anyone getting the grom vline?
01-01-17, 03:38 PM
#259
VLine VCore: VL1.1.0.0 VBase 20.24. Dashlinq v2.0.0 Dec1,2016. Installed on '09 LX570.
There's definitely no provisions in the UI to scroll down to get at the login for WAZE. Where sometimes dashlinq will have an up/down navigation button, I only get the zoom in/out that does nothing. Fortunately I have a generic USB keyboard that I plugged in and could login okay. That said, looks like the vline software build I have is unstable with WAZE. Constant reboots every few minutes.
I'm not sure if I'm on the latest build, but I did follow the firmware flash instruction at - http://gromaudio.com/software-vl1.html. It did not prompt for an update once I inserted the USB stick.
Not all is bad though! Other than WAZE not working, I do really like it. Audio integration is awesome, and most importantly, audio quality is stellar. Definitely worth the $500, especially if they can work out all the bugs.
Few software bugs I hope they work through:
1) WAZE login not working with the portrait splash screen. I can get past this via USB mouse/remote or asking WAZE via voice control for a destination. But there's stability issues once in app.
2) Full Spotify app does not work. Cannot login. UI only allows for creating an account.
3) The colors for the default map app look really old school and washed out. Perhaps this is a theme that I have no control of? Wish there was a better looking, higher contrast map (though I really hope to use WAZE instead)
4) Reverse camera works as normal when starting up. But looks like upon putting it back into drive, my LX570 will default to the Lexus NAV, rather than back to the VLINE. Not sure if this is a bug in the scope of vline to be able to correct.
There's definitely no provisions in the UI to scroll down to get at the login for WAZE. Where sometimes dashlinq will have an up/down navigation button, I only get the zoom in/out that does nothing. Fortunately I have a generic USB keyboard that I plugged in and could login okay. That said, looks like the vline software build I have is unstable with WAZE. Constant reboots every few minutes.
I'm not sure if I'm on the latest build, but I did follow the firmware flash instruction at - http://gromaudio.com/software-vl1.html. It did not prompt for an update once I inserted the USB stick.
Not all is bad though! Other than WAZE not working, I do really like it. Audio integration is awesome, and most importantly, audio quality is stellar. Definitely worth the $500, especially if they can work out all the bugs.
Few software bugs I hope they work through:
1) WAZE login not working with the portrait splash screen. I can get past this via USB mouse/remote or asking WAZE via voice control for a destination. But there's stability issues once in app.
2) Full Spotify app does not work. Cannot login. UI only allows for creating an account.
3) The colors for the default map app look really old school and washed out. Perhaps this is a theme that I have no control of? Wish there was a better looking, higher contrast map (though I really hope to use WAZE instead)
4) Reverse camera works as normal when starting up. But looks like upon putting it back into drive, my LX570 will default to the Lexus NAV, rather than back to the VLINE. Not sure if this is a bug in the scope of vline to be able to correct.
01-02-17, 12:45 AM
#260
also since using carplay currently crashes the unit, i tried using the android side of things. the audio on the dashlinq spotify app is horribly distorted (possibly low bit rate) and sounds terrible.
please get a fix up for carplay.
please get a fix up for carplay.
01-02-17, 08:43 AM
#261
GarageB, I've used the dashlinq spotify app and it sounds crystal clear! It's at least on par if not better than most sources I've used in my LX570 ML Reference system. Not saying yours is not distorted, but does sound like something is not setup right? Try giving her a reboot by pulling the larger harness.
As we discuss, I think it's useful to identify the versions of software running to help.
As we discuss, I think it's useful to identify the versions of software running to help.
01-02-17, 10:25 AM
#262
1. When you make calls with Carplay, the person on the other end hears an echo of their own voice. I havent tried doing calls on the Android side but I cant imagine it would be any better. Also the mic cable input is right next to the wifi (bt?) antenna and its picking up that noise as well. Im now resorting to taking calls over speakerphone.
