I'm so disappointed in Acura for the '09 TSX Bluetooth implementation. It is immensely frustrating not to be able to dial from your iPhone and then have the car seemlessly pick-up the call like all cars today do. I know you can say "Transfer" and it's supposed to work but I have found that incredibly unprofessional on a business call and, in addition, it only works about 70% of the time.

Also, dialing phone numbers by voice is really poor (maybe it gets it about 50% of the time when I give it the number - it's much better if you pre-recorded the name) and there is no dial function on the nav screen other than pre-plugged in phone numbers from your address book.

I wrote to Acura about this noting that cars I've owned that are much older are far better and they responded that they did the "Transfer" function on purpose to protect the user's privacy. Very odd response given that I am in my own car and the only one responsible for my own privacy would be me!

Poorly done Acura.

 

I have bluetooth on my 2006 MDX, I think it is the same setup.
I totaly agree the voice recognition is very poor. Sometimes I wish it understood my frustration when I start cursing at it!
I have found a solution that works for me. I dial my phone by hand and on the first ring I hit the steering wheel mount button for the bluetooth and then I hear the ringing through the audio system or the person answering the call. This way I use my address book in my phone. Not sure if this works on the iPhone, I hope so as I plan to get an iPhone in June and my TSX in May or June.

 

I always thought the BT was half ass in the TSX. The nav system can hold all your contacts, but it doesn't use them when a call comes in. Why isn't the phone controlled through the screen!?!?!? lol

 

Honda/Acura BT system sucks...my Sienna's NAVI + BT works way better.

 

at least the TSX has a HFL system... don't be too ungrateful.

 

Maybe it's not the car's bluetooth that is the issue, but the phone's implementation of the system? I've tried several phones with my car's bluetooth and have noticed differing behaviors.

Remember, the iphone is a glorified ipod that had cellular capabilities added to it. It didn't start off as a phone and then had multimedia abilities added to it...

 

Has anyone with a blackberry been able to import the phonebook into the HFT? I've got an old 8700 series phone and I can't seem to do it. I've even tried the transfer phonebook option on in the bluetooth settings.

 

I haven't even bothered pairing my phone with the car. I wish the car behaved like your average bluetooth headset; nothing more, nothing less.

My wife's phone was paired by the salesmonkey the day we bought the car and by far the worst thing about it is that if she approaches the car while talking on the phone the car will detect that the phone is nearby and take audio away from the handset - but the car won't give you audio either. So she has to hang up on whoever she was talking to and redial their number to continue to conversation. My personal gripe aside from that is that you have to say "transfer! transfer!" to switch between the hand set and the car. A button for this function would have been the least they could do.

The TSX bluetooth implementation is some sort of unibomber-like protest against technology.

 

Haven't had any issues with my 09 TSX and the BT. Transfers have worked every time, voice recognition has gotten it right every time unless I have all the windows down or something. Different phones may have better or worse performance depending on the phone BT. So far on my t-mobile Dash, no complaints. I would like to be able to do the AcuraLink data thing though and haven't figured out if I can yet or not.

 

My only complaint is that the MID shows the actual number instead of a contact name.

 

That is the problem. Honda/Acura BT system is very restrictive compared to other systems. My Toyota Sienna's BT phonebook transfer will work just about with any phone out there. Acura/Honda BT phonebook transfer is only with certain phones...so, you have to buy the correct one for it to work...basically, YOU have to adapt to it, instead of the other way around.

 

It's great to have the hands free link, but somethings I do gripe about it.

Sometimes the voice re, you can old call people with more than two syllables, since it thinks you are calling _ONE_SINGLE_ number if you don't which is stupid.

The lack of caller ID linked to callers name is stupid, seems like there is only a one-way communication with the address book.When my friends call me, I only see a number, so I just say "Hello" just to be safe, but my friends sometimes think i'm clueless or rude.

My phone is actually NOT one of the support phones for HFL, but I got lucky and it transferred the address book into the car lke 60% of the time.

 

Mmmmm. my 09 Accord Tourer transfers all of my contact from my iPhone to the car and then I can call these by a: using the nav screen and selecting one, or simply saying the name using voice control. I can also dial from iphone and it automatically transfers it to the car. I wonder if we have a slightly different system in our models?

 

For the iPhone, you should be able to pick the source which the audio comes out of. Once you've started the call, you should be able to select "Handsfree Link" in the audio source menu on the phone and have the call seamlessly transfer to the car's audio system assuming the phone has already picked up the BT in the car.

And for the person who asked about their BlackBerry, I had an 8300-series from my last job that synced perfectly with the phone book transfer.

As for everyone else, the BT system in the TSX is the last gen system, similar to what I have in my 3G TL-S. The new system that was introduced in the 4G TL has, I believe, many of the functions that you all are asking for. I would expect that the MMC TSX will likely receive these updates when they receive the new navigation system and updated screen in the next couple of years. Guess you shouldn't have bought so soon...

 

I've found that if I simply say the phone number it always gets it wrong. However if I say: Call and the the number it gets it right every time.

 

The iPhone source selection does not work. Trust me - I've tried a million times. The car's Handsfree link comes up on the iPhone menu but it will not transfer over. After I complained, Acura acknowledged that the only way to do it is to say "Transfer" with your caller listening in.

What an absolutely terrible system.

 

i haven't had any issues with my iphone connecting to the bluetooth in my TSX, but do you guys ever have issues concerning volume levels from the other end? my gf says sometimes it sounds so low, sounds like i'm drowning, or is choppy when we both have full bars...

 

I've been having problems with bluetooth as well. Sometimes it's hard to be heard, but hearing the person on the other end is no problem for me. I never get incoming calls to the car. It always goes to my phone and I have to answer from there. It's quite annoying. I think it may be because my phone isn't on their compatibility list. Perhaps this is why some people are having issues. http://www.acura.com/handsfreelink.aspx