I met with Tony this past Saturday afternoon. Seems like a very nice fellow. He isn't actually in the car electronics business- he just assists his sister-in-law on occasion, because her English is a bit weak. One of the questions I remember people asking was about the possibility of a group buy. She said that if we get 10 people, she will drop the price to $900 each.
I must apologize for now, because my camcorder did not charge properly on Saturday & was dead when it was time to meet Tony. So I have no video- just a firsthand account of the unit's functionality. And because I left the camcorder home, I left my list of questions home in the camcorder bag, so I tried my best to remember everything. Tony said it would be fine to meet again this weekend to shoot video.
Here is what I observed.
First, there is no integrated satellite radio option for the unit. It does have a USB port and a standard aux input, thru which one could connect a satellite receiver. However, you would not be able to use the touch screen on the unit to control anything.
Boot up time was pretty quick. 10 seconds, tops.
Tony told me that he wasn't sure which Nav software was being included by default. He had Sygic, Finnian, and Route 66 all installed. We played with Sygic & Finnian a bit. I forget which was the one we drove around to test, but I think it was Finnian. (Will confirm this when I go for video)
Typing an address into the one we used was very easy. In fact, it used predictive logic to grey out alpha keys which were invalid. Meaning that, after you chose a city, if you started to type the street name with the letter "M," it knew the list of street names, and would only leave the valid options for the next letter active- it would grey out letters like Q, Z, B, G that couldn't possibly follow "M," as well as letters that could, but don't apply to street names in the area.
It was also easy to save addresses as favorites.
POI's were good. They even listed local independent grocery stores next to the big chains, etc. Included addresses & phone info.
Route recalculation was quick- 2 to 3 seconds.
Satellite lock was very quick. By the time the unit booted & we chose "NAV" from the main menu, it was ready to go. No delays or waiting.
This unit also not only leaves the LCD display in tact, it still controls the clock, so you can change/set the clock as needed. And the CD/DVD track info displays on the stock LCD.
There is a function in the unit to link it to your TPMS sensors, and it will tell you which wheel's sensor is tripped if/when you get a flat, as opposed to the idiot light in the dash. (Tony had not linked his TPMS- don't think he was aware of what TPMS was)
There was another function labelled "Brake test." Tony had no clue what it was for, and I cannot imagine what it could be.
The touchscreen seemed to be more responsive in GPS mode than when the main menus were displayed. Not sure why that would be. Not that it was difficult to manipulate, but there were some instances when a "double tap" was called for & took 2-3 tries, or when the response of the unit lagged a half second behind the tap. Overall, I don't think most touchscreens of this size would be likely to perform a whole lot better.
The DVD displays very crisp & clear on the screen as well. Also, the unit does not have a parking brake sensor, so there's no modification needed in order to play DVD's while you drive. Of course, that's illegal in most places, but the choice is yours.
The unit does run Windows CE 5.x, so you can presumably use about any GPS software that is compatible with that OS. (Windows Mobile & the Pocket PC system are variants of Windows CE, and in theory, software for those should work here as well)
I was unable to get my iGuidance software to install an executable file to my Micro SD card. The unit does not take install files from your Micro SD and install them to its internal memory- it looks for an executable file on the SD card & runs it directly from there. I'm working on that during the week.
Physically, it fits very cleanly, and looks every bit as good as you would hope from the web site pics.
Now, the big question- is it worth $1,200 ($999 on sale, $900 for group buy)? Not sure. It is certainly a simpler solution than buying something from Kenwood, Pioneer, etc. with a dash kit. And the flexibility to use 3rd party NAV software is a big bonus for some, like me. I also need to see what the added features are all about- how to configure the TPMS, what the Brake Test is about, etc. Those are very unique features, and could certainly add value over some of the big guys' units.
For my return visit, I will try to cover the other GPS questions listed a few posts back. I also want to ask:
Does it come with an English language instruction/user manual?
Who handles warranty claims and what is the process?
