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nkjordan23

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
1) If the system starts failing verbal commands, can I opt to press buttons or get around the issues people are having occasionally. If so, is there lots of lag between screens and button presses.

2) For someone with afull 120gb IPOD, will i have to sync files every time I turn the car on if it's plugged in? Seems like 10-15 albums can take anywhere from 5-15 minutes. I can only imagine what hundreds would do.

3) Does Navigation complicate the system even more or does that run pretty smoothly? I'm both nervous and excited to have all this technology in a car.

Let me know your experiences as I am contemplating a Titanium hatch.

Thanks
 
#2 ·
...why did you post another thread? I answered your other thread already. Check your subscriptions on your user control panel. No need to post multiple threads!
 
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Discussion starter · #3 ·
You did not answer my questions. You went into detail about the driving experience and the transmission. I am very concerned with MFT, my music listening experience, and the functions outside of voice commands. Also, wondering what the capabilities are outside of voice command should i get frustrated with it.
 
#4 ·
nkjordan23 said:
You did not answer my questions. You went into detail about the driving experience and the transmission. I am very concerned with MFT, my music listening experience, and the functions outside of voice commands. Also, wondering what the capabilities are outside of voice command should i get frustrated with it.
Click to expand...
You didn't ask much about MFT and nav in the other thread and I did answer MY experiences with it.

Just a heads up though, next time just ask more specific questions in the first thread instead of starting another, saves space and bandwith for the forum, cheers!
 
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#6 ·
1) There is always either an on screen method or hard buttons to accomplish a task, so if sync doesn't understand you, because the windows are open and/or the A/C turned way up or the kids are screaming you will always be able to do what you need. There is very little to no lag between button presses within the same quadrant, but there is a second or so between switching quadrants (ie, Climate to Nav, or Nav to Audio, etc....) Browsing SAT stations is still a little slow (but acceptable), but most everything else is quite responsive.

2) I only have about 6-7 GBs of music but once it indexes, that it. It doesn't re-index every time you start the car. The only time it would index again again, would be if you change your music on your iPod, and even then it doesn't take nearly as long.

3) For me it runs very smoothly. The Nav is better than any other on the Nav by quite a bit. It's nice that everything is tightly integrated. Though, after garaging it takes a minute for my GPS to lock.
 
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#7 ·
nkjordan23 said:
1) If the system starts failing verbal commands, can I opt to press buttons or get around the issues people are having occasionally. If so, is there lots of lag between screens and button presses.

2) For someone with afull 120gb IPOD, will i have to sync files every time I turn the car on if it's plugged in? Seems like 10-15 albums can take anywhere from 5-15 minutes. I can only imagine what hundreds would do.

3) Does Navigation complicate the system even more or does that run pretty smoothly? I'm both nervous and excited to have all this technology in a car.

Let me know your experiences as I am contemplating a Titanium hatch.

Thanks
Click to expand...
first. you need to understand that sync (the voice command system) is a completely separate function from MFT (the touch screen system) and MF (the non-touch-screen information system). while they inter-operate some functions may be available on one and not the other.

1. it depends on why sync isn't functioning. if MFT locks up, black screens or crashes then sync most likely won't be functioning either. if sync locks up (happened to me once) you generally can operate MFT via the touch screen. you will always be able to operate the climate controls.

2. no. if you unplug the ipad and plug it back in the system will do a small scan to determine if something has changed, if it has it will do a reindex.

3. mixed. from my observations (of postings on this and other forums) people with Nav and MFT seem to have more issues than people with MFT alone. given that you're adding another complex system into an already complex system this isn't a big surprise. but as they say, your mileage may vary, you may never have a problem. given the added expense of the Nav ($800) and yearly map updates ($200/yr) along with what seems to be additional issues, i opted to skip the Naviation option. a top of the line Garmin is $350, includes all the functionality of the on-board Nav, is portable, and includes lifetime map updates. you might want to consider other options.

i've had my cart a week and a half, i've had several lockups and crashes already (and this is on the new v2.11). if i were to do it over i would chose not to get a vehicle with MFT, it's just not ready for prime time. in addition, i find the touch-screen controls require more of my attention than a traditional radio, reaching over and turning a knob or pushing an actual button. sync is nice, but i'd say it has a 50% success rate with getting my intended command.
 
#8 ·
I have a (fully loaded) 8Gb ipod nano and it works quite well for me. I saw another thread at some point where someone with a 120Mb Classic was having quite a bit of trouble but a couple other folks with Classics chimed in and said it worked fine for them. I did run a cleanup utility I got from the Ford SyncMyRide web site which "cleans up" your iTunes library removing any illegal characters and the like which can fix a problematic sync up in the car. This helped get all my Album covers displaying fine.

I have not had a lot of trouble getting to my music although the voice commands take a bit of practice and at times it is looking for a pronunciation I am not giving. In this case, you need to have the MFT read the artist to you so you can hear how it expects it to be pronounced. Actually most of the time , I just use the browse mode on the touch screen. The response seems a little slow to me...like maybe a full second delay for each touch. I don't have the latest update which is supposed to improve response and stability a bit. The lack of update may also explain the freeze I had a couple months ago which required a car restart to resolve.
 
