sbacchus

I'm about to take the plunge and get a Vline2 for my 2013 RX. Searching through old threads I see a couple of recommendations for the Vline2, but nothing really in depth. Is anybody actively using it?

sbacchus

So the support guys at Grom told me that the Vline2 would would work on my RX which does not have NAV, but has the color screen. Package arrived today, tore the dash apart and found out that the connectors do not match at all

riredale

I have a 2010 RX450h, looking to upgrade the mapping capability. Someone mentioned Grom. Does the thing really work? Any bugs? Total cost?

b2884987

My local stereo shop said they stopped using Grom because their some of their customers come back and report variety of issues. They also have USA Spec and they don't have any customer coming back for an issue.

I have USA Spec on my car. Works very well.

mdbrown

Nice except that USA Spec makes nothing for the 3rd gen RX.

xvimalx

I have it installed. Worked great and now with wireless CarPlay!

riredale

Xv, how much for the whole project? Any limitations or frustrations? What about us Android guys?

shimamizu

Curious if anyone has installed GROM in a 2011. My car place said "we personally prefer not to do Grom bc the folks who reach out to us about this solution want it to work pretty flawlessly" they said their users have to occasionally reset the Grom software to get it back to working properly, I asked how often and was told "We have heard anywhere from a couple times a month to a couple times a week"

So I'm trying to get some feedback from any other 2011 RX 450h users who may have actually installed this in their car and how their experience was. At the moment for that model it seems to be my own semi-acceptable option.

Side note - I only car about Apple CarPlay. This is the only function I want to add my RX that it can't do today. So other options that can give me CarPlay for 2011 I'm willing to consider, but most options we were finding researching this were for 2013 and newer RX series.
Also ideally I'd like to be able to still get into the original display outputs if possible so I can check up on hybrid health.

AWaterbug

I've been using a series of iPhones, mounted on my left-side A/C vent, over Bluetooth to the factory head unit for music, navigation, and phone calls since buying this 2011 RX450h in 2014.

I wanted wireless CarPlay, so I just participated in the Group Buy and picked up a VLite VT2 (LEX6RTVT2) for $429.95.

My local Al & Eds Autosound installed it for <<$400 in about 3.5 hours. I've only had it for 48 hours, so take this all with a grain of salt for now:

