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Availability:
Only 2 left in stock, order soon!
Arrives
Monday, Jul 13
Features
- Add Alexa to your car - Connects to the Alexa app on your phone and plays through your cars speakers via auxiliary input or your smartphones Bluetooth connection. Includes Vent Mount.
- Designed for the road - With 8 microphones and far-field technology, Echo Auto can hear you over music, A/C, and road noise.
- Just ask - Use your voice to play music, check the news, make calls, add to your to do-list, set reminders, pay for gas, and more.
- Do More with Auto Mode Turn your phone into a driver-friendly display that complements your Echo Auto. See what's playing and save time with easy-touch shortcuts to your favorite places, people, and content.
- Check for compatibility Echo Auto is not compatible with all cars and phones. See if it will work for you below.
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If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is:
Monday, Jul 13
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Top Amazon Reviews
Update: 1 year later: I use it all the time and am still fan. But, I've discovered some annoyances, most which are not a big deal or have work-arounds. Spotify problems. It can be a little buggy with Spotify (and Android). For some reason, I have to manually launch and close the Spotify app, on my phone. Which, of course, defeats the hands-free value of Echo. Voice recognition in texts. If I am texting common words, it's fine. But unusual words can be almost impossible. Bluetooth connectivity. There are times it won't connect automatically. Manually launching the Alexa app on my phone usually works. This might happen once a week but, occasionally, I have to restart my phone. I can only guess if this is the Echo's fault or my phone Navigation. I never use the navigation. It's too hard finding addresses with voice commands and I have a regular GPS unit, which works much better. These are pretty minor and I still like this product for all the reasons I said below. Much safer than using your phone! -------------- Hands free Internet is convenient for your house -- but a potential lifesaver for your car. Some reviewers say Echo Auto is a poor concept -- I could not disagree more. It's a great concept! A device with no screen at all, keeps your eyes on the road. I mostly use my Alex for streaming radio and podcasts - which I like in the car even more than at home. Plus, I can pick-up in the car where I left-off at home. If you use Echo at home and you drive -- this is a no brainier. Just buy it. Now the specifics: The Same: It is almost the same as your home Echo -- so no need to review those features. Read one of the 20,000 other reviews. Navigation The main addition to the home Echo is navigation, which works as well as my Garmen GPS. Sometimes it can be hard to voice-search for a place, if there are multiple branches or if many places have similar-sounding names. I doubt that this is a unique problem with the Echo. Voice: I use the Echo Auto's calling and texting feature much more than my home phone and I think it's great. It uses the address book on your phone. I revised my phonebook, a little, so that it worked more efficiently with Echo. (like adding full names to the three Logans I know.) The voice dialer works great. Texting: When texting is strictly voice, it seems safe to do -- maybe even safer than talking on the phone. The texts are sent with a link to the voice file, so the receiver can listen if the voice recognition seems off. This can look odd to your friends, the first time they receive a text. Connection to your phone: This is the only hassle I have. Sometimes it connects automatically (via Bluetooth) and sometimes not (maybe 20% of the time). So, before I leave my driveway, I now ask Alexa what times it is. If it works, I go. Otherwise, I have to dig out my phone and launch the Alexa app. (which almost always fixes it.) Connection to audio: I connect the Echo Auto with an AUX patch cord to my car radio. This works flawless. I drive a noisy convertible and sometimes the volume is a little low, even on max. Some streaming services are lower than others. The audio quality is great. Data usage: I use a prepaid phone and was concerned that the data would be expensive -- I needn't have worried. I stream audio almost everyday and it's hardly made a dent in my data usage. It's nothing like streaming video. Bottom line: If you use Echo home and you drive -- just buy it.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2019 by Toomuchnoise
I love the Echo Auto! I have an older vehicle and there is no blue tooth available on it, so the Echo Auto basically put Alexa in my vehicle. It also connected all my phone's capabilities through the stereo, which is awesome. We went on a trip and I used Waze to navigate while listening to an Audible book and taking hands-free calls all through the stereo, thanks to Echo Auto. I realize for newer vehicles this is "old news", but when you don't have the capability it's great to be able to get it with such an inexpensive purchase. Plus, Alexa can do so much that it's a pity not to be able to use things like Audible and Amazon Music in the car without having to connect a dying iPhone to the auxiliary jack and have it flying all over the place every time you make a sharp turn! I have read a lot of the negative reviews on it and I do understand most of the points. I think if you already have blue tooth in your vehicle and all of the other capabilities that comes with, Echo Auto could potentially be more frustration than it's worth, because it has to remain plugged in for power, so there's wires and an air vent mount to contend with. My car had an