Thought it would be cool, but it's not.
 

When I bought my Fit (fairly recently) I was the smallest bit disappointed that there wasn't a "voice-controlled" stereo (like microsoft sync in new Fords). I thought that it might be a pretty cool addition to what is already an amazing car. I forgot about it after I bought the car.

A little while later, when I discovered that turning the knob to find an artist on my iPod was a tad bit annoying, I started thinking about it again. I thought about asking others how that technology works (how well it works to be exact), if the bugs had all been worked out, etc. I can currently tell my cell phone to call X person, but that is fairly easy. I have some ridiculous song names by some ridiculously named artists on my iPod, so I was a bit skeptical.

Well it turns out I was right to be skeptical, sort of. I recently went on a trip for work and they gave me a 2009 Ford Taurus Limited. I'm not going to get into how this car is pretty much the antithesis of my fit, but I was pretty unimpressed with the sync system. It was annoying to use, the lady's voice was horribly loud (was hoping for star trek and got 3rd grade teacher barking at me), and the voice recognition was anything but accurate. I also noticed that I had to yell commands at the thing to get it to work.

What was the most annoying thing was that there wasn't a way to manually access the iPod via the stereo (at least not that I saw). When my g/f (who was riding with me) was asleep, I couldn't control the iPod because I would have to yell and wake her up. Maybe others have had a better experience, but it left me pretty glad that I don't have this system in my Fit.

Anyone have differing or similar experiences?

-P

They make it look so easy on the commercials hahaha

I'm glad you got to test it out, I was looking to get something like this for my civic but NVM!

Heh, for sure.

Well, I wouldn't lump all systems in with the Sync system (the idea is great, if the execution is a little lacking), there could be something good out there.

I will say that when it worked, it was nice. By the end of the trip (8 hrs there and 8 back), however, I was hoarse.

I forgot to mention that you have to press a button to activate the listening system and it responds with this retarded "ding ding" sound (maybe the sound is douchy just to let you know it's microsoft) and the lady goes on for like 20 minutes. Also, if you don't talk fast enough, she goes through another 20 minute list of options.

They should put that on the ad.

-P

When I saw the title for this thread I thought it was about DP but I guess it's not in the Wasteland.

They work well in BMW's but hell.. its a BMW! haha

That's the only place ive ever used it and it only works if you dont have an accent or anything.

Whew! I thought you were going to trade in your Honda for a Ford - LOL! It sometimes takes a walk on the other side of the fence to realize that we have it great in our own backyard!

Cat :x

Voice recognition is still kinda too new and not in par for lower-end cars. First off, cabin noise is too loud.

Id stick with the mechanical controls for now. :)

QFT. You'd have to layer on some Dynamat or some other sound deadening material to quell the road and wind noise on our Fits and their competitors before voice recognition can get a fighting chance.

However, "Fifth Gear" recently did test out a greatly simplified version of the voice command system on a cheap European hatchback. Can't remember which one exactly but I think it was the newest Ford Fiesta. It did well, especially compared to a similar, much more sophisticated system in a larger European car, although they didn't test it at speed. :rolleyes:

Besides the more complicated/advanced things become the bigger your headache is when they break down. Hahahaha!

Anything from Microsoft is going to be an under developed, rushed to market piece of crap.

i think you'll want something like e-motive does. they can sense your emotions telepathically (actually electronic sensors) and make things function. :D

but that again is too expensive for our cars... :(

Perhaps. I have had good results with the voice dial on my phone using my portable bluetooth. Cabin noise doesn't seem to affect it.