Aftermarket GPS with TRAFFIC! / Integrate with MDF?

Garmin is going to make a killing on this one! This is exactly what the market is lacking right now- standalone GPS are great for portability, but they have tiny little screens that can be difficult to read, and the major downside of their portability is the ease of theft- unless you like having people break your windows and steal your portable, you end up having to take it off and carry it with you or hide it every time you leave the car, which quickly becomes a real pain, and the fact that you have an empty mounting bracket left on your dash still suggests to thieves that there may be something of value left in your car, and it's just as quick to look in your glove compartment/centre console/under seat as to unhook from a dash bracket..

With more vehicles coming equipped with large, integrated LCD screens, it only makes sense to provide only the RF and processing guts and to make use of the superior screens already built into the vehicle.. The only thing missing is touch screen integration, but that's a relatively easy thing to add later.. The other benefit is that you don't totally lose portability with a unit like this- if you happen to have one of those video/MP3 players- many of them have a video input and with a suitable external battery pack, you can still use such a system in a reasonably portable manner.

For my next vehicle, I was considering Alpine, which also offers a similar screenless GPS unit that can output external video, but it has a touch screen interface only for Alpine screens (again, this could easily be addressed with a little microcontroller doing some translation), otherwise, you're also stuck with a remote, price was also in the same ballpark, but Garmin's superior software may tip the balance..

Good job Garmin!

 

Personally, I think on-the-dash is better than on the MFD, because the former is right in your line of sight, while the latter requires you to look way off to the side.

Also note that traffic information is only available in a very few big cities. I gather you are in L.A. so you're okay. But others should be aware and find out if their location has traffic info.

I'd say that if you presently have an on-the-dash GPS with traffic info, going to the system in your link would be a step backwards.

 

If you have a 2004 or 2005 you can get the MFD connection from Coastal tech or a CAN-view device. If you have a 2006, it's not available yet.

Good idea, just not quite yet. I'll bet you've got some people scrambling to implement it, though.

 

I had a Garmin after-market GPS on my last car, and it had the traffic capability.

You'll be really disappointed if you expect this to work. Garmin is a German company, and works great in Germany! But here in the U.S., we don't broadcast that info. At least not that I know of - it's been a couple years since I researched it, and it never worked on my GPS.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Dragonfly @ Aug 16 2006, 11:00 PM) [snapback]304457[/snapback]</div>

I'm sure the people at Garmin headquarters in Olathe, Kansas would be surprised to find out that they work for a German company. :blink:

 

How do you install a unit like this and would it work on an 06 prius?!?!?!?

 

http://gpsonsale.com/garmin/products/GVN-5...DSFO6P811K0KQE8

Tells a little more about the product. I would love to hear how it looks on the Prius' display. One thing is that you can't use the touchscreen, you have to use the remote for this.