auxiliary input plug, only, which is what I had to use. I have an iPhone and it did have multiple issues connecting to the Auto, initially. I completely shut down and re-booted my phone and had no more problems - it connected immediately and stayed connected. My vehicle is also set up with a charger and the auxiliary jack inside the console (2006 Toyota), so I was able to sit my Auto in a little cubby in the console with no wires running across my dash or my air vents, just the two wires going into the console right above the cubby hole. I have found that when I get in the car and start it up, once Alexa "chimes" through the stereo, I generally have to go into the app and press the "I am a passenger" button. After that, she works great. It's a little inconvenient, but it's something I know needs to be done, and is a quick task I complete before I put my phone away and put the car in drive. There have also been times when I lost connectivity while driving, but I found these were normally portions of the trip when my cell phone also loses communication (no or low cell service). She does occasionally lose connectivity at random times, but I can almost always ask her the same question a few seconds later and she will pick right back up. Amazon Music already has the capability to use voice-controlled Alexa on your phone, so maybe there is an app coming that will allow you to use Alexa through your phone and, therefore, through your vehicle's blue tooth. I also notice that more newer vehicles are being sold and marketed as "Alexa enabled". To me, I think the Echo Auto is a nice little gadget that helps bridge the gap for older vehicles that have no blue tooth and gives people who do have blue tooth but not an "Alex enabled vehicle" voice-controlled access to Alexa in their vehicle. The wires and minor connectivity issues are not that big of a deal for me, because of what I'm getting in return. To me, it's totally worth it.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2019 by M.W.
This is a great device for hands free. I love the sound quality of the music. The fact that it eliminated my want of Satellite XM is awesome. I get some great radio stations in other states, though I wish there were a few more select stations available. One major problem is that I would say Oak Terrace Court and it would insist on Oak Ranch about 18 out of 20 times. So far it only gave me accurate directions on only 1 out of 5 occasions. It would also be nice if it gave you enough heads up time for maneuverability while driving. I even use it inside the the home daily plugged into a blue tooth portable speaker. I do hate the fact that almost all top songs are only on Amazon Music AND it will shuffle and give you songs by the artist EXCEPT the song you ask for OR give you a station based on the song you want but never hear your song choice. Example. Katy Perry song Wide Awake ..you ask for the title and it will respond it's only available on Amazon Music and ask if you want to purchase Amazon Music. If you say no it will connect you to a station BASED on you song selection. If you say play Katy Perry it will shuffle songs by the artist but your song selection (Wide Awake) will not be one if the songs in the entire shuffled playlist. I've listened to it go thru this 3 times..1st 2 times I kept saying skip...reached the end and the song never played. The 2rd time listened to most of her hits before saying "Alexa skip" on songs I didn't care for. By the end of the shuffled list, again Wide Awake never played. I compared driving directions and also started my portable GPS, it was only accurate 1 time. The rest it had me going in circles or misguiding me. Example exiting a highway... instead of coming off making a left turn which I should have gone. It had me make a right turn, drive several blocks then make another right to do a UTurn. Of course no UTurn was feasible. I had to drive a few blocks to UTurn or go in a parking lot and back out. go back left . Then left to the main street, back down the street exited from the freeway over the overpass which it shouldve originally taken me or the left turn off the freeway had it been correct. Next the street located it tried to get me to to turn in where there is not an entrance from the main street. Needless to say my 14 + year old GPS (which I have yet to ever do an update on because it's cheaper to buy a new one to get lifetime updates instead of me updating the Garmin I have) is still more reliable with its minimum selected updates. Recently Echo Auto has been losing connection. And sometimes it says connection lost due to feature not used but the entire time I'm listening to the playlist I created or a station/songs I've asked it to play. If your windows are down while driving your voice doesn't register. It also would be great if she was louder when speaking navigation directions. Turning the volume up does no good just blasts music and still does nothing in terms of making her voice louder for navigation. She is at a set level and can't change it. Again, for this reason don't drive with the windows down, you'll miss what she says. However, I love it enough as I've sent 2 as gifts to my sister and to the mom of one if my nieces. I love that it can call someone hands free like Alexa call sister Cheryl or look up and call Round Table Pizza or Alexa increase volume or lower volume 2 notches. Or play KJLH. In the morning... Alexa play 98 Rock, so I can listen to RAD(Rob, Anybody and Dawn) in the morning. I wanted to get 2 more for a Mother's and Father's day gift but the price went back up. It's still worth the purchase to listen to music and hands free calling. It's the one thing I refuse to let the kids take over. I had to put a stop to kids bop and their