#9 ·
2) For someone with afull 120gb IPOD, will i have to sync files every time I turn the car on if it's plugged in? Seems like 10-15 albums can take anywhere from 5-15 minutes. I can only imagine what hundreds would do.

I'm 99% sure you are going to have problems with that ipod. Sync just doesn't work well for media commands. You can still browse it but there is a 2 second delay between pages of music so by the 3rd page you'll want to put your fist through the screen. Pretty much don't count on being able to do all that play artist and song stuff.
 
#10 ·
nkjordan23 said:
1) If the system starts failing verbal commands, can I opt to press buttons or get around the issues people are having occasionally. If so, is there lots of lag between screens and button presses.

2) For someone with afull 120gb IPOD, will i have to sync files every time I turn the car on if it's plugged in? Seems like 10-15 albums can take anywhere from 5-15 minutes. I can only imagine what hundreds would do.

3) Does Navigation complicate the system even more or does that run pretty smoothly? I'm both nervous and excited to have all this technology in a car.

Let me know your experiences as I am contemplating a Titanium hatch.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Your best bet is taking your iPod to a dealership that has the trim level car you want and test it out your self. You can download the online manuals for sync and learn how to use it before you go for your test drive. Just spend some time in park and play around with the system to see if it suits your needs. It's hard to find titaniums on the lots in my area but hopefully you won't have that problem where you live.
 
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#11 ·
TehMark said:
2) For someone with afull 120gb IPOD, will i have to sync files every time I turn the car on if it's plugged in? Seems like 10-15 albums can take anywhere from 5-15 minutes. I can only imagine what hundreds would do.

I'm 99% sure you are going to have problems with that ipod. Sync just doesn't work well for media commands. You can still browse it but there is a 2 second delay between pages of music so by the 3rd page you'll want to put your fist through the screen. Pretty much don't count on being able to do all that play artist and song stuff.
Click to expand...
The 1st time a new ipod is plugged in it does "indexing" and "building media commands" (which I assume is the stuff that allows voice commands to bring up the music.) These both took quite a long time on 1st plug in. It must have been a at least an hour or two but I could get to all the music pretty quickly via the touch screen browse while it was doing this but I couldn't see all the album covers and the voice commands did not work on everything yet. Once it finally finished those processes, it only does 'indexing' when I have added new music to the ipod. There have been a couple times I've noticed it "indexing" for a few minutes even though I had not recently added new music. Not sure what the deal was there but it did not appear to interfere with selection or playing of the ipod music during that.

I have to agree with the poster suggesting trying it out since the 120Mb iPod is going to stress the system more. Here was the thread with people claiming problems AND success with a Classic.

http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=266085&highlight=MFT+ipod+Classic
 
#12 ·
nkjordan23 said:
1) If the system starts failing verbal commands, can I opt to press buttons or get around the issues people are having occasionally. If so, is there lots of lag between screens and button presses.

2) For someone with afull 120gb IPOD, will i have to sync files every time I turn the car on if it's plugged in? Seems like 10-15 albums can take anywhere from 5-15 minutes. I can only imagine what hundreds would do.

3) Does Navigation complicate the system even more or does that run pretty smoothly? I'm both nervous and excited to have all this technology in a car.

Let me know your experiences as I am contemplating a Titanium hatch.

Thanks
Click to expand...
1) I wouldn't count on it...with any luck, yes...flip a coin. Yes, there can be significant lag times, but it's not consistent.

2) You never have to "re-sync" per se, but then again if your car is like mine then expect the red bar in the lower left-hand corner to constantly be "indexing" and "building media commands." I'm not sure what this means to us (other than not being able to see what song is playing unless on the actual iPod screen) but regardless, trying to play a song via voice command can be agonizingly slow and finding one by browsing via the touch screen is almost as bad. Nevertheless, the voice command seems to work very well for me, but it takes a LONG time to find a song this way. It's almost easier to unplug the iPod, find the song with the actual unit itself, then plug it back in. Of course, this is not the safest way to do things unless you're stopped. I also have a 120 GB, with about 70 GB full. 8000+ plus songs.

3) Tons of people here swear the navigation system is the heart of the problem with MFT. I'm not so sure. I have nav, and I've had problems with nav, but then again I've had problems with other non-nav areas. Wish I could be more help with this one.

Tony
 
#13 ·
BiggerBoat said:
I have a (fully loaded) 8Gb ipod nano and it works quite well for me. I saw another thread at some point where someone with a 120Mb Classic was having quite a bit of trouble but a couple other folks with Classics chimed in and said it worked fine for them. I did run a cleanup utility I got from the Ford SyncMyRide web site which "cleans up" your iTunes library removing any illegal characters and the like which can fix a problematic sync up in the car. This helped get all my Album covers displaying fine.

I have not had a lot of trouble getting to my music although the voice commands take a bit of practice and at times it is looking for a pronunciation I am not giving. In this case, you need to have the MFT read the artist to you so you can hear how it expects it to be pronounced. Actually most of the time , I just use the browse mode on the touch screen. The response seems a little slow to me...like maybe a full second delay for each touch. I don't have the latest update which is supposed to improve response and stability a bit. The lack of update may also explain the freeze I had a couple months ago which required a car restart to resolve.
Click to expand...
Which version nano do you have?
 
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