A Hertz, an Iphone and Crackerjack GPS?
October 14, 2016 10:48 AM Subscribe
Once I had a Garminfone, and when I’d rent a car, I’d plug the phone into the car’s USB outlet, run the GPS, and listen to podcasts, the radio, or just sit in silence. Now I have an iPhone 5s running on OS10, and I recently rented a Hertz, and found much of that impossible. Worse, Applemaps led me the long way round the Northeast recently, adding several hours to my trip. Soon, I’ll need to drive home. Please suggest a new mapping program. Without GPS, I’ll never get home at all.
The iPhone requires two different bluetooth connections to get audio. It insists on playing music as soon as I plug it in. If I turn down the volume or turn on the radio, the GPS can’t be heard, so silence is not an option. (Being directionally challenged, this drove me especially crazy. Sometimes I need the quiet to figure out what I'm doing, especially if I'm in a new car — or if I haven't driven for a while.)
In brief, I want what I had on the Garminfone:
BONUS QUESTION:
While driving through CT, I was faced with the sudden option of using Ezpass or letting them photograph my license plate and billing me. Completely befuddled, I drove right through. There is a Hertz Ezpass in the car, but I had no idea how to make it work. I’ve never seen a non-cash-accepting toll before. Any advice on how to deal with it, or insight into how CT/Hertz will proceed in my case? I’m not sure if CT has any way of realizing I was in a rental car. The car had Jersey plates.
Meanwhile Hertz never discussed either bluetooth or the EZpass with me, and as I wasn’t expecting them, I didn’t think to ask about them when I rented the car. (Read: Picked it up from the dealer in an awkward spot near the side of a busy road). But I’m a little afraid they’re stand-ins for those itty bitty teeny tiny liquor bottles in hotels. Just there, so you drink them. Then you get the $50 per bottle bill….
The iPhone requires two different bluetooth connections to get audio. It insists on playing music as soon as I plug it in. If I turn down the volume or turn on the radio, the GPS can’t be heard, so silence is not an option. (Being directionally challenged, this drove me especially crazy. Sometimes I need the quiet to figure out what I'm doing, especially if I'm in a new car — or if I haven't driven for a while.)
In brief, I want what I had on the Garminfone:
- A reliable mapping program, with audio prompts, that put me in the right lane, and regularly and audibly update me on what to do, regardless of whether I’m listening to something else or not.
- The ability to not listen to anything at all (but still get prompts from the GPS)
- The ability to listen to podcasts, or the radio, or my own music (but still get prompts from the GPS)
- None of this bluetooth stuff. I don’t understand it, and the double connection to Hertz makes me fear I’m suddenly going to be charged for something I wasn’t prepared to pay for
BONUS QUESTION:
While driving through CT, I was faced with the sudden option of using Ezpass or letting them photograph my license plate and billing me. Completely befuddled, I drove right through. There is a Hertz Ezpass in the car, but I had no idea how to make it work. I’ve never seen a non-cash-accepting toll before. Any advice on how to deal with it, or insight into how CT/Hertz will proceed in my case? I’m not sure if CT has any way of realizing I was in a rental car. The car had Jersey plates.
Meanwhile Hertz never discussed either bluetooth or the EZpass with me, and as I wasn’t expecting them, I didn’t think to ask about them when I rented the car. (Read: Picked it up from the dealer in an awkward spot near the side of a busy road). But I’m a little afraid they’re stand-ins for those itty bitty teeny tiny liquor bottles in hotels. Just there, so you drink them. Then you get the $50 per bottle bill….
Worse, Applemaps led me the long way round the Northeast recently, adding several hours to my trip.
Install Google Maps. I never use the built-in Apple Maps.
posted by zippy at 10:57 AM on October 14, 2016 [13 favorites]
Install Google Maps. I never use the built-in Apple Maps.
posted by zippy at 10:57 AM on October 14, 2016 [13 favorites]
I think you're overthinking this. Use Google Maps navigation, which will work just fine over any nothing/music/podcast you choose to play. It might start autoplaying something when you plug it in for #reasons, but just stop it and change it to whatever you want. It shouldn't require two separate bluetooth connections, so I'm a little puzzled about what happened there - you might find it easier to bring an aux cable along and plug your phone into the car's aux jack and forego bluetooth entirely (assuming you don't have a brand new iphone, or you remember the dongle).
