flyaudio easypark kluger gps review

[wilsact]

Hi guys,

Have had my flyaudio gps for a couple months now and been on a few long trips using it, so thought it time to write up a review to help others out considering this unit.

http://www.flyaudio.net/product_id.asp?id=201

Mine was purchased through the Australian stockist Easypark Australia. Price is around the $1600 mark. There is a 12 month Australian warranty supplied by Easypark.

Pros:

Quick replies and good customer service from easypark prior to purchase. Very quick delivery from Easypark once order placed.

Unit looks very high quality, significantly better then alot of ebay units I have seen. It is a perfect match and fit for dash. I guess for the money this is to be expected.

Screen is high resolution, and resists fade and reflections well in day driving. It does not washout in sunlight that bad like some cheaper units do.

Great sound quality, significant step up from stock unit.

Good features like ipod/iphone playback with onscreen menu's, bluetooth, mp3 sd card playback, rds radio, programmeable volume on level

Screen autodim's for night driving when headlights turned on (also see cons)

Currently running supplied igo8 map with skin. Works well with unit.

Cons:

Mp3's can't be played back whilst map displayed onscreen as skip constantly

Had unit lock up on two occasions when map onscreen and navigating and had an incoming call through bluetooth. The screen went speckled white, and no keys would work. Only way to fix was hold power button in and restart unit. Did a factory reset upon advice from easypark but unfortunately didn't correct this fault.

Unit is very sluggish for instance changing songs when attempting to uses ipod whilst map running onscreen. If map not on unit is quick and responsive.

Unit has do a full reboot if running and starting from accessory position. For instance you are stopped with engine off, but car in accessory position to listen to radio or to keep map onscreen. When you restart the car the unit turns off and has to reboot completely. You then need to also restart the map if need. I had a previous cheap same style ebay gps that would stay on in this circumstance and not reboot which was much more convienient. (some other owners on here have reported that their units don't reboot like this, so maybe a fault with mine?)

Whilst the unit supports iphone phonebook, unfortunately the phonebook does not come up in order, with names/numbers all over the place.

Screen has 3 brightness levels full, soft, dark. Also has a screen off feature. The screen will autodim to soft for night driving. Unfortunately even at lowest soft level it is still too bright. This is a big screen, and really needs to be able to dim even more for night driving.

I have sent easypark a couple of emails about some of these issues, so will wait for them to get back to me. Im sure that all of these issues could be ironed out with a firmware update or similar. (hopefully not a lack of memory or processor power for some of them). I will also post some pictures and video's showing this unit in operation, the good and bad points.

Anyway the unit holds great promise, and has some awesome features so will report back about how I go getting up and running 100% or close too.

Will also add to this review and update as some more 'ownership' time passes. This is not a cheap unit, and does feel quality. Hopefully few issues fixed and can then give this a whole hearted tick of approval.

Thanks and hope this helps out some others............to be continued

Edited November 24, 2010 by wilsact

[glenshkolar]

What is this?

[mirz]

Sounds like some cheap eBay gps :-)

[wilsact]

Sounds like some cheap eBay gps :-)

See review.

[elTanqueAU]

Hi,

I have the same unit and agree, it's not from ebay, and it's not cheap. Agreed with the pros, and divx playback through USB is a big plus for me to keep the little one entertained during long trips.

Cons:

Mp3's can't be played back whilst map displayed onscreen as skip constantly

I haven't had this issue, however i use an ipod for all the music and it has never skipped a track.

Cons:

Had unit lock up on two occasions when map onscreen and navigating and had an incoming call through bluetooth. The screen went speckled white, and no keys would work. Only way to fix was hold power button in and restart unit. Did a factory reset upon advice from easypark but unfortunately didn't correct this fault.

Had the unit locked once that I remember. Did a reset and all back and running. What happened to me once was losing all the data on the microSD card. Don't know why, all lost/corrupted. It always pays off to have a backup. I even carry a backup on my phone's SD card (I know! too much!!)

Unit is very sluggish for instance changing songs when attempting to uses ipod whilst map running onscreen.

Same issue here, and map runs on the background unless you turn it off. However, I just turn on the car, keep the ipod or a movie running and no issues at all. Usually I'm not searching for music. Even during video playback, you can still listen to the driving directions.

Unit has do a full reboot if running and starting from accessory position.

Some times it does, some times it doesn't. Can't explain the different situations, but I have tested it and it does. Haven't found a pattern yet.

Whilst the unit supports iphone phonebook, unfortunately the phonebook does not come up in order, with names/numbers all over the place.

I tried this with my previous WinMo phone and it was fine. Haven't tested it with the iPhone, will do.

Anyway the unit holds great promise, and has some awesome features so will report back about how I go getting up and running 100% or close too.

Agreed.

Let me know if you hear from Easypark about a firmware upgrade. I'll be interested.

Anybody with this unit tried to run any other GPS software?