arguing over their sing choices. I set a rule the Echo Auto is for me only. This is my thing, can I at least have my thing while driving especially when I got out the car temporarily to run indoors to get something. Told them they could say just 3 little words..Alexa, resume play. I come back and Dolly Parton/Jolene is playing. No offense to D0lly but she isn't on either of my so far 2 playlists and I wasn't listening to country radio. Later in the evening I get an alert I've been subscribed to You Tube Music and quickly unsubscribed to paid music to even not using their trial service . The device does makee want to integrate more products. I want a device for my home to play music. So I don't have to keep transferring from auto to home. If you use in home make sure you select "I am a passenger" from the Alexa app on your phone. To use you phone. Otherwise you're in driver mode and as a security precaution it limits your hands on phone usage and some voice commands.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2021 by Vero
I really wanted to love the Echo Auto. It does work, and actually has a few nice features. It has a enough issues though to take at least a few stars Pros: • Provides Alexa functionality in the car, giving voice control similar to an Echo device in the home. • Adds A2DP (Bluetooth streaming music) functionality to cars that may not support it. With iPhone implementation also sends audio from other sources such as Google maps while providing streaming audio from Alexa sources. • Amazon Alexa app will show information on content playing on phone lockscreen and Apple watch. Apple watch can be used to pause, skip, and also provide information on content being played. • The cigarette lighter power adapter provided with the Echo Auto provides 2 USB A 2.4A port and appears to be of good quality. One of the ports is used for the Echo Auto, leaving another free to charger your phone. Cons: This list could get really long, but some of the key points • The mount is useless. It is large, bulky, and ugly. It doesn’t work for my vehicle, and if it did it would be blocking the air conditioner vent. The air conditioner function is important so, no it isn’t going there. It also would force having dangling wires up to where this thing sits, not to mention that the cables included with the Echo Auto would not be long enough. This is far from an ideal solution. I ended up just sticking the mount back in the box. • The connection to the phone, and apparently to the Amazon cloud is really flakey. Almost all functionality is performed on the smartphone in behalf of the Echo Auto device. For no apparent reason sometimes the Echo Auto can’t communicate with the phone (using iPhone X), or it will connect to the phone but the Alexa app can’t communicate with the cloud. Note that other apps can communicate with the internet. • The volume seems to be low sometimes. I’ve tried to keep the phone volume at maximum and tell Alexa “Volume 10” and then adjust the volume on the car audio system. Sometimes it is plenty loud. Sometimes though it isn’t. • Even when it does work, there is a lot of latency in responding. If you have used other Echo devices you just make an utterance starting with the Alexa wake word, and then immediately the rest of the command. Such as “Alexa play Classic Rock.” On the Echo Auto this won’t work most of the time, but will sometimes. Other times it will just ignore you. Or you will hear a ding that it detected the wake word, but doesn’t do anything. You basically have to say “Alexa” the wait for the ding, then say “Play Classic rock.” • It doesn’t seem to have the same fingerprinting to eliminate false wake word detection. For example, I had it playing the flash brief news update. As part of that update, one of the feeds said the word “Alexa.” The Echo auto detected Alexa from that audio stream it was playing, made it’s “ding” sound that it recognized “Alexa,” attenuated the audio, and then eventually timed out. • While the included power and 3.5 mm audio cable are reasonable quality, they both stick straight out. A right angle connector, at least for the audio cable would make for a much neater installation. • No user manual is included, or even seems to be available online. Only an absurdly brief getting started guide. If you search there are third party books you can buy, but nothing free, and nothing from Amazon. Seriously, not even a Kindle ebook manual. Some things are obvious, at least to me, but I’ve yet to figure out how to get it to control Google Maps that it is supposed to be able to do. • Almost everything is performed on the smartphone. This really isn’t all that bad since I’m not actively using my phone except for navigation and maybe music while driving. Just be aware of this and plug your phone into a charger, otherwise it will accelerate draining the battery. • Not the device itself, but the invitation program was awful. Not only did I have to wait almost a year, but also when I finally had the invitation to buy it, it was while I was away on International travel and didn’t want it shipped. I waited until the last day of the 7 day window, but within the window. When I went to purchase it, the window had already closed. Awful experience! I was able to request to be added to the invite again, and was able to buy it, at the invite half price about a week later. More detail: I really wanted to love this. Even after waiting almost a year from when it was first announced and I requested to be added to the invite list, and then had to opportunity to buy it when I was away on International travel. I did finally get it, and installed it. I have a 2004 Acura TL. The car originally had support for Bluetooth Handsfree (Acura Handsfree Link) for