Yes adding the list of apps to allow full screen. Will be in Settings for next OTA.
01-02-17, 10:27 AM
#263
Was it always that way when you received it ? Contact our support for resoultion.
01-02-17, 10:30 AM
#264
VLine VCore: VL1.1.0.0 VBase 20.24. Dashlinq v2.0.0 Dec1,2016. Installed on '09 LX570.
1) WAZE login not working with the portrait splash screen. I can get past this via USB mouse/remote or asking WAZE via voice control for a destination. But there's stability issues once in app.
2) Full Spotify app does not work. Cannot login. UI only allows for creating an account.
3) The colors for the default map app look really old school and washed out. Perhaps this is a theme that I have no control of? Wish there was a better looking, higher contrast map (though I really hope to use WAZE instead)
4) Reverse camera works as normal when starting up. But looks like upon putting it back into drive, my LX570 will default to the Lexus NAV, rather than back to the VLINE. Not sure if this is a bug in the scope of vline to be able to correct.
1) WAZE login not working with the portrait splash screen. I can get past this via USB mouse/remote or asking WAZE via voice control for a destination. But there's stability issues once in app.
2) Full Spotify app does not work. Cannot login. UI only allows for creating an account.
3) The colors for the default map app look really old school and washed out. Perhaps this is a theme that I have no control of? Wish there was a better looking, higher contrast map (though I really hope to use WAZE instead)
4) Reverse camera works as normal when starting up. But looks like upon putting it back into drive, my LX570 will default to the Lexus NAV, rather than back to the VLINE. Not sure if this is a bug in the scope of vline to be able to correct.
2. See #1. Need to scroll down to reveal Signin button
3. Try playing with factory Display settings. We recommend lowering Brightness and adding contrast
4. Fixing it in the next VBase release this week.
01-02-17, 12:21 PM
#265
Driver School Candidate
My vline experience [2nd gen GS300]
I realize this thread is in the IS F model section, however this vline discussion is currently the main vline resource on this forum (and even on the whole web), so I decided to post my 2002 GS300 vline experiences here.
My post is quite extensive, but I hope it will help others to solve issues.
Before going on, I would like to underline that although I have encountered quite a lot of (major) issues, I'm still a happy GROM customer. The GROM team has been very supportive and responsive so far and I have confidence that most remaining issues will be solved in due time. However I do feel a bit like a beta tester, which was not my intention when I bought the device.
First hardware installation
The first hardware installation was relatively simple. The manual that comes with the device is quite detailed and clear. I found information on how to remove the navigation unit here on the clublexus forum. Main struggle for me was to remove the existing VGA and power connectors and to replace these with the vline ones. I also made a rookie mistake by dropping one of the bolts in the space under the unit. I positioned the vline unit in the glove box compartment. After removing the CD changer, there is quite some space available in the top left part of the glovebox. Running the cables was relatively easy. I already had the mic installed as I previously used the GROM BT3 unit for bluetooth calling (not a factory option in 2002 GS300).
First software experience
The very first thing I noticed after the initial startup of the device was that the screen seemed not to be properly calibrated. I had to tap right next to the buttons to activate them. This turned out to be quite an issue when I had to type my (strong...) wifi password. This issue alone cost me quite some time. By now this calibration issue has improved after one of the OTA updates. It's still not perfect however.
The second large obstacle was scrolling. It turned out to be nearly impossible to scroll up or down on my GS300 touch screen. (I can imagine that current touch screens are more accurate and responsive than my 2002 one.) After hours of playing around I figured out that scrolling works best if one positions two fingers above each other in the bottom right corner of the screen and then diagonally drags them towards the top-left corner. Although this 'double-fingered diagonal' approach slightly improves scrolling, I still kept accidentally activating the wrong buttons on the screen. Especially selecting the language in Waze was challenging because I accidentally activated Chinese, Russian and Greek before I managed to activate Dutch. Not the easiest languages to read. Unfortunately I never realized that this whole scrolling issue could have been overcome by using a USB mouse or keyboard. Furthermore I now understand that one of the next firmware updates will include scrolling bars in most screens, which would solve the issue. All in all this whole scrolling issue has cost me a large amount of time.
