and pieces and then not getting responses from the folks that 'complained' about those features not being available so we never know if they figured out how to get them to work or if they are true limitations of the system.

Maybe this will help:
1. Does the iPod turn off when you turn off the engine? In some cars the iPod stays on and then the battery drains until the car is turned on again(not a very good implementation but it is out there on some cars)

2. What specific items can you search for while in motion:
- Can you search for playlists by name?
-Can you search for artists, genres, albums, etc. by name?

3. What is the scrolling like if you are able to search by name? For example, on some screens it looks like they have letters bunched to the right so that you can 'jump' to them instead of having to scroll from A to Z manually. For instance you can click on 'GHI' and it will take you to the list of whatever you are searching for (album, artist, playlist, etc) for names with the word starting with the letter 'G'. Is this correct? If so, does it work with all of the functions?

So that's just a few questions that someone might be kind enough to answer when you have a moment.

I will be playing around with this when we pick up our new car so if no one reports back I will try to do my best but I'd love to hear from folks with experience in the meantime.

Thanks in advance!

Jay

klegrow

Okay, just got the car yesterday and here is the skinny....

- The iPod does not stay on after turning off the car
- You can browse the artists, albums, and playlists while the car is moving
- There is no way to jump through the lists, you actually have to scroll down page by page
- When you are scrolling, it automatically switches to the artist/album at the top of the list

Argelius

So, if you are scrolling through a list and linger more than a couple of seconds, it will start playing the first song on the current screen? So, can't continue to listen to the current tune while looking for another?

That's very weak iPod integration if you ask me...

klegrow

Actually....it's worse....you don't even have to linger for a couple of seconds. Every time you page down is starts to play the first song of the artist/album. I am NOT HAPPY.

Argelius

Does Lexus have an email address to which compaints can be lodged? This issue will be a deal-breaker for me in terms of a future purchase (was seriously considering an HS 250h) but don't want to take a step backwards in terms of iPod integration.)

We live in a world filled with computers, iPods and iPhones. Everyone's expectations for advanced GUIs (especially in luxury vehicles) is consequently increasing. These things should be getting better and more sophisticated, not less.

DigMyM35x

Thanks for taking the time to report! Much appreciated.

Hmmm, that 'first selection' bug seems to be something they can fix with a software update. One more reason to get us in for service

So, I have an Infiniti and the iPod integration is pretty darn good. One thing that bugs me is how laborious the scrolling to find a song, playlist, etc. can be.

2 recommendations to consider:
1. As suggested by someone on the Infiniti boards - as a workaround NOT a fix - you can go into iTunes and select a number of artists at one time. Then you can change the 'genre' for those selected songs en mass to the first letter of the artists's name. Most folks don't use the genre selection anyway so changing it usually isn't a big deal. So you would change the genre for all of the artists whose first letter is 'A' and label their genre 'A'. Then you create playlists for the genres and when you go to your playlist search you can jump to alphabetical listings. That way if you are scrolling through to find an artist you can do a playlist search and click on the letter you are interested in and you will jump to the artists that start with that letter. This would really narrow down the scrolling through potentially thousands of various artists and at least get you to an alphabetical listing of artists you can jump to. Again, this is a workaround, not a fix but it has helped many so that the neverending scrolling is not as big of a deal. Now, it begs the question if the RX allows you to select songs based on genre. If not, then this obviously won't work so maybe someone can post back if that is possible.

2. An easy software fix for the scrolling issue is to have the letters of the alphabet off to the right in groups like on the page when you are selecting a city in the Nav. The RX has a few buttons with multiple letters like a button that would jump to selections starting with the letter 'P' by pressing the 'P Q R S' button (not sure if that specific button exists but I think you get the idea) for selecting city names. Should be easy to implement on the iPod integration.

So if anyone from Lexus is reading . . . maybe a software upgrade is in order soon?

There is also the issue of jumping to the first song in the list that obviously needs a fix. You should be able to stay on your current selection until you select something else. That's simple. I'm not a computer programmer but I can even figure out the logic for that one!

So, if anyone can give feedback if the genre trick would work, that would be great.

Hope this helps a bit!

Jay