Favorites Surfing & Grouping

[drzeus]

Just picked up our 2016 CX-5, and I have to say we're pretty disappointed in the infotainment interface w/commander. The only way to surf my FM presets is with << and >> on the steering wheel? No single-button random access like other radios? That's pretty annoying, especially since I can't find any way to group FM favorites (like the FM1, FM2, etc. on other radios) and we've got multiple drivers with pretty much zero overlap in musical taste. I don't want to cycle through my daughter's pop to get to my rock.

Alternatively, is there any way to make the Favorites screen stay up after selecting a favorite? Normally, when I select a favorite, it returns me to the main audio screen. If it stayed on the Favorites screen I could bounce between stations pretty easily.

Am I wrong about this? We've only had it for a few days, so maybe I'm missing something.

 

[brillo54]

Hey drzeus, welcome to the forums. I think you're missing the star button to the right of the commander switch. That will take you directly to your favorites and from there you can select, edit, move or delete your favorites. See page 13 of your Smart Start Guide. You can also get to the favorites from the star icon (3rd from the left) at the bottom of your radio screen. Hope this helps.

 

[drzeus]

Thanks, brillo54. I know about the star button, but it's not really what I'm looking for. To get to a favorite using that, I need to:
1) Press the * button.
2) Scroll down to the station I want.
3) Select it.
So, 3+ clicks. And if that station is playing ads, 3+ more clicks to try another. Compare that to the row of 6 buttons on a regular radio: 1 click.

 

[52804x4]

Go back to the dealer, and ask for the firmware update. At least then you get the option of staying in the favorites screen once you choose a station from that screen. As far as grouping, I have yet to find that function after 6 months of ownership.

 

[LeeShadow]

I'm the only driver of my CX-5, but I can see how a grouping function would be useful for multi-drivers or families with different tastes.

A possible workaround, albeit a clumsy one, might be to move your Favorites and arrange each individual person's together in order, so then you know (for example) that the first 4 are yours, and the next 5 are your daughter's, etc etc.

And you are correct that in the current software, there are no soft buttons for direct access to radio station presets, and obviously no hardware buttons on the Type B touchscreen headunit. My 2010 Mazda6 with the MID had this ability, but since I don't really listen to the radio much, I personally don't miss it--but it is a bit odd for sure not to have that functionality.

 

[Brucifer]

I'm not thrilled with the Favorites settings either. My beef is that using the steering wheel buttons causes me to scroll though *all* the buttons, not just the ones on whatever input I am on. If I am on satellite, I would prefer to just go through my satellite ones and not jump to FM and vise-versa. To me, that would be closer to having preset buttons as with other radios.

 

[52804x4]

The old firmware did that. It's one of the things I do miss after the update.