Alpine nav vs tomtom

[nbudros 10+ year member]

So I have a w200, and i wana get a blackbird and use it docked to my w200 so i can use onscreen to navigate.

Is there anyway to dock the blackbird with out buying a 200 docker?

second am i better off just buying a tom tom(or similar unit) and saving some money?

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[Spooby 10+ year member]

So I have a w200, and i wana get a blackbird and use it docked to my w200 so i can use onscreen to navigate.
Is there anyway to dock the blackbird with out buying a 200 docker?

No. Also the docking cradle has been delayed since April 2006, with no ETA in sight.

second am i better off just buying a tom tom(or similar unit) and saving some money?

If you already have the W200 then why not just get the blackbird?

 

[mendon99 10+ year member]

the tomtom is awful, and since you have the w200 you might as well just get hte blackbird. Its a much better piece..

not to mention, they just went down in price, from 700 to 500.

 

[explorer2 10+ year member]

the tomtom is awful, and since you have the w200 you might as well just get hte blackbird. Its a much better piece..
not to mention, they just went down in price, from 700 to 500.

how is the tomtom awfull, I have one and could not be happier with it, I havent used any other aftermarket car ones, but this thing is many times better than any factory nav I have used (bmw, mercedes, ford,gm, porshe, audi, honda), and although it is missing a lot of features that marine units have you really cant compare the two.

 

[bigp69 10+ year member]

are Alpine HU better then pioneer?

 

[Spooby 10+ year member]

are Alpine HU better then pioneer?

It really depends on why you are buying either the Alpine unit or the Pioneer. There is a REALLY wide price difference, but its mainly because the Pioneer has everything packed into one unit and the Alpine doesn't.

I prefer the Alpine because of the pulse touch, and the ability to interface with the PXA-H701 directly.

 

[SQChevy 10+ year member]

Alpine might not have it rolled up into one, but I think the components are better overall. That of course is my opinion as I do carry all Alpine gear. I've had Pioneer before and just like the Alpine setup a little better. My friend who still has a Pioneer plans on getting an Alpine next as he has seen the ones I've had and before you ask it's changing head units on a competition vehicle for better sound and dvd ability.

 

[nbudros 10+ year member]

April 2006? Lol it is nov 2006 right now? how can it not be out? sigh ****ing alpine.

I bought alpine cus you can mix and match, i dont have to buy everything at once. which i loved.

 

[jluv 10+ year member]

I'm a big fan of Alpine. Always have been. I got a Blackbird shortly after they came out, and I had lots of problems with it. It was supposed to beep every time you touched it to make selections. It would beep maybe 1 out of every 30 times. It would lock up sometimes and not do anything. I would have to take the battery out just to turn it off. So I exchanged it for another. Never had the beeping issue again, but this one also locked up often and wouldn't even power down. Sometimes it wouldn't locate satellites even in a major city. I would drive through Fort Worth fighting wit it the whole time and I would end up finding my destination the old fashioned way and the Blackbird would still be "calculating". When used out of the cradle, the battery life SUCKED. In the cradle, the sound would sometimes be amplified and sometimes not. I only know two other guys personally that have one, and they have experienced similar issues. I got it before the price went down, and my whole motivation behind buying it was to use it with the W200. I kept hearing that the docking stations were coming out "any day now". They still haven't. My Blackbird got stolen a few weeks ago (along with almost all of my other equipment), and it's the only thing I am not going to replace. Maybe they will get it right eventually, but my experience with the Blackbird has not been a good one, and I would not recommend it at all.

 

[Spooby 10+ year member]

I've got one and I've had the same problems. Had to ship it to thier authorized service center to replace the entire unit so I'm waiting to see if everything will be fixed. supposedly they updated the firmware and it is alot better.

 

[mendon99 10+ year member]

wow, really? ive used an up to date blackbird many times recently and have seen none of those problems, at all, its been basically flawless. The docks are now in.. at my shop at least.

 

[jluv 10+ year member]

wow, really? ive used an up to date blackbird many times recently and have seen none of those problems, at all, its been basically flawless. The docks are now in.. at my shop at least.

Do you use it daily? If so, and no problems, maybe they have fixed the bugs. Or maybe it's still hit or miss.

The docking stations are in?!?!? Have you used it with the W200 yet?

 

[boogeroby72 10+ year member]

get a garmin spc340 and be happy.

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

the Tom Tom has world maps instead of just regions

 

[SEvald125 10+ year member]

I like alpine Headunits, my friend has one and its great.