phone calls, with a truly awful voice recognition system. There was no support for A2DP (streaming music) or AVRC (music control). The car also didn’t even come with an auxiliary input. I had installed a USA Spec iPod/iPhone interface that also provided an AUX input that I had installed in the console area near the 12V power jack. The Handsfree link also died (as is very common it seems) and removed the module since it drained the car battery. The Echo Auto seemed to be the perfect solution to replace the handsfree link, add streaming music support, and control it all from Alexa. It has partially lived up to the hopes, and does provide all of what was hoped, but just far from perfectly. First the installation: I tried the large, bulky air conditioner mount. It didn’t work for my car. Even if it did I don’t think I would have used it. The mount and the Echo auto would have blocked the vent. I use the vent as, well, a vent. Imagine that. Second, if I did manage to somehow use the AC vent mount it would have put the Echo Auto right out in the middle of the dash area, with an ugly large mount, and wires dangling down from it. As I wrote above, the auxiliary audio input is in the console next to the second 12V outlet. Neither cable provided was long enough to reach from the dash to the console area. Note that many factory AUX jacks are in the same location. Yes, I could have used longer cables than provided, but that would have been even more dangling cables. This really needs some other mounting options. I ended up installing it in the cup holder area in front of the console. This isn’t the best location as the lights aren’t easily visible (but can be seen). The microphone array is actually closer to the driver and seems to work OK, but is slightly behind and to the right instead of in front of the driver. Overall it seems to work OK. The straight audio and power cables do stick out a bit, and I may replace at least the audio cable with one with a right angle connector. Eventually if it works out I may try and figure out a more permanent install with the wires cleanly routed out of sight. I’ve added a photo of where it is now. I’ve listed many of the issues I’ve had in the bullet points above so won’t duplicate them all here. It does work, at least some of the time. As noted it has frequent problems either connecting from the Echo Auto to the phone, and from the app to the cloud. One time while sitting at a traffic light when the app couldn’t communicate I tried a speedtest with the speedtest app. The phone had data connectivity. There wasn’t anything wrong with the phone or signal. Sometimes it will fail, and you can retry literally 5 seconds later and it will work. Other times I’ve had to unplug the Echo Auto and plug it back in again. Other times kill the Alexa app. Still other times I had to do all of the above and power cycle the phone. It is definitely not reliable. As mentioned above as well, the latency to accept commands is highly variable. Sometimes you can just give a complete utterance like other Echo devices. Other times it will totally miss the command. As noted above as well, you need to give it the wake word Alexa, wait for it to recognize it with the ding sound, and then continue to give the command. Yes, it can get frustrating repeating the same command several times. Note also that unlike other Echo devices that have all of the processing in the Echo device, this clearly relies on the companion smartphone Alexa app. The Echo auto only listens for wake words, streams audio to and from the phone, and provides limited audio to say when it isn’t connected. There are also local mute buttons and an LED light bar similar to other Echo devices. Having the app do almost all the work isn’t entirely bad though. At least with an iPhone X there is enough performance to run the Alexa app and functions while also running Google or Apple Maps, and play music. I’m not actively using the phone, and have it in a mount, and, importantly, have it connected to a charger. Audio from the iPhone will be routed to the Echo Auto. This can be a good thing if the car audio system is set to the AUX input. This allows Alexa commands, streaming music, and navigation audio all to play through the car audio system. If however you select another audio input, say the radio or CD, then you won’t hear any audio from the iPhone. A few times I’ve ended up streaming a local radio station the I could have received directly on the radio because of this. Some easy configuration would be nice, but this is a reasonable limitation for an aftermarket accessory. Notably, and somewhat surprisingly not only will Alexa commands work, but “Hey Siri” commands also work. The audio volume seems to vary. When it works properly the audio is plenty loud, and unless I want to listen to loud music I need to turn down the car volume. Sometimes though it is low, like when it attenuates audio during an Alexa command, only all the time. Overall it sounds reasonable considering it is streaming over Bluetooth. Sometimes with the phone audio at max and Alexa set to 10 to eliminate local audio scaling it does sound a bit distorted. Other times though it sounds fine, or about as good as I can expect from Bluetooth. The audio does sound good enough to be able to hear differences in audio quality. Streaming from Tidal does sound better than from Amazon music. The good thing is that it supports both and XM Sirius radio and more. It doesn’t seem to support playing local music stored on the iPhone itself. If you manually start the music, or get Siri to do it, it will play, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to get Alexa to do it. This seems to be a pretty big limitation. As I wrote above, there is no included