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tonyhughes

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#12056 25-Feb-2007 22:10
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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?







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BrentR
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  #61933 26-Feb-2007 08:46
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I did have an iPod etc but have now moved to a JVC BT headunit that also accepts A2DP signal from my Nokia 6288 with a 2GB mini SD card.

Its brilliant having everything I need in 2 devices instead of 4 :)



tonyhughes

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  #61937 26-Feb-2007 09:31
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Jeffthechef: I did have an iPod etc but have now moved to a JVC BT headunit that also accepts A2DP signal from my Nokia 6288 with a 2GB mini SD card.

Its brilliant having everything I need in 2 devices instead of 4 :)

Thats a great idea. I thought about a line out from my treo to my head deck, but Windows mobile doesnt do it for me in terms of UI for audio playback.

What model is your head unit?







ictgeeknz
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  #61952 26-Feb-2007 10:59
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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.


That is so 1900's... haven't you heard of hover-conversion?  Tongue out









Kezzainc
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  #62035 26-Feb-2007 19:44
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Im going to go all the way... Mini ATX, 1600XP, AGP, IDE HDD's etc etc. End out costing no more than an 60gig ipod. Just need a good screen in the front and sorted. All in one device. Cool


Once you go to a real aux input you'll never use a fm modulator again.


Parrot phone kits are great tools. Best out there. Have you got the pics sending through from your phone?

grant_k
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  #62038 26-Feb-2007 19:54
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Kezzainc: Im going to go all the way... Mini ATX, 1600XP, AGP, IDE HDD's etc etc.

All those technologies are so 2005... Tongue out

Nowadays you should be using:

Mini-ITX Mobo
PCI-Express Video Card
SATA HDDs


Otherwise your rig will be outdated before you even install it...

tonyhughes

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  #62039 26-Feb-2007 20:33
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the fm does kinda suck, but its just so convenient.... (for now).

the parrot partly died ('ees not dead - 'ees RESTIN!) today, just a bright white screen - no display, but it is still under warranty, and is not hardwarired - its all plugged in with loom to iso and iso to sony cables... so will only take a few mins to remove...







Filterer
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  #62098 27-Feb-2007 09:20
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Jeffthechef: I did have an iPod etc but have now moved to a JVC BT headunit that also accepts A2DP signal from my Nokia 6288 with a 2GB mini SD card.

Its brilliant having everything I need in 2 devices instead of 4 :)


I have a v3xx and original Motoroloa stereo A2DP headphones (with a 2GB micoSD as well :) anywho I find the sound quality through the headphones not that great, I know that bluetooth encodes the music into either mp3 or someother format but it seems to be at a much lower bitrate then the 192kbs mp3s that are on the sd card.

Basically how good is the sound coming out of your car speakers? I know the quality that comes out of my headphones would sound crap if amplified to play over a car stereo.




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grant_k
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  #62109 27-Feb-2007 10:08
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Filterer: ...I know that bluetooth encodes the music into either mp3 or someother format but it seems to be at a much lower bitrate then the 192kbs mp3s that are on the sd card.

Basically how good is the sound coming out of your car speakers? I know the quality that comes out of my headphones would sound crap if amplified to play over a car stereo.

I find that it's better to copy somewhere between 150 and 200 MP3s to one CD RW disc and play it directly through the car stereo, that way the full quality is preserved.

Most car stereo head units support MP3 and WMA now at bit rates from 64kbps up to 256kbps.  By organising the MP3s into folders according to the various artists, you can then flip through to a new artist by pushing the folder up/down buttons on the head unit.  And the display will then tell you the Track / Artist / Album which is playing if your MP3s contain those tags.

In this way, just one CD RW disc at a cost of less than $1 will provide around 10 hours of music at full quality.  That should be about enough for any road trip Cool

Filterer
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#62113 27-Feb-2007 10:24
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Grant17:

In this way, just one CD RW disc at a cost of less than $1 will provide around 10 hours of music at full quality. That should be about enough for any road trip Cool


What a low tech solution :(




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grant_k
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  #62114 27-Feb-2007 10:28
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Filterer: What a low tech solution :(

TRUE...  But it works perfectly, and NO extra hardware required to clutter up the car Cool

Filterer
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  #62116 27-Feb-2007 10:45
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Dude your stuck in the 90's.... p/t

Anyway back on topic, although I don't have it yet what I would love is a a2dp bluetooth helmet for my motormacycle, I understand BMW makes such beasts, although I would image out of my price range at the moment, I think I have the back to uni blues.

Currently I use the wired headset for from my v3xx to listen to music and answer the odd call, I was quite impressed by the microphone on it, danging about BELOW the line of the bottom of my helmet I received a call while doing 80k on the motorway, pushed the answer button on the headset (attached to the microphone) and started yelling to the person on the other end expecting road/wind noise to completely overpower my voice.

I was promptly told to quiet down and continued on the conversation at normal headset levels, A+ to Motorola's noise canceling!

Apart from that their isn't much room or anyway to secure valuables to a motorbike and I don't spend enough time in the car to make gadeting it worth it




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