The only thing you probably won't be able to do is regular am/fm radio + iphone sound over the car speakers (because the car has to choose one input - either the radio, or your iphone). You can get around that by playing some sort of internet radio over your phone, or just turn the sound up on your phone and have it play out of its normal speakers, without connecting it to the car.
posted by brainmouse at 10:57 AM on October 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
The only thing you probably won't be able to do is regular am/fm radio + iphone sound over the car speakers (because the car has to choose one input - either the radio, or your iphone). You can get around that by playing some sort of internet radio over your phone, or just turn the sound up on your phone and have it play out of its normal speakers, without connecting it to the car.
posted by brainmouse at 10:57 AM on October 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I'd suggest the "HERE We Go" iPhone app, from a spinoff of Nokia. Bonus: if you create a free account on their website, you can download maps and use them offline. I do that when traveling in Canada and Europe, where I want to have a map with me but don't want to pay for data roaming.
posted by brianogilvie at 10:59 AM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by brianogilvie at 10:59 AM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
Waze.
And I carry my bluetooth stereo doodad with me when I travel. It's got a double-usb charge port too, which you need because Waze is hard on the phone battery. I take a vent mount as well (I use a cd-slot mount in my own car, but you can't count on all rentals having a CD slot or wanting you using it as a phone mount).
posted by Lyn Never at 11:03 AM on October 14, 2016
And I carry my bluetooth stereo doodad with me when I travel. It's got a double-usb charge port too, which you need because Waze is hard on the phone battery. I take a vent mount as well (I use a cd-slot mount in my own car, but you can't count on all rentals having a CD slot or wanting you using it as a phone mount).
posted by Lyn Never at 11:03 AM on October 14, 2016
(BTW, Here We Go is a free app.)
On your other questions:
(1) I've never heard of a rental company charging extra for using the Bluetooth connection in a car audio system. That would be weird.
(2) Your rental agreement should specify how tolls are handled. More and more jurisdictions are moving toward cashless toll systems. I first encountered one when I took the Henry Hudson Parkway from the Bronx into Manhattan in 2013. I didn't have an EZ Pass then, so about two months later, a bill for the toll arrived by mail and I paid it. Connecticut will bill whoever is listed on the car registration, which will be Hertz, and your rental agreement should specify how they will pay the bill (almost certainly by an additional charge to the credit/debit card you used to rent the car), and whether there's a processing fee.
posted by brianogilvie at 11:04 AM on October 14, 2016
On your other questions:
(1) I've never heard of a rental company charging extra for using the Bluetooth connection in a car audio system. That would be weird.
(2) Your rental agreement should specify how tolls are handled. More and more jurisdictions are moving toward cashless toll systems. I first encountered one when I took the Henry Hudson Parkway from the Bronx into Manhattan in 2013. I didn't have an EZ Pass then, so about two months later, a bill for the toll arrived by mail and I paid it. Connecticut will bill whoever is listed on the car registration, which will be Hertz, and your rental agreement should specify how they will pay the bill (almost certainly by an additional charge to the credit/debit card you used to rent the car), and whether there's a processing fee.
posted by brianogilvie at 11:04 AM on October 14, 2016
Best answer: Some hire cars that I've connected an iPhone to via bluetooth have asked for two different connection profiles - IIRC one is for hands-free phone calls, and one is for audio. As far as I can tell, it's a feature of the car, not the phone - seems that in-car bluetooth implementations vary widely. I've also had weird auto-play things at high volume when I get in the car, but as others have said - just turn it off & then play the thing you want.
Some other hire cars have otherwise annoying or non-existent bluetooth. I used to carry a 3.5mm aux cable as well, just in case. It's crap, but it works. Even crapper, but still workable, is to turn up the volume on the phone & get GPS directions through its built-in speaker - which is what I do in my own car, because it pre-dates in-car bluetooth by some distance.
nthing google maps - no need for any other mapping in my experience
posted by rd45 at 11:12 AM on October 14, 2016
Some other hire cars have otherwise annoying or non-existent bluetooth. I used to carry a 3.5mm aux cable as well, just in case. It's crap, but it works. Even crapper, but still workable, is to turn up the volume on the phone & get GPS directions through its built-in speaker - which is what I do in my own car, because it pre-dates in-car bluetooth by some distance.
nthing google maps - no need for any other mapping in my experience
posted by rd45 at 11:12 AM on October 14, 2016
Best answer: 1. Google Maps. Google Maps. Google Maps. It's just the best GPS application on all platforms.
