robert_tsxgeek

I been wondering what percentage of people went for the Nav system..
How to start a poll ? or is there one already ?

ricecake

I added a Poll to this thread, after doing a search. Actually, you might find the search function of this site pretty useful:
http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/search.php?

So far, this "licked my finger and touched that Navi screen" is my favorite Navi-oriented thread:
http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/show...highlight=navi

dabuda

i know where N/E/W/S is...no navi for me

Dan Martin

Where's the "I don't have navi because it isn't available in Canada so I bought an aftermarket unit" option?

tsXgtp

Its not just about getting form point A to B. There is much more to the system

gfxdave99

Right next to the canadians dont get to vote option

jginnane

jginnane

1. Back at Xmas time, I got a Toshiba P25-S609 off Ebay for $1600. I paid escrow.com about $100, and paid for express delivery from Chicago, another ~$50. [In case it was "hot" merchandise, I have a paper trail.] This laptop retailed then for $2800. and it arrived NIB.

2. On the 60GB HD I have "DeLorme Street Atlas" tucked away in one corner. I can add a GPS receiver whenever necessary for about $70. (Software cost to me is $0.00)

3. The DVD-R burner also allows me to play any movies I want on the 17" widescreen. Airbus and Boeing are currently using 7" diagonal screens, so I have about 4X as much real estate. The 1440x900 pixel screen driven by a 128MB Radeon is a little beter than hooking a DVD player up to your navi screen, I believe.

4. When the laptop goes, I get a replacement. When I trade in the TSX, if I'm lucky the navi system might be worth about $300. -- the cost of one "upgrade disk". BUT if the navi system goes in the TSX, even under warranty, they'll have to rip into the dash. And who knows what that'll cost after the warranty's gone?

5. When people are watching movies in the front passenger seat of the TSX, OTOH, the screen is so large to passersby it's like a pimped-out Escalade. (But it's just a Windows-based P4 laptop.)

6. Did I mention that for $1800 I also got a TV tuner and remote (with the Toshiba)? That I can use Dragon Naturally Speaking to command my PC to do anything from jump/repeat chapters in WinDVD, to reading my email aloud? (No, I don't have a satellite link. The laptop comes with Bluetooth, so I'd have to wheel into a MacDonald's or Starbucks (or home) to get my email, first.)

7. It's true that I have not yet linked the laptop to the audio system in the TSX, so if I want to listen to music in MP3 format, my current procedure would be to use headphones on the laptop. OTOH I have well over 60,000 MP3s, and it takes 4 minutes to burn a 70-minute CD-R that will play in the TSX, and that blank disc costs $0.20 plus maybe $0.10 for a plastic case.

In summary -- the navi system is a wonderful thing, Acura makes about the best one out there, and if it cost in the range of $100-150 it might be worth it.

Dan Martin

It's definetly worth more than $100-$150 but it should be less than $1000.

dom

Luck for Dan, we have Canadian mods.

Dan Martin

TSX 'R' US

How aboot: Don't have navi cause I didn't have 2k on me at the time




probably same as "I don't have nav - I wish I bought it!" eh?

jginnane

Howsabout: "I got it, and now in 71 more monthly payments I'll own it, too!"

Dan Martin

tsx is an adult 3d archery league <- do we have any members here?
tsx is probably tapping the market at one of the least favorable times in recent history <- Well it's selling pretty well.
tsx is freeware <- I wish! I wonder if it falls under the GPL?
tsx is about $39 <- Hey that's not freeware!
tsx is a four arm telerobot with one arm permanently grappled to a spacelab pallet <- I must have missed that option.
tsx is slated for a shuttle mission in the fall of 2000 <- that must have been expensive!

NightHawk CL9

gfxdave99

Yeah it would have been like an extra 40/mo over 48 mo or 1920 for something i dont get to keep at the end of 4 years.. i think i'll just get a stand alone GPS

Dan Martin

$40/mo?? I'd check your math if I were you.

HondaGuy347

I've got it, and I don't know that I would've bought the TSX without it...it makes it go from a nice, but ordinary car, to something really special, especially for under $30k.

The only way I could justify it to myself is that I move around a lot for the Navy. When I am home in CT, I use the Navi maybe 1 a week. But when I change duty stations, I will use it multiple times a day. If I didn't plan on relocating anytime soon, I dunno what I would've bought...maybe an 03 TL-S, maybe a 1 year old G35, or if my insurance could take it, a Z. I really wanted an S2000 (Or an old Porsche Turbo), but I didn't think one of those could be my only car. This way, I think the TSX will last 10 years or so (My Dad has 10 years on his Integra, and it shows no sign of dying anytime soon), so when I pay the TSX off in 5, I want to pick up an older S2000 for a weekend toy.

gfxdave99

Directly from the Acura Lease calculator.

