Grom USB....WOW...it works!
12-09-09, 11:44 AM
#31
Just installed the Grom USB unit into my 2006 GS and wow!!! It works. How great it performs, I have yet to find out. It recognizes the unit as 6 disks and can play up to 99 sonds each disk. Artists and titles are displayed. The sound quality is great. I chose the Grom unit over the Vais due to the price tag of $130....Will post pics and further reviews later...
12-09-09, 12:51 PM
#34
Yep, I did... maybe they just weren't paying attention. They even offered that information out of nowhere, I wasn't even asking them about that because I was under the assumption text worked on 06 with GROM from this thread.
12-09-09, 02:31 PM
#35
"Thank you for your email. On non-navigation radios our unit will support text. We apologize for any confusion."
Can't think of any reason why the 06 without Nav and the 06 with Nav should behave any differently in this regard.
Can't think of any reason why the 06 without Nav and the 06 with Nav should behave any differently in this regard.
12-10-09, 11:24 AM
#39
After a lot of research and deliberation, I ended up just choosing the GROM TOYU2 USB unit which I ordered this morning. Ends up being a good 1/3 the cost of getting the VML unit to me here in Canada.
Deciding factors were:
1) Price.
-- A lot cheaper than VML. I will never care to add an internal HDD for a few reasons, one of which the operating temperature range listed -- sometimes in Ontario, it gets colder than than operating range of the unit with HDD!
2) Features.
-- Out of the box the GROM supports more codecs than VML currently. It seems that they have not abandoned firmware and I believe they have also promised FLAC. A new firmware for toyota/lexus was posted just recently which appears to fix the intermittant startup problems some people reported.
-- GROM comes with an AUX input, VML does not. Both will support iPod if needed with additional cable, though I doubt I'll ever care to use an iPod.
3) Model year limitations
--The "Gen4" head unit in the 2006 is pretty feature limited without being able to use CD-MP3 emulation to browse by folder etc. A lot of the nicer features of VML revolve around emulating CD-MP3 so it would totally go to waste in my car. A lot of conflicting info from GROM about text support on my car, but it seems that they have confirmed that text will work on my non-nav unit (which matches the report from the OP). Hopefully I don't get burned.
4) Size:
-- The GROM USB unit itself is much smaller than the VML unit. Installation should be easier, with more mounting options.
5) Shipping
-- GROM will ship to Canada for a reasonable rate using USPS. Vais insists on shipping via UPS which means big time brokerage charges.
I was just looking for a basic way to play MP3s from a USB source with text appearing on the head unit, it seems GROM does this job for me at the lowest cost. I will be pulling my dash apart to install it when it arrives in a week or so. Wish me luck.
(P.S. With the head unit removed is there anything in there that is a common source of rattles that I could patch up while I'm at it?)
Deciding factors were:
1) Price.
-- A lot cheaper than VML. I will never care to add an internal HDD for a few reasons, one of which the operating temperature range listed -- sometimes in Ontario, it gets colder than than operating range of the unit with HDD!
2) Features.
-- Out of the box the GROM supports more codecs than VML currently. It seems that they have not abandoned firmware and I believe they have also promised FLAC. A new firmware for toyota/lexus was posted just recently which appears to fix the intermittant startup problems some people reported.
-- GROM comes with an AUX input, VML does not. Both will support iPod if needed with additional cable, though I doubt I'll ever care to use an iPod.
3) Model year limitations
--The "Gen4" head unit in the 2006 is pretty feature limited without being able to use CD-MP3 emulation to browse by folder etc. A lot of the nicer features of VML revolve around emulating CD-MP3 so it would totally go to waste in my car. A lot of conflicting info from GROM about text support on my car, but it seems that they have confirmed that text will work on my non-nav unit (which matches the report from the OP). Hopefully I don't get burned.
4) Size:
-- The GROM USB unit itself is much smaller than the VML unit. Installation should be easier, with more mounting options.
5) Shipping
-- GROM will ship to Canada for a reasonable rate using USPS. Vais insists on shipping via UPS which means big time brokerage charges.
