Input Needed -- To Stay On 7.1 Or Update?

[Mickie]

I figure I'm not the only holdout here; however, I wanted to garner info, including key positives and negatives, regarding updating from 7.1. I know the +5mph on undivided roads came and went, but what else is noteworthy in your opinions? Do the benefits outweigh the caveats? And should people like me ultimately hit the update button?

Take the pole, and if time permits, please post the reason for your selection. I thank you kindly in advance!

Currently on: v7.1 (2.32.23) Released around August or September 2016.

 

[JHuberman]

We have cars that are part of an evolution. Enjoy the journey to the future, it won't be without a few bumps and detours. If Elon didn't take risks to evolve his ideas we wouldn't have Teslas.
That said, I upgraded and had no problems and a much better Autopilot experience.

 

[chillaban]

from an AP1 perspective: 8.x is a must have. Steering has gotten far more stable in areas with worn out lane lines. But more importantly, TACC has gotten so smooth lately that you can let it take over throttle control in city driving and it is almost as good as a human.

In my opinion the 8.0 UI is fine and I primarily use streaming radio and that UI has dramatically improved since 7.1. I would say go for it.

What are your main concerns?

 

[davidc18]

Stay on 7.1

No question about it.

 

[Mickie]

from an AP1 perspective: 8.x is a must have. Steering has gotten far more stable in areas with worn out lane lines. But more importantly, TACC has gotten so smooth lately that you can let it take over throttle control in city driving and it is almost as good as a human.

In my opinion the 8.0 UI is fine and I primarily use streaming radio and that UI has dramatically improved since 7.1. I would say go for it.

What are your main concerns?

Some concerns are with the new look of icons, seems a bit Windows 10 to me if I remember correctly when visiting the showroom some time back--this concern is minuscule.

The apps on the touch screen requiring a double press to bring up sounded counter intuitive and more of a distraction from the driver's perspective (not sure if it was addressed or if people were making mountains out of ant hills of this).

Finding songs on USB sticks (I think this was addressed?).

Last thing I can think of is the AP nags. Mine is annoying enough on 7.1. Is it much worse now, or easier to work with? Do people miss AP relying on the camera opposed to it now relying on radar in regards to AP dynamics?

Those were my main concerns when I was paying attention to the updates some months back. I'm counting on you guys to fill in the blanks on benefits and drawbacks that I have missed!

 

[Mickie]

Stay on 7.1

No question about it.

Wow.. I need details sir

 

[davidc18]

From memory, likely not a complete list:

1. performance limit for P cars
2. change how AC works with fan less than 4
3. vastly increased autopilot nagging
4. autopilot turns off if you accelerate over 90 with it on, until you stop and place in park
5. music changes
6. screen contrast decreased making it difficult to read (over 50 crowd)
7. map changes removed easy super charger locations
8. removed icons on top of screen to increase map size
9. ???? someone else please add to the list, I know there are more items

*** autopilot 7.1 works perfectly for me and my commute. I have no need for the changes to AP that 8.0 introduced. ***

 

[Mickie]

From memory, likely not a complete list:

1. performance limit for P cars
2. change how AC works with fan less than 4
3. vastly increased autopilot nagging
4. autopilot turns off if you accelerate over 90 with it on, until you stop and place in park
5. music changes
6. screen contrast decreased making it difficult to read (over 50 crowd)
7. map changes removed easy super charger locations
8. removed icons on top of screen to increase map size
9. ???? someone else please add to the list, I know there are more items

*** autopilot 7.1 works perfectly for me and my commute. I have no need for the changes to AP that 8.0 introduced. ***

1. I read they removed the P limit after increased push back?
2. I forgot about that. Something like it forces recirculation on settings 1-3. Yeah, I don't like that either.
3. Ugh
4. Not a deal breaker but I wouldn't like that level of fascism in my car.
5. Is this regarding the new layout?
7. wtf
8. So I take it one still has to touch the screen to make icons appear before selecting them. :/
9. Yes, anything else to add would be great as well as iterations on some of these drawbacks.

 

[chillaban]

Many of those things are resolved or overblown (no pun intended). The new lockout behavior with AP takes a little getting used to, but 6 months into 8.0 it doesn't really matter as much as one thinks.

I don't think the nagging is vastly increased. There were a few updates where they seemed to play with nags, but most builds do not seem to nag more than 7.1 does, and in exchange you get much much better AP behavior in heavy traffic and in areas with worn out lane lines. Not to mention actual pedestrian and cyclist collision protection.

 

[Saghost]

From memory, likely not a complete list:

1. performance limit for P cars
2. change how AC works with fan less than 4
3. vastly increased autopilot nagging
4. autopilot turns off if you accelerate over 90 with it on, until you stop and place in park
5. music changes
6. screen contrast decreased making it difficult to read (over 50 crowd)
7. map changes removed easy super charger locations
8. removed icons on top of screen to increase map size
9. ???? someone else please add to the list, I know there are more items

*** autopilot 7.1 works perfectly for me and my commute. I have no need for the changes to AP that 8.0 introduced. ***

2. was fixed in one of the early 17.x builds and all speeds in all modes are available in any 8.1 build.

Not sure what you mean with 7 - from the Nav screen under 8.1 you hit the lightning bolt and it gives you a distance sorted list of all the Superchargers in range, followed by a list of destination chargers.

 

[Mickie]

Many of those things are resolved or overblown (no pun intended). The new lockout behavior with AP takes a little getting used to, but 6 months into 8.0 it doesn't really matter as much as one thinks.