2004 TSX No navi 48mo lease 15k 2500 down = 338.62/mo
2004 TSX w/navi 48 mo lease 15k 2500 down = 383.08/mo

383.08 - 338.62 = 44.46/mo
$44.46 x 48mo = $2134.08

Basically the navi has no residual value for the lease so you end up paying for the whole thing.

So i was actually lowballing it.

Dan Martin

That's brutal.

EDIT: Ok I just looked it up. Why isn't there any residual on it? That doesn't make sense. Maybe the calculator online is different than the one they use at the dealers. I don't remember anyone saying it was that much before. Should be around $20/mo for 48mo.

tsXgtp

It is closer to $40 w\ a Balloon finance. You have to pay for 100% of the options. Not the residual like on a true lease (same with tax).

Jason

:fingerfawk: Your laptop solution is ghetto. If you spent $1750 to put a laptop in your car you're out of your mind.

jginnane

The laptop was gotten in December '03; the TSX replaced the Mercedes in February '04. "Check your math" is the operative term here, I believe. :P

And now, plz be so kind as to respond back on your two thousand dollar navi system. Huh? Whazzat?!

Would you believe... I've been schlepping laptops in my work since a dual-floppy Nec Multispeed with a V20 chip?


This works, and so does the Willie Loman (travelling salesman) routine. Provided you can carry enough Fuller Brushes to make a trip worthwhile. But it's still hard to fax an order in.

Jason

What??

I am a travelling salesman just like Willie, the only difference being I'm successful. And I don't need to fax my orders in. I have an HP iPAQ 4355 that has Excel and Bluetooth (and Wi-Fi if necessary). Combined with my SE T610 BT cell phone, I can write my orders on the PDA with the custom form I created, connect to the web wirelessly via my phone anywhere in the country, and then e-mail my order in to customer service. No laptop needed. Unbeatable.

I concede the point on the movie capability but that would only get me in trouble.

sleeper

don't have it, don't want it. i know most people like it, but when i look at my dash, everything seems smoother and evenly spread out without it. the nav system just added more clutter for me. i just want to get in my ride and drive. at any rate, i rarely get lost and there's always the thomas guide and internet directions.

i can't wait to get a 64/65/66 mustang. what can i say? i love the simple life.

iamhomin

Well, none of the Navi-TSX'ers are regretting their Navi-system, but some non-navi-TSX'ers are.

jginnane

No keyboard, huh. I hate that. The navi system in the Mercedes was called a "COMAND" system (one "M"), and the instruction book was the size of a phone book. Bloody useless, unless you want to impress someone with your geekitude. (You could still peck out a little string of letters with a stylus, like "text messaging" on a cellphone.)

Isn't Garmin or one of the other GPS companies getting in the PDA game? GPS is an application everyone should have some access to (on something). But I think $2K for a nonportable (dashboard mounted unit) is priced off the wall, and the prices I've seen quoted for the "map upgrade disc" are a bad joke.

I would absolutely not touch such a system unless I could rip discs with CloneDVD or the like -- in part because I'd want to author/organize parts of my own database. (That, at least, is something you can do with the DeLorme system.)

Ahh, depends on your movie choice(s), depends on who owns the computer, depends on whether you're solo in a distant city with "Pay Per View" as your late evening entertainment option. We get a lot of Asian movies (via alt.binaries.vcdz) -- that way, we see a lot of stuff without one of the basic dozen Hollywood plots. And we can still do other things with the laptop, like replying in this forum.

robert_tsxgeek

Really ?

Jason

The discs are a ripoff but they're unnecessary. Garmin does make a PDA but it's a Palm and I have no use for it. Also, why do I need a GPS PDA when I have a state of the art navigation system with built-in calendar, trip computer, and calculator?

I can do this with my PDA and don't have to use such an unwieldy device.

robert_tsxgeek

and by then that flashy Toshiba would be a $20 dinasaur...name me one thing that depreciates faster
than computer.
Wow ! you're gonna be one busy boy driving around with that thing....what's next ? a mini bar ?
watch where you park or hide it in trunk or take it with ya.

...btw how you mounting that thing ?

Stokeless_TSX

i love my navi...she talks to me when im lonely on long trips lol

Mighty1

Navi is my only friend.

jginnane

Hmm ... hmm ... "Baked Alaska" :P


Oh, we often drive around with one. Laptop, that is. And don't even need to have it turned on all the time. You know where it's great, though?