1. The Grom is connected to the Lexus's USB "slot," meaning you select it by choosing your USB audio option from the standard factory UI or from the USB/Aux dashboard button:
   1. That puts you into the Grom UI, from which you can then select CarPlay.
   2. The Grom UI and CarPlay UI use the same pseudo-mouse joystick thingy and button(s) that I so loathe on my Lexus, but that's the only option, since there's no touchscreen. But it works well.
   3. Overall latency and responsiveness of the UI is good. This was a concern I'd had, because I hadn't seen any videos of it online, but it's as good or better than the factory UI.
2. It uses the factory screen, so everything looks factory original. The actual unit, a little metal box, is installed near the passenger's left calf, but it's not really visible unless you look for it.
   1. 
3. The factory screen is from 2011, so it's not nearly as bright or crisp as the screen on my iPhone 15 Pro, but it is as least 3 times bigger
   at least 3 times bigger
   .
   1. Of course this has nothing to do with Grom, but it's worth noting if you're accustomed to navigating from your phone.
   2. The size and central location of the screen definitely makes up for the inferior screen qualty, and navigation is much nicer now with the bigger, centered screen.
   3. I only wish the screen weren't recessed from the dash so much. Why did Lexus do that?
4. I set the Grom up to launch CarPlay every time I turn on my car.
   1. It does this, but intermittently. Sometimes it launches automatically, and sometimes I have to click CarPlay to get it to load.
   2. Either way, sometimes CarPlay loads quickly, within 5 seconds, and sometimes it says "Connected, Waiting for CarPlay UI . . . " for up to 30 seconds.
5. Audio output has been Ok.
   1. No better or worse than my regular BT audio connection to the Lexus stereo, except for some occasional dropouts that are maybe 1/20 or 1/10 of a second long, once every 4-5 minutes. But not all the time. On some drives I never hear them, and on others it's every 4-5 minutes.
   2. Definitely audible every time they happen, but not crippling, but I would also like to get that fixed if possible, if a firmware update is available.
6. On that note, you should "forget" your iPhone's BT connection to your Lexus before you pair your iPhone with the Grom, as otherwise sometimes your music shows that it's playing on the CarPlay UI, but there will be no audio. I believe this is because it's connected to both devices simultaneously, but sending audio to the Lexus BT instead of to the Grom, because after I forgot the Lexus from my phone, this stopped happening.
7. Steering wheel buttons work as expected, for volume, prev/next track, answer/hang-up, etc.
   1. I really, really wish that Lexus had put a dedicated Play/Pause button the steering wheel.
      1. Sometimes you want to stop/pause the music for a few seconds, and there's just no convenient way to do that.
      2. It's become even less convenient in CarPlay mode because, unlike the Lexus factory Audio mode, there's no play/pause button the screen to click. You have to switch to Music to find it.
8. Audio input on phone calls is too quiet. My callers have a hard time hearing me.
   1. I'm going to swing by the installer's next week and see if there's anything they can do about that.
   2. Meantime I'LL JUST TALK LOUDLY.
9. The unit crashed on my commute this morning.
   1. The CarPlay UI froze, and wouldn't respond to anything.
   2. I pulled over and shut off the car for 30 seconds, but it seems like the unit stays powered up for longer than that, so I switched to regular Lexus BT audio for the rest of my drive to work.
   3. By lunchtime the Grom had truly shut off, and when I turned the car back on everything was working fine again.
10. The backup camera works as normal, except that there's now a different indicator overlay for your parking sensors.
    1. This means that the Grom unit is actually handling the backup camera feed, not just switching over to it. I didn't realize they needed to do that.
    2. The latency to turn on the backup view is very, very slightly longer than before. Not too annoying, but noticeable.
11. The big plus for me on this unit is that I finally can initiate phone calls via Siri.
    1. This worked fine when I first bought the car, used, in 2014. But somewhere along the way this stopped working, presumably because of something Apple did in iOS, since the Lexus firmware hasn't changed. If I said, "Hey Siri, call Sofia Vergara," the phone call would initiate and then immediately end.
    2. Now, through CarPlay, it works properly again.
12. I haven't tried out any of the other Grom features, because wireless CarPlay is literally my sole reason for this upgrade.

I'll post more as I get more experience with it.

gromaudio

Thank you for using GROM VLite VT2 system, and thank you for your feedback! We want to see if we can improve your experience as mentioned in #5 and #8 of your post.
1. #5 - you can adjust the bass / treble by going to the Factory UI (or Car Settings) and adjusting the sound settings for the stereo's VLite mode (USB mode in your case). When you are on the VLite home screen, select factory UI followed by pressing the MENU button on the trackpad immediately after. Then select Sound and make the adjustments and leave the USB source and re-enter the USB source.
Here is the how-to video to give you an idea:

You Tube

2. #8 You need to adjust the microphone gain. On the main VLite UI go to Settings and down to the Microphone Gain. Set the microphone gain to 65.
There is no need to go to the installer for the microphone setting, unless they positioned the microphone so it is not picking up the voice.

Also, the #9 on your list - crashing is not normal. If it will happening, contact our technical team at https://gromaudio.com/support.html They will look into it. We also recommend that you check and install available firmware update for your unit. Here is how to update the VLite VT2:

You Tube

Hope that will help!

gromaudio

Also, regarding to the #5 in your list and the playback dropouts - check there are no notifications that are running on the background of your iPhone (Facebook, YouTube, other apps that like to send the notifications). Every time the notification comes in the sound might drop.

salimshah

Any issues with app [gps/maps etc] volume vs music volume?

Salim

Alexbenz

i have a 2013 navi on mine, i've been having issues for months. Finally after months i asked for a new vline2 box and the new one was working fine until last week. Everything connects but i don't have sound. they sent me a firmware to manually do. Haven't had time to do it yet. We'll see if that solves it. For paying almost 600 i've had alot of headaches with this unit so far.

On a side note the tech department has been amazing with answering my questions and helping.

gromaudio

Apologize for the difficulties with the GROM product. Please PM us your technical support ticket number, and we will review it with the technical team.

gromaudio

Hi Salim, there should be no issues with the music volume vs apps volume.