[Kuruma Hayai]

First of all, I would like to say Hello to everyone in this board. I'm new here and was very happy in finding this site. I will be buying an ODY pretty soon. Not sure when the 2002 will come out but I am very excited. There's a lot of information in here.

Any way, here are my questions:
1) I've searched this site and found nothing relating to hard wiring a radar detector. Where can I find this? Do I have to buy a wiring kit from the radar company or can I just improvise? I'm more concered about the plug that goes into the radar detector.

2) I'm from Canada where the NAVI is not available. Are there 3rd party NAVI systems I can buy that will give me accurate directions everytime I go on vacation in the States (Got lost 4 times last week while vacationing in Pennsylvania)? Or should I stick with OEM Honda NAVI System?

3) I saw somewhere here about the Entertainment System. There are lots out there. Can anyone suggest better stuff? I'm planning on installing one. Is it worth the money to install it on the headrests of the 2nd row so third seat passengers can watch too? (This is on top of the screens installed on driver & passenger side head rests).

Thanks for all your help.


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Do I need one?

 

[nyvram]

Hi Kuruma; here's my 2 cents for you

a) The NAVI...that's a tough one. I think I would be hard-pressed to purchase it if the place I spend 90% of my time in is not listed. Especially considering its US$2K extra! I would opt for a cheap hand-held or computer-based system that offers you better features. Don't get me wrong; I absolutely LOVE my NAVI, but I think everytime you get into the car & look at the useless screen because your area isn't covered, you'll regret getting it.

b) I don't know anything about 'hard-wiring' a radar detector but I'm considering getting the $200 tire-inlation sensor which recommends you hard-wire it so once I do that I'll probably have more details on this process.

c) My opinion regarding the entertainment system is well-known

Check out the audio/video forum. Basically I favor the cheaper DIY route where I can pick and choose many of the components vs. the over-priced 'one-size-fits-all' approach of the iVES or BestBuy/Circuit City units.

c)

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Marvyn
2001 SS EX-NAVI (1700 mi)
Mud Flaps * Cargo Tray * Leather Steering Wheel Wrap * Blaupunkt 652 Speakers * Hyper-brand 'super bright' Headlights * Weathertech Floor Mats * PIAA 'Super Bright' Backup Lights

 

[ckonarske]

Hard wiring a radar detector is simple. Most are provided with a cable with a jack on one end and bare wire on the other end. Just find a convenient place to wire it to a circuit in one of the fuse boxes.

There are pics of the connections for my radar detector in my album under "Hard-wired Radar Detector" and "Other kick panel wiring points". Let me know if you need anything else. I'll try to help.

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Chuck
Click here for Ody pics, mods and fixes.

[This message has been edited by ckonarske (edited 07-16-2001).]

 

[perlguy9]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Kuruma Hayai:

2) I'm from Canada where the NAVI is not available. Are there 3rd party NAVI systems I can buy that will give me accurate directions everytime I go on vacation in the States (Got lost 4 times last week while vacationing in Pennsylvania)? Or should I stick with OEM Honda NAVI System?

</font>

I've got an '01 EX w/o the NAVI. for ~$800US I got a Garmin StreetPilot III, and I love it.

You can get it here for $799US last I checked.



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'01 DEP EX in Fairview Park, Ohio
Click here for pics.

 

[yellowscreamer]

well, I have a valentine one, and it comes with a kit, but i didn't use it. You can tap into your cigarette lighter outlet, its 12v. Or, you can tap into the head unit power. Just remember to find a ground, which is any screw. If you can't find that, tap into the head unit ground. Works just as well, becasue the radar detector doesn't zap much power.

Navigation.. Alpine makes a DVD based navigation system with GPS... THere are the otehr ones that velcro on the dash or something.. But i like the alpine because its just takes place of your head unit. You can also hook up a VCr or something, if you want.

 

[Kuruma Hayai]

Yellowscreamer: When you said tap into the head unit, what do you mean? My biggest problem is the plug going into the detector. Do I just cut the coil and use the same plug? I was thinking of using one detector for 2 cars: one for the ODY and one for the SiR. So I still need one more plug on the other vehicle. Thanks.

Chuck: You've got an awesome site. I'm sure I'll be using it a lot when I do mods to our future ODY.

Everybody: Thanks for all the help. I'm glad we're getting an ODY. I didn't realize there's lots of stuff you can do to this van. I already talked to the guy who does work on my SiR and he said that he can customize an exhaust for me - from the cat all the way to the back and also a customized intake system.

He also said that there's a header available for the ODY made by MUGEN. The only thing is it is expensive - around Cdn$1,700 (US$1,100).