Factory Sirius Tuner Limited to 8 Characters on Display?

[HBhawk]

I have an 06 4runner with the factory nav. A few months ago, I bought the factory Sirius nav tuner from the dealership and had it installed at one of their subcontractors. I believe I paid $300 for the tuner and $75 or so for the install. $375 is a pretty ridiculous amount to have to pay to upgrade a satellite ready radio to receive either Sirius or XM, but rather than go with an FM modulator based tuner, I plinked down and went with the factory tuner for better sound and a cleaner, integrated look.

I have one major complaint about the factory tuner, and I am wondering if anyone else feels the same way. Where my $80 XM Roadie tuner in another car has a nice looking screen with scrolling text, stock ticker quotes, sport scores, etc., the Toyota factory tuner is limited to only 8 characters. There is no scrolling text, no tickers, etc.

For instance, if Frank Sinatra's "Summerwind" was playing on Sirius, the information screen would read:

Artist: FRANK SI
Song: SUMMERWI

Isn't it sometimes nice to know what you are listening to on satellite, in case maybe you'd want to go buy the album???

I am pretty sure that this is not a limitation of the factory nav head unit, as I get full text from FM broadcasts and from CD's where I included song titles, etc. while burning.

Again, am I the only one that thinks this is ridiculous?

Hawk

 

[tarheeltp17]

Take it back. At the end of this month Sirius is releasing Direct Connect for Toyota. It'll be around $100 and will give you the full display name.

I think what you had installed was a piece made by VAIS tech. It allows a total of 16 Characters to be displayed, but you should have also gained an AUX input if they installed this piece. The VAIS piece will easilly run you the price you paid. I wasn't even aware that toyota offered a factory sirius brain...

 

[HBhawk]

Thank you very much for the reply.

I looked at that direct connect unit that you suggested. It looks as if you need to buy the adapter, plus the satellite tuner. I don't think it comes with the tuner.

Either way, in the specifications it states that this new direct connect setup will display up to 16 characters. I think mine displays 10 characters, as opposed to the 8 that I mentioned earlier. Still, 16 characters is pretty limited. There is plenty of space on the screen and there is no reason why the tuner couldn't send more than 16 characters, either on 2 lines, or as scrolling text. It is not like a few more characters are going to require a measurable amount of additional bandwidth.

So with the direct connect setup, I would be gaining 6 characters and an aux input. The aux input would be nice on a 2004 or earlier 4runner (they don't have a mini input in the glovebox to connect an mp3 player), but I really don't need a second aux input that is hard to get to.

It is unfortunate, but both of these "factory" systems for Sirius integration are overpriced and are lacking features... the music also cuts out every time you go under an overpass - the XM Roadie XT that I have in another car buffers the stream and will work for up to 30 seconds in a tunnel; however, the sound quality from my current factory Sirius integrated tuner is superior to the aftermarket receivers via FM modulator.

I guess I will stick with what I have and accept getting partially ripped off.

Hawk

 

[vando45]

Have a Scion 1807 with factory Sirius in my wife's 4Runner, and that is my biggest complaint. It's supposed to display up to 16 characters, but it only displays 10. Heck, the RDS display in my 04 Tundra scrolls! Speaking of which, why don't these newer 4Runners have that feature?

 

[tarheeltp17]

What I don't understand is why more people don't look into going aftermarket from the beginning?

I have a customer who called wanting to know which vehicles he could add sirius radio to and not have an additional display... after I told him only 1 of the vehicles he chose could integrate, I suggested "why don't you get the base stereo system and come see me?".......

MOST aftermarket stuff blends in very nicely with the factory, and if you really want all the work can be done through the dealer as well. Aftermarket stuff generally has a better warranty (some companies offering as much as 3 yrs when done through a dealer) and you don't run into problems where things aren't compatible, limited, etc... And you get better sound, for right around the same price if not less.

Put it this way... you can score a Kenwood DNX7100, i-pod cable, sirius, and bluetooth installed out the door for $2200. That's at full retail. You could easily get out for around $2000. I think I read in another forum that the full blown factory nav option is $2499?