AutoPC
Written: Feb 22 '02
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Pros: Attractive nice display, lots of features, and reasonable price on Ebay of $500.
Cons: Proprietary navigation CDs. Cost of Navtech CDs, 9 to cover US @ $160=$1440!
The Bottom Line: Unless you are willing to use bootlegged mapping CDs use it for playing MP3 files. And under no circumstances hope to find customer service from Clarion!
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| driverjohn's Full Review: Clarion AutoPC 310c |
I bought my Clarion AutoPC on eBay, thank goodness. Paid $500, and since Clarion offered it thru their dealers for $1,300, it sounded like a good price. Although the manual and the display icons include a "Directions" program, there is no such thing! There is also mention of using MS Streets Pocket edition, HA! Try finding out from Clarion of MS, I did, try that is, without success! The ONLY navigation system that works is the Navtech system, extremely, let me say that again, EXTREMELY, expensive. $160 per CD=ROM, and 9 are needed for north America. I've been using both MS Streets and DeLorme's Streets USA for several years with my laptop (long-haul trucker here) and neither of them costs more than $50! (and both cover the whole country on 1 CD-ROM).
I also bought all of the Navtech CD-ROMs on eBay as well, tickled to pay about $30/map, until they arrived. Fortuneately they all work fine, but I'm almost ashamed to reveal that with the exception of one, the others are all bootlegged copies. Sorry Navtech, but perhaps if you made your map CDs reasonable in price (see $1400+ compared to less than $50) there wouldn't be so many hot copies on the market. Not to mention that with the Navtech system, you can't even plot a route from coast to coast, gotten keep switching CDs and replotting! Navtech SUCKS!
Now as far as Clarion is concerned, they made a great product. Then they do everything I can imagine to trash it and its users. Before buying I visited several websites and AutoPC user groups. Then after I made the investment, (not that one thing affected the other.. I hope) the websites and usenet groups have disappeared. There's not even a mention of it anywhere on Clarion's or Microsoft's website, and they made the operation system for it. I've called tech support, spoken to several people, hoping the first, second and third were rude ignorant flukes, but just as the first three had said, the fourth reiterated... "Nope, we don't support it anymore, can't say what the deal is with the website, sorry, can't help ya... etc..." Oh yeah, almost forgot, they did tell me all about the new Joyride system that's replacing the AutoPC... $2,500! Duh, like does anybody expect to find a former customer of Clarion looking at another of their products in this lifetime? Not me, jocko! I love my AutoPC, love my pirated Navtech CD maps, but I'll do my serious truckin' with my HP laptop, DeLorme's Road Warrior mapping and use the Clarion, Microsoft & Navtech to show off to others with,,, and advise them to seriously re-consider thoughts of buying one for themselves.
DriverJohn
Recommended:
No
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driverjohn
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