Cabana

I received mine yesterday after months of waiting. Apparently only one place had it in stock and now they don't anymore.

It was really easy to hook up - just remove the cover plate behind the W205's LCD and slide in the Blackbird. There are two wires to hook up in the back - GPS and mic. I ran both out above my vents temporarily and need to take the dash out to make a more permanent install.

Plusses
-Navigation works fine
-Up to 10 waypoints for navigation, plus has traffic capabilities and it's easy to detour around streets
-Plays MP3s from SD cards
-Has Bluetooth to connect to phone for calls
-Unit charges while docked

Here are some pictures




I haven't used it much in handheld mode, but it has an FM transmitter for playing the audio over a stock radio so that seems good for people without the W205 or in rental cars.

Garage1217

iTrader: (5)

Right on man! Looking good!

bernardos70

I think the b100 didn't have it, but does this one have 3d maps? As far as PDA phones go, supposedly they work in a different way and so would not work as well as other phones when it comes to integration to navsats and the likes.

dugzilla

If it's anything like the old blackbird, you have to set the "visual" to nav while you are playing a cd or the radio, then you will get music while you use the nav. If you have it directly on "nav" you won't get music, other than the mp3 player and the sound quality on that sucks.

Cabana

Yes it has 3d. My friend's phone is a RAZR so it should work, but doesn't it. At least it pulls up his phonebook though, which is better than it did with mine.

That works, but then it doesn't speak the directions over the audio. That's my complaint. The sound quality from the SD cards is the same as from another MP3 source.

dugzilla

Is there a setting for "navmix" That is what I have with the IVA D310, when you turn it on you can set how loud the nav voice is and it will "mix" with the music.

Cabana

I'll look at lunch, but I think it won't mix between two sources. It will interrupt MP3s off the nav card, but since I'm only using the visual from the nav I don't think it will interrupt any other source.

dugzilla

I would think that they would have left that feature in there, but maybe it was just with the D310?

dugzilla

Any way you look at it it's a great little nav unit, and portable too!

Cabana

Wait, is the setting in the nav or the headunit? The d310 doesn't have nav built-in, right? Maybe I need to look into the W205 settings.

dugzilla

It's in the headunit settings.

bernardos70

I am very interested in hearing how it works going forward. I am torn between this Alpine combo and the Kenwood solution.

Any chances you might take a pic of it in 3d map mode? And it just works? No antenna required? My garmin needs to have a clear view of the sky to work.

dugzilla

I would think it has a gps antenna, but with mine I ran the wire inside the dash and the end is right in the middle of the dash and it looks good. It also gets great reception in any type of weather. I get reception on the handheld unit inside the house, I had another handheld gps that wouldn't work unless there was a clear sky.

Cabana

Yes there is a GPS antenna to run, also one for the mic.

dugzilla, did you take your dash apart to run it or is there a way to do it without removing the whole thing?

dugzilla

If the tc dash is anything like the xB you can tuck in along the edge and run it down the side. When I got a chance I took the dash out and ran the cable under it.

Cabana

Okay I checked the headunit settings and nav mix fixes that one problem, thanks for that.

I just got off the phone with Alpine and they are supposed to call me back about the phone support. It works as a speakerphone when it's in handheld mode, but when docked both ends just get silence.

Cabana

Two more pics, one of 3d mode and one of GPS info mode which I think is pretty nifty. There is a TON of wiring to deal with!

bernardos70

Thanks for the pic! And yes, that's a ton of wiring.

I was looking at alpine's site and I saw this: http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-en/prod...CE-300BT&tab=D

So that kinda confuses me. Maybe the blackbird will not work as a bluetooth adapter for the IVA-W205, maybe it'll only work as a stand alone. When you call a party, and you dock it, does the call hang up or does the other party just hear silence? I wouldn't put it above them to make you purchase the bluetooth for the IVA-W205 to use it in that manner.

Cabana

It doesn't require the other adapter. The guy at Alpine said it should work so we'll see. Maybe I have a faulty unit. If you don't want nav you can buy that bluetooth adapter to use the phone.

dugzilla

I have the separate bluetooth and it works great.