user manual. Only an incredibly brief getting started card is provided. As written above, most things are obvious and I haven’t needed a manual. Some things though, such as asking Alexa to navigate for you with Google maps I have yet to figure out. I believe the web site shows this, but I’ve tried all kinds of commands and can’t get it to work. Again, if I start the navigation from Google maps the voice directions will play through the Echo auto. There are 3rd party books for sale, but I haven’t bought one. I shouldn’t have to pay for a 3rd party book of unknown quality or accuracy to be able to use the product I purchased from Amazon. At least Amazon should publish a Kindle ebook manual similar to what it does for Kindles and some other devices. Surprisingly, one of the reasons I bought it, to replace the Acura Handsfree Link for telephone calls I haven’t tried yet. I need to do that and see how it sounds in both directions. So I can’t comment on either the audio performance or control capabilities for basic telephone calls. The iPhone shows the Echo auto as a headphone. However, Google maps is now marking my parking location as if the phone knows I’m leaving a car that it was connected to. Hopefully Apple maps will too, although I use Google far more often. This is another plus. As I also wrote above, the Echo Auto comes with a cigarette lighter/12V socket to USB A adapter. This adapter has 2 ports, but 2.4 A. This allows using one port for the Echo auto itself, and a second for charging a phone or other use. This was a nice surprise. This may still not be ideal if you prefer USB C PD for your phone, but overall it was good. It will likely eliminate the problem of not have enough ports for a phone and the Echo Auto for many users. The Echo Auto uses a micro USB B connector for power, and comes with a USB A to micro USB B cable. It is relatively short, and has straight connectors. If you mount the Echo Auto near a 12V outlet you may be OK, but there is a chance it won’t be long enough. The Echo Auto has a 3.5 mm audio output jack next to the micro USB jack. It comes with a 3.5 mm to 3.5 mm cable to plug into this jack and to the vehicle AUX input. The cable is of reasonable quality, and about the same length as the USB cable. Again, if the Echo Auto is physically near the AUX input you will be fine, otherwise you may need a longer cable. I would definitely would have preferred at least one side of the cable to have a right angle connector. The straight connector makes the cables stick out needlessly more than they have to. Hopefully the software in app improves and resolves some of the problems and adds functionality for playing locally stored music on the phone. Amazon, please write a user manual and publish it for free as an ebook! At least provide some FAQs with how to use it for controlling Google maps and other use cases. Additional mounting options should also be extremely high on the list of updates. Maybe also a professional install kit can also be offered for a more permanent vehicle install without wires dangling all over the car. Overall for the half price invitation purchase option I’m not sorry I bought it. I’m not returning it immediately as others have commented. Yes, there are MANY areas for improvement. It does provide most of what it claims, albeit not very reliably. I expect it will follow Murphy’s law and be flakey just as need to use it the most. So while it isn’t going back, it doesn’t deserve 5 stars either. That awful vent mount alone justifies knocking it down at least one star. The flakey operation, loss of connections, waking up to its own audio saying Alexa, variable high latency recognizing commands, less than ideal cables, variable audio levels, and physically being larger than it likely could be all warrant dropping at least one, if not 2 more stars. I will be kind and give it 3 stars.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2019 Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2019 by TechPicky
I don't write many reviews at all, almost never, but I read through some of the other reviews slamming this echo auto 1st gen. Some of them say wait for the 2nd gen feature enhancements, and some say this 1st gen doesn't even work - Hmm. This 1st gen has 8 microphones vs the 2nd gen upcoming later this month (Oct. 2022) - which only has 5 microphones, but will allow you to call for roadside assistance and is somewhat smaller. But, I mean if you are rolled over in a car and it shuts off - then you aren't gonna be able to say 'Alexa call roadside' anyway. Most likely you would still use Siri or Google on your phone to tell them to make an emergency call. if you aren't rolled over and just on the side of the road, why do you need a second gen. echo auto with less microphones to call roadside for you? To be fair, the 2nd gen echo auto will do a quick charge of your phone and has an adhesive mount for placement other than on your car vent. By the way, you need a horizontal car vent slat to use the mount for the 1st gen otherwise find some double sided tape / velcro or buy the second gen. Personally, I don't want adhesive anything on my dash or console of my car though. It's better to place this higher up and in the center anyway to avoid speakers and possible road / engine noise. As to this 1st gen not working, well the rants on the reviews included things like, I don't have bluetooth in my car but why all the cords. Well, if you don't have bluetooth, then you NEED some way for audio to get from the Alexa and down into your car speakers right? So, you use the aux cable, and of course the main cable is always required for power. By the way, audio through an aux cable is going to be clearer and not be subject to frequency interferences from