The Worn Out Subject of Navigation

I've had navigation in my last dozen cars, and have become reliant on it. I can't figure out if I'm throwing out money to install a "built in" unit, as opposed to a portable. Looks is a factor, as is funtion. If I do get a built in, should I get the PCM II, or an after market, such as Eclipse, or Kenwood? Wadda youse guys tink??? And how much moolah would you spend???

I love my PCM! It works great

I love my "navigation system" as well. My Rand McNally is incredible. Chad

PCMII is not my choice, I thought it was the least intuitive system to use ever. I hated it for every day of the two weeks I had it in the car. I changed to Alpine, which I thought was the cat's meow...and now have the Kenwood 7015...which I think is one of the best out there. Expensive, but worth every penny. PS this subject isn't even close to being "worn out"...unlike the whole RMS thingy.

I agreed with RobynC. I have both Alpine (in my Toyota Sequoia) and Kenwood (2004 40th Anniversary 911) systems and I can tell you that the Alpine is a little bit easier to program. Both systems however are much better than the Porsche PCM II system which I had it replaced after a few months. Minh

Garmin Quest. It's $550, and goes anywhere in your pocket. I travel all over and take it with me. It's more accurate than my Alpine fixed system in another car. Bought the Europe database and it's going to Europe with me next week. It's about the size of my cellphone. check it out at Garmin.com (I am not affiliated)

First of all, the 996 has TWO screen ready areas, so from the aesthetic point of view, I'd never go w/ anything BUT a 6.5" screen. In addition, the *real* nav screens offer easeof use and speed that the garmin can only dream of. That said, PCM sucks. I have an alpine NVE 82A w/ tme 760 screen. The alpine is much faster and easier to use than the porsche nav in my buds 40th ann 996. Correct me if i'm wrong, but there's not even a standby/map screen which shows where you are IF not on a route guidance. I'm personally holding out for the eclipse AVN5495. 30GB HDD, even faster as it utilizes the HD for nav routing, saves data and uses the other 20GB for ripping cds>mp3. Oh yeah, then it also slices and dices, and hasw some simulated 5.1 out of 4 speakers...

Maybe Alpine has improved. I have the NVE-852 with the CVA1005 and it is miserable. Glad to hear the newer head unit works better.

yeah, mine is the 852A (correction). It routes fast, has tons of data and is really user friendly. I'm just curious what was miserable with the 852. IMO the alpine is way better than infiniti/nissan nav, on equal w/ acura (no voice tho), but is trumped by lexus's sweet oem nav. IMO, porsche/vw/audi nav all stink....I mean 2003 and still using CDs? cmon guys. That said, the newer porsche nav is better - but still C-L-U-N-K--Y

The 852A doesn't let you scroll through multiple instances of the same name and then back up. In fact, backing up frequently requires starting over. You have to diddle with the parking brake in order to use it while you are driving, and sometimes it boots you out if you stop/start. The place that installed it never could get the voice to balance with the music, so on "0" you get nothing and on "1" you get your ears shattered. The Garmin is much more forgiving and faster in terms of input, and I can input the address or waypoint when I am in the airplane and it's ready to go when I get in the rental car. It also has a 12 channel satellite receiver vs the 8 channel in the alpine, and is more accurate than the alpine even w/o the wheel speed input.

and one more thing. I bought the AINET system because it was supposed to be future proof. It torqued me big time that when I went to add the MP3 changer I was told AINET had been "improved" and I'd have to replace my whole system in order for it to work!

Your system was bunk then, because I had my Alpine for two years and never experienced any of the problems you did. And with the voice deally...sounds like your installer had issues...or the system. The only problem I had with my Alpine was from the monitor and a very, very high frequency noise that not everyone could hear, but drove me nuts.

could be downrev system too. got mine in '00

personally, i think the the garmin looks *** (aesthetically speaking). but hey, to ach their own. any way you slice it - ANy aftermkt nav is better than porsche (especially the new stuff 03-on)

I agree. It looks like crap, and built in nav looks way better. But, most of the time it's in my briefcase. 5 years from now nav will be ultra cheap and standard in almost every vehicle. BTW, the first GPS I used in 1982 was the size of a steamer trunk and all it gave was your location in decimal D/M/S on a vacuum tube digital display. Gotta love technology.

I have the all in one, fixed screen Eclipse AVN 2450 with AM/FM, CD, CDchanger, DVD, NAV, and its great. But it costs $3000. But thats nothin to me, I'm into stereo.

in what model year vehicle did you install all that??

are you running outboard amps w/ the eclipse? if not - does it improve on stock bose?

Qirex: My apologies. I have the NVE851A, not the 852A. Ancient technology, I guess.

The car is a 04 and I put in the Eclipse EA 3532 5 channel amp. So the Optional Bose system is completely removed. And all the speakers are replaced with Boston Acoustic Pro seperates. And a custom rear enclosure with 4 BAPro 6 woofers. Is it better? Its about the same difference as a VW beetle compared to a 996.

I love my Alpine system in my Pcar, it works flawlessly. I also have the Pioneer AVIC N1 and it doesn't hold a candle to the Alpine but it was alot cheaper.