I don't think the nagging is vastly increased. There were a few updates where they seemed to play with nags, but most builds do not seem to nag more than 7.1 does, and in exchange you get much much better AP behavior in heavy traffic and in areas with worn out lane lines. Not to mention actual pedestrian and cyclist collision protection.

Thanks Chill, this is exactly where I wanted this thread to go: laying out the ups and downs, the praise and the beefs, and dispelling the latter if possible

2. was fixed in one of the early 17.x builds and all speeds in all modes are available in any 8.1 build.

Not sure what you mean with 7 - from the Nav screen under 8.1 you hit the lightning bolt and it gives you a distance sorted list of all the Superchargers in range, followed by a list of destination chargers.

Good to hear about the fan setting.
.

 

[St Charles]

As a P90DL owner, I plan to stay on 7.1 as long as I can.

Performance counter based restrictions were indeed removed but the conditions where a driver could attain maximum power output is now tied to the use of both Max Battery and Launch Mode. Several owners find this change disagreeable.

If you have a P90DL you might be pretty upset about the apparent weakness of the battery. There are several on this forum who have had to undergo battery replacements within the first year of ownership. Replacement/loaner batteries do not seem to provide the same power levels as the original batteries. There are also conflicting answers regarding loaner batteries being permanent replacements. This matters because the decrease rolls back most benefits of the $10,000 Ludicrous upgrade.


I had heard that UHFS wasn't holding equalizer settings at one point. Has this been fixed or was it never an actual problem?

 

[Mickie]

As a P90DL owner, I plan to stay on 7.1 as long as I can.

Performance counter based restrictions were indeed removed but the conditions where a driver could attain maximum power output is now tied to the use of both Max Battery and Launch Mode. Several owners find this change disagreeable.

If you have a P90DL you might be pretty upset about the apparent weakness of the battery. There are several on this forum who have had to undergo battery replacements within the first year of ownership. Replacement/loaner batteries do not seem to provide the same power levels as the original batteries. There are also conflicting answers regarding loaner batteries being permanent replacements. This matters because the decrease rolls back most benefits of the $10,000 Ludicrous upgrade.


I had heard that UHFS wasn't holding equalizer settings at one point. Has this been fixed or was it never an actual problem?

That's quite aggravating. So it's either deal with the 90L fiasco, or buy your way out of it with the 100 upgrade.. for double the L price already paid.

I can confirm on 7.1 I found my EQ settings reset to 0s across the board at least once.

 

[Boatguy]

The 8.0 UI is definitely worse, media player for USB is definitely worse. AP is different with the emphasis on radar and showing the car two cars up, but I can't say that the driving with AP or TACC feels any different.

The only benefit I've seen in 8.0/8.1 is the driver profile tied to the key fob, and even that is marginal as when my car is at home it rarely switches profiles based on who approaches the car. I'm not sure if the "real time" display of SC status is a feature of 8.0 or just a change in the Google maps content, but I suspect the latter.

Tesla's assertion of continual improvement of the existing cars is a myth. The CID apps are just pathetic compared to the typical smart phone app for the same function (e.g., media, phone, nav, etc.

 

[David29]

Seems to me the big reason to upgrade is that otherwise you are stuck with a version that will never get fixed for anything, even bug fixes you might want or need, improvements unrelated to AP, any number of things that you might like. But I suppose that if you are entirely content, you are like the folks who choose to stay on Windows XP or Windows 7, right? if it works for you, why change?

 

[St Charles]

That's quite aggravating. So it's either deal with the 90L fiasco, or buy your way out of it with the 100 upgrade.. for double the L price already paid.

I can confirm on 7.1 I found my EQ settings reset to 0s across the board at least once.

If available I would probably upgrade to the 100kWh battery. The added range and performance would make it worthwhile for me. That said, no one has successfully scheduled such an upgrade and there have been a few people who have been told that the offer to upgrade will likely never materialize.

 

[immolated]

Autopilot is better, seeing two cars in front is safer and it preemptively slows down for curves, also increased regenerative braking (might be wrong with the timing on that change though). For the UI, I don't use USB so can't comment on that, but seeing supercharger availability and hours/reviews of locations is really nice on the map. Also navigating to named favorites is nice. There was a time when I'd say stick with 7.1 but that has passed and I'm happy with the latest version.

 

[ecarfan]

3. vastly increased autopilot nagging

I recently spent a few hours driving an AP 85D on 8.1. "Nagging" was much reduced compared to a few months ago. I was impressed with the smoothness of Auto Steer, Auto Lane Change, and TACC. All significantly improved.

Staying on old software versions makes no sense to me. Besides the publicly stated improvements there are always unpublicized improvements.

If you want to live in the past, buy an ICE.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

I think it's worth it purely from seeing two cars ahead perspective. It's not only safer, but smoother.

For a 60D owner I don't see any major drawback of 8.1 aside from more nagging. The UI thing is mostly a personal thing, and if you have a large USB library. I tend to primarily stream so I haven't had any issues with it.

I do find some elements of 8/8.1 a little annoying like the bigger map, but it's not a big deal. The AP lockout over 90 is something I think us owners need to push back on it. But, I would rather upgrade and push back on than to not upgrade. Pushing back on it gives feedback to help correct it. I don't think Tesla really knows how annoying it is.

Most detractors of 8/8.1 are P owners which makes sense for them.

 

[mike_j]

I'm also sitting on 7.1 and wondering when is the time to upgrade. I never thought it would take this long for a new version to have something to make the upgrade worthwhile.

My main reservation is the nagging. It's not something I like.