I was going to take install pictures... but realized it was useless to anybody else. Most of the install was exactly the same as the first gen, with the only exceptions for me being removal of the isimple gateway I had in the car. Plus, the directions were pretty damn perfect.
Initial impressions:
Looks perfect. Plastic matches stock perfectly. Screen has two brightness settings, bright is good in the overcast day we're having.
Nav is definitely better than the videos I've seen of the first gen units. GPS antenna is magnetic, and tucked up under the dash nicely, got full location within seconds of firing it up first time.
Except... it saw I was in NY, and when I went to program my parents' address in Florida, it took some time figuring out how to make it find addresses out of state. Probably a good thing, because I switched it to the entire US and tried to put in Tallahassee, and it was trying to keep up with predictive. It was maybe 5 or 6 seconds until it caught up and would accept inputs again.
And once it started routing, it had an error pop up. After another hour or two of playing around with it, error didn't pop back up.
Bluetooth streaming audio is on par with the isimple gateway, which makes me think the weak link of the audio system in my car isn't the bluetooth module. Music streams well, but you have to select the bluetooth audio button on the phone screen to get it to play. That took me a few seconds to figure out. Does not display artist or song info on screen from my iphone using stock music app or pandora, not a deal breaker, but it just displays a bland message about a2dp.
MP3 CD playback is basically stock, except the stupid green lcd screen is replaced by the big touch screen.
Added bonus, in the settings screen, there is an option for city, which I programmed in. I connected it to my wifi and it pulled weather data! On the main screen, it's the cloud button on the top near the left side of the screen.
So overall initial impressions: Keep your stock radio stock, but add navigation and bluetooth? For sure. Very slick layout, looks amazing to me, but my first passenger had NO clue it wasn't a stock piece. Which, I guess, is a huge compliment. It's a few hundred cheaper than any option for an aftermarket head unit, and the heater/ac controls aren't stupid. One of my biggest holdups on looking at alpine perfect fit and the kenwood head units was that the stock knobs would be replaced by stupid buttons. Definitely worth it to me just to keep the knobs.
I'll update with more thoughts on it in a few days, when I have had ample time to live with it for a while. I'll use nav for trips to some different destinations, the nav menu has options for parking near destination, so I'm interested in how that turns out.
Also: I didn't install the backup camera because of what is showing on the weather screen. Install without the camera was about an hour to an hour and a half, and I am not the handiest man around. I bet somebody with actual ability to work on cars could do it quicker.
Finally: Pictures! Just quick ones with the iphone, my car is a mess from the winter. I'll take it for a detailing at some point soon and get better pictures.
First: The error. I think this was a fluke from me being a jerk to it making it search the entire country with the predictive text working the whole time.
Screen you see while streaming bluetooth audio to it:
CD payback screen:
Nav screen:
Destination info screen from nav:
Weather screen (also why I wasn't getting on my back on the brick driveway to install the camera):
A giant thanks to Alex for sending me one of these to test out!
Car on a battery tender when it's down?
