Amazon Echo Auto Review 🚗 Alexa in Your Car! +Alternatives

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Gained early experience with automation technology in the private and industrial sector, can turn his living room into a movie theater with one voice command and is the owner of this website. He is happy to share his accumulated experience with every new article.

Amazon Echo Auto Review

The big advantages of the Echo Auto over using your smartphone are that you can do everything without your hands, it understands you much better than Alexa does with your smartphone, and you can control your smart home devices at home from your car.

With Alexa as co-pilot, everything you are doing in your car will be easier and you’ll get some great features on top.

Features

The best thing about Alexa in your car is that you can do or enjoy so many things without using your hands. This is not only comfortable and efficient, but also safe!

Here are the most important features of the Echo Auto listed:

Telephoning and texting: I keep seeing people with their smartphones behind the wheel. Not only does that make me really angry – but it’s also super dangerous for everyone else involved! Although there have been hands-free kits for your phone in the car for some time, it is usually complicated to connect your smartphone to your car and then make calls via the hands-free kits (at least compared to Alexa). Because with Alexa in your car you can say Alexa just like in your house that you would like to call someone. And with the built-in 8 microphones, the transmission is also excellent. You can also write text messages with Alexa without using your hands.
Navigation: With Alexa, you can navigate to your destination by voice. If you’re in a hurry and don’t want to enter your destination manually, you could use Alexa and drive off and tell her where you want to go on the way.
Music & Co: With Alexa, you also have the possibility to listen to your favorite music or your current audiobook in your car on command. Of course, you can access services like Amazon Music, Audible, Spotify, Pandora, etc..
Search function: Alexa is known for answering all possible questions and so also in the car. You can ask her where the nearest gas station is or how to get to your next destination. This function is especially useful for spontaneous actions. Whenever I am on the road and spontaneously want to go somewhere, I first had to stop, then google and then enter the address into the navigation system. With Alexa, I can simply ask for the route to my desired destination.
Organization: With Alexa, you can work on your to-do list or your shopping list on the go. Of course, you also have access to your calendar and can ask Alexa for your next appointment.
8 microphones: Thanks to the 8 built-in microphones Alexa can always hear you well with the Echo Auto. Loud street noise or other background noises can be filtered out and ignored by the device.
Interact with your Smart Home: You can also connect your Echo Auto to compatible Echo devices in your Smart Home to control your Smart Home from your car. For example, on your way home from work, you could turn up the heating, turn on the air conditioning, and so on.
Over 80,000 Alexa Skills: The Echo Auto gives you not only a smart voice assistant in your car but also over 80,000 skills you can access while driving. You could play games on a road trip, find a parking space with the right parking app or find the cheapest gas station near you with various other skills.

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Installation & Setup

As with all other Amazon Alexa devices, the installation is quite simple. Of course, the Echo Auto has a special position among all Alexa devices, because it is installed in the car and not in the house.

the Echo Auto will be placed on a mounting plate that you need to install in your car.

To power the device, you need either a USB port or a USB power adapter. You can connect the Echo Auto either via Bluetooth (4.0 or higher) or with an AUX cable to your car stereo system.

The device starts as soon as your music system or power adapter supplies it with power – i.e. as soon as the car is running.

Then you can add it to the Alexa App as a new device.

Pros & Cons: Echo Auto

Pros:

All the usual Alexa functions in the car (calendar, to-do list, music, etc.. .)
Start navigation without using your hands
Listen to your favorite music with Alexa
Bluetooth Adapter & AUX Connection
Safe operation without hands

Cons:

Requires data volume / internet from smartphone

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The Alternatives

To get Alexa into your car there are now some great alternatives to the Echo Auto!

There are DIY solutions that use other echo devices and special car devices from other companies that offer Alexa.

Alexa with Garmin Speak

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Amazon and Garmin worked together on a device that fuses Alexa and navigation. The result is the Garmin Speak*. We think the Garmin Speak is the best alternative to the Echo Auto!

Features

The Garmin Speak is best suited for people who don’t yet have a built-in navigation system and don’t want to use their smartphone for it and want to enjoy the benefits of Alexa in the car.

Because Alexa can be accessed through the device, you can, of course, access all of her benefits and abilities. You can turn on your favorite music while driving, control your Smart Home from your car, ask about the weather or traffic, create or edit to-do lists, and check your calendar.

With the Garmin Speak*, you have all the Alexa features that would be available to you with the Echo Auto!

If it’s just about Alexa, the Echo Auto is still better than the Garmin Speak though, but only due to the better microphones. If the visual display of the navigation and an optional dashcam are important to you, Garmin Speak is just the thing for you, and it’ll even be better than the Echo Auto for you! The price-performance ratio is simply unbeatable.

The additional dashcam makes the Garmin Speak Pro extremely valuable as it combines three devices in one – a dashcam, a navigation system, and an Alexa device!

Installation and Setup

As you can see from its design, the Garmin Speak is attached directly to the windscreen. The device connects to the car’s music system using either Bluetooth or an AUX cable and is powered via Micro USB.

The design is deliberately kept extremely slim and small, so you don’t have a giant device in your windshield that interferes with your view of the road like many other devices.

The display is an OLED display that you can see perfectly even in the dark. The display shows you the direction and the distance like a normal navigation system. However, here you only see when you have to drive or turn in which direction. A nice colorful map with roads and all don’t fit on the small display.