2. Here's how I do it: I run the Lightning to a USB-lighter adapter. I don't trust rental car USB ports or Bluetooth. Never sync your phone to a rental car Bluetooth. Plus, I've experienced what you mentioned—that when you plug it into the USB it automatically starts playing music. That's annoying. I've also found that it doesn't provide enough power to charge a phone running GPS. YMMV, but I highly recommend using a cigarette lighter adapter for power.
3. Standard dual-male dubbing cable between the iPhone headphone jack and the car's AUX port. Car becomes just a dummy sound machine. Sounds more complicated, but actually is not.
And, yes, not to derail, but this use case is exactly why I hate that Apple got rid of the headphone jack.)
posted by General Malaise at 11:35 AM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
2. Here's how I do it: I run the Lightning to a USB-lighter adapter. I don't trust rental car USB ports or Bluetooth. Never sync your phone to a rental car Bluetooth. Plus, I've experienced what you mentioned—that when you plug it into the USB it automatically starts playing music. That's annoying. I've also found that it doesn't provide enough power to charge a phone running GPS. YMMV, but I highly recommend using a cigarette lighter adapter for power.
3. Standard dual-male dubbing cable between the iPhone headphone jack and the car's AUX port. Car becomes just a dummy sound machine. Sounds more complicated, but actually is not.
And, yes, not to derail, but this use case is exactly why I hate that Apple got rid of the headphone jack.)
posted by General Malaise at 11:35 AM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Some cars refuse to use bluetooth correctly with my iPhone if I plug it into the car's USB. It's mostly fine, but I've had a few that just do really odd things about trying to play my music like an old school iPod. I've started carrying a 12V lighter charger when I rent a car just because of this.
posted by advicepig at 12:06 PM on October 14, 2016
posted by advicepig at 12:06 PM on October 14, 2016
For GPS, use Google Maps or Waze. FWIW I've found the IOS Maps ap functional but doesn't always pick the shortest route and doesn't have the featureset that Google and Waze do.
My car is old and doesn't have an AUX jack/USB port setup. I use one of those old radio transmitter bluetooth adapters that plugs into the cigarette lighter, but that might be a lot of complication for a short term trip in a rental car. The alternative is just to sit the phone on the seat next to you or in a cup holder and crank the phone volume. Unless your hearing is very bad or the ride is very rough, it's usually easy to hear the GPS directions without actually running the sound through the car system. For podcasts or your own music, I find this workaround suboptimal, but it's also an option.
posted by Sara C. at 12:08 PM on October 14, 2016
My car is old and doesn't have an AUX jack/USB port setup. I use one of those old radio transmitter bluetooth adapters that plugs into the cigarette lighter, but that might be a lot of complication for a short term trip in a rental car. The alternative is just to sit the phone on the seat next to you or in a cup holder and crank the phone volume. Unless your hearing is very bad or the ride is very rough, it's usually easy to hear the GPS directions without actually running the sound through the car system. For podcasts or your own music, I find this workaround suboptimal, but it's also an option.
posted by Sara C. at 12:08 PM on October 14, 2016
Best answer: FYI, Connecticut does not (currently) have any tolls.
posted by Seeking Direction at 12:09 PM on October 14, 2016
posted by Seeking Direction at 12:09 PM on October 14, 2016
Best answer: Seconding General Malaise. Car audio is a mess right now. I've definitely driven cars where if you're plugged into usb it doesn't let you pause the music on your phone. It's ridiculous but true. Bypass all that nonsense. Get audio with an aux cable and power with a lighter-to-usb charger. Also nthing google maps.
posted by bleep at 12:31 PM on October 14, 2016
posted by bleep at 12:31 PM on October 14, 2016
Response by poster: Thanks for your speedy replies. I'm finding them very soothing. In terms of equipment, I bought this AmazonBasics Apple Certified Lightening to USB cable and this car mount holder a few days before I left.
@bitdamaged: "Just open the iTunes app and pause the music. Or use the slide up quick menu to pause. GPS still works - no other music." This didn't occur to me. Instead, I turned on Castro, and expected the GPS to play *through* it, but it went completely silent instead. I would guess this is because it's not Apple's native podcast player?!
@BrianOgilvie/@Seeking Direction: "I first encountered one when I took the Henry Hudson Parkway from the Bronx into Manhattan." / "Connecticut does not (currently) have any tolls." I think I was in this approximate area. So I guess it's NY who will be charging me. Thanks for clarifying.
