Show me yours, I'll let you see mine!

[BrianE]

In another thread JDUB started to brag about his new GPS setup. How about some pictures, Big Guy - here's mine.

This is a photo of our Garmin 7200. With the help of an on-line TV geek that I found, a flip of a switch turns the screen into a very nice color backup monitor.

[Jerry Winchester]

Brian,

I am going to pick my coach up tomorrow and will get some pics of it then.

But here is the preview shot;



This is an AM / FM / XM / CD / iPod / MP3 player that works via touch screen or with a remote.

Then it serves as a DVD and video iPod player that is also the back up camera system. However, when it was installed they hooked it up to the AV system on the coach so you can also watch DirecTV from the sat. sytem on the coach or the DVD player(s) in the rear of the coach. It also displays the Marathon monitor screen info.

Then it had a module added to it where it is Bluetooth linked to my cell phone, so I can talk via a mic in the front and the sound comes out the stereo speaker in the front. Nothing like hearing Loc do his Woody Woodpecker imitation on 6 speakers.

The GPS system that Kenwood uses is Garmin, so it is like your unit. It is linked to realtime weather and traffic via the XM radio, so on the maiden voyage when I pulled out on I-10 in Houston it started barking about the traffic and the road turned yellow. It will suggest detours if you prompt it or the road turns red.

So when you put all these features together with the Marathon switches on the front panel you about need a type rating to run the thing. It also plays most of the video feed on the passangers monitor located on the right side of the coach.

I had it on the shakedown trip last weekend, but have been in Algeria all week, so I hadn't been able to finish my analysis of how well it all worked.

And I forgot my video iPod on the trip but I did hook it up to my wife's iPhone and it played music. I won't get to check the video part out until tomorrow.

It was interesting to see behind the panel when they installed the unit. The original monitor was recessed a lot, so this one had to be moved forward which turned out okay. Marathon had also installed some extra push button switches in the dash that we used for switching. I now need to figure out how to make some labels for them just like the originals.

And I was able to donate the Alpine unit that came out to Krak4U Tom as it appears his took a dump and they are the same unit. Yes Tom I am mailing it tomorrow. I didn't trust the girls to pack it up while I was gone.

This is kinda what the first screen looks like but on a different unit.



JDUB

[Ray Davis]

Didn't you have a funky GPS (like mine) which came in the 2001/2 units? Did you replace your unit with this one? If so, did it pretty much bolt in place, or was their major reworking involved. I' have the Alpine, and it's pretty (ahem) sucky.

[rfoster]

Wow How nice is that? Looks great.

It is very similar to the Pioneer setup I had installed in mine. But I have no IPOD adaptor. I have not been very happy with the Navigation of the Pioneer and have had the dealer reinstall and reinstall and update and reinstall software to run it. I use it for a radio and control video to the passenger side monitor (Sat, VCR, CD, DVD, or reg TV.) Great concept I just needed the Nav to not get confused. It also has bluetooth capable, voice recognition, phone number destinations also.

I wound up buying a smaller Garmin Street Pilot, then Nuvi 600 and now Nuvi 5000 with back up camera capable. Touchscreen and remote controllable. Ashamed to say how much I spent on this stuff.

Let me know if the Nav works good -if its a Garmin I feel confident they have it together. But like mine I believe they got more info than their little brain can handle. I can not recommend the Pioneer.

[tdelorme]

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Thanks for that Ted. I'll bet you don't have no stinkin LED's either.

[Jerry Winchester]

Ray,

We had exactly the same Alpine unit and between the Garmin stuff in my plane and the Garmin stuff in my other rides, the Alpine paled in comparison.

So this one is okay but I have not put it to the test. I can tell you that I don't think it will compare to the Garmin 496 which has to be one of if not the best multi purpose GPSs I have ever seen.

I'm bringing some carbide for Ted and Jon to recharge their lamps with in TN.

On a side note, Rae had the Hummer serviced yesterday and the loaner was the new H3 and when you shift it into reverse, a backup camera monitor pops out of the side of the rear view mirror. Pretty slick.

[BrianE]

Very nice Jerry. Guess I'll have to hook up the XM/weather/traffic dealy so I can get back in the techno race. By the way, what's an IPOD?

[Jerry Winchester]

Not to be confused with Digital audio player.

iPod® is a brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple and launched on October 23, 2001. The line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod classic, the touchscreen iPod touch, the video-capable iPod nano, and the screenless iPod shuffle. Former products include the compact iPod mini (replaced by the iPod nano) and the spin-off iPod photo (re-integrated into the main iPod classic line). iPod classic models store media on an internal hard drive, while all other models use flash memory to enable their smaller size (the discontinued mini used a Microdrive miniature hard drive). As with many other digital music players, iPods, excluding the iPod Touch, can also serve as external data storage devices.

Apple's iTunes software is used to transfer music to the devices. As a jukebox application, iTunes stores a music library on the user's computer and can play, burn, and rip music from a CD. It also transfers photos, videos, games, and calendars to those iPod models that support them. Apple focused its development on the iPod's unique user interface and its ease of use, rather than on technical capability. As of October 2007, the iPod had sold over 141 million units worldwide (stated in "The Beat Goes On" conference) making it the best-selling digital audio player series in history.

[phorner]

Great looking GPS setup! We use a Garmin 660 which we have been very satisfied with. Just received the 2008 map up-date, for free, from Garmin.

The bus has a Pioneer GPS system built in, but I rely on the Garmin. The Pioneer unit hasn't convinced me that I can trust it, and it's a little more clumsy to deal with while driving.