BlueTooth quality

[bhrees]

I see a lot of people complaining about the bluetooth quality and I wanted to share my experience. After pairing my Blackberry tour the first call sounded ( based on the remote side) like i was in a cave, and i think that is what most claim, Well i decided to see if i could improve on that so i went into my phones bluetooth settings, selected the My-Car and properties then under the Echo control i switched it from Auto to ON. Huge difference, now its like a normal speaker phone.
Seems like an easy fix and really not a car problem at all.(new 2011 M37x)

[bbs350z]

yea everybody says that when i talk through my car it sounds muffled. ill have to try this on my blackberry. mind that they come in very clear its just outgoing apparently

[EniGmA1987]

The older cars it was an actual problem from the location of the microphone. There is a TSB for moving the mic to a better location and the new models should have the placement issue fixed.

Also it seems to be dependent on your phones bluetooth version, at least in the older model cars.

[gavnator]

Never have had a problem with my M's bluetooth connectivity. I've had 2 phones since I purchase this car (Razor and now Pantech "Ease" and phone connections are always clear.

[bbs350z]

any idea where to get that tsb? i changed my phones bluetooth settings which helped but i want crystal clear

[jayfox911]

I just brought in my car and they are replacing the bluetooth with a different version. Not sure what they are actually doing but they had to order parts.

When it is done I can post if it helped the quality. I have an 06 M35 sport.

[kluken]

I just got a "not generally available" BT update and can tell you my BT still sucks. People immediatly know I am in my M37. It also drops calls if I am on phone and a call waiting call comes in. IT makes this BT useless and I called Infiniti corporate and they blew me off, could care less. Good thing I flip cars frequently becasue this M37 won't be in my garage a year from now, electronics suck.

[bhrees]

I just got a "not generally available" BT update and can tell you my BT still sucks. People immediatly know I am in my M37. It also drops calls if I am on phone and a call waiting call comes in. IT makes this BT useless and I called Infiniti corporate and they blew me off, could care less. Good thing I flip cars frequently becasue this M37 won't be in my garage a year from now, electronics suck.

I'd have to wonder is some of that's not phone / carrier related?
you'd flip a car for bluetooth reasons?

[a.blanco0905]

I know for a fact that this issue is phone related, when I first got my M45 and paired my phone to it, it sounded crappy (I had a cheap samsung at that time) then I paired my buddy's iphone to it sounded a lot better and I even paired it to my wife's BB storm (from the same carrier as my cell) and it sounded better than my phone, now I have a better phone and the bt is perfect on my car.

Bottom line is cheaper phones will not have the same bluetooth quality as their more expensive counterparts.

[torbach1]

I can't speak for the M37, but I currently drive an '09 M45x with Navi, and my previous car was an '07 G35x (ie. current shape) also with Navi. What I discovered over time is that for Infiniti's and Nissan's with navigation, their bluetooth modules are amongst the worst in the market. I've tried both cars with a myriad of phones - more than 10 in each, and with the exception of the iPhone 3GS, and my current phone, the Samsung Focus WM7 phone, the phone quality and how people hear me on the other side has been horrendous.

Strangely, the same isses do not exist if you don't have the navi. So there may be some discrepancies between the opinions in this thread based on whether the car does or does not have navi. The explanation that I have gotten is that Nissan/Infinit farms out the manufacture of their Navi system to a 3rd party, and that 3rd party also has to create the Bluetooth module, which is at least prior to the current M series, very antiquated. They know about this issue and have known about it for more than 4 years, but couldn't be bothered to fix it. I have called Infiniti Customer Service at least 8 times now about this issue, and was brushed off. I've called my dealer, spoken to the manager, who researched the issue, and said that it's on 'their list' of things to fix. He acknowledged though that Bluetooth phone support for these cars with Navi is terrible.

If you're not convinced, check out Infiniti's bluetooth compatibility page, and spec the identical car out with, and then without Navi, and you'll see that the list of compatible phones on those vehicles with Navi is significantly smaller than that of those without Navi. Hell, my M45x doesn't even support the iPhone 4 despite it supporting the iPhone 3GS perfectly. There's barely a phone newer than 2 years old on any of the cars with Navi. It's really a bit of a disgrace in my opinion that a luxury brand such as Infiniti, that does so many other things so well has completely neglected this area.