other 2.4ghz signals, but it is somewhat possible to get feedback on a ground loop on the cable. As far as using both cables, I guess maybe if auto makers one day place USB C and not USB A in car ports, then it will be possible to use just 1 cord for data (music to your car) and power at the same time. Other reviews said the Echo Auto won't work only for a few minutes and you have to have the Alexa / Echo app open every time you get in the car. No problem there either, at least on my iPhone. I open the Alexa / Echo app and just don't close it, it stays idle in the background if I don't flick it up and off the screen to force close, which I think Android has the same background app feature as well. So, when I get in my car it takes about 1-2 minutes for everything to sync up once my car is started, but I am ready to go. I read other reviews about bad connection from the phone to the echo auto, but most of them were from 2018 or so and I'm sure the software has been updated, because I have no issue with it ever disconnecting from the phone. Echo Auto uses the processing of your phone to do its work, so if its slow its probably not just the bluetooth connection from you phone, most likely you should take a look at things on your phone like unnecessary background app refreshes or unnecessary location services, etc. on other apps too. I have added a wireless Apple CarPlay dongle to my custom Android car stereo. So, this works great because I use Apple CarPlay for navigation and Siri commands and on screen visual (when I get near my home the garage door automatically shows up on my screen and I can press it and my garage can be fully open by the time I pull into the driveway, unlike waiting 30 seconds for it to open when I use the button on the visor from very close to my home). In other words, using Alexa and Siri is seamless. I can't use Siri to say disarm my Ring alarm, but I can with Alexa ... all in the same vehicle as I'm about 3 blocks from my house. Of course if you don't use CarPlay or Android Auto visual, and don't have it, then keeping the Alexa app open provides you with Alexa Auto visual for navigation, especially if you don't have any way to put in a touch screen in your car. Also, noteworthy, if you have wired Android Auto or wired Apple CarPlay, built into your car, then when you sync with the USB cable from your phone to the car, depending on the software versions, you can have issues. The same is true with older Apple iOS software. It's a good idea to update your software on your phone to make it run smooth with Echo Auto. I am not sure how well Echo Auto navigation works as compared to Apple or Android, but probably not quite as good, at least for now. But since Amazon is producing a gen 2 Echo Auto and has had Amazon Auto mode on their app for a couple years, I think that it will improve. It doesn't matter which platform you use, none of them can ever navigate you perfectly and you can get on a back road or not be instructed to turn somewhere that you could have (shorter path) because the maps don't update in real time whenever a city adds a street or blocks one off, etc. It does come with a dual USB port cigarette adapter, so you can plug in the Echo Auto and another device too, but don't expect charging to be as fast if you do use both. Some cars have other cigarette lighter 12v ports, or other USB ports for charging - which is going to split up the workload and charge faster. If you use your car's USB port you could get warnings about the power usage, because some cars output 1.2A and some are 2.0A. I recommend using the cigarette adapter that came with the Echo Auto. And the last thing I have to say is, I got a superb deal on the gen 1 because the gen 2 is coming out in a couple weeks. So, saving big was great for me. I am happy with my gen 1 but if you get a great deal on the gen 2 or not, the $54.99 2nd gen ... is a little high for my tastes and I would say wait for a sale. So ask Alexa to call one of your contacts or ask her for a number wherever you want to call (i.e. Alexa what's the number to XYZ), then tell her to call the number she gave you, or for your flash briefing on your way to work, or directions, or listen to a podcast on your commute, or to play music, or the weather, or to arm your Ring alarm in Away mode, that you might have forgot on your way out, or to unlock your smart lock right before you get to your driveway, or drop in on an echo at your house to talk to family without even having to call ... the list goes on.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2022 by Y-O_MING
The worst amazon product ever made. I hate that Amazon fooled me into trying this! I wanted to love it! I wanted to love it so hard! What's with the cords Amazon? Why do you need my cords. I have a bluetooth thing that I use.. why cant you be more like that special plug? First- I sat in my car for nearly 2 hours trying to get this to connect. I dont have bluetooth, so the obvious appeal is that I can now have a wonderful hands-free option, and Alexa to boot! However- 2 hours, and nothing. Blue lights, zero response. Unplugged, replugged, restarted, nothing. I waited for my husband to come home before going postal. When he came to my rescue, I showed him what I had accomplished.. litterally zero, and we started over. Step by step we followed every instruction. Nothing. But then! A random connection! We didnt do anything, but hey.. it's working! For 2 whole min. It kept saying to reconnect you must go to the open the Alexa app (which btw-- does NOTHING!) I'd have to restart my phone for any sort of connection to reoccur. We basically called it a wash and said we would be returning it the next day. Next day- how random that as I'm driving down the road