I've just had my columbus unit replaced under warranty as the screen was a bit unresponsive. Very pleased except that my old unit had a female voice and the new one has a deep male voice. The male voice is not so easy to understand above the tyre noise. Does anyone know if it is possible to change the voice used by these units and if so how?

I didn't know you could change the voice (mine's the English female and I call her Mildred) but you can choose different languages and I imagine they are spoken by different voices. You don't say where you are or what language you use (there are many nationalities on this forum) so can you confirm that please?

I seem to recall seeing a choice between English female and English male in some menu. Might be on VCDS though!

I'll check for you when I get my car back from the garage later today.

What firmware does your Columbus have? This will affect what is available to you.

Sorry, its the English model, I'm in the UK, and its for a Skoda Superb.

(my French isn't bad but I'd prefer to stick with my native English !)

Before the replacement the details were

Delivery part number 3T0035680E
HW-Version H70
SW-Version 5274
Active map coverage West Europe
Active map supplied Navteq
Map version HDD 7690

After the exchange the details are

 

Delivery part number 3T0035680B
HW-Version H71
SW-Version 4120
Active map coverage West Europe
Active map supplied Navteq
Map version HDD 7690

 

(The changes are shown red/underlined)

 

They said they had downloaded the latest maps but the map number is the same so even though the maps seem quite out of date, maybe those are the latest ones available

Male & Female voices were introduced in firmware 2680 and, I believe, have been in there since. So you should have it somewhere in a menu on the head unit.

 

Am I reading your previous post correctly - you have had a Columbus replaced with an older part number with a lower firmware version but a small increment in the HW version?

Seems a bit odd to me...

@Freedom

Yes I thought that was odd as well. I assumed that as the HW version was higher Skoda might have started again with the SW version numbers. As to the part number, it depends upon what the E and B at the end refer to and what the difference is between them.

Apart from the screen being more responsive I can't see any difference in operation.

 

When I took it in the first thing they did was to check the sw version I had and they said it was up to date ie 5274 was up to date. Whether version 4120 is the up to date version for H71 I don't know.

 

Oh and you are right - and I feel a little foolish now - in the language set up there are two versions of English, one called just 'English' and another called 'English (male)'. Changing the language to 'English' gave me back the sultry female tones again.