Through My Eyes

How many things do you have plugged into your car? GPS? Radar Detector? FM Transmitter, Camera?  There is a way to get rid of all of these individual devices. The award winning App-Tronic’s Smart Nav 5  and  Smart Nav 5 Plus. This is the first of it’s kind, a rear view mirror that also has features of a tablet, front facing camera, radar, radar blocker, (radar is either an add on for the Smart Nav 5 or included in the Smart Nav 5 Plus. Bluetooth4.0 to stream music and take/answer calls, fm transmitter and a hard wired option to the radio, and navigation system.  And a rear view back up HD camera. You can also include parking sensors too.

The Smart Nav 5 with Radar

For review I had the Smart Nav 5 with out the laser detection and parking sensors.  I did my own install, and it only took me about a half hour or so to have it completely installed, add another 15-20 minutes to install the rear view camera. The app on the Smart Nav 5 are an e-book reader, music player, picture viewer and movie player. Of course, you would not use the e-book reader or movie player while your driving. but I can see using the picture viewer.  Think of a person that spends quite a bit of time on the road. It’s a comfort to see an image of family. Drive down the road, check your rear view. Not only are you seeing the road behind you, you will see the image slide show.  Even better, how about law-enforcement, that might have most wanted, or missing people playing continually. These are just a few ideas of use. Similar could be used with the video player too.

The music player is self explanatory.  Load your music on a 16 or 32 gig micro sd card and keep it in the mirror. Your phone or music player dies, you still have a back up. to play in the car. Play through the FM transmitter to the radio, or if you have the system hardwired with the auxiliary out on the back of the mirror.  When your in the middle of Nevada, there are no radio stations. Your wife or kids might be using the phone or tablet to play a game, or watch a movie. You have back up.

The e-book reader; Sure your not going to read while you drive. But there are times when your stopped, you might need to entertain your self. Personally, I would keep a Bible version in an e-book form, because there are times when I need a quick look up. A sales person might keep a price list that they can assess easily.  Families could keep a travel guide. There are countless possibilities. The model mirror I have also has nuance voices, so it will read the audio book to you.

Take the GoPro off the dash. The Smart Nav 5 has a built in camera. It constantly records. Its nice to have this little bit of insurance, and you never know what you might catch. It also catches audio at the same time. Pop the card out, take it to the computer, and hit the player file on the card. It’s super cool!

Speaking of cameras, there is also a rear view back up camera. This feature alone can save lives. Taking that extra second to look at the video camera before you back up can show you a small child behind you. What is nice, it’s already on your mirror. Your going to look there anyway. The HD rear camera is a 5 inch, compare that to the 2.5 inch on GM Models!

The Smart Nav 5 of course is a GPS System. The native navi system is IGO, though if you have another operating system on a windows CE Platform, you could have a dual nav system.

Igo has many features, and may take a little while to get used to. I have been using another brand for well over 8 years, so I have had to take a little while to learn another system. IGO has all of the great features of other systems, Text to Speech (speaking street names) Speed limits, and your speed. It even has the speed warning, letting you know that your over the speed limit. It makes my wife smile when she hears “The speed limit is 40 MPH” It gives us a good laugh as I slow down knowing I am “busted” This feature is adjustable and can be turned off.  Leaving it on can be annoying, but not as annoying as a speeding ticket.  I also enjoy having the 3d building view, and a customizable “dashboard” You can set it for distance to, time to, arrival time, speed limit, and altitude. I am sure their may be more that I forget. This would be easy if there was not so much to include!

But wait, there is more!

The Smart Nav 5 Plus also has radar detector, with state of the art Laser Diffusers. It will detect the X, K, KA & KU bands. I would go into more detail, but I have not had a chance to install and use them. I can imagine having these installed, and it used as a reminder to follow speed limits. I am sure when many people think of a radar detector, they think of a way to beat the Law. I think its a great tool to remind us to follow the law. But that is my two cents. If you would like more of an in depth look at the radar system please check out Cerebral-Overload. There is also a parking sensor option, which will make back in parking or parallel parking a lot easier.

We are almost done. The Smart Nav Series also has Bluetooth 4.0, so you can make and take calls from your phone, with smart phone music intergration, If you really wanna get fancy, it’s called A2DP.  The feature I really like is streaming music to the Smart Nav 5, and it playing through the FM Transmitter to the radio. Of course, you can also hard wire so you don’t need the FM Transmitter. Either way it takes away another cable!

Here is the best part. All of this, is in your rear view mirror, hard wired in, When a potential thief looks at your car as a target, they won’t see a GPS system, a radar detector, a FM transmitter, camera and Bluetooth speaker. They will see a mirror.  So while  price of $1999.99 for the best of the best (with radar) might seem a lot, Consider this. The cost of a few tickets. The cost of a GPS System. Back Up mirror, Bluetooth for the car, Video Recorder, Music player, FM transmitter and of course radar detectors, Now your saving money. And, the price of laughter from your wife when Smart Nav tells you your speeding? Priceless!

And one last thing to make it even more appealing, App Tronic will match your car’s warranty up to 5 years. If your car does not have a warranty, if installed by an authorized dealer, you get a 3 year warranty.