UPDATE
June 23rd, 2005

I have since upgraded to the Voice Command, it is almost exactly the same, but now uses a hard drive (20 Gigs) has the entire United States and has GPS. Yippy!!!! Its also $900 and not $300.


If there is a choice between making a left or a right turn the law of averages says you will go the correct way 1 out of 2 times. Sadly the law of Joseph Caleb Katz says I will go the incorrect way 7 out of 10 times. As a man I am supposed to mind asking for directions, this is not the case. If I had that problem I would not be writing but driving around somewhere in South America trying to get back from my last trip to a Penguins game 3 years ago.

This lack of directional ability was not a problem for a while, I sold my car and was happily letting bus drivers and train drivers get me places.

The blessed savior of public transportation left me when I got my new job. My new employer Rod Blagojevich for Governor Campaign requires me to drive and drive and drive. My boss expects me to have 3 to 4 face to face meetings a day. Even with a 16 hour day that doesn't leave much time for getting lost. On my first day I never found my destination. The good news I was scouting and not meeting anyone. On the second day I got lost not once not twice, but three times. I made it to my only meeting, by leaving an hour and a half for a 30 minute drive. I got there with 10 minutes to spare.

Choosing the GPS

I college I took GIS (Geographical Informational Systems), so I can tell you exactly how GPS works. Request it in comments and I will bore you if you want. I also knew they had units available for the car so I went to Epinions and started my research. Here is what I learned.

1) Even if you get a great deal on Ebay for units that not portable, it will cost you over $300 to install it. This is because they need to be wired into your cars CPU and not something to try at home.

2) Many units require service contracts, so even if you get a good deal on Ebay you will be paying for it forever.

3) I want a step by step direction. A picture of my car on a road map doesn't do me any good.

4) I wanted but didn't need talking. Talking is nice because you don't have to take your eye of the road to see what is next.

The only one for me

The ONLY GPS that met my needs was Street Pilot III.

Street Pilot was a talking color unit that was stand alone. It gave step by step directions had a picture of the road or several other displays. Only problem, retailed at $1,100 and you could get it on Ebay for a mere $800!

Back to the drawing board
On Ebay I found AudioNav In-Car Voice-Interactive Navigation System and Portable CD Player. At the time at was bidding at $5! I did some quick research and set my bid at $115. The retail price is $299.

AudioNav In-Car Voice-Interactive Navigation System
The size of a portal CD player for the mid 80's, it plays a proprietary navigation CD-rom and regular CD's. Using the sound of your voice it finds a route between your starting location and ending location. The routes it comes up with are the same as mapquest!

The system also plays music. After your route is loaded into memory you can remove the CD-rom and insert a music CD. The music CD is also voice activated!

Using the Voice Interactive Navigation System

OK its not the best voice activated system I have used (1-800-555-tell) wins that prize. This one on the first use makes you want to throw it out the window. After re-reading the directions and getting used to the fact that the directions are poorly written and do not always agree with how the program itself works, you will be fine.

After getting the system to find a route you only have to say

NAVIGATOR NEXT
NAVIGATOR REPEAT
NAVIGATOR PREVIOUS
NAVIGATOR New Route (this is used when you get lost, you give it your current location and it re-routes! Yes I have used it...

AUDIONAV doesn't take into account that the driver is stupid enough to get out of a gas station facing the wrong direction and driving for 10 miles.

Not perfect

The unit isn't perfect. I have trouble getting it to do simple things, but repeating the word NO enough solves that problem. It is mistaking NO and QUIT for some strange reason. I will call tech support for help on that in the future.

Finding Places

The unit has lots of places programmed into it. Parks, hotels, restaurants, Etc. Just spell the name of the place you want and it will give you directions. Today I drove to Brookfield Zoo by just spelling BROOKFIELD ZOO. Since I didn't know the exact address this was a great relief. It will also find the nearest gas station or ATM in its database. A way cool feature.

On a scale of 1 - 10

Price
8 based on retail price of $299
10 based on Ebay price I paid

Directions
10

Usability
7 (GPS would have given it a 9)
having to manually enter starting location is a pain.

They plan on releasing a GPS unit next year 2002. For around $800

COOLNESS FACTOR
10. Having a voice activated anything in my car just plain ROCKS!


-------------------------Up Dates -------------------------
I have learned many things about this unit.
1) it doesn't like to be cold. Do not leave it in the car over night in winter, it is VERY slow to work when it is frozen.

2) You can program custom locations into it, and instead of spelling the entire street name and address all you need to do is spell the name you gave it... IE H.O.M.E. Stop (very helpful)

3) You learn how to modulate your voice so it almost always understands your commands. It might not be capible of learning but you sure are.



Recommended: Yes