There are two buttons on the device, one for Alexa and one to mute it.

To complete the setup, download the Garmin App and follow the instructions. The menu navigation is very intuitive and everything is explained simply. The installation is thus quickly completed.

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Echo Input

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With the Echo Input*, you can make a normal speaker smart and connect it to Alexa.

In principle, an Echo Input is nothing more than an Echo Dot* without the integrated speaker. Actually, the Echo Input is intended to make your speakers at home smart and upgrade them to an Alexa device.

But there are a lot of people who connect the Echo Input to their car stereo system and almost get an Echo Auto. But it has to be said that the improvised version with the Echo Input can’t keep up with the Echo Auto – otherwise they could just sell a mounting kit for an Echo Input or Dot…

The Echo Auto is simply designed specifically for use in a car and is designed to overcome all the difficulties in a car.

You have to solve this yourself with the Echo Input. For example, you have to think about how to mount the Echo Input in your car, because no mounting plate for your car is included.

You need to power it via USB, connect it to a stereo, and connect it to the Internet via a hotspot on your smartphone.

Also, the Echo Input doesn’t hear you as well as the Echo Auto because it has fewer microphones and its software isn’t designed to suppress background noise from roads and other cars.

But I’ve seen it several times how the Echo Input was successfully built into a car and how you can use all the awesome features of Alexa on the road.

So it’s definitely possible to bring Alexa into your car with the Echo Input, but I would recommend you to try to get to an Echo Auto if possible because the advantages clearly outweigh the disadvantages. But the Echo Input is also quite cheap.

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Echo Dot

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Just like the Echo Input, you can also install the Echo Dot* in your car.

You also need to power it via USB and connect it to the Internet via a hotspot on your smartphone.

I tried it for a few days before I even tried to mount the Echo Dot somewhere. I just put it in the car at a place where it can’t slide around and tried to talk to Alexa while driving.

Just like the Echo Input, the microphones are designed for use indoors and not in a car with lots of background noise. My car is already relatively quiet, nevertheless, I had to speak very loudly, so that Alexa understood me. But I was surprised because it seems possible to me to use Alexa like this! As long as you have the opportunity to buy an Echo Auto, I wouldn’t recommend it, but you can still get Alexa in your car with an Echo Dot!

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Roav VIVA Pro

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The Roav Viva Pro* offers a completely different solution. Just like the Garmin Speak, this device combines several functions in one. On the one hand, it is a USB adapter that adapts from the cigarette lighter to 2 USB slots and on the other hand, it brings Alexa into your car.

Obviously, you don’t have to worry about the power supply of the device as it is powered directly by the cigarette lighter plug.

With Alexa, you can make calls, play music, start navigation, control your smart home devices at home, and more as usual.

In contrast to the Echo Auto, this device has only two integrated microphones. However, these are supported by software that can filter out ambient noise. So Alexa can hear you loud and clear despite road noises, even when the device is plugged into the bottom of the console.

And because it is positioned in the middle between driver and passenger, it can understand both well. The blue LED ring at the top of the device lights up when it is listening to you. The large button on the top turns off the microphone.

The Roav Viva Pro offers four options to stream your smartphone’s audio signal through your car’s stereo system: USB, AUX cable, Bluetooth and FM radio.

Yes, you have read correctly, the Viva Pro can convert the audio signal from your smartphone into radio waves that your car radio can receive. This makes it compatible with very old stereo systems that have no other audio connection!

If you have a music system in your car where you can do without the FM transmitter, you can also buy the slightly cheaper Roav Viva*, which basically has everything the same except for the FM transmitter.

Also with the Roav Viva, you can get spoken step-by-step instructions of Alexa’s navigation.

A disadvantage of the device is that it does not support Spotify yet. But you can use Amazon Music, Audible, iHeartRadio, and other music providers.

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Summary

If you want to add Alexa to your car, the Echo Auto is the best choice. It was developed specifically for use in the car and stands out from all other devices on this list when it comes purely to Alexa’s performance in the car.

With the built-in 8 microphones (8!) and software that suppresses street noise, no other device understands you as well as the Echo Auto.

The integration of Alexa also includes all Alexa features and is compatible with many third-party apps such as navigation, music and more. This also allows you to control your Smart Home from your car and turn on the heating or air conditioning on your way home.

We think that the Echo Auto and similar devices are just the kickoff to make your car smart and to extend your SmartHome to your car.

And even if you don’t have the possibility to get an Echo Auto or you are looking for other features, hopefully, you have found the right solution for you in this article.

As a last overview here is a list of all possibilities with which you can get Alexa into your car:

Image	Name	Link
*	Echo Auto	Preischeck*
*	Garmin Speak Plus	Preischeck*
*	Echo Input	Preischeck*
*	Echo Dot	Preischeck*
*	Roav Viva Pro	Preischeck*

Attention: When installing electronic equipment, please be sure to observe the manufacturer’s safety instructions. You have to take care of your own safety. The information on this site only helps you to learn.
Disclosure: This website is the property of Martin Lütkemeyer and is operated by Martin Lütkemeyer. Martin Lütkemeyer is a member of the Amazon Services LLC Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to enable Web sites to earn advertising revenue through advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Links marked with * are affiliate links.