Rosen Nav installed... first impressions.

9/13/2010 ****Further updates and installed pictures uploaded to post #24 in this thread.****

I know some of you were waiting for a review of the Rosen navi unit. Well I installed my head unit tonight (I'll install back-up cam, back-up sensors, GPS antenna, fog light kit, and homelink mirror this weekend)... if I can get it all done. I'm slow about these things though, and way to cheap to pay for it to be done.

Bottom line, I had a Pioneer AVIC-700BT (or something like that) in my Civic Hybrid. From the little I have used the Rosen unit, you couldn't pay me to go back to the Pioneer head unit!

I plan on keeping this car for at least 8-10 years and so I went with Rosen for a number of reasons. 1) It looks factory!!! 2) Better interface design than Chinese units (American design... though assembled in China). 3) Good support through my dealer and the dealer network. Can I give the name of the dealer here? 4) 3 year warranty.

I've only had spend a few minutes to spend playing with the unit, but the install itself couldn't have been easier. I spent more time worrying that I was missing something than I did actually installing the unit. The unit looks like a Toyota head unit, spot on. It doesn't look like any particular Toyota Prius headunit, but you'd think it was factory.

The interface is very attractive and so far fairly intuitive... still learning the logic behind a few interface functions, but so far so good. Bluetooth has excellent sound quality (though I haven't tried it with a lot of noise yet). It paired with my Motorola Droid with no problem. Very nice interface for phone dialing and managing phone calls.

The system is very responsive to inputs, especially when entering address information or dialing phone numbers.

The digital radio station info seems to work well, though I've only tested it with NPR so far.

I played a DVD for a few minutes, and it looked good. The screen seems very bright, but I have yet to see it in full mid-day sunlight. I'll report back.

 

Bought the unit through Walt at ADC Mobile. The page isn't user friendly, but Walt is! He's very knowledgable and very helpful... a pleasure to deal with.

Walt can give you pricing if you give him a call.

Droid ?

 

FWIW, the unit says right on top that it's designed in the US but assembled in china. I was told that Rosen has one of their california based employees at the plant in china overseeing operations. It shows in the product. As I see areas for improvment I'll post them.

Droid ?

 

Not sure if the question about which homelink mirror I'm looking at was directed to me... but I have toytota's homelink auto dimming mirror.

I want this car to look as factory as possible.

Droid ?

 

Not sure if traffic is a free service or not... they have their version of an 'on star' type service free for 90 days, then there's a fee. I don't know the cost though, and I don't know if the service is required for traffic.

Droid ?

 

I don't know the output voltage... maybe in the specs but I haven't had time to look. It sounds significantly better than the stock head unit, but I can't say much beyond that.

I have an acoustically treated listening room for my audiophile needs. And I've never heard any car stereo system that even comes close to the kind of audio I have in that room. Just no comparison. For stock speakers I consider it more than acceptable. It offers full control of the sub-woofer outputs I know.

I'll post more info as I find it. Right now I'm planning the rest of the install.

Droid ?

 

The output voltage does not seem to be documented anywhere in the manuals I have. Sorry. A search may reveal some info, but I don't have it.

 

Re: Rosen Nav installed... more impressions.

Alright, I installed the back-up cam & sensors, and GPS antenna this weekend (along with Homelink mirror and Fog lights). I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow.

I'm overall very pleased with the Rosen unit. The nav works well (and includes a compass on the map page for orientation... a nice touch), the RDS works well, DVD player works well, and the bluetooth works well. As I mentioned before the system is very responsive.

The back-up cam comes on reasonably fast from a cold start, have not timed it yet, but probably a five second delay... not bad but not instant either. The back-up sensors work well. I think they're worth the $75, plus the effort to install. They indicate "FAR" until the sensors are within an indicated 2.9' of an object. The system counts down until it says "STOP" at about 1.5' (it also provides audible warning... which when combined with the silly Toyota back-up beep is really obnoxious). I have not measured for precision, but if the distance is off, it's not enough to matter. Also, the Kenwood CMOS-200 camera offers a VERY wide angle view. It's great for visibility, but no good for judging distance. While I may recommend a different camera if I didn't have the sensors, the combination of the camera's wide-view and the back-up sensors range indication is an excellent combo.

As a perk, the back-up camera's angle of view is so wide it reduces some of the blind spots in city traffic. Turn the camera on in city traffic, and it contributes significantly to situational awareness. Nice! As a note, there is no music playback when the camera is turned on manually... unless I'm missing a setting some where.

Overall I'm mostly happy (a lot happier than I was with my Pioneer AVIC 700BT!!!). However, I do have a few complaints about the unit...

First, I don't have an IPOD, but I do like to play almost all of my music from my USB jump drive (16 GB drive)... The Rosen unit can play from a jump drive, but, IMO, BARELY!!! It takes almost FIVE times as long as my old Pioneer unit to load the exact same jump drive. Rosen REALLY cheeped out here, and frankly I don't think there's any excuse for this. Rosen are you listening? My home AV receiver which retails for a similar price to the Rosen unit, and even my Pioneer unit that I bought for $385 brand new both have a MUCH better USB interface than the Rosen unit. The Rosen unit does not display file names, folders, or ANYTHING! It just plays whatever's on the drive, and you can skip to another track, or make it random. There is no way to view folders, song titles, or navigate in any way through the music files. It just starts playing... which is unacceptable.

Maybe I have a setting wrong, because the manual at least shows a screen view with a file listing (no folders though), and it shows up on my unit for an instant during screen changes, but it goes away in under a second. Either way, at a bare minimum, the unit should allow you to navigate by folder and sub-folders, to view track title, and artist & album info. The USB support is unacceptable.

Second complaint. I am not a Navigation power user, and so over all I'm very happy with the navi system. It has clear maps, accurate directions, it's fast, and the search function for P'sOI works well. However, lets say I'm on a trip and I search for Dunkin Donuts, when the list of DD's comes up, it should at least indicate the direction to each DD relative to the direction I'm heading. As it is, you have to start going through the list loading each result to see which DD is the nearest DD that isn't behind you. If I have a destination entered, it may allow me to search "along my route" (haven't tried that yet), but when no route is entered (most of the time), the relative bearing for each search result on the search results page is essential. Rosen are you listening?

Again, overall I'm happy with the unit, but these two complaints are glaring oversights in my opinion, and two points of function that effect me daily. USB support is nothing more than a bare minimum unusable implementation to the unit to say it supports USB as far as I can tell. And the relative bearing being displayed in the search results list for each hit in the navi is an essential feature (for me) that's missing.