Stock audio

[thedieter]

The stock radio/CD is fine with us but we are not of the Generation that requires constant music over voice...in fact it drives us crazy.

Best regards, Happy Jack

[f5fstop]

Originally Posted by thedieter

The stock radio/CD is fine with us but we are not of the Generation that requires constant music over voice...in fact it drives us crazy.

Best regards, Happy Jack

Lost me....

[HummerNewbie]

Originally Posted by thedieter

The stock radio/CD is fine with us but we are not of the Generation that requires constant music over voice...in fact it drives us crazy.

Best regards, Happy Jack

But what you don't understand is that with the NAV I get an extra voice that tells me when to turn

[thedieter]

I have to defer to the ones that have navigation screens in the dash. I have never had one.

My feeling is that a nav system would be a distraction if only the driver is available to operate it. Even a navagator in the passenger seet can be a distraction. I am interested in what others have to say about it.

If one can talk back to the system rather than punch buttons & screen it may be OK.

For the price of the nav systems one can get a good laptop and GPS roadmap program that will do 100 times as much and seems like a better option to me.

What I am talking about "voice overs" is the way they have "music" with narrations that make it hard to understand what they are saying.

Is it possible that the younger generation's brains are unable to stay awake without constant musical background? (incoming)

Best regards, Happy Jack

[f5fstop]

It is probably less of a distraction that putting a Garmin on the top of the dash panel, which also tells you where your next turns are, and reduced valuable windshield space.
I have used this same garmin for many years, traveling cross country many times, and I do not consider it a distraction. I have also driven GM vehicles with the in-dash Navs and do not consider them distractions, but I will agree that for some people, they might be distractions.
Nice part of any Nav is the voice command, that makes it possible to know where your turn is without looking at the screen if traffic is too heavy, or like my existing Garmin Nav, it blows up the actual turn so a quick look is all that is required.

I sure hope the Pioneer Nav has no voice overs with music, I agree that would not be good.
Problem with a laptop is it is too large, and there is really no place to put on in the H3. Where would you mount it so that the driver could see/hear the instructions. If traveling alone, you could put it on the passenger seat I guess, but then you would be turning your head to look at something, versus keeping your head straight ahead.

As for younger brains...too old to remember what younger brains required.

[thedieter]

F5f:
Thanks for the hands on description. I have been wondering if it would be worth the high cost of a built in navigation system. It seems like a high price to pay for what they do. For someone that drives a lot in strange locations it would surely be worth it.

I agree that a laptop would be a problem to locate in an H3 but the copilot could hold it on his/her lap during brief intense navigating such as through cities. We have had good luck printing out routes and directions before trips with the laptop.

My rant about voice overs was kind of off topic and applies mainly to the programming on TV these days on my favorite channels such as History, Discovery and Military. They play the background "music" so loud that it is drowning out the narration. Where it applies to cars is that many people play their radios so loud that they drown out sirens, etc. It is well known that high volumes damage hearing.

Best regards, Happy Jack

[HummerNewbie]

Originally Posted by thedieter

We have had good luck printing out routes and directions before trips with the laptop.

That does work great if you know where you are going to be going before hand and can get the route printed out before leaving. I know I have done this many times before getting a navigation system. One problem I had with this method a little while back was when I was heading up to Tellico back in March. I printed the route out, had the turn by turn directions but the problem was the roads were not marked very well. The directions from Map Quest or where ever it was I go them were pretty much dead on but I spent a fair amount of time stopping and second guessing them because of the marking on the roads. With a navigation system you don't have to be watch for signs, how far you have driven since the last turn and so on, you just keep an eye on the road and turn when it says to turn. You also get a warning before you need to turn rather than suddenly noticing you are at the next turn and have to hit the breaks. Of course a navigation system can be more dangerous if the driver is paying more attention to it than they are to the road but that can happen with a map just as easily.

[f5fstop]

And besides, NAV systems look cool And the Garmin I mount on my dash takes up valuable viewing area from the small windshield.

I have just come from the store and the Happy on wheels tour and learned a lot. I will post my findings in a few hours. Right now, have to go pick up Land Mines left in strategic places by the pup and cut the grass.