@rd45: "Some hire cars that I've connected an iPhone to via bluetooth have asked for two different connection profiles - IIRC one is for hands-free phone calls, and one is for audio." That sounds right. When I just tried one—but maybe it was the wrong one at the outset?—it didn't work. "I used to carry a 3.5mm aux cable as well, just in case." That's the same thing as the lightning cable I referenced above, no? "to turn up the volume on the phone & get GPS directions through its built-in speaker" I wanted it plugged in only to keep the charge going, as the trip, even at the best of times, takes several hours. I never had any plans to connect it to the car audio. Anyway, I did try to control the volume on the phone independently AFTER I plugged it in, but by plugging it in, the car itself took volume control, barring the volume of the GPA, which @bltr0t mentioned, and which I did figure out.
@General Malaise/@Bleep: "Here's how I do it: I run the Lightning to a USB-lighter adapter."/"Get audio with an aux cable and power with a lighter-to-usb charger." The thing is the lighter in this car isn't a functional lighter. Instead, it too has a space for a USB connection. It didn't occur to me to experiment, so instead, I just plugged the USB into a USB outlet located just beside the lighter.
@advicepig: "about trying to play my music like an old school iPod." Yes! The car kept identifying my phone as BOTH an iPhone and and iPod....
So my takeaway is, I should look into Googlemaps or Here We Go ... and clear out my contacts from the car's database before I return it. (Thanks @General Malaise! I didn't like that this uploaded one little bit, but I might not have thought to clear them without you.)
Beyond that, am I understanding correctly that these are my best options? Of these, any advice, as to the easiest/most reliable?
posted by Violet Blue at 1:50 PM on October 14, 2016
@bitdamaged: "Just open the iTunes app and pause the music. Or use the slide up quick menu to pause. GPS still works - no other music." This didn't occur to me. Instead, I turned on Castro, and expected the GPS to play *through* it, but it went completely silent instead. I would guess this is because it's not Apple's native podcast player?!
@BrianOgilvie/@Seeking Direction: "I first encountered one when I took the Henry Hudson Parkway from the Bronx into Manhattan." / "Connecticut does not (currently) have any tolls." I think I was in this approximate area. So I guess it's NY who will be charging me. Thanks for clarifying.
@rd45: "Some hire cars that I've connected an iPhone to via bluetooth have asked for two different connection profiles - IIRC one is for hands-free phone calls, and one is for audio." That sounds right. When I just tried one—but maybe it was the wrong one at the outset?—it didn't work. "I used to carry a 3.5mm aux cable as well, just in case." That's the same thing as the lightning cable I referenced above, no? "to turn up the volume on the phone & get GPS directions through its built-in speaker" I wanted it plugged in only to keep the charge going, as the trip, even at the best of times, takes several hours. I never had any plans to connect it to the car audio. Anyway, I did try to control the volume on the phone independently AFTER I plugged it in, but by plugging it in, the car itself took volume control, barring the volume of the GPA, which @bltr0t mentioned, and which I did figure out.
@General Malaise/@Bleep: "Here's how I do it: I run the Lightning to a USB-lighter adapter."/"Get audio with an aux cable and power with a lighter-to-usb charger." The thing is the lighter in this car isn't a functional lighter. Instead, it too has a space for a USB connection. It didn't occur to me to experiment, so instead, I just plugged the USB into a USB outlet located just beside the lighter.
@advicepig: "about trying to play my music like an old school iPod." Yes! The car kept identifying my phone as BOTH an iPhone and and iPod....
So my takeaway is, I should look into Googlemaps or Here We Go ... and clear out my contacts from the car's database before I return it. (Thanks @General Malaise! I didn't like that this uploaded one little bit, but I might not have thought to clear them without you.)
Beyond that, am I understanding correctly that these are my best options? Of these, any advice, as to the easiest/most reliable?
- try the car's USB plug-in within the lighter, instead of the dedicated USB plug, OR
- consider using "standard dual-male dubbing cable between the iPhone headphone jack and the car's AUX port. Car becomes just a dummy sound machine," OR
- not plug the iPhone in at all (though I think I'd run out of battery fast, or it would keep going to sleep, right? ), OR
- use Googlemaps which will alleviate all the other problems?
posted by Violet Blue at 1:50 PM on October 14, 2016
Best answer: Waze is cool and I use it because traffic is so variable around me, but it will NOT tell you which lane to get in for exits and turns, which Google Maps will do. (I really wish they'd just combine the features of both.)
posted by wintersweet at 2:07 PM on October 14, 2016
posted by wintersweet at 2:07 PM on October 14, 2016
Unless you have a very old smartphone with very poor battery life, you should be fine to just use your phone as a GPS without running the audio through the car stereo system. You'll get hours of life out of it. (Maybe not enough for a 12-14 driving day, but enough to get you sorted on the kinds of "long drives" you're likely to encounter in the US Northeast.)
