Coastaltech in business?

Does anyone who's successfully received orders from Coastal have
a non-pobox address for them? I'm half-thinking of swinging by
for an engineering chat w/ Dave as a waypoint on my "whirlwind
tour"...
.
_H*

 

Good luck finding out what that is. By now I'm sure he's on several hundred peoples' "hit list" (and I don't mean Christmas list). "Chatting" with the infamous "Dave" in person would be a "dream come true" for me.

Let me know if you DO find it and DO decide to "swing by". I'd like to give you a letter or maybe a package to hand deliver to him. :angry:

 

I have had no problems getting products that are "shipping" for me mud flaps and EV mode. I got both in short order. I am on the waiting list for the others. Dave is not all bad. Like many things the business is both good and bad. I would like to see some of the other products in person, but I will not hold my breath.

 

First, here's the public Coastal info:

Coastal Electronics Technologies Inc. (web page)
Coastal TV and Electronics (receipt)
P.O. Box 33518 (web page)
Indialantic, FL 32903
Ph: (800)507-2234
(321)727-8457
[email protected]
http://www.coastaletech.com/

Here's a corresponding match on the phone numbers, and the street address shown on a Coastal receipt:

Advanced Control Engineering, Inc.
313 7th Avenue (the address on a receipt)
Indialantic, FL 32903
Ph: (800)507-ACEI (2234)
(321)727-8457
[email protected]
http://www.acei.us/

 

Interesting. If he's the same thing as acei.us, then he's a really
busy guy and prius stuff is just a sideline that doesn't get as
much bandwidth as we'd expect. Unclear.
.
_H*

 

From the web site design I'd say same guy.

 

So, no one has answered the question...is Coastal still in biz? What's the average turnaround for orders? And is any of the stuff compatible with my new 2006?

-globetrotter

 

Most excellent questions. I think they are still in biz (remember it's just a sideline for them, not their main source of income), and I understand that if the product is in stock it's a quick turnaround. I ordered the Auto-Lock back in April and it arrived in September.

As for what is compatable, that will be a guess. I'm sure some will (like the mudflaps and the EV mod), but the one I have doubts about is the NAV defeat. I just guessing here, but I think the defeat is an "auto button pusher" (based on the demo on their site and a comment I heard). IF that's the case, the defeat won't work with the 2006 as the NAV "dance" doesn't work.

 

Like aaf709 said, they are still in business on 'in stock' items. I just got a EV mod kit within the last month or so, took a week or two. However, check with us if you are trying to order anything you haven't heard about other people getting. The NAV mod for instance, never materialized.

 

I spoke with Dave once and his wife many times. I sent an email about the front end mask and received a reply in a day or two last week. I do not know why they can not bring the Prius products to market. I would still like several of them. I am getting a bit anxious about the rearview camera. I have dyslexia and part of that is really bad backing up. The camera would be a help for me. I wait in hope but am getting close to the OEM mod.

 

FWIW, my one experience with them:

I ordered the EV kit a very long time ago. I waited and waited and waited. Once or twice I emailed them, and got a reply within days saying it was "on backorder." When it finally came, after a very long wait, it worked perfectly.

I then discovered that I was the FIRST PERSON ON PRIUS-CHAT to get the Costal EV kit (others had done the DIY versions earlier). And then I learned that the original, or beta-test version of the kit had had significant bugs in it.

As has been pointed out elsewhere in this thread, Prius mods are a very small sideline for them. Their real income comes from other business, and if they quit selling Prius gear it would not affect their income. They do this out of love of the Prius and as a favor to us, folks!

But they took the time necessary to work out the bugs before bringing the kit to market, and when they did, it was a flawless product.

Nobody else is offering some of these items to the public. Anybody that wants to sell stuff can. But who else is selling an easy-to-install EV mod? And their quality is excellent.

Having said all that in their favor, I do think they could maintain up-to-date information on their web site, with realistic availability dates, so people would know if it's going to be six months before their item will be available. The hurricanes hit them hard, but an hour of web-updating could do a world of good for their public relations.

 

I agree, I have not had any trouble with Costal Etech for things they actually have in stock, and I got great help with my install of the EV. I have no idea why they can not get the Prius items out the door. Bottom line they make things I want not that I need.

 

Just rec'd email confirmation that my nav kit has shipped.
I'm looking forward to receiving it.

 

Placed an order for the 2" hitch on Thursday and it should be here on Tuesday. I guess it was in stock.

 

Did you order the simple NAV kit or the kit with the Bluetooth disable option?

 

Could this be for real. The Nav blocker shipping. That is good news. Now is there any hope it will work with the CAN View?

 

I ordered the 2" hitch and received it as promised. The bolts were too short, so I had to go out and get some longer ones, but otherwise there was no problem. I did leave two messages when I was installing the hitch saying I was having problems with it, but got no response- ever. My guess is that they're too small an outfit to have good customer service...unfortunate, but not unbelievable.

 

Yup, I also got my email saying that the navi blocking unit that I ordered is coming in. As a matter of fact it should be in tommorrow!

 

I also agree, I ordered the EV mod and mudflaps and something else-I-forget-what in early October (2005). In late October the EV mod and mudflaps arrived and I forgot that I had ordered anything else. Then on 12/28/2005 I got a notification that something has shipped and I should expect it on 4-Jan. I guess it must be the Nav Override kit. I was thinking of buying that but I wonder why I thought that would be worth $99? I guess it was before I knew about the "menu-volume-easter egg" override. And now eflier is sending me the CAN-View for Nav, that should arrive by the end of the week so I guess I'm in the same boat as hdrygas -

Maybe I'll have a Coastal Nav Override kit up for sale here in a week or two!

Bottom line, I'm glad they(Coastaltech)'re doing what they're doing, I hope to see them expand their offerings and I hope their nay-sayers take a chill-pill. But it would be nice to see some informative status updates on their website.

 

I ordered the EV kit from Coastal yesterday. Today I received a shipment tracking number from UPS. Now that's fast! I must have gotten lucky since that product was apparently in stock. So far my experience with Coastal is good.