dp351
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2022
- Threads
- 16
- Messages
- 256
- Reaction score
- 454
- Location
- California
- Vehicles
- Ariel Atom, R1T
- Thread starter
- #1
After owning my R1T for 18 months, I don’t have much to complain about. I love the Camp Speaker when it works, but most of the time it’s a big disappointment. On a recent four day camping trip with the truck I was determined to figure this thing out. I took more time to read the manual (again) with mixed results. Here’s my list of issues.
Bluetooth connectivity. Typically I would like to use the camp speaker about once or twice per month to play music from my phone. I’ve given up on this because every time it’s a difficult chore to get it to connect. The best workaround I’ve found is to tell my phone “forget this device” and then re-establish the BT connection from scratch. Rather than do this, I’ve resorted to grabbing my old trusty Sony BT speaker, which connects instantly when turned on and works every time without any of this extra work required. But I’d rather use my Rivian speaker because its sound quality is much better.
On the camping trip I used the speaker a lot for the first day and had better luck re-connecting my phone several times in the same day. It was great. But it still wasn’t flawless and required the full “forget this device” and re-connection from scratch one time.
Mystery buttons. The camp speaker doesn’t have the usual “Power” button that you’d expect. Instead it has a “0” button which the manual calls the “Action” button. I often struggle to get it to turn on and stay on while I attempt to get it connected. I acknowledge that I could be the problem here, but keep in mind that I’ve read the manual several times, and I own numerous other BT devices that I have no such problems with.
According to the manual, to perform various tasks some of the Camp Speaker’s buttons need to be held down for 2 seconds, and others for 3 seconds. How am I supposed to remember this? Based on my experience, it seems that the buttons recognize a command when they’re released, and they don’t always provide any feedback when they’ve received the command. If you hold a 2 second button for 3 seconds, you don’t get what you asked for. I could be wrong about some of this, because it’s all mysterious.
I have no problem with the way some of my Rivian’s buttons are not labeled, such as those on the steering wheel. But on the Camp Speaker it’s frustrating trying to figure out what vague symbols like “0” mean when I can’t get it to work. For something that’s not used regularly, more clearly labeled buttons would help. If/when I figure out how to operate this thing consistently, I might print instructions on a label and stick it on the bottom. I’ve never had to do this with any other device.
Lantern rarely works. I found the Camp Speaker’s lantern super handy on the picnic table at night. But getting it to turn on was a chore. Sometimes it would work as expected, but most of the time it wouldn’t turn on. So I ended up using another electric lantern.
Charging. On my camping trip where I was determined to use the Camp Speaker, I could only use it for the first day because after that I couldn’t recharge it. The manual says that it’ll recharge in its dock “as the vehicle drives”. But because I was not driving for several days, it wouldn’t recharge in the dock. The manual also says that the speaker can be recharged through its USB-C port. I tried this, using an iPad charging block, plugged in to the truck’s 110 outlets, which were switched on. The speaker continuously made noises as if it were turning on & off every minute or so, which drove everyone nuts. I put it in the gear tunnel plugged in while it did this for several hours, hoping that it would charge up, but it didn’t. So I had no way to re-charge the speaker after one of four days of camping, and was forced to give up on it. It seems like a no brainer to allow the speaker to charge in the dock without driving, at least while in camp mode.
I wish this thing worked more consistently, because I love it when it does. This is probably why it frustrates me SO much.
Bluetooth connectivity. Typically I would like to use the camp speaker about once or twice per month to play music from my phone. I’ve given up on this because every time it’s a difficult chore to get it to connect. The best workaround I’ve found is to tell my phone “forget this device” and then re-establish the BT connection from scratch. Rather than do this, I’ve resorted to grabbing my old trusty Sony BT speaker, which connects instantly when turned on and works every time without any of this extra work required. But I’d rather use my Rivian speaker because its sound quality is much better.
On the camping trip I used the speaker a lot for the first day and had better luck re-connecting my phone several times in the same day. It was great. But it still wasn’t flawless and required the full “forget this device” and re-connection from scratch one time.
Mystery buttons. The camp speaker doesn’t have the usual “Power” button that you’d expect. Instead it has a “0” button which the manual calls the “Action” button. I often struggle to get it to turn on and stay on while I attempt to get it connected. I acknowledge that I could be the problem here, but keep in mind that I’ve read the manual several times, and I own numerous other BT devices that I have no such problems with.
According to the manual, to perform various tasks some of the Camp Speaker’s buttons need to be held down for 2 seconds, and others for 3 seconds. How am I supposed to remember this? Based on my experience, it seems that the buttons recognize a command when they’re released, and they don’t always provide any feedback when they’ve received the command. If you hold a 2 second button for 3 seconds, you don’t get what you asked for. I could be wrong about some of this, because it’s all mysterious.
I have no problem with the way some of my Rivian’s buttons are not labeled, such as those on the steering wheel. But on the Camp Speaker it’s frustrating trying to figure out what vague symbols like “0” mean when I can’t get it to work. For something that’s not used regularly, more clearly labeled buttons would help. If/when I figure out how to operate this thing consistently, I might print instructions on a label and stick it on the bottom. I’ve never had to do this with any other device.
Lantern rarely works. I found the Camp Speaker’s lantern super handy on the picnic table at night. But getting it to turn on was a chore. Sometimes it would work as expected, but most of the time it wouldn’t turn on. So I ended up using another electric lantern.
Charging. On my camping trip where I was determined to use the Camp Speaker, I could only use it for the first day because after that I couldn’t recharge it. The manual says that it’ll recharge in its dock “as the vehicle drives”. But because I was not driving for several days, it wouldn’t recharge in the dock. The manual also says that the speaker can be recharged through its USB-C port. I tried this, using an iPad charging block, plugged in to the truck’s 110 outlets, which were switched on. The speaker continuously made noises as if it were turning on & off every minute or so, which drove everyone nuts. I put it in the gear tunnel plugged in while it did this for several hours, hoping that it would charge up, but it didn’t. So I had no way to re-charge the speaker after one of four days of camping, and was forced to give up on it. It seems like a no brainer to allow the speaker to charge in the dock without driving, at least while in camp mode.
I wish this thing worked more consistently, because I love it when it does. This is probably why it frustrates me SO much.
Sponsored