If you do have a very old phone with poor battery life, just about any drug store and a lot of truck stops sell USB/cigarette lighter adapters for in the $10 range. It won't connect the phone to the car computer system or stereo, but it will give you power.
Your phone going into sleep mode is not an issue. I use my smartphone as my sole GPS and the maps app of your choice will run passively and continue to give you directions as needed.
posted by Sara C. at 2:14 PM on October 14, 2016
If you do have a very old phone with poor battery life, just about any drug store and a lot of truck stops sell USB/cigarette lighter adapters for in the $10 range. It won't connect the phone to the car computer system or stereo, but it will give you power.
Your phone going into sleep mode is not an issue. I use my smartphone as my sole GPS and the maps app of your choice will run passively and continue to give you directions as needed.
posted by Sara C. at 2:14 PM on October 14, 2016
Best answer: Your take aways are right but they aren't either-or. An aux cable is like a headphone cable except it has plugs on both ends so you can use your car like a pair of headphones. The lighter usb charger is to keep your phone charged while avoiding plugging it into the cars computer directly cause that's where all these problems come from.
posted by bleep at 2:45 PM on October 14, 2016
posted by bleep at 2:45 PM on October 14, 2016
Response by poster: Thanks, everyone, for so quickly offering up solutions, and helping me figure out where I went wrong. A special call-out to @Bleep, who got me over the finish line.
I 💚 Metafilter!
posted by Violet Blue at 4:26 PM on October 14, 2016
I 💚 Metafilter!
posted by Violet Blue at 4:26 PM on October 14, 2016
About 90% of the time I just use the iPhone's speaker for maps and podcasts. It's surprisingly good - no where near car stereo good, but most of the time, I'll take speakerphone over dealing with cables and bluetooth.
posted by zippy at 5:35 PM on October 14, 2016
posted by zippy at 5:35 PM on October 14, 2016
Best answer: If it is a Ford with Sync, if you plug in through the USB port in order to charge the phone, the audio system will take over the sound as well. You can stop the music app or let it play. When Google Maps needs to give you directions, it will take over the audio. Alternatively you can do the same thing with an auxiliary cable but it won't charge the phone. Or you can Bluetooth it but the GPS will run the battery down pretty quickly. I have not been able to play the radio and the GPS at the same time. So basically you have three DIFFERENT ways to connect the phone to the audio system. I usually go the USB route so the phone stays charged.
You shouldn't need another cable. The charging cable that comes with an iPhone is USB at one end.
Google Maps gives you the option to avoid toll roads if you want. It also routes you the fastest way, not necessarily the shortest, depending on the traffic conditions. You can choose alternate routes if you want.
posted by tamitang at 6:21 PM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
You shouldn't need another cable. The charging cable that comes with an iPhone is USB at one end.
Google Maps gives you the option to avoid toll roads if you want. It also routes you the fastest way, not necessarily the shortest, depending on the traffic conditions. You can choose alternate routes if you want.
posted by tamitang at 6:21 PM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Also the phone will sleep, and wake up when it needs to give you directions, but the GPS is still running in the background and using the battery up quickly.
posted by tamitang at 6:27 PM on October 14, 2016
posted by tamitang at 6:27 PM on October 14, 2016
Best answer: Already wrapped up, but I just wanted to add that Google Maps does offline maps and gps.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:32 PM on October 14, 2016
posted by blue_beetle at 8:32 PM on October 14, 2016
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Just open the iTunes app and pause the music. Or use the slide up quick menu to pause. GPS still works - no other music.
The iPhone requires two different bluetooth connections to get audio - this isn't correct unless you connected your device twice but it does not use two connections. You can totally use the car bluetooth without any issues or fees. Otherwise a USB connection can work as well. Your connection type makes very little difference as to how the different apps get used.
I recommend Google Maps. Its the best map I've got on iOS.
The features you're asking for with respect to listening to different audio is an OS (iOS) level features. The OS is the bit that handles switching between different Audio apps.
posted by bitdamaged at 10:56 AM on October 14, 2016 [2 favorites]