Alpine Navigation

On some road trips I've found myself in dead spots so I'm always on the look out for something that is reasonably priced and easily integrated with current tech. That being said, has anyone looked into or have personal experience with the Alpine USB Nav stick?

Trail Grid Pro has a great video on it.

 

I'm seeing a pattern with the pricing on Alpine's accessories.
Looks to me like it's simply a modified headless Android device with a single app loaded, and they've tweaked the HU interface to use a modified Android Auto when that device is plugged in.

For way less of a price in annual service, Gaia or OnX let's you pre-download as much (or as little) map and navigation data as you want up front and you don't need cellular service to use them. If you are in your vehicle and your phone is "dead" you can simply plug it in to charge. And you can still use your music as well (pre-downloaded as well).

 

I actually have 6 mos of OnX for free right now...

 

I currently use Gaia - bought a 10-yr subscription at one point for like $10/yr. I make it a habit to download large areas of maps anytime I’m heading somewhere new. I’ve pretty much got all of WA and OR cached and large sections of ID and MT.

 

I wish it would switch over to the offline maps automatically when the cell signal sinks but I guess we can’t have everything. Having Gaia on the 11” screen is awesome.

 

I guess I should download and play around with it. My unhealthy fascination with Alpine stems back to the days when I saw all the cool guys with Alpine in their badass rigs. Always wanted to get to a point where I had Alpine.

 

Totally get it
But $80 for a Bluetooth volume knob that only works half assedly or $320 for a pretty big dongle with offline maps is jumping the shark for me

 

But but but Trail Grid Pro guy says it makes him feel safe in the woods when he's otherwise lost

 

You’re better off buying a GPS capable tablet and a nice mount.
Then you can use any GPS app of your choice. When you don’t need the full GPS capability you can use it to monitor your truck with an ODBII dongle.

 

... or you can just get a team of seasoned reindeer to navigate effortlessly for you


Now if I could just get NORAD off my ass