I was just looking for a basic way to play MP3s from a USB source with text appearing on the head unit, it seems GROM does this job for me at the lowest cost. I will be pulling my dash apart to install it when it arrives in a week or so. Wish me luck.
(P.S. With the head unit removed is there anything in there that is a common source of rattles that I could patch up while I'm at it?)
12-22-09, 08:58 AM
#40
I installed the GROM unit last night. All in all, it works fine but it still has some quirks.
- Sound quality is very good, on the MP3s I tested with I couldn't really tell a difference between the MP3 and original CD (encoded 320kbps).
- Gain seems to be a bit lower than the stock CD changer. Have to turn up the volume on the GROM to a higher level, but there is a lot of room that I can still make it louder than I would ever actually care to.
- I noticed a bug where if all of my folders are prefixed with a number (to map to virtual discs) but I leave a gap in the enumeration that the unit has trouble switching playlists and gets really confused. Easily corrected by naming the folders correctly. Emailed support about it.
- It seems the bug where sometimes the unit is not properly initialized still exists where sometimes when starting the car you have to disconnect and reconnect the USB key and turn off/on the stereo (mute/un-mute) to get it to kick in again. Also emailed support about that, this is by far the most annoying thing.
- Oddly enough there was something already occupying the harness at the back of my stereo, I have no idea what it could be... when switching through the stereo modes I don't come across anything "extra" like SAT or anything. The wire ran down into an area that I couldn't investigate easily. Just to be safe I left it connected with the Y cable supplied with the GROM.
And yes, TEXT is supported on my car though it doesn't yet scroll when the name is too long (apparently promised feature via firmware).
Overall it seems like it does the trick admirably for the price, the only thing that is stopping me from totally recommending it is the fact that it has that startup bug STILL - they really need to figure that out. I'm okay with doing the song and dance to get it going when it decides to act up but I really don't want to have to explain to my fiancee that she has to do this kind of nonsense. They have promised firmware update in mid January, so hopefully things will improve.
- Sound quality is very good, on the MP3s I tested with I couldn't really tell a difference between the MP3 and original CD (encoded 320kbps).
- Gain seems to be a bit lower than the stock CD changer. Have to turn up the volume on the GROM to a higher level, but there is a lot of room that I can still make it louder than I would ever actually care to.
- I noticed a bug where if all of my folders are prefixed with a number (to map to virtual discs) but I leave a gap in the enumeration that the unit has trouble switching playlists and gets really confused. Easily corrected by naming the folders correctly. Emailed support about it.
- It seems the bug where sometimes the unit is not properly initialized still exists where sometimes when starting the car you have to disconnect and reconnect the USB key and turn off/on the stereo (mute/un-mute) to get it to kick in again. Also emailed support about that, this is by far the most annoying thing.
- Oddly enough there was something already occupying the harness at the back of my stereo, I have no idea what it could be... when switching through the stereo modes I don't come across anything "extra" like SAT or anything. The wire ran down into an area that I couldn't investigate easily. Just to be safe I left it connected with the Y cable supplied with the GROM.
And yes, TEXT is supported on my car though it doesn't yet scroll when the name is too long (apparently promised feature via firmware).
Overall it seems like it does the trick admirably for the price, the only thing that is stopping me from totally recommending it is the fact that it has that startup bug STILL - they really need to figure that out. I'm okay with doing the song and dance to get it going when it decides to act up but I really don't want to have to explain to my fiancee that she has to do this kind of nonsense. They have promised firmware update in mid January, so hopefully things will improve.
12-26-09, 11:02 AM
#44
All that it does is add a second CD changer to your head unit, shows up on mine as CD2. It should not affect anything else.
Though I warn you, it doesn't work every time I start the car and so far I've been offered no solutions from support. Every time I start the car I have to unplug the usb, replug it, then turn off the stereo (press volume ****) and turn it back on - then it works fine.
Though I warn you, it doesn't work every time I start the car and so far I've been offered no solutions from support. Every time I start the car I have to unplug the usb, replug it, then turn off the stereo (press volume ****) and turn it back on - then it works fine.