Customer Reviews

Alpine PMDB100 Blackbird Factory Renewed Portable Navigation System

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was suprised to see some bad reviews about this unit because this thing is great. Here are the gists:
Pro:
- Large bright screen
- touch screen (this is a MUST now a days)
- Sleek design: this thing looks beautiful compared to the clunky design of others like magallen or garmin
- VERY FAST calculation time (only a second or two to reroute) (by the way, my unit prompted me to do a U-turn everytime it was legal)
- very fast input time. It seems that Alpine uses a better algorithm (or simply faster clock) for anticipating possible street names. I inputted letters like I was typing it in a computer keyboard)
- mp3 player works flawlessly: For those of you who do not know much about this unit, this thing has an SD/MMC card slot so that you can just pop your SD card full of music and then broadcast it with built-in FM transmitter to listen to music while on the go. Very useful.
Con
- not much, maybe the unit would be better with a better battery life but with a 20G hard drive, beautiful and bright color display, more than 3 hours is asking too much.
- It is a bit hard to get to options for choosing freeways over tollroads.
Conclusion:
all in all, a great navi. It is a bit pricy compared to the others but the large bright screen, fast responses, and the mp3 player make up for it I think.

I recently purchased this unit after reading many, many reviews and find the Blackbird a wonderful guidance tool and so easy to program contrary to many other reviews. I find little difficulty disengaging the unit from its cradle when lifting straight up while holding down the release button, and it gets easier each time. You must lift up the antenna before inserting the Blackbird into its cradle. Initially, when turning on the unit, I inadvertently pressed the demo touchpad and the unit would cycle me around the block until I exited the demo. I have experienced no problems accessing satellites. Using it as a stand-a-lone GPS, I get approximately two hours use between charges. When plugged into the charger inside the car, the unit turns on and off with the ignition while maintaining a charge. I am waiting for delivery of the 1.1 software update which includes the NAVTEQ traffic system. I'm sure it will be fantastic. I highly recommend this unit.

This is Alpine's first entry to the portable Nav system so naturally there are bugs in the system as with all new systems.

Recently, I have updated the unit to Version 1.1 software which fixes quite a lot of the bugs that I have found. There are some system performance enhancement as well.

"Traffic" function is now possible with this latest software update. It comes with free 3 months of Navteq traffic subscription. I encouraged those folks who have problems should order this software update from Alpine website. It is available for free on DVD.

I just returned from a 4,128 mile trip in our new (2007) Motorhome from AZ to MN, WI, IA, NE, KS, NM and the navigation on this Alpine PMD-B100 is completely unacceptable. We had to relie on road maps most of the time and thank goodness we had them with us. As an example, just before we reached our home destination it had me turn into an airport which wasn't a road, but a driveway. It told me to turn into a Pecan Grove where there wasn't even a road and then when I was on the main road leading to my home it wanted me to take I-19 N, make a u-turn and come back on the other side of the Interstate to get me to the exit I was already at. I'm going to check with Alpine to see if there is an update on software or I'm going to have to get something else. If it can't be reliable, it's of no use. We learned after the first error, but after the second one, we rechecked our "common sense approach" much oftener. Putting in addresses is also a challenge and at times you have to use a couple of different approaches to enter it. If it wasn't for the bad navigation it would be a super unit, but, how can you give it more than 1 star when it can't navigate. You don't get to the destination based on how good it looks.

I've been using the PMDB100T since Dec. 06. It started out great but for the past few months it reboots itself fairly often, usually locking up at the startup screen. This always seems to happen as I approach a freeway interchange where the guidance would be most useful. Sometimes I can power off, then on again and get it going but other times it has to be removed from the cradle and the battery removed and replaced before it will start up. Not exaclty a wise task to try while navigating city traffic. The points of interest database seems to be very outdated. I have followed directions a few times only to find the destination no longer exists.

The backlight on the controls constantly goes on and off as headlights from approaching cars hit it. It's very distracting at night.

Other family members have Magellan units and I bet I'll end up switching before long. This thing is just too unreliable.

This GPS unit has all the latest features. The large touch screen is terrific, no fumble fingers as there are on the smaller screens. I've also found the interface to be very responsive - some of the Garmin units were quite slow on lookups and have more tedious address entry.

