We have in the past had some threads for members to display pics of their rides, but I thought this time round, we could talk about the Geek gadgets that live in your car...
It can be difficult deciding what goes in your car, from a security standpoint, you dont want too much gear lying around to have to put away everytime you park in public, and there are also price, space, distraction, usability & convenience considerations.
I have:
Navman ICN 330 (Mainly for out of town trips - I am very bad at finding places, and this thing is GREAT!)
Parrot 3200 LS Color Screen Bluetooth Car Kit (Mounted on dashboard, connects with Treo 700wx if available, or falls back to my V600i)
Apple iPod 60GB Video (White) with Belkin TuneDok Cradle and Griffin iTrip Auto (Plugged in via hidden wiring + cig socket in center console armrest)
The Navman has been worth its weight in gold, despite a few navigational glitches here and there (like using a calculator, you should be able to mentally ball-park the outcome you desire, and not put blind faith in technology). I would like to have the Navman integrated somewhere on the dashboard, but it would require a lot of customisation to the dashboard, which I really dont have the inclination to do, so I will continue to store the Navman in the glovebox when not in use.
The Parrot kit is great - I really love seeing the callers name and phone number displayed on my dashboard, and operating the unit via voice-command.
I recently installed a new Sony head unit, which is capable of having a $99 cable plugged in the back, the other end of which plugs into an ipod. You hide the ipod in your glovebox permanently, and the track names and playback controls are displayed/controlled directly on the stereo unit itself. Very cool. I have the cable on order, and then my iPod nano will live permanently in the car, the 60GB can go back in the house, and I will sell the iTrip Auto and TuneDok on TradeMe, the car will look that much tidier, and I wont have to put the iPod away when parking in public.
The iPod is mainly there for my rock/hard rock/mainstream metal collection, but also has a few playlists of songs that my partner likes a lot (middle of the road rock, girl pop (Norah Jones etc) etc etc). Saves stuffing around with CDs, and we could drive through the tunnel from Auckland to Sydney, pop through to Adelaide, back to Sydney, and take the Tasman Bridge back over to Wellington without hearing the same song twice.
So what do you have in the car now, and what plans do you have?