The third and biggest issue for me occurred the morning after installation. After starting the car my default Lexus navigation screen had become very unclear and after pressing DISC to activate the vline I got the message 'The external device is not connected'. I figured this must have been caused by loose connectors. The only solution was to remove the navigation unit again and check the connectors. After reconnecting, the error was gone. The next morning the error occurred again, forcing me to go through the entire process again. It was only later that I found out that disconnecting the car's battery also does the job getting rid of the error. The GROM team has been very helpful and responsive on this issue, and they advised me to install the upgraded (USB stick) firmware update from their website. For now this update seems to have solved the problem.
The fourth major issue was my own mistake. When I ordered the device I took for granted that bluetooth / handsfree calling was a standard feature. This is however not the case. Handsfree does work in Carplay however, so I continued with the next challenge: getting Carplay to work.
Getting Apple Carplay to work: After I figured out how to create a shortcut for Carplay (under plugins) I noted that the icon remained to be grey after connecting my iPhone 6s. Changing cables and rebooting the phone did not make any difference, I found out (on this forum) that the right way to activate Carplay is to tap the grey Carplay icon and subsequently tap the 'disabled' option ten times in a row. This 'cheat' worked for me and now I finally have Carplay running.
The sixth main issue for me is that when I make phonecalls via Carplay, the other person hears a loud echo. I understand GROM is now working on a solution to fix this issue and look forward to it.
Other less important issues I experience:
- scrolling remains a challenge, even with my magic technique
- after approximately 10 minutes of driving, the vline reboots.
- The appearance of the Waze map is quite crappy. Street names look weird. However the app does work well.
- In Carplay I can't get the Apple maps to night mode (I understood GROM is working on this)
All of this has cost me a lot of time. My wife even asked me if I have an affair with my car. I do. But the upgrades are good and I'm confident the device will be a great solution going forward.
Hope my post is helpful for future users and thank you all for contributing to this forum.
My post is quite extensive, but I hope it will help others to solve issues.
Before going on, I would like to underline that although I have encountered quite a lot of (major) issues, I'm still a happy GROM customer. The GROM team has been very supportive and responsive so far and I have confidence that most remaining issues will be solved in due time. However I do feel a bit like a beta tester, which was not my intention when I bought the device.
First hardware installation
The first hardware installation was relatively simple. The manual that comes with the device is quite detailed and clear. I found information on how to remove the navigation unit here on the clublexus forum. Main struggle for me was to remove the existing VGA and power connectors and to replace these with the vline ones. I also made a rookie mistake by dropping one of the bolts in the space under the unit. I positioned the vline unit in the glove box compartment. After removing the CD changer, there is quite some space available in the top left part of the glovebox. Running the cables was relatively easy. I already had the mic installed as I previously used the GROM BT3 unit for bluetooth calling (not a factory option in 2002 GS300).
First software experience
The very first thing I noticed after the initial startup of the device was that the screen seemed not to be properly calibrated. I had to tap right next to the buttons to activate them. This turned out to be quite an issue when I had to type my (strong...) wifi password. This issue alone cost me quite some time. By now this calibration issue has improved after one of the OTA updates. It's still not perfect however.
The second large obstacle was scrolling. It turned out to be nearly impossible to scroll up or down on my GS300 touch screen. (I can imagine that current touch screens are more accurate and responsive than my 2002 one.) After hours of playing around I figured out that scrolling works best if one positions two fingers above each other in the bottom right corner of the screen and then diagonally drags them towards the top-left corner. Although this 'double-fingered diagonal' approach slightly improves scrolling, I still kept accidentally activating the wrong buttons on the screen. Especially selecting the language in Waze was challenging because I accidentally activated Chinese, Russian and Greek before I managed to activate Dutch. Not the easiest languages to read. Unfortunately I never realized that this whole scrolling issue could have been overcome by using a USB mouse or keyboard. Furthermore I now understand that one of the next firmware updates will include scrolling bars in most screens, which would solve the issue. All in all this whole scrolling issue has cost me a large amount of time.
