LarryQW

The User Device will go to bluetooth or the audio port on startup because the I-Pod takes too long to boot up, or at least longer than the 30 seconds or so that SYNC will wait for it. Thus SYNC concludes nothing is there on the USB port and goes to another device. This is a known issue with I-Pods with this technical response from Ford reported on the syncmyride.com's Owner to Owner forum. But so far no fix has been provided.

+1 Again The Navigation System is more than just a GPS. It integrates all the vehicle systems very nicely: phone, music, navigation, auto controls, menus, ... I also got the Family Entertainment System, and the NAV even integrates better with that, allowing me to control what's playing on each of the car's three sound channels (front and Channel A and B for the head phones), control the rear DVD/CD as well as the front, and so on.

Good news. How long did it take SYNC to index the 37 GB?

Sorry to hear about your lack of SYNC. Like Ultimate X did above, I ordered my car in August but had to wait until February to get SYNC in the job 2. There was a lot of discussion about how to get SYNC in Taurus X forums. However, I agree it's easy to confuse non-SYNC cars, as it's only determined by subtle signs such as in the overview description of the Window Sticker, the SYNC button by the cup holders, and it's actual availability in the car. SYNC was only standard with the Limited in Job 2, but not Job 1, only adding more confusion (but the job 2 price increased by $400 too, so it wasn't free). I predicted some unscrupulous or uninformed dealers would take advantage of the SYNC confusion as in your case. And it could just be an honest mistake as it confuses the dealers too. The dealer knew that you wanted SYNC, gave you wrong information, and improperly suggested you got SYNC via the Navigation. So your beef is not with Ford but that dealer or salesman, who was either incompetent or corrupt. I got everything in writing (via email), and made absolutely sure SYNC was explicitly listed somewhere since it was on the top of my want list. SYNC is well worth having, and why you ordered the car. The question is what can you do now? In court, you may get some minor compensation, such as the cost of the DVD player, and that's only if you win with a good case, with documentation such as written statements from the dealer. But what you really seem to want is to have it made right, with SYNC installed in your car. There's no SYNC retrofits available, so that can only be done by replacing your vehicle with a new car and the dealer eating the severe depreciation of your current model being driven 1000s of miles. That is something that will likely be impossible for anyone to do because of the high cost. The mistake is easy to make, but you did it too. You have a much reason to be angry at yourself as the dealer. I hope you can work something out with the dealer, but it looks difficult. You may just try to get some minor monetary compensation or product (free warranty, free NAV, 3 years maintenance,..) as a consolation. You'll likely have to go without SYNC unless you or the dealer wants to put up many thousands of dollars for a whole new car, which doesn't look likely on either side.

They're just not responding. However I'm pretty sure, like a Big Brother, they're browsing Owner to Owner and this site as well. For instance, I've seen changes in Owner to Owner when I complain about it here. And it's odd after many months of stagnation, Owner to Owner suddenly comes up a couple weeks after this site opens and starts to get a following. Here's another way to look at it. Just on the individual level, if you were a Ford/Microsoft SYNC engineer or software developer, wouldn't you naturally be drawn into reading these forums? But company secrecy rules would prevent them from talking.

With the wireless Bluetooth connection, I just leave my phone in my pocket when getting in the car. No need to take it out other than charging. But I charge it at home maybe once a week. And if I take it out, I often forget and leave it there. All my USB connnected devices are left hidden in the center console armrest of my Taurus X. The Focus doesn't have the USB connection in a center console?

For sure, and like in a communist country you start changing how and what you say when you know you're being censored. It's also annoying that Microsoft can take up to a couple days to post any response after they moderate/mutate it to their liking, especially on weekends. It doesn't make for lively response. Microsoft is using their heavy hand as they do well. I'm beginning to think the only reason MS brought up Owner-to-Owner now is that they realized they had to get a forum running quickly that they could control, before this forum got some real life of its own, and telling unmoderated truth. And it seems to be working, as this forum has got a lot less action since Owner-to-Owner came up. It's almost dead here now.

