stereos...

[Green1]

A while ago at a Calgary meet I remember someone showing off a stereo in their Delica, the key feature of which was a handheld GPS that docked with the stereo as the screen of the double-din unit, or could be used on it's own separately from the main stereo. It was a really neat feature, and I'm trying to figure out what make and model it was, and where it was purchased.

So... If whoever it was is reading this, please share! (or anyone who remembers, or anyone who happens to know...)

(new vehicle coming... and that means a new stereo in the near future....)

[almac]

i believe alpine are the guys who make that feature.
i haven't seen anyone else use that yet.

[Green1]

Near as I can tell, alpine doesn't have this feature, they have handheld, and car stereo nav units, but I don't see anything that combines the 2...
the stereo I'm thinking of, you can pull the faceplate off, and use the faceplate by itself as a portable GPS unit.
And the best part was I remember the person bragging about how the whole deal wasn't even all that expensive...

[almac]

well here it is:http://reviews.cnet.com/in-dash-car-ste ... 23905.html


not too expensive eh? *sarcasm off*

[Green1]

no, that is definitely NOT it.
The one I'm talking about the faceplate itself is the GPS. it's not a seperate unit, it's the faceplate, with it on the stereo you have an all-in-one device, when you remove the faceplate, you now have a portable GPS that you can use wherever you want.

[loki]

is this it?

Eclipse and TomTom Unveil Pop-Out Navigation System/Car Stereo

[Green1]

that is a definite possibility... they talk "under $1000" in spring 2007, prices could definitely have come down since then though, I seem to remember whoever it was saying that it was only a couple hundred or so though, so maybe not this unit? (or maybe an old version of this unit? hard to say...)

of course the next issue is figuring out who carries such a thing... the video suggests circuit city... that won't work so well since they went bankrupt...

[bikepoor]

Hey Green, that was me. It was in fact the Eclipse Model AVN2210p. I got it from the Car Salon on 32ave NE in Calgary. The price at the time was just under $400 tax inc and that was with the extra Dodge Colt wiring harness. They were blowing them out because this was the "old version" and they were trying to push the "new version". Installation was a dream! The factory brackets from the old cassette unit bolted perfectly to the new unit, and even the wiring harness had all the right colour combo's for connection. It fit the whole perfectly and looks like it came original from the factory. It's been quite a while, but I know the Car Salon had about 8 units then, maybe you'll get lucky.

Bikepoor

[almac]

here's a vid:http://reviews.cnet.com/gps/eclipse-avn ... 63346.html

interesting, but im not personally keen on the design.
if it had a cd/dvd player that you could play vids on the tom tom screen, or use the tom tom for visual display other than the gps. i'd be more interested.
interesting tho.

[Green1]

Thanks, that was definitely the one, after looking at their website... look at the newer model... the AVN4430... it does all the same stuff, plus video and DVD... in fact I can't think of a feature I would use that it doesn't have. Plus, how many other people can ask their stereo's faceplate when they forget where they parked (apparently you can chose to navigate to the last place the unit was docked... handy!)

[pajerry]

I'd consider finding another unit.. I was looking into these a while back, but in hindsight and after more time on the market, they seem to get pretty nasty online reviews.

[Green1]

they seem to get pretty nasty online reviews.

interesting, all the online reviews I've seen have been extremely positive... what sort of complaints are they getting?

[pajerry]

To tell you honestly, I think all of the really positive reviews I've seen were all from either vendors or on e-mags like CNet...

If you find user reviews, I think they were complaining about a few flaws. Mainly poorly layed out features, short battery life on the handheld, poor cd-player function, having to reload each time you start if you're using a USB stick, the lack of updates, etc etc.

[Green1]

To tell you honestly, I think all of the really positive reviews I've seen were all from either vendors or on e-mags like CNet...

If you find user reviews, I think they were complaining about a few flaws. Mainly poorly layed out features, short battery life on the handheld, poor cd-player function, having to reload each time you start if you're using a USB stick, the lack of updates, etc etc.

so far I haven't found any of those negative reviews, however a few points:
poorly laid out, I've never seen a modern head unit that wasnt.
battry life, hard to say, but a better description of "poor" would be in order, mainly I would be using it plugged in anyway, with the option of plugging the handheld in in any vehicle, so it's not an issue.
poor cd-player function: does it play cds or not? there's not much in between here...
reload if using a USB stick... I don't think I even understand what you mean there...
lack of updates: that is actually it's big plus, it's one of the only GPS head units out there that even has the possibility of updates, and in fact includes the ability to do manual corrections in the software and share with the community, very few other ones have that ability.

I would be very interested in seeing some of those reviews though, so if you can point me in the general direction of them that would be great, because I just can't find them online!