Outstanding news! I sent in a couple of short videos via DropBox links that they sent me. Their responses were very clearly written (not broken English) and appreciative. Frankly, I was dreading dealing with a customer support team out of China, but it all went very well.

This is a good idea.

Rob, what about a stereo you may have near the truck that has genuine speaker wires and terminals? Like a home theater system that you may have in the shop or something?

Well, that is a handy resource to have. We all know that sometimes things are bad right out of the box. Look at the rash of ICP sensors from Motorcraft a while as just one example. It happens.

Keeping a cool head and working your way through the problem is the only thing you can do and we commend you for that Rob.

We look forward to an update as you arrive to them.

 

 

(@Shovelheadrob ) Rob, you had a chance to investigate or troubleshoot your speaker output issue? I am hopeful the fix is easy, but fear it may not be.

Worst case scenario you can open the case and see if the is a wire or something that has a poor connection.

 

I remember my Android head unit would sometimes drop sound completely. This was after around 18 months of operation. Usually the no sound issue would last a day or so then come back, til it never come back. Opened the casing and it was a dry / cracked solder joint. Soldered and it was ok for a while.
It ended up in the bin not long after due to it doing its own factory reset once a week.

 

I'm struggling with ATOTO, they say that as I didn't buy from their "official distributor" they won't warrant it, the seller doesn't sell Atoto products any more (Ebay) & says to deal with Atoto.......I'm home early today & my other truck has a Pioneer head unit with an ISO connector, so I'm going to use the ISO adapter that came with the Atoto to try it in the 350. I'm 99% sure it will be the same & if so I'll open the case & see if there's anything obvious, I've avoided opening it so far incase it was getting returned. If I can't find anything obvious, I'll give it to my mate who does this sort of thing.

 

Well that sucks. How does Atoto expect one to know if a vendor is an official distributor or not?

 

That was my thoughts too, it's really unfortunate that my girlfriend bought me it as an early Christmas present thinking that the Fontaine truck would be here in January/February this year, then everything went **** up & it didn't arrive until June, I've had more important things to get on with, so installation wasn't a high priority.

 

Sorry to hear about your trouble Rob. Hopefully you or your friend can get it sorted out easily.

Please keep us updated.

 

I had not known this was your experience.

I selected the ATOTO due to the dual BT receivers and the testimony of SSJ who is a friend and very hard on his truck. I trust his judgement and bought the ATOTO A6 Pro on sale. Turns out I didn't need the dual BT receivers, so I may have selected another product, but I have been happy with it thus far.

It sure is a gamble purchasing products like this. Thanks for sharing your experience so that others may make an informed decision.

 

Early finish today, pulled the dash bezel out of the 350, the Pioneer is mounted with the Metra kit & comes out with the bezel, uncoupled what I needed to, connected the Atoto using the supplied ISO connector, turned on the ignition.......
The Atoto booted up & I could immediately hear static, tuned in the radio & all good, tried it with Bluetooth for music through my phone & all good, tried tugging at the rear connector but the sound stayed constant, which means there's either a fault with the connector that I've spliced into the 550 or I've wired something incorrectly (I'm thinking probably the latter, although I double checked everything..)
Which is good news & means that the Atoto head unit is fine.
I put everything back together, then found I have a no start! Aaaaaaargh! Realised that when I removed the dash bezel I'd had to unplug the cable from the DP Tuner switch, the ignition may have been on at the time due to having to take the shifter out of park to get the bezel out.........
Panicking as we're heading out with the 5th wheel & thinking I'd fried the PCM, I went & fetched my tools from the workshop where the 550 is living, a 50 mile round trip, pulled out the PCM, removed the chip & the truck started.......
double checked things & realised I'd put the connector on the back of the switcher upside down DOH!
It's been a long hard week at work, time for an IPA!

 

Rob, easy and free (other than time) fixes are the best ones to have!

Good to hear the ATOTO is working as intended. If you need someone to double check your wiring, feel free to post it here and we can help you get it right. At least now you know that the ATOTO is functioning properly and you no longer have to deal with support.

Keep us updated Rob!

 

I've come to despise my ATOTO S8 (Pro Gen1). The top-of-screen back, home and task list soft buttons go dead randomly - twice in two days, most recently - and ATOTO's fix is to reset the radio to factory defaults. That does get them back, but costs a good hour to reinstall apps and get them configured. I've completely given up trying to use the thing as a decent Android interface with music apps, etc., and have pared the list down to connecting to my phone with Bluetooth, playing music off an CD card, and running Forescan.

Do any of the name-brand "Android" radios allow for the native Android experience, or do they force the use of Android Auto?

Mark

 

Mark, sorry to hear about this. I don't have any experience with the S8 line, so I cannot offer any advice. I never did like soft buttons, except on a higher end smart phone, but even then they can be sketchy to use if you have gloves on or your hands are wet.

I don't think any of the big dog stereo companies have a native Android operating system. They all use Android Auto or Apple Car Play or whatever it is.

Is there any chance for a refund or return on your ATOTO through Amazon or ATOTO directly?

 

Work has been getting in the way of everything else, it has been a holiday weekend & had we've had some quality time away in the 5th wheel with some good friends, broke camp early this morning, home for lunchtime & headed over to the workshop along with a wiring guide that I found on the Internet that has colours that match my truck.
I decided to just disconnect all the speaker wires & start again, one pair at a time. I now have all four speakers working as they should, I didn't actually check back against how I'd previously connected them as it would be a mute point (see what I did there....), I just can't get my head around why they worked previously when I wriggled the connector, but it is what it is & that's another job ticked off.
Here's a screenshot of the guide incase it's useful for anyone.

 

Good to hear you got it working...