Alpine PMD-B200 Blackbird II
The Drive GPS 200 from Pharos offers text-to-speech functionality, a SiRFStarIII GPS receiver, a 4.3″ touchscreen display, 32-bit CPU, NAVTEQ map and automatic night view-switching. Not bad when compared to other mid-range devices released by more mainstream companies.
The Alpine PMD-B200 features a large, sharp touch screen and offers text- and voice-guided directions, a comprehensive points-of-interest database, and a music player. The system also has good Bluetooth integration for use with a compatible phone, and it automatically syncs your mobile’s address book and call-history list.
The BlackBird II doesn’t support text-to-speech functionality, and it’s somewhat pricey. Route recalculations didn’t always provide the most efficient route and sometimes had us going in circles.
About a month ago, we reviewed the Alpine IVA-W205, an innovative aftermarket in-dash unit that works as a multimedia player and a navigation system. The latter function is provided by docking the Alpine PMD-B200 (aka Alpine BlackBird II) portable navigation system into the IVA-W205, but the cool thing is that the PMD-B200 can be used independently as a standalone GPS unit. This is the subject of this review.
The unit measures 4.8 inches wide by 2.9 inches high by 0.7 inch deep and 6.3 ounces, which pretty much limits its use to just in-car navigation. The good news is that Alpine has integrated the GPS receiver into the system, so you don’t have to worry about any flip-up antennas.
The Alpine PMD-B200 is equipped with a 20-channel GPS receiver and comes preloaded with Navteq maps of North America, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. You get the usual array of navigation features, including turn-by-turn text- and voice-guided driving directions, automatic rerouting, a trip computer, and route demo.
The BlackBird II did a good job of tracking our position during everyday drives around the city, and even maintained a satellite fix as we drove through the financial district where tall buildings block a clear view of the sky. We did lose a signal, however, going through the Broadway Tunnel, but this is typical of GPS devices.
Tags: alpine blackbird ii, alpine iva, alpine pmd b200, channel gps receiver, compatible phone, going in circles, GPS Device, interest database, latter function, maps of north america, navigation features, navteq maps, portable navigation system, speech functionality, trip computerRelated posts
Posted on August 25th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: GPS Device
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