By the way, while I've owned Inifiniti's since 2006, my wife has had a BMW, a VW Jetta, and now a Merc ML. In each case, I could pair all 10 of the phones that I tried to each of those cars, and get reasonable to excellent sound quality. It's not the phones. It's Infiniti's bluetooth modules. I was hoping they would fix this for the new M class, but it sounds like it's not quiet resolved yet...

Cheers
torbach1

[bhrees]

My phones on the list (Blackberry tour) and while i'm not a road warrior i thinks its quality is good and works as expected for a car. since i tweaked my phone no one complains or asks if im in my car. but i just do the normal things like answer calls that come in while driving, i dont live in the car like some people may do

[kluken]

I just got a "not generally available" BT update and can tell you my BT still sucks. People immediatly know I am in my M37. It also drops calls if I am on phone and a call waiting call comes in. IT makes this BT useless and I called Infiniti corporate and they blew me off, could care less. Good thing I flip cars frequently becasue this M37 won't be in my garage a year from now, electronics suck.

I'd have to wonder is some of that's not phone / carrier related?
you'd flip a car for bluetooth reasons?

More than just BT, the Infiniti electronics just suck IMO. Navi is lame, you enter destinations 2 different ways depending on whether you are stopped using touch screen or moving using voice and come up with different results. As for phone and carrier, this phone (Motorola) has worked fine on 3 previous Acura's and I did try my Blackberry, all sounded bad, but fortunatley not as bad as my buddiy and his G37, makes mine sound crystal clear. I flip cars every 1-2 years anyway, just saying I doubt the M37 will last 18 months for me and it will be my last Infiniti, I'd rather deal with the less than sexy look sof a TL SH-AWD that handles far superior and has light years better electronics. Even Ford and their SYNC is light years ahead of Infiniti!

[bhrees]

Even Ford and their SYNC is light years ahead of Infiniti!

YouTube is full of videos to the contrary, all voice systems are prone to error

[gavnator]

I have Navi and bluetooth in my M and have no operational issues with it.

[jayfox911]

I know for a fact that this issue is phone related, when I first got my M45 and paired my phone to it, it sounded crappy (I had a cheap samsung at that time) then I paired my buddy's iphone to it sounded a lot better and I even paired it to my wife's BB storm (from the same carrier as my cell) and it sounded better than my phone, now I have a better phone and the bt is perfect on my car.

Bottom line is cheaper phones will not have the same bluetooth quality as their more expensive counterparts.

my 06 sounds muffled and breaks up with an iPhone 4 and Verizon Dare.

[bbs350z]

^try to adjust your bluetooth settings. i did as the op did on my bb and people noticed right away. they say i sound closer to the phone in stead of 5 blocks away lol

[jayfox911]

^try to adjust your bluetooth settings. i did as the op did on my bb and people noticed right away. they say i sound closer to the phone in stead of 5 blocks away lol

I tried to adjust the settings and the sound is still poor.

[kluken]

a TL SH-AWD that handles far superior and has light years better electronics

It was just a matter of time before you mentioned Acura, again!

Yes I have an Acura bias, I owned 6 of them and other than my 2004 which had a lot of squeaks and rattles the others were built very well and IMO their electronics are superior. I did not expect the M37S to handle like the TL SH-AWD, but I also didn't expect a $57K car to be put togther more flimsy than my $43K TL. The M37S is a nice car, love driving it, great combination of handling and comfort, but it is clear that Infiniti cut corners. They have a car that spans $25-$30K so the base car is built like a $45K car and then they soak you for the options. I suspect it is the demographics, I have hade Infiniti dealers tell me over and over that Navi loaded cars sell at about a 30-40% take rate for the G while Acura is the reverse, about 70%-75% of TLs are sold with Tech package so I gather Infiniti needs to make sure that the lesser equipped cars are very profitable since they won't have the profit margins of all the options. I will give Acura credit, with the 4G TL (2009+) they did nto cut corners, they can't style a car, if you look at the majority of 2009/2010 TL owners they will tell you the car is built like a tank, I like to say the interior was bank vault tight, sure it had road noise, but the interior felt so tight and quiet. The M every time I close the doors I swear it sounds like the door panels are falling off. My car at 7K miles is now becoming some what noisy, the dash feels and sounds poorly fitted, even after the dealer spent 3 days trying to quiet it down. I actually think he made it worse. My frustraton is my expectaton for the price paid was higher, if this were a $40K car I would be prasing the value, but not at $57K. They cut way too many corners to keep the weight down, even the dealer SM was shocked how poorly some of the interior panels are fitted and all the extra stuff they had to do to quiet the door panels down.