That's right. Only the Nav systems can control the radio and satellite radio, from what I hear. It's not part of SYNC, but Ford's previous voice system (from Pioneer?). It's way inferior in voice recognition to SYNC, but nice to have on occasion.

Yes it's live! But MS and Ford wants to keep tight control of what's said there. Messages are limited to 1500 characters (although I had to reduce my message below 1200 to get it to work). Every message is moderated and checked before they allow it to be posted. I guess they only want approved warm fuzzys posted on their marketing site. So I suspect this forum is still the right place to get real uncensored messages out. EDIT: Ford's SYNC forum is doing a lot of this: for positive SYNC content only. They say they're "moderating", but it's actually "modifying". I placed a number or posts and threads on syncmyride Owner-to-Owner forum. Some things I said slightly negative, uh, just disappeared. Even in posts I made, part of my posts appear but entire paragraphs that had anything slightly negative were edited out - just gone!!!! They seem to be editing so much, Ford/MS should just make up their own posts among themselves and pretend they have a forum. I started a thread about the bad Navigation voice recognition at the top main menu. It took a while, but that thread finally did appear, so it's not completely sanitized. Nevertheless: DON'T TRUST SYNCMYRIDE's FORUM, IT'S HEAVILY EDITED AND MODIFIED FOR WARM FUZZYs ONLY. POST ON THIS FORUM INSTEAD.

I didn't realize the non-Nav systems couldn't control the Satellite Radio or Audio System. On my Taurus X with Nav, after saying "Audio System" or "User Device" on the main menu, commands I can select with voice are AM/FM/SR/CD/USB/Bluetooth/rear DVD (as well as Phone, Navigation, Tutorial, Help, Display,... on the main menu). And once in each of these audio menus, I can also select bands such as "SR1" or actual channels such as "Tune 105" for Satellite Radio. SYNC understands all these commands with high accuracy once I'm off the main menu. If you can't tune the other AM/FM/SR audio channels other than USB or Bluetooth, it somewhat reduces the value of SYNC. I'm surprised to hear you can't do that on non-Nav systems.

It appears systems without the NAV unit do not have the Voice Training. The Voice Training looks to be needed more for Ford's part of the voice recognition - which includes the main menu and navigation commands on NAV systems. And Ford's voice recognition is so bad that they very much need training on these main menus. Once I've navigated down to the Phone or SYNC part of the menu, the voice recognition quality gets extremely good. I suspect these are Microsoft voice recognition systems (the responding voice changes in these modes too). My feeling is that Microsoft doesn't include training like Ford simply because they don't really need it. I'm finding the success rate once I'm in phone or SYNC mode to be well over 95%, versus maybe 50% success with Ford's main menu.

Version: 5.5.7226_sp0 Vehicle: 2008 Ford Taurus X Limited Head Unit: NAV (and Satellite Radio / DVD system - all work great together) Upgrade: None - but for some reason the Lincoln NAV/THX update is listed as available on syncmyride.com???? Media Player: USB Flash drive / Bluetooth streaming from LG8550 / friend's iPod once - NO ISSUES Phone: Verizon LG8350 and LG8550 - Everything works except text messaging and custom ringers