There is an update targeted for the next month or two to add traffic info, looking forward to that. The nice part is that the traffic receiver is built in vs. an add on $100-$200 antenna unit. I think it's $5 per month for RDS-TMC and most large cities are included.

Great unit! A little larger than the others because of the screen mostly. Clear nav voice and excellent interface. Battery seemed to last around 2-3 hours, keep it on the car charger. Has a very sturdy suction attachment mount system.

All in all, a great GPS - priced high at local shops, don't pay the $750 retail.

This device LOOKS fantastic. The design is very sharp, the unit has superior build quality to most other portable GPS units and a nice bright screen that is easily seen in sunlight. After using a Honda NAV system and liking it, I bought this because I heard that Alpine makes the Honda system.

Now for the operation. Oh my word. Alpine should be thoroughly ashamed of this device. To test it, I would drive past the street I was supposed to make a turn at. A normal GPS will imediately tell you to make a U turn and go back. Not this. First of all, it takes forever to "reroute". It says "System Rerouting" about 4 times, by then, you've driven WAY past where you were going. Then it tells you to make a right turn onto a street that won't get you back to where you wanted to go, when multiple U-turns are readily available. During my testing, it NEVER suggested a U-turn. I guess it's not programmed for that.

I then upgraded the software to the newest on the Alpine site. It actually made the operation worse. Now it says "Rerouting" 5 times before it figures out what to do. The display and instructions always lag behind where you actually are, so when you've driven past a turn by 30 feet the display shows you just getting to the turn. It will tell you to turn in 100 feet when you're already at the turn. During testing I was quite uncomfortable of the thought of being lost and having only this to guide me.

I tested it for about 3 hours. It was miserable. It would jump back to where I was a few miles ago and show that street name on the display. I'm like, Huh? Sometimes it would go in a "Rerouting" loop for a few minutes. Pathetic! Any other GPS just reroutes once and you're on your way! When it started to show streets on the display that weren't even on my route, I decided that it was over. I would have to pay the 15% restocking fee and bring this thing back. It's hard to believe that this is the same company that made the Honda Nav system on 2006 cars, because I've used it extensively and it's awesome in my opinion.

DO NOT BE SEDUCED BY HOW BEAUTIFUL THIS UNIT LOOKS. You will be sorry. I give it two stars because everything about the unit is great, I mean really great, except for the actual GPS operation, which must surely be the worst available.

I agree with most of the reviewers on here that this is a well-designed device. The interface is very intuitive and fairly easy to use while driving. The music is a big bonus. The unit itself looks good. However, as a GPS device, this unit is slow, unreliable, has out-dated maps for city navigation, and sends you on obscure routes. That really hurts, especially when this thing is very expensive retail.

My dad got this unit at a discount with his Honda Accord in late '06, and it has been fairly useful. It is fairly reliable for highway driving on long road trips when you don't encounter many new roads. I've driven from Texas to Ohio and back without relying on anything else. The only time I had trouble on long road trips was when driving from Arkansas back to where I live near Dallas, when it directed me way out in the country before realizing I'd missed the turn to the highway I needed to switch onto and I had to stop on the side of the road to let it re-route. Luckily it knew the country roads and eventually got me home.

Driving in the city is another story, though. In the suburbs around Dallas, there has been a lot of rapid growth. Heaven help you if you want to drive on new or newly expanded highways. Pretty much the entire duration of a drive on 121 (a major road for people in Plano, Allen, McKinney, or Frisco) will be route re-calculations. I've had similar troubles throughout the metroplex. As a courier of medical specimens and legal documents, I can't really afford such unreliability.

If you just want a fast, reliable GPS, buy a TomTom One. It's $169 and will do the job excellently. For the difference in price, you could buy yourself an iPod and everything you need to listen to it in your car. Don't waste your money on an Alpine.

I just got back from Colorado. I thought this would be the perfect companion...helping me to navigate through the mountains with ease. After about two hours on the road, I became extremely impatient with the constant message: "system re-routing". The stupid thing tried to take me on roads that didn't exist, and wouldn't acknowledge well-established roads and highways that have been around for years. The sensor can't keep up with the vehicle. It constantly showed me off the side of the road, thus giving me the same old message..."system re-routing". I can't wait till Monday so I can take it back. I'm going with Garmin or Lowrance!