Sunday night, the weekend Shore crowd leaves, so if you're on the Parkway heading north at that time, you're in a 40-mile stop-n-go parking lot. Creep. And crawl. Brake. Look at the people next to you. They've been there for 45 minutes, and you've gone a quarter mile. And they're ugly, besides.

Wouldn't you really rather be watching "Ichi the Killer" -- or "Dodgeball" --? Some Akiro Kurosawa, anyone?

Or, I suppose, if you had the $2,000.00 Acura Navigation System, you could check up on the eateries along the way (that you can't get to, because the Parkway is limited access). And if you were paying over time, you could calculate how many trips to Wendy's it was costing to look at the little blip creep along on the screen.

I been schlepping these since before you didn't have to worry about the crackheads knowing what they was and stealing them. True, you can't take them on the beach (unless you get the one built into the surfboard). I often don't need GPS to know which way to get to the ocean, though.


Missionary position -- why?

Viking

Have the navi. Looks cool, but have to admit I rarely use it.

Jason

That's surprising. Do you live in NYC proper? How often you drive?

Ozzman

Seriously though, does this mean if there is a passenger in the front seat they have to hold the laptop the whole time on a trip, and if there is no passenger, isn't it a little distracting to look all the way down and the passenger seat (assuming -maybe incorrectly- that that is where it rests)? Do you have to secure it to the seat so it won't fall if there is a quick stop? Plus typing while driving would seem more difficult than using the touch screen, which is more like adjusting the radio while driving.

Sturm

If the navi was available in Canada I definitely would have got it with my TSX

sleeper

ummm.....not the tv show.

j/k

as if we didn't get enough the first time around, they've gone and made a sequel!

jginnane

[QUOTE=Ozzman]Seriously though, does this mean if there is a passenger in the front seat they have to hold the laptop the whole time on a trip,/QUOTE]

Well, the time since we've gotten the TSX isn't sufficient to have established a permanent procedure. I'm by far the better keyboarder and wiffey's on Wheel [Got the dog on Bass -- rim shot!]

Seriously, there are few occasions we need GPS or mapping software, like our DeLorme, within 150 miles of our home. And that's where the car is 99.5% of the time. (That's why I said in a previous thread that it works OK for travelling salesmen.)

When we're in the car with the laptop, we are more inclined to watch movies on it instead of having the car audio on, simply because we auto d/l 6-10 hours of fresh material every day with NewsbinPro. The driver doesn't usually get to see much. The front passenger seat's lap is pretty good for any rear seat passengers... the car isn't big enough to handle a drop-down screen this size (17" in 16:9 format).


So far, in four months, when I've been driving the car alone, I've had two occasions where I wanted to look up an address. (That's about average over the 3+ decades I've been driving.) Instead of using a map, or following pre-printed directions from mappoint or similar, I just pull over to the side of the road and look it up on DeLorme.

Most guys have a good sense of "compass direction" so in daytime, things are usually OK. Like most guys, I'm much more likely to get confused on an overcast day or driving at night. (The TSX could use a good electric compass in the rearview mirror. But they leave that $10 item off to help justify getting the GPS, maybe.)


Naah! A coat or carrybag in the footwell is sufficient. Anyone who's ever driven with a cup of coffee knows the maneuver of how to catch things in a stop.


The touchpad pointing device for the laptop has always been an annoyance, esp. for us lefties. But if I really, really needed to do a fair amount of input while I was driving, I'd be using that software "Dragon Naturally Speaking" more. Or I'd be dictating.

I just realized that you might be talking about a very different use of the TSX than the way we use it. For us, it's the second car. Wiffey disappears for hours shopping, puts maybe 20-40 on it. Or we drive it on weekends, like the 70 miles to Atlantic City. Sometimes we use it at night -- hence the Bosch lights.

If we had only one car, or if this had to be the primary... I don't know if we would have even considered it, frankly. Probably would've gotten something bigger and heavier, like the car we traded in. (There's a big difference between spending 5-10 hours a week in a car and 20-30.)

Ozzman

Allright jginnane, makes sense to me. We all may have different uses for the navigation, and if your solution works well for you, than that's great. One nice thing about the laptop solution is its mobility, since you have two cars, you can bring it along in either one.

On a side note, I'm a little surprised no one yet on the poll has said they've regretted getting the navigation yet. No buyer's remorse for anyone on a $2k item? I love mine, but I figured there would be at least a few who wish they saved the 2k.