it connects and works for a good 30 min.. and I'm loving it and me and alexa are cruising along with Spotify as our wingman. I ask for directions, and I'm on my way. This is awesome... until midfreeway and alexa disconnects on me again.. says to pullover to open the alexa app to restart. I cant.. I'm doing 70 in the fastlane and now in the verge of being lost. I get off at the next exit. Once again its prompting me to go to the alexa app to restart. Why? Why amazon do you keep telling me to do this? I'll say it again. The Alexa app does nothing to reconnect the device. ( And trying to get it back online without wanting to smash it is a feat!) I restart my phone again, and were back in business. For seemingly a good solid 30min, until I arrive at my destination and turn off my car. I should not have to restart everything in my vehicle including my phone to get this epic POS to connect everytime I want to enter my car or use it! Now- that being said. If you have bluetooth already- you may less issues. I really dont know if that grass is greener. You'll have at least one less cord hanging from your dash though. My 2 cords and my little cord keeper-- sigh-- the cord keeper fell off on day 2. This made my dash look messy and it was kinda nightmarish. I worried how I'd charge my phone, how I'd switch to radio or do anything without upsetting the mighty auto connection. It was like walking on eggshells. I ultimately returned her. I was sad. It broke my heart. It felt like Amazon tricked me. Heck- who didnt want to try this? Me!! I did! I still would if Amazon could come up with something 85% better than this corded, disconnected, heap o crap. Do you hear me amazon? We love our echos. But this? This is shameful. Save your money until they can make it bug free
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Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2019 Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2019 by The Wanderlist
I received an invitation from Amazon to purchase the Echo Auto and took them up on the offer. It was easy to set up using the directions. I've been driving with it for a week in a vehicle that has Apple CarPlay. I wasn't sure if I would like the Echo because the CarPlay is pretty awesome, but I do because of the ease of switching music. I wanted Echo Auto purely for music and it hasn't disappointed. Prior to my Echo Auto I listened mainly to the radio in my car. I have used Pandora before but find its constant need to switch settings on my car's bluetooth options (we have multiple drivers) annoying. Also, it used to freeze all the time and I gave up on Pandora. So I'm moving from a radio listener in the car to an Amazon Prime music listener. I'm all in for music. Some of these comments are for people interested in buying the Echo Auto and some are for Amazon as I believe they are using these reviews to tweak the product. Bottomline: if you love your home's Amazon Echo for music, then you will love the Echo Auto. I haven't had as many issues with the connection as some reviewers have. I live in a metro area, have an iPhone (but not a new/er model) and I have a compatible mounting option per the amazon website. I'm not sure if any of these factors play into the fact Alexa USUALLY responds when needed. A couple of times she's been "down" and I've driven around in silence because I am in a hands free state and don't want to pull over to get my music going. I agree with another reviewer's post that a visual cue - such as a red light - would be helpful to let you know Alexa has an issue, or that your phone has an issue like it is on silent. But, usually she is ready to go by the time I reverse out of my driveway. Yes - she plays a variety of music as easily as my Echo Plus at home. So easy to mix it up on the road. Stuck in traffic - I'm listening to Romantic Jazz Tunes - take me away Ella F. Heading to a soccer game - ACDC's Thunder. Child doesn't want to listen to any more "oldies" - fine, we'll play the band Roar. Yup - Alexa's got it and it is SO easy. And fun. 5 stars for the music. 20 questions? I tested out a few games just for this review. Really, you shouldn't play these games while you're driving but the rest of the passengers can participate. Alexa could hear and respond to those in the back seat but sometimes they had to lean in. I did try the navigation but it's all voice and the CarPlay mirrors my iPhone on my dashboard screen so I did not try very hard. I did notice that Alexa did not readily understand where I wanted to go. So if I said "Alexa, I need directions to ABC School." She might (and did) say a destination totally different (like, out of state different). After a few tries I just abandoned it. I DID like that even with the Echo Auto playing music, it did not interfere with my CarPlay navigation. I wasn't sure how the two would work together. Also, at one point I was talking to Alexa about a music option and my navigation system chimed in to tell me where to go and Alexa did not get thrown off by the multiple voices. Cell phone Battery: I haven't seen any impact on my cell phone battery life. It does not drain my phone when I use it. Here are the downsides: 1. I would not use the Echo for navigation. 2. its mount is a little heavy for my vent. My echo auto came with a mount that you insert on to the top rung of your air vent. The weight does force my vent to louver down a bit. Also, related, you eliminate the ability to flip that vent upward to redirect the a/c blast away from you. 3. Sometimes there are little glitches. One time I was using my navigation system and the Echo (I assume) kept switching it from the map to the Echo display of what song was playing. This only happened on one trip, and I don't know why. I've used the map before with the Echo playing and it's always stayed on the map feature. 