BMW has announced that they will start integrating Alexa into their cars in 2018.
But if you cant afford a BMW or if you just don’t want to wait to have Alexa in your
car then you can just get the Garmin Speak.
And since Americans on average spend 101 minutes a day driving I think Alexa is even more useful
in the car than at home.
Don’t forget to like comment and subscribe and lets see if the Garmin speak is any good.
First I just want to point out how small the Garmin Speak Actually is.
Its slightly smaller than the AirPods Case.
Its like a miniature version of an Echo dot with a built in GPS.
On the front you’ve got the classic Echo ring that lights up when its interacting with
you.
Theres a 114 by 64 pixel screen on the front, two built in microphones, a speaker on the
back and an action button and mute button on the side.
But although the Garmin Speak is like a miniaturized Echo Dot it costs 3 times as much retailing
for $149.99.
if you want to pick this up I’ll have links in the description below and ill keep them
updated so you can get the best possible.
The Garmin Speak has a built in magnetic mount that you stick on to your wind shield and
you can quickly remove the Garmin Speak and store it if you don’t want to risk having
your car broken into.
The Garmin Speak also comes included with a power cable that you plug into your cigaret
lighter.
You power the Garmin Speak through the Micro USB port on the right side and unfortunately
it dosnt have a built in battery.
And personally I think the Garmin Speak would have been much cooler if you didn’t always
have to have it plugged in.
And heres a pro tip, the Garmin Speak can also be powered by a USB port, so you can
use that and use the cigaret lighter to power something else in your car.
Setting up the Garmin speak is pretty straight forward.
You mount it on your windshield, power it up and down load the Garmin Speak App on your
phone.
And the App will then walk you through the rest of the set up process after you’ve
paired it to your phone’s bluetooth.
You can either have Alexa speak to you through your car’s stereo but you have to have your
car’s source set to bluetooth or you can just use the built in speaker.
And personally, I prefer to have Alexa speak to me through the built in speaker because
that way I can still interact with Alexa when I’m listening to the radio.
But if you’re car dosnt have bluetooth you can also use the Aux Jack built into the power
cable.
Personally I think Alexa is more useful in the car cause when you’re stuck in traffic
you can listen to your flash briefing and get caught up to speed for the day.
You can order stuff straight from your car.
You can track packages, You can check the weather, sport stats, control your smart home
and the list just goes on all by just asking Alexa.
You can also get turn by turn directions with Garmin by just saying “Alexa get directions
to so and so place” and the screen on the front displays easy to see arrows, lane assistance
and distances.
What I really like is as you’re getting closer to your next turn or exit you’ll
notice the green light ring slowly fill up so you know once its filled you better be
ready to take that turn or exit.
Now the screen itself that displays the arrows is easy to see all the time but the light
ring does get harder to see when theres direct sunlight on it.
But when you’re not using the Garmin Speak it just this black puck floating in front
of you.
I think it would be cool if you could have the screen display the current speed limit,
maybe display the time, or maybe even periodically show you the up coming forecast or traffic
updates.
Or maybe even upcoming events on your calendar.
Theres potential here.
But although asking Alexa to get directions for you works most of the time, you can also
just use the Garmin speak app to manually input your destination.
And sometimes you have to cause sometimes when you tell Alexa to navigate to the nearest
commercial store, gym, or whatever it wont actually start navigating to the nearest one.
Which is pretty aggravating.
The voice recognition is significantly better than whats on some other cars, but its not
as good as an Amazon echo.
If you’re playing music and the volume isn’t that loud you can still talk to Alexa.
But there are just sometimes even when you enunciate and speak loudly the Garmin speak
just wont get what you’re saying.
But the Garmin Speak does have an overall high success rate.
And finally the Garmin Speak also has built in games, jokes, and trivia.
Honestly its pretty fun party trick.
If you’re tired of listening to the same 10 songs playing on the radio you can pass
the time and exercise your mind by playing one of these games.
And honestly I don’t know how many games there are cause every time I play a game its
always a different one.
So to wrap things up, the Garmin speak is a glimpse into the future.
Its only a matter of time until other voice assistances find their way to your car.
But instead of having to buy a whole car, you can just get this accessory.
And being able to maximize your time in traffic with Alexa helps your day go by a little smoother.
For some reason I always tend to remember I’m running low on certain things while
I’m in traffic.
And right from there I can order straight from amazon.
The turn by turn directions are super minimal but for me its just enough.
I just need to know when to turn and which lane I should be in, I don’t constantly
need a map in my face.
But the Garmin Speak isn’t without its problems, sometimes you might get the red ring of death
if your phone dosnt have a good enough LTE connection.
Sometimes the Garmin Speak randomly shuts off.
Sometimes when you get into the car and power up the Garmin speak the Alexa wont speak to
you so you either have to reboot the device or go into the settings menu in the Garmin
speak up and switch source manually a few times.
But hopefully those are just software bugs and they’ll get patched in upcoming software
updates.
The Garmin speak isn’t 100% perfect but if you’re heavily invested in the Alexa
ecosystem and if the Garmin Speak decides to cooperate then the Garmin Speak really
comes in clutch.
Personally I think Amazon should have an Amazon Echo and Garmin Speak Bundle.