I just bought a Garmin Nuvi 1450T today. I'm very impressed with it. It's 1/4th the cost and has 4 times the features of my old 350.

 

I got a Garmin 1490T for my birthday about a week ago. It replaced an old TomTom. I love it so far.

 

One thing about the 1450 I love is the ability to show the elevation on the main map screen. No more going back to the main menu and attempting to click on the signal strength meter...

 

Wow! Bad advice for what you're asking for.

If you want an in-dash GPS unit, look no further then Kenwood!

Kenwood KVT-516 DVD receiver at Crutchfield.com
(Or the cheaper/older Kenwood KVT-514)

The navigation unit is made by Garmin for Kenwood. You already have a Garmin as did I.. and how much I loved it I cannot express in words.

It is the EXACT same Garmin interface as all of their portable units, but built in to a nice big screen that hides away nicely.

I'll take a video of mine to show you in a bit, it truly is fantastic.

 

The Kenwood KVT-516 is a nice unit, but it is only IPod ready, BlueTooth ready, and Navigation ready. Meaning if you want to use it with an IPod, Bluetooth phone and have navigation capabilities you would have to add on the following modules:

Kenwood KCA-iP301V IPod Adapter 29.99
Kenwood KCA-BT300 Bluetooth Adapter 149.99
Kenwood KNA-G610 Navigation Adapter 599.99

Then, if you want traffic on your GPS, you will have to buy the Kenwood KNA-NT100 at an additional 149.99.

For a total price with head unit of 1579.95. That seems pretty extreme to me.

I bought my Garmin 1490T Refurbished for 180.00 which includes lifetime traffic, bluetooth, and a 5" screen. It has all of the latest features. My head unit is an Alpine iDA-X100M which comes with an IPod connection that I paid 200.00 for. So, for a total of $380, I can do everything the the Kenwood unit can do with the exception of DVD playback for 1,200 less, and still have quality equipment. To me, I do not care about DVD playback in the Crossfire as I am too busy watching the tach and the road. On my Honda Odyssey, I do have a double din unit, and I love the DVD playback on it.

To each their own, but I would rather get a nice head unit at a decent price and purchase a semi-disposable GPS every few years. I would hate to spend 599.99 on a navigation unit and it become obsolete in a couple of years.

I have a high end Double Din head unit in my daily driver. It is an Alpine IVA-W505, and I opted to go with a standalone GPS instead of purchasing a navigation module for it.

So, I would disagree with you. It is not bad advice for what he is asking for. People are trying to explain to him the benefits of purchasing a stand alone GPS versus an integrated one. Everyone has their own opinion and budget, but I for one would not spend $1,600 for an in dash head unit with bluetooth and GPS.

 

To put another slant on it - you mentioned that you bought refurbished, which you could also do with the kenwood stuff to get the price down that on that option. Or you can do what I just did - get lucky on ebay!

The same basic Kenwood DVD receiver from a few years ago is a perfect match for our crossfire interior. The kvt-x15 line (kvt-715, kvt-815, kvt-915) has a silver and black front face. I won an 815, command box, navigation, all cables and an antenna for just over $300 on ebay. I'm hoping to score a cheap bluetooth module next!

Although, there is a downside to this model line. As far as I know, it's not compatible with the live traffic updates like the new model lines are because it uses the older kna-g510 navigation module. So you get navigation (and map updates) from Garmin, but no live traffic.

Jon

 

You certainly got a good deal on your setup, but as you stated, your navigation module is already obsolete, and you would have to buy a new head unit to get the most current navigation module that will give you the same features as most new Garmin units have now. For many people that is an acceptable trade off. Look at what was available in GPS units just a couple years ago as compared to what is available today. Now just think what lies ahead in the next couple of years. Do you really want to be married to an obsolete navigation module a couple years down the road, or would you rather be able to upgrade your standalone unit. If you are the type that wants GPS for the occasional trip, or just the cool factor to show your friends that you have GPS on your 7" screen then that is fine. If you are a serious GPS user, I would not want my unit tied to a manufacturers head unit. JMHO!

 

When it comes to my crossfire, I am the former...LOL! My crossfire is purely for the cool and fun factors. Since I wanted something that matches the interior, but also wanted navigation and really wanted an LCD display (again, for the reasons you state - just to be cool in front of my friends...LOL), I searched for a while until I found this Kenwood line of receivers.

