Paymaster

I recently purchased the Blaupunkt RNS149 that was posted on the deals page. My friend bought one as well, and it is a pretty sweet system.

Anyway, he got his first, and shopped around for an installation location. Some of the big chains (best buy, circuit city) said that they could not even install this device because of the complexity. (It is a "true" navigation system, which integrates with your speedometer as well as communicating with the GPS sattelites.)

Good guys is able to do it, but we both agreed that having a bunch of high school kids cutting up the wires in our dash was a bad idea.

He found a local specialty shop "Paradyme" that could do the install.

At first, they tried to talk him out of it. They said it would be expensive, they said that people complained that the voice was unclear, and that the display was too small. They said that they would not guarantee the work. He decided to go with it anyway. They then called him partway and said that they would need to charge an additional $50 ($210 total) because of the complexity. He still went ahead with it.

Anyway, his install is perfect. The voice and display are very clear and usable. We don't know what paradyme's problem with it was.

So now I called them to have mine installed.

They started with a $300 "minimum" quote. When I called them on the fact that did my friends for $210, they said "hmmm.... let's see, you've got a Chevy. Chevy's are more complicated."

That's fishy statement #1. I decide to go forward with it, though. I now ask for a saturday installation appointment.

THEM: "We're booked this saturday."
ME: "Okay, how about next saturday?"
THEM: "We're booked that saturday too."
ME: "Okay, what is the next satruday that you have free?"
THEM: "Nothing until August."
ME: "Okay, that's fine. Let's book it."

Now he starts hemming an hawing again. He then decides that he can't even do this install on a saturday. It has to be a weekday. At this point I tell him that I guess I can't use their installation service, I'll have to go elsewhere.

Basically, I got the impression that they don't want to install this device. I can't figure out why.

So here's the question: would you guys trust Good Guys to an install like this? Is there any other chain you would recommend? Does anyone know of any quality car audio installation shops in the Sacramento area?

I'm willing to pay to have the job done right, but I don't want to take half a day off work to do it.

__________________
"eh, take your opinion and shove it... somewhere else other than this thread" ~ welfareloser

nomoney

Sorry that I dont have a suggestion for the Sac area but I actually find it really weird that the system has to be hooked up to the speedometer. Most (~all) GPS receivers will output speed and most update at >= 1 Hz. That should be good enough for any Nav system. I wonder why it needs input from the speedo... I wonder it it has an INS (inertial nav) that keeps going when GPS is denied (like in a tunnel). That would be uber cool.

Anyways, good luck with the install. If you are blindly looking for shops I would look for somewhere that installs high end equipment (ADS, macintosh, etc.). They will for sure have some good installers. And look for a place with some expensive cars in the bays

gear02

i'm pretty sure when a system interfaces with the speedometer, it's so it can do "dead reckoning" navigation, where if you lose GPS signal, it can still figure out where you're going.

BigBlockCRX

go to this website, register and post in the security wiring forums..

www.the12volt.com

they will, or someone will be able to help you out and help you find the wires and locations of the wires (and how to test for them) for your type of vehicle. if you, or maybe some of your friends (or their children) might be able to figure it out for you, then try it, but use the12volt.com place for guidance, they are very helpful. you can PM me here, and I can help you out as best as I can. 300 bucks for install is telling me that either 1) they dont wanna do it, but for 300 bucks they'll try it 2) its easy for them and for 300 bucks you deserved to be ripped off..

its just bascially a radio install normally, you will need to tag the speedo wire that usualy goes to the speedometer or VSS in the dash cluster, you might have to tag the brake light wire, parking light wire, and maybe even the reverse lights too.. its been awhile since I've installed a indash navigation system.

good luck

Paymaster

Yeah, that's what it's got. It is uber cool (if it works).

A friend suggested that I find a "Blaupunkt Authorized Retailer" and talk to them. According to the Blaupunkt web site, there is only one in Sac ("Stereo City", so that made the choice pretty easy. I gave them a call, and they said "no problem". They quoted me $200, which includes the cost of the GPS antenna, mounting brackets, etc. They guestimated it would take 2-3 hours.

They had my car for 5 hours, and still couldn't get it working. They are now "ordering a wireing diagram" from the dealership so that they can get it all correct. From the self-test setup menu, it looks like it does need to tag all those other wires that BigBlockCRX mentioned, since it has you go through all the paces (forward, reverse, ingnition on-off, drive at x MPH etc.)

It was a huge waste of my time (5 hours killing time reading, wandering around, went to lunch) but they at least tried to be cool about it. They aren't charging me more like Paradyme did to my friend (mid install) and they are telling me that they will bump other customers whenver I can come back for them to finish it.

In theory I agree with BigBlockCRX- connect the wires and you are good to go. I don't know why it is sooo complicated, but I guess it is. I'll have to cruise around that site a bit and see if I can learn why. Like I mentioned before, Best Buy and Circuit City said that they couldn't even handle an install like this one...

BigBlockCRX

what kind of vehicle do you drive?

are you electronically inclined? do you think you can do it yourself?
are you familiar with a volt/ohm meter?
you can test the wires you need by basically, finding the wires at the source of what they do, like the brake light wire, well, find the brake pedal and find the wires that are connected to a switch at the pedal and test for the one that lights up when you press the pedal down..

you can check for reverse lights the same way, pull the reverse light socket out of your tail lamp, see what color it is, when its in reverse and the wire shows a voltage then, thats the wire you will tag.

stuff like that. you might be able to find some people at other local stereo shops, like, al & eds? best buy? I'm not too familiar with sacramento stores but you never know, you might be able to find one of the installers who has lots of experience who can help you out, authorized dealer or not.

being an authorized dealer is just another excuse for them to overcharge you for something.

good luck

Paymaster

I'm an electrical engineer. The car is a 96 Chevy Blazer.

I do own a voltmeter, and I've installed stereos in the past (on much older and simpler cars). I was originally thinking that I would do this one myself, too, until my friend started calling around and found that a number of places simply couldn't/wouldn't do it. If the people who do these things every day took three hours (in my friends case) or five hours (in my case), I figured it would take me a hell of a lot longer.

Anyway, stereo city already has my money, so I'm gonna give them one more shot to finish it off. Thanks for the advice, though!

Paymaster

I took my truck back in on Sunday. It took them another 1.25 hours, but my system works now!

I've been playing with it at every opportunity. Even going to the grocery store, I fire it up and have it guide me.

All is well that ends well!

nomoney

Congrats! Thats cool stuff.

SmokeyDP

How does the system compare to one that has a full LCD? I assume you need to have a DVD in the drive so it knows the roads?

Paymaster

I've never actually used one with a full map, so I can't give a direct comparison, but I can tell you that I don't know why you really need the full map. It tells you when to turn, when to "prepare to turn", how far you are from a turn, etc. The display shows the street or intersection that you are on with a small graphic and arrows- but you don't even need that. Just punch in the destination, and follow the voice prompts.

It even has a sexy female voice.

The map software is on CD. There are 11 CDs covering the US and Canada. Each CD has all of the Interstates on it though, so you could (in theory) program in a destination across the contry, and not have to change CDs until you got that city.

As I mentioned, I bought this thing after seeing it in my friend's car. We now have a third person buying one, after seeing it in our cars. It's quite the fun and useful toy.

The original friend went to a wedding this weekend, and was the hero when no one knew how to get to the reception. He had programmed in the location ahead of time, so he just said "follow me". Sure enough, the device guided him (and the cars behind) straight there.