[kluken]

^try to adjust your bluetooth settings. i did as the op did on my bb and people noticed right away. they say i sound closer to the phone in stead of 5 blocks away lol

I tried user settings then went into service settinsg and basically no difference, my guess, crappy mic in bad location coupled with crappy BT module design.

[bhrees]

lucky for me I got one of the working modules, mine sounds fine :-D with BB tour

[kluken]

lucky for me I got one of the working modules, mine sounds fine :-D with BB tour

Do you have Navi? Womdering of there is any truth to those that say non-navi units are better. What kind of phone do you have? Try 2 things, be on a call and have someone call you, see how the car handles the call waiting indication, mine drops the call. Then be on the BT / phone and shut the car off the car shoudl switch the call back to the phone, but then usually 15-30 seconds later the call drops. I know this sounds like phone issues, but I have used this phone (Motorola) in 3 previrous Acura's and also tried my Blackberry 8220 and it did same things.

[bhrees]

lucky for me I got one of the working modules, mine sounds fine :-D with BB tour

Do you have Navi? Womdering of there is any truth to those that say non-navi units are better. What kind of phone do you have? Try 2 things, be on a call and have someone call you, see how the car handles the call waiting indication, mine drops the call. Then be on the BT / phone and shut the car off the car shoudl switch the call back to the phone, but then usually 15-30 seconds later the call drops. I know this sounds like phone issues, but I have used this phone (Motorola) in 3 previrous Acura's and also tried my Blackberry 8220 and it did same things.

I have the Nav system and i paired it to a Blackberry Tour, after changing echo settings it works great. I have made and received calls but have never had call waiting situation yet, I have started a call and gotten in the car and had it transmission well, I don't recall getting out and shutting car off yet. I can try that one on my wife and let you know

[bbs350z]

the early models required a mic relocation as stated above, theirs a tsb on it that i cannot find. any help please!!

[torbach1]

lucky for me I got one of the working modules, mine sounds fine :-D with BB tour

Do you have Navi? Womdering of there is any truth to those that say non-navi units are better. What kind of phone do you have? Try 2 things, be on a call and have someone call you, see how the car handles the call waiting indication, mine drops the call. Then be on the BT / phone and shut the car off the car shoudl switch the call back to the phone, but then usually 15-30 seconds later the call drops. I know this sounds like phone issues, but I have used this phone (Motorola) in 3 previrous Acura's and also tried my Blackberry 8220 and it did same things.

There's no question that non-navi units at least in the modems prior to the new M, which I don't have and haven't looked into, have far better Bluetooth. It's not a 'those who say', just look for yourself at the phone compatibility list that Infiniti publishes at http://www.infiniti.com/bluetooth. They let you check phone compatibility by model, and you have to select whether you have navi or not. Pick any model of Infiniti of the models prior to this year's M (only because I haven't checked that one- may have same result), and look at the list of supported phones. Then say the same model has Navi and look at the list again and you'll see a far shorter list with mostly older phones, in particular smart phones.

In addition, as I mentioned I have tried at least 10 phones in the G35x and the M45x. Only 2 put of 10 smart phones worked despite all 10wprking in my wife's car. FYI, the cars prior to the current M don't have the echo setting.

I would still not give up on my M because of this issue for an Acura or any other competitor out there barring perhaps the Jag XF supercharged. But definitely not because of this Bluetooth issue. Before I got the current phone, I just used a Bluetooth headset for a while and still got to enjoy this amazing car .

[Dan tag]

I just picked up an 2006 M35, after reading this thread I was really concerned about how my phone would work. At it ends up, it works just fine. I was actually surprised how good it work. The call quality both ways if fine. I have a Blackberry Curve and Navigation.