The third and biggest issue for me occurred the morning after installation. After starting the car my default Lexus navigation screen had become very unclear and after pressing DISC to activate the vline I got the message 'The external device is not connected'. I figured this must have been caused by loose connectors. The only solution was to remove the navigation unit again and check the connectors. After reconnecting, the error was gone. The next morning the error occurred again, forcing me to go through the entire process again. It was only later that I found out that disconnecting the car's battery also does the job getting rid of the error. The GROM team has been very helpful and responsive on this issue, and they advised me to install the upgraded (USB stick) firmware update from their website. For now this update seems to have solved the problem.
The fourth major issue was my own mistake. When I ordered the device I took for granted that bluetooth / handsfree calling was a standard feature. This is however not the case. Handsfree does work in Carplay however, so I continued with the next challenge: getting Carplay to work.
Getting Apple Carplay to work: After I figured out how to create a shortcut for Carplay (under plugins) I noted that the icon remained to be grey after connecting my iPhone 6s. Changing cables and rebooting the phone did not make any difference, I found out (on this forum) that the right way to activate Carplay is to tap the grey Carplay icon and subsequently tap the 'disabled' option ten times in a row. This 'cheat' worked for me and now I finally have Carplay running.
The sixth main issue for me is that when I make phonecalls via Carplay, the other person hears a loud echo. I understand GROM is now working on a solution to fix this issue and look forward to it.
Other less important issues I experience:
- scrolling remains a challenge, even with my magic technique
- after approximately 10 minutes of driving, the vline reboots.
- The appearance of the Waze map is quite crappy. Street names look weird. However the app does work well.
- In Carplay I can't get the Apple maps to night mode (I understood GROM is working on this)
All of this has cost me a lot of time. My wife even asked me if I have an affair with my car. I do. But the upgrades are good and I'm confident the device will be a great solution going forward.
Hope my post is helpful for future users and thank you all for contributing to this forum.
01-03-17, 11:33 AM
#266
Driver School Candidate
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Illinois
Posts: 5
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Before going on, I would like to underline that although I have encountered quite a lot of (major) issues, I'm still a happy GROM customer. The GROM team has been very supportive and responsive so far and I have confidence that most remaining issues will be solved in due time. However I do feel a bit like a beta tester, which was not my intention when I bought the device.
My biggest issue now, though, is that I cannot use navigation on Google Maps while I am connected to a hotspot. I can have Google Maps up and displaying real time traffic, but as soon as I start navigation, it will immediately close and go back to the launch screen. Once I go offline though, Google Maps works very well for offline navigation. If not for Waze, I might care a lot more, but ATM, I only care a little and I have faith that the issue will be addressed soon because sometimes I prefer the Google Maps interface over Waze.
Is anyone else having this issue with Google Maps or found a solution?
Last edited by irieites; 01-03-17 at 11:37 AM.
01-03-17, 12:02 PM
#267
If you get me back to where I don't have reboots every few minutes, i'll be a very happy camper!
01-03-17, 12:10 PM
#268
Driver School Candidate
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: CA
Posts: 7
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I just did a 6 hour round trip and the Vline performed perfectly. I used Carplay the entire time and the music and maps performed perfectly. I'm running the latest firmware and OTA update.
The only two issues I have are the carplay phone echo and the back up camera not turning on each time I shift to reverse. I'm confident these will be fixed at some point. Thanks Grom!
The only two issues I have are the carplay phone echo and the back up camera not turning on each time I shift to reverse. I'm confident these will be fixed at some point. Thanks Grom!
01-03-17, 02:53 PM
#269
01-03-17, 03:03 PM
#270
Lexus Test Driver
