[s-cars] VLAC

[Brett Dikeman]

On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 6:48 PM, Robert Myers <bob at chips-ur-s.com> wrote:

> Very Little Audi Content.  I'm looking to replace my obsolete Garmin
> Streetpilot 2610 GPS.

CNET has extensive reviews.  Or just go to the local Best Buy, play
with one, buy it, return it if you hate it.  They're all so alike
these days, it's somewhat hard to go wrong.  Most of the decision
needs to be around what you want/need- do you want to take it hiking
or boating?  Do you want live traffic info (next to useless unless you
live in a major metropolitan area), how big a screen do you want, etc.

I considered buying one until I saw a)how often the damn things were
getting stolen (do NOT leave it or its mount/cables in sight- they're
stolen constantly in any city of appreciable size) and b)how good the
interface is on the Volvo nav units.  So instead, I made sure the car
I bought had the factory nav.

Center of the dash, big screen, excellent intersection diagrams, and
controls are both on the steering wheel where your fingers rest (on
the BACK of the steering wheel), and via IR remote for passengers.
It's even linked into wheelspeed (and possibly either steering angle
or compass, I forget) for dead reckoning.  Works great 2 miles under
the ocean when you're headed to Logan Airport.  Downsides?  Annoying
scale selections (3 miles or 15?  WTF?), street names are rarely
displayed, it's glacially slow on occasion, and sometimes it doesn't
do a very good job at satellite acquisition, though it's rarely been
an issue in part because it excels at dead reckoning.

-B