I agree with you on Microsoft's sincmyride.com web site. I cannot believe Microsoft could make a web interface that is so bad. Each section takes a while to load. Finding anything and navigating the site is horrid. There's no real way to get support or give feedback, or talk to other owners. Just how long does it take to set up a forum for someone like Microsoft! You can only suspect they're afraid of what people will post. It like they really just want a dummy site to fool prospective SYNC users into thinking all is beautiful and well supported, which is just a facade. The compatible phone section list is a PDF file rather than a simple hypertext link or table, and the phone list is very minimal and only been updated twice, the last time last December. One would like to see much more complete phone testing, like on some of the newest generation (like 8350 as well as the 8300 listed) and one generation back. How much can it cost to have a guy sit there with some phones and test them? And the SYNC user instructions are all wrong or inappropriate for your car, even if you select your model phone and car. First you need to hit two buttons for any selection, the car, and then select, to actually select it! I've never seen a web site design so poor. And this is Microsoft? I use a lot of Microsoft applications and programming utilities - their official site is MUCH better, like the other end of the spectrum. The FAQs are inappropriate and useless. Like I'm trying to figure out how to disconnect my Flash drive from SYNC's USB, and instead the FAQ only describes the standard way to disconnect the Flash from my PC, nothing about the car. So I just pull the USB Flash Drive out with it running and lit, and hope for the best. So far, so good. As for your iPod issue, my SYNC software works great with my Flash Drive. I also tried it a while with a friend's iPod and it worked fine with no reboots in the few minutes we played it. In a month of using SYNC with a navigation system on my Taurus X Limited, I only had one bug where the USB stopped playing sound, right after I got what looks like a voltage spike as it also reset other independent items on the car like my overhead garage remote that I reprogrammed. I couldn't find any user information on syncmyride, or any way to directly get SYNC support. I took my Taurus X back to the dealer. It took them a day with SYNC's tech's to realize it only needed a reset by removing a fuse. In contrast to you, I do feel SYNC is running well enough to be introduced to the market. The features work about as well as an cell phone firmware. That is, I don't see anything outright fail in the software. It's more the poor documentation, imperfect quality, and lack of features that would be nice. But what they have is still a major advance over the rest of the market and works well. SYNC will improve over time and can be user upgraded, so I'm glad to be able to use what they have working now rather than wait another year for it. It's a beautiful system that is ready for the market and future improvements. As for voice recognition, it appears once I get the menus into the Microsoft SYNC functions, the voice recognition success rate gets very high, near perfect. On my navigation system, the poor quality is on the main menu and a couple other menus that appear to be a Ford product. Ford should get over their ego and give MS the lead on the whole voice system. But in all, I feel SYNC is ready for the market. They just need to improve their documentation and quality. That will surely happen with time.

I can easily make a Playlist in Windows Media Player by just dragging and dropping songs into the Create Playlist window. But I haven't tried using a playlist with SYNC yet. I usually just go by Artist and Similar Music.

My LG8350 works just fine, about like all the other LG phones using Verizon, and with the same features as they list for the LG8300. Namely, I can download phone books, history, battery indicator, signal strength, and so on. I can also stream music via Bluetooth. However, I cannot transfer text messages. Same features are available with my daughter's LG8550 (Chocolate) which is on the list with Verizon.

I am also running SYNC version 5.5.7226_sp0. I even did the software check thing using my USB flash drive as requested by syncmyride.com's owner site. Do you have the Navigation system? It's been slowly dawning on me that the poor voice recognition I was getting was mostly in the main menu and Navigation. If you have the Nav system, the main menu is created by Ford, not Microsoft. You have to do one more level of commands to get into each mode. Namely, at the Main Menu, I have to say one of PHONE, NAVIGATION, AUDIO SYSTEM, USER DEVICE, DISPLAY, VOICE SETTINGS, HELP, and so on. Although some of the lower menus (like audio) are SYNC, I've heard this top menu is driven by Ford's Navigation system. Once I get into the USER DEVICE or AUDIO SYSTEM, the voice recognition accuracy goes way up. The main menu has difficulty in telling the difference between "PHONE" and just a few other very different commands like "USER DEVICE". It's always wasting my time requesting confirmation, with a success rate around 50% or less. However, once in the lower USER DEVICE/USB menu, the SYNC audio system can pretty much always get the right song out of thousands, like a 98% success rate. In any case, I'm realizing that the poor voice recognition is with Ford's new 'STYNC' voice system which they've made to wrap around Microsoft's much better SYNC system. You may not have the navigation system and thus not need to deal with Ford's software. And due to the excellent voice accuracy of SYNC, you may not need to train either, which is why Microsoft doesn't include it.

I suspect you need to go to the phone list and pick the alternative paired phone if you want to use any phone other than the primary. It only makes sense as you may have a few phones in the car, if you're like my family.

