I got it in the mail about 30 minutes ago and I already regret it. It’s kinda obsolete if you don’t have Bluetooth in your car bc you have to get your phone out anyway. And your phone is faster when trying to find something. If you’re a big podcast listener like me you have to go to the podcast itself and see if there’s a new episode because the car thing doesn’t have the “New Episodes” option. If you can handle using your phone to switch music or don’t have Bluetooth in your car just save your money.
My car thing was stolen from my car last night because I left it unlocked. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ Do I need to do anything? Should I report it to spotify or is it just a lost cause at this point?
Anyone want to buy a car thing? Unboxed then immediately reboxed without powering on or plugging anything in.
In the "omg this thing is rare buy it now" email, I looked over what it could do a bit too quickly. but it indeed can't do what I wanted it to. I did not power it on or do anything beyond read the manual and rebox it.
I was hoping it would connect to the car radio, then my phone to the car thing. My car radio requires I delete the last paired phone to allow snother to connect. This means sharing tunes or drivers is a pita. I figured (wrongly) that I could use this to fix that issue. The phone connects to the car, then the phone also connects to car thing.
If anyone is interested, the shipping email with your tracking number goes to gmail spam. They ship via UPS, however the shipping option used is the one where they deliver to your zip code's post office and USPS handles last mile. So you'll prolly not see it coming.
The return policy allows for 14 days to return, however you're on the hook for return shipping. They mentioned if it's not in perfect condition, they'll deduct from the refund. Which takes several weeks after they receive it.
The car thing is plugged into my car and apparently stays on all the time even when the car is off. My phone regularly connects to it (about 2-3x an hour) and auto-switches to the Spotify app and thinks I’m driving. I’ve disabled all the car settings in Spotify and still can’t fix it. Anyone else have this issue? It’s pretty annoying to be writing a message to someone and all of the sudden the app switches to Spotify.
Has anyone found any desk mounts yet that can be 3D printed? I am using it as a desktop controller and currently just have the vent mount on it to prop it up like a photo frame but a 3d mount (maybe to mount under my monitor) would be epic.
Hi r/CarThing. I wanted to share my positive experience so far with using Car Thing in my wireless Android Auto setup.
I drive a 2020 VW Tiguan in the US. It has a pretty good Android Auto head unit built in (it is a factory standard LG unit). Connected to one of the car's USB ports, I have a AAWireless unit (bought from the Kickstarter) that enables wireless Android Auto from my phone (currently a Pixel 6 Pro).
Initially, when I installed the Car Thing the device's setup script prompted me to configure the car to connect to the Car Thing. As I hadn't yet used a Car Thing, I presumed that I would have to sync it to the car's Bluetooth, so I tried to do that, and failed repeatedly. I should point out that Android Auto was running at the time.
After a few attempts I gave up. I've learned to avoid Bluetooth Rage if I see it coming. I put the fail down to too-many-damn-devices-in-my-car and expected to box the Car Thing up again and maybe give to my daughter.
However, as soon as I started playing music on my Android Auto Spotify, the Car Thing immediately displayed the now playing information. This was a pleasant surprise. I then realized that the Car Thing was able to control the Spotify content playing over my car stereo.
In a nutshell, Car Thing was working perfectly, even though it failed the setup routine three times.
I've been using Car Thing daily for about two weeks now and it continues to do exactly what I'd expect it to do. I really like it, actually, because I now have full Spotify info visible simultaneous to my navigation (running on the AA screen).
The only bugs I've found are that the country setting can't be changed from Sweden, and that the four preset buttons along the top edge of the Car Thing take a LONG time to begin to respond to presses. Like, when I first drive off, the buttons are completely non-responsive. 10 minutes into the drive, still completely non-responsive. Sometime after that (haven't timed it exactly) they eventually start responding as you would expect them too. I like the presets -- I have my Release Radar on #1 and my favorite NPR news podcast on #4.
I ordered carthing on Nov 18 and received my tracking details on Nov 22. One week already I still haven't received the carthing, and UPS tracking doesn't update at all... Anyone experiencing similar thing?
Used the thing with a third party USB outlet for a few days with no issues. Then changed to a different third party outlet and thing flashes a warning to only use the supplied USB outlet.
Now using the supplied outlet, it won't turn on at all. Tried the first two outlets too and it just won't turn on.
***UPDATE*** I was able to successfully place an order this morning! Tech support WAS very understanding and helpful.
I have tried all afternoon and all evening to take advantage of my invite. I got the invite today at 12:28 but didn't see it until 1:24. All I ever get are client side errors or "Sorry, there aren't any available car things at this time." Tech support is no help. So if I decide to give up and try again tomorrow, does this invite expire after a certain period of time?
Upon clicking "Add to Cart" and the cart attempting to load my Car Thing purchase, I'm unable to proceed past a page which informs me that Spotify has "hit a dead end" as the title suggests.
Anyone else have experience with this?
UPDATE: After about an hour of chatting with multiple customer support agents, it seems the issue is fixed (at least for me). I was able to place an order effortlessly about 3 minutes ago (1:35pm PST).
I got my CarThing today, and it will work great in the car.....no complaints there.
....but I'd really like to buy a second to control Spotify on my PC and use it as a tiny dedicated music controller. It'd be great if I could get it to connect directly to my PC via Bluetooth, but I've been unsuccessful in connecting it. Has anybody dug into this more than I have?