4. When I use the Echo Auto and then exit the car, it stays on my iphone and iwatch after I leave the vehicle. It's paused because I've asked Alexa to "stop" but I don't know how to remove it or close it. The upward swipe on my iphone to (hopefully) close it doesn't work. If I have to go into the Alexa App to close it every time I exit the car that will be kind of irritating. 5. The Echo Auto can hear you but you do need to speak up. It needs a louder voice than when I sit in a quiet room and talk to my home Echo. 6. My first impression of listening to music was that you could tell I didn't have Amazon's HD music. The music sounded tinny to me and did not seem to take full advantage of my car's speaker system. BUT, after a few days I don't notice that anymore. I don't know if that is because I changed what "station" I was listening to, or my brain has made an acoustic adjustment. 7. I tried to use the Echo Auto to start my Echo at home. This was really more of a function text. Alexa didn't know what the heck I was talking about. Couldn't find that echo and told me to go into the Alexa app and name my other echos or sync them for group play. She left me doubting myself - I was PRETTY sure I had named the Echo in my kitchen "Kitchen"...or did I??? 8. I tried to set a timer in my car. Again, just a test. This feature is not yet available - which makes sense. Unless I want to have a nap in my car. So, it's still early on for the Auto Echo. But I think it has a real use. Today I was being tailed by a silver SUV. I thought about telling Alexa about it so a copy of the incident would show up in my Alexa App conversations. :))
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Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2019 by justanothermom
I've had the Echo Auto since it was in preview and I gotta say I like it a lot. However this is not a full Echo device like a Dot or Echo. This is for all intents and purposes an alexa audio gateway device. I pondered how to configure it while I waited for it and the day of the install it just worked. Here is what I mean. Yes it has an aux output and built in microphones. The aux output however is completely optional. I have never used it once. It was powered on in my car but my phone was not connected to my stereo. I asked it something and the sound cam out of my phone. Light bulb moment. All the audio really comes from your phone. The auto device is basically a microphone to use alexa. Now I believe it will pump out all the audio through the aux port into your car but I find those wires to be....ugly. I have occasional car bluetooth glitches (ford sync issue) but the line in always works on my car, so when that happens I just turn on the bluetooth receiver I have and change inputs and literally nothing but the cars display changes.Where my aux input is vs where the device is mounted in my car would require me run a long cable and do a more complex install. Not something I want to do. The only time sound comes out of the device itself (yes there is a really tiny speaker in there) is when it can't connect to my phone. The alexa service runs in the app on your phone. As a design its both brilliant and frivolous. With no access to regular WiFi ti needs connectivity, your phone has connectivity so just use that. But wait, since your phone is also a very smart device, offload the processing there. Why, not just use the microphone on the phone itself? Because this way they can sell you an additional device. Some phones out there do have alexa voice activation but those seem to be mostly Motorola devices and myself I like Samsung devices better. Also being a child of the 80's I really like the blue voice bar, it makes me feel like I'm one step closer to talking to KITT in my car (I just REALLY wish it could use an alternate wake word). So with this all being said, its a handy way to use alexa hands free in places you can't normally use a Dot or Echo, or Show device because of network restrictions. That being said, for the price its great. I've had it in multiple vehicles from my 01 Mustang, to my 15 Fusion and Explorer. Connect your phone to a bluetooth speaker or car after you set up the device, give the device power and your DONE. I'me even thinking or ordering another one for my office, since I miss having alexa at work and I can not connect it to my office WiFi because of security. But I do have a nifty bluetooth speaker and extra charger. I use it routinely to place phone calls more easily than the Ford Sync voice commands. Listen to my flash news briefing for customized news during my commute. Play music etc. I won't lie, as much as I use my Echos and Dots for home automation and smart home stuff I have never bothered with it in the car the the echo dot. Drop in works well enough though. Would I prefer to not have the cost of hardware to use alexa? Yes. Am ?I truly bummed about it? No. Truthfully, I think the extra microphone array works better than just using the one in my phone. So in that respect would I buy it again? If I look at it as an alexa helper device or audio gateway absolutely. Previous to having alexa everywhere in my house, I used google assistant and it had trouble hearing me in the car with the road noise. My echo auto almost never has that issue. So in that respect its worth it to me as I am part of that ecosystem already (Echo 1st gens in bedroom and living room, Dots with better speakers in the kids rooms and garage, Show 1st gen in my kitchen and more smart home tech than my wife can stand). Verdict? Buy it, but understand what it actually is when you do.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2020 by Ryan Robinson