I note a lot of phones are crippled on request by the wireless carrier. For instance, I use Verizon and none of their phones can do Text Message reading via Bluetooth with SYNC. Microsoft can't make a software fix to a feature the wireless provider has disabled, or the phone manufacture hasn't incorporated into the phone. Nevertheless, MS seems to be trying their best to incorporate every feature possble within this physical limitation. I just wish Microsoft would test and update more phones on their Compatability Chart, last updated 12/19/07. Many consumers will start choosing phones based on SYNC compatability (like I did in on renewal in December). Then the wireless providers and phone makers will have a lot of pressure to make these features available, or not sell the phone versus another that does.

Yep, I think the 6-CD player is going the way of the 8-Track tape player. (Oh wait, that's probably before your time too.) It's only there for historical comfort.

Accuracy improved greatly when I trained my system and created a "Profile" for recognizing my voice. I have the Navigation LCD, but nevertheless did the entire training using voice commands. So it should be the same for you. But at each menu, listen for the options for commands that may be different from what I describe. You can also say Help at any time. At the Main Menu, say Voice Settings. Once you get into this mode you can say: * Interaction Mode [standard or Advanced] Advanced mode gives less prompts. * Profile [Create or Delete (Profile Name) or Profile Select (Profile Name) or Profile Select None] EXAMPLES: So you can get detailed voice help by saying "Voice Settings", pause for bing, "Interaction Mode Standard". You can create a voice profile by saying "Voice Settings", pause for bing, "Create Profile". When you create a voice recognition profile, you give it a name in your own voice, so it can easily find the profile later should your wife or another driver switch the profile away. You select that profile again by saying "Voice Settings", pause for bing, "Select Profile myname".

After more usage of SYNC, I now realize it's the main menu that's horrid on voice recognition. This is the software part done by Ford as part of my Navigation system. Once I get into things like the media, USB and phone menus, the voice recognition is superb. For instance it can pick the the right song out of thousands without a failure yet. I understand this is the software part done by Microsoft.

Make it easy for yourself to program your car to received satellite radio by using the web! Go to http://www.sirius.com/channelguide and search the channels. On the upper right is a downloadable PDF file that you can print to take with you for reference in your car. As for programing SR presets, it's like normal radio. Go to a channel and then hold down the preset and it will be programmed to that channel. On my LCD screen, the button turns to the programmed channel number rather than a preset number.

Yes, factory installed, which includes the six month subscription that's probably worth around $70. So it's really only $100 more. The integration with the rest of the audio system and SYNC is a real delight, easily worth the price even if you've got to pay more for it as a dealer install.

For sure. My Taurus X has SYNC, Navigation, Satellite Radio, DVD Family Entertainment System, Bluetooth phones,... - every possible option. And they all work together beautifully with nice controls on the Nav LCD. The addition of Satellite Radio only cost me another $170 ($25 off list) and includes 6 months subscription, as well as being fully integrated and transparent to the car. I love the SR and listen to it over half the time, even though I got lots of other options with the FM, and USB, and bluetooth, and...

Sorry to hear your problems. I note the VX5300 isn't listed on syncmyride.com's compatibility chart. So you may indeed be limited with this older phone. Maybe it's time for a phone refresh? The Phone Book download works fine for me with the newer LG phones. I just purchased the LG VX8350 flip phone, and my kids got the LG VX8550 (Chocolate). These are slight upgrades to the VX8300 and VX8500 listed on syncmyride.com's compatibility chart. Both pair fine and download the entire phone book and work as described by syncmyride.com's compatibility list. (You'd think they'd have tested more phones by now!) My entire phone directory of maybe 50 numbers downloads properly, as well as the recent history of dialed numbers, missed numbers, received numbers. Even my speed dial selections show up on the LCD! I also get the phone strength and battery indicators. We can also stream music from our phone memory via bluetooth. The only useful thing I don't get is the text messaging. All Verizon phones seem to be missing the SMS or text messaging feature.