Does anyone have an Alpine GPS unit? If so, how are the maps updated? Are the Thailand maps all in Thai or in English?

For the benefit of future Alpine/Pajero Sport users, i will answer my own question. I purchased a receiver from Formula Technic in Bangkok to interface with the Alpine touch screen in my Pajero Sport.

First I should say I was a bit apprehensive as I have always used Garmin GPS and was very happy with the maps and user friendly functions. That is of course until now. After I came out of the shop I had both units operating simultaneously, a Garmin Nuvi windshield mount and the Alpine unit. The Alpine unit gave far better advance warnings of lane changing and upcoming turns, shows 2 small windows beside the main screen with your next 2 upcoming events. I say events as they may be turns or toll booths. The Garmin unit never advised me of an upcoming toll booth. Many times the Garmin wanted me to make right turns while I was in the middle of the overhead toll way. On the Garmin unit the voice tells you to turn left or right on specific road names and most times with the translation the name makes no sense or is extremely long. The Alpine unit seems to talk a lot less than the Garmin in general as well. The Garmin frequently lost sat coverage while in downtown Bangkok, the Alpine never did. That is most likely due to the fact the Alpine unit uses a remote outside mounted antenna.

All in all I'm not saying the Garmin is bad, it has its strong points for sure, but there sure is nothing wrong with the Alpine unit.

I forgot to answer one question, the maps and voice are in either Thai or English and are user selectable.

Edited February 13, 201016 yr by CDNinKS

Thats a good bit of info.

Can I ask what did you pay for the receiver from Formula Technic to interface with the Alpine touch screen in my Pajero Sport?

How long did it take Formula Technic to install the receiver?

What about software up dates?

Thanks

24,000 Baht for the receiver. This is a hide away, permanently installed unit.

I'm not sure how long it took just for the GPS receiver as I also had the roof mounted DVD player and such done at the same time. They had the car about 4 hours total I think, so I would assume it would be no longer than that to install just the GPS receiver.

They told me that software updates are annually and that I can come back to the shop once a year and they will do it for me.

Good luck and enjoy

Here is the link to the software used on the Alpine in dash system:

http://www.speednavi.com/English/

Interesting.. I had an alpine system way back (outside Thailand) and it was superb..