I'm way too frugal (OK - I'll say it - too cheap!) to go out and buy the latest and greatest stuff. That's why I waited until this year to buy an SRT6 - the price point finally got low enough where my frugality would let me purchase one. And I did it even though it's an obsolete car

 

Cool, then you have a great deal that meets with your expectations. You cannot ask for more than that. I do have to correct you on your last statement though. The SRT will never be obsolete....... It is just too damn beautiful, and will age like a finely cut diamond.

 

I added the Becker navigation to my Crossfire, I added it as it was a possible option that's all really. I later added a Becker 6 disk CD player ..... just because I could.
I have just ordered the Garmin 1490T on your recommendation and will use it to the Dragon.
I always loved getting toys, nobody buys them for me any more so I have to buy my own.

 

Yes, I suppose. These are the 'retail' prices though. With Car audio equipment, you seldom pay this. You could even go refurbed or used (craigslist, ebay, etc) for even cheaper. You can also not get the 516 (I linked this one just as example) and get the 514 or 512 (previous years model, almost identical) for much, much cheaper. Say $3-400.

You can get a refurbed (which I did, actually) KNA-G510 navigation module (MADE BY GARMIN!!) for $200 shipped on eBay, right now. If I hadn't known I bought it refurbed, I would've assumed it was new. Used it for about 2? years now, not one issue.

You don't have to have an iPod connector or bluetooth, either. But if you wanted, you can pick up the iPod adapter on eBay again, for about $8 for an offbrand one, or 15$ for the official Kenwood one.

Bluetooth adapter is a bit tricky, can't seem to find a price lower then 100$ anywhere. But hey, we shouldn't include that price because your headunit is also bluetooth ready, and you have to buy an adapter for the same price (about $130). Apples to apples.

Traffic is not available on the G510 navigation module, only G610. But in my experience with other GPS units, in my city, (metro detroit), it sucked. Inaccurate is the key word that comes to mine. Although in a few years this will probably change and it'll be a realiable asset. A drawback I guess.

Expensive yes, but worth it too. That was the MSRP too of everything. If you say $400 for headunit, $200 for nav, and 20$ for iPod, that's only $620.

You paid about $380 for this. There are positives and negatives to each. You can take your GPS to another car, or anywhere. You can't with a built in in-dash (I have an iPhone with TomTom on it, so that was a deciding factor). You get a 7" screen vs a 5" screen. No traffic on the indash, but traffic on the portable.

The biggest deciding factor to me, and it seems that the OP has in common, is that it is all integrated in the car. I turn the key and the screen pops out with a nice 7" display for selecting songs/artists/playlists by touch(!!) with my ipod, and all touch controls with a big screen for my Garmin navigation. I don't have to worry about suction cup mounts, power cords going into the cigarette lighter, etc. My brother had a standalone Garmin and left it on his windshield, someone broke in and stole it! Now he has to take it down every time he leaves the car. Just convenience. I paid about 250$ more for mine, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Different needs, different wants. That's all. I love having my headunit foldaway when I turn my car off and having EVERYTHING hidden in my car.

I've made my case in the above. It's more like $200-300, and you can update maps, firmware, etc from the unit. I'd also argue that my in-dash is a better headunit then your Alpine, as well. Not that the Alpine isn't a good unit.



It's a fair point. There are many benefits over a standalone GPS vs an integrated one. But your price point which you base your entire argument on isn't fair.

 

You make very valid points. Like I said it is all in personal desires and budget. Truth be told, if my XFire was my daily driver, I would either have a pop-up unit like the Kenwood, or I would modify my dash to accommodate a Double Din unit like I have in my Honda Odyssey. As my XFire is only a weekend driver, I am less concerned about that.

I do think that it is helpful to paint a picture of both sides of the argument, and then let the buyer make the final decision. I think we have done a good job in this regard.

This is the head unit I have in my Odyssey... http://www.alpine-usa.com/product/view/iva-w505 , so I guess I am not the one to make too much of a deal about price.

Cheers

 

Agreed! However, I noticed last night after looking over this thread again, that the original poster already made his decision almost a month ago! We've been contributing to a dead thread...LOL!

Oh well, at least it's a good discussion that will hang around in the semi-infinite ether of the internet and will hopefully help others make a choice.

 

LOL...... Well, at least we had a little fun (even if useless) banter.

 

Made me want to go out and shop for a new one for the motorhome you guy ROCK ...GOOD INFO TOO