Hi Folks,

I am very close to purchasing an 11 Lariat. It's been a while since I've had an F150. Can anyone comment on the quality of the factory BlueTooth in the later models? My last few trucks (non Fords) have had crappy BlueTooth that was filled with static and nobody could hear me. A friend of mine has an Audi with crystal clear BlueTooth, so I know it can be done.

Anyone who can share? Also, any problems linking an Iphone?

 

Its great. I had a Pioneer in my old truck that I used and the first thing people said when I drove home in my 2010 was "wow, you sound soooo much better!"

 

All good with mine...... as long as the windows are up. A little tricky to pair. You have to be quick entering the code.

 

The bluetooth phone connection works very good over the speakers. With the factory speaker phone and multiple people participating, I'm told the only background noise is a little wind noise.

 

It seems like every phone has different small conflicts with it. My old 3G iphone paired awesome, would even play movie tracks through the bluetooth audio, but it couldn't use the text to speech technology. My new Samsung windows7 phone can use the text to speech, but refuses to pay the video through the truck speakers, only the audio tracks on the phone. As far as quality, I can hear the other person clear as day, and as loud as you want through the stereo volume control. I have never had any complaints about the other end not hearing me, or asking me to repeat anything.

 

I would say that the bluetooth capabilities are adequate, not great.

If you speak in a firm tone, then the truck's mic will pick you up fine. My '11 XLT has the sync w/bluetooth, and it seems to work fine for me. I don't have a fancy iphone or droid though either, I've heard that those types of phones sometimes have issues with the bluetooth systems on sync.

My wifes car, a '11 fusion, also with sync, sounds terrible. Same system, she just either doesn't talk into it loud enough, or the mic being in a different location doesn't pick up the voice very well. Not sure about that one yet. Still working on her trying to talk louder when using the bluetooth.

This is my first experience with any sort of bluetooth device pairing, so I'm not sure that what's available in these trucks now is any better than in the past. I just think that the microphones could use some work.

 

My 2010 works just fine for me. You do have to speak clear and somewhat loud but so far so good.

Here is a list of phones tested with Sync:

http://www.syncmyride.com/own/suppor...v100_us_en.pdf

My Blackberry works perfectly with it but my Android is another story. Hit or miss with that. It works sometime and not others. I should say that my Android is not listed on the chart posted above.

 

I have a Driod X, and it synched just fine with my 2011 FX4. When talking on the phone through the truck, I can hear people great. I've asked a couple people on the other line if it sounded like I was on speakerphone, or if they were having a hard time hearing me, and they said I sounded normal. I'm happy with mine!

 

The mic's are located in different locations. My girls 2010 Fusion Sport has it to the left of the driver on the headliner. If you look, it is basically right next to where the a-pillar on the drivers side ends at the roof. To compare, as I am sure you have noticed, the mic on the f150 is next to the center console on the headliner of the truck. So that may be part of the source of the problem. More than likely, however, is that your wife just needs to speak up a bit. I have no problem hearing my girlfriend when she calls me from her car. Just my 2 cents.


To the OP, I have had no problems with the mic in the F150. Seems to work just fine for the application. Is there interference from time to time? Absolutely, but that is to be expected of any mic in this particular application. However, I will say that I have never had anyone complain that they couldn't hear me or understand me when I called them from my truck.

 

I have the sync system with Nav in my 2011 F150. Bluetooth with my Iphone 3GS has very good call quality. I have only used in a few times but each time people on the other end said that it sound good. Like has been alluded to, my Iphone pairs up nicely for calling and address books, but will not work with the text to speech function. So if your like me and text sparingly it's not a problem anyway.

P.S. if your using your IPhone through the USB port it displays your music library pretty quickly and is very well done (especially with the sync system).

Good luck and have fun with what you decide to get!

 

Mine works pretty well, there have only been a few times where I had issues hearing someone. In both of those cases the other person was on some type of headset too so the problem could have been on the other end.

A few weeks ago there was a Sync demo team at one of the local dealerships. I stopped by for a second to see why I was could not get the truck to read an incoming text message and for a few BT streaming issues. The rep told me the issue is with the security settings on the phone not allowing sync full access to the functions. Older regular (non-smart) phones actually work the best because they do not encrypt the Bluetooth connection as well as the latest smartphones. Her experience was that older Android releases work fairly well as they were not very secure at all. The later versions have been locked down much better as a result lose functions with Sync. The current versions of iOS, BBOS and Symbian are all locked pretty tightly. If a cable connection is used instead of BT the music streaming works much better as this connection does not have the security features.

 

I was aware they were in different spots, just trying to narrow down the issues she's been having with it. The obvious answer is for her to talk louder, should be easier done than said, right?

 

Mine works great in my '10

 

It took a little while to link my droid 2 but it eventually linked up and works perfect, no static on either end