in-car Head Unit from UK compatible with Thailand GPS ?

[CarlBkk]

Hi all, I'm thinking about bringing this Pioneer AVIC-F710BT head unit (sat nav/music files/dvd player) back to Thailand. It has an SD card slot, but I'm still not sure if it will be compatible with Thai GPS Navi system (by buying an SD card over here) and how much this will cost. Has anyone done this?

http://www.incarexpress.co.uk/view_product.php?partno=AVICF710BT

[RichCor]

GPS is universal, world-wide. It only provides coordinates (Lat/Lon/Elev) and Time (UTC)

GPS Navigation 'Maps' (Roads, Water, POIs, etc) are included only for the 'region' the device sold in. (ie: Europe, North America, Asia... )

The AVIC-X710BT doesn't seem to be for sale in Asia.

The Pioneer models sold in Malaysia seem to use map cartography from PAPAGO, while the US models use either Nokia HERE or Tele Atlas (as in the case of theX710BT).

You'll have to contact Pioneer to see if ASIA, SEA, or Thailand specific maps are available and can be installed on the unit.

The SD Card is primarily used for playing media files, but can be used to add POI (Points Of Interest). No indication of additional MAPS or MAP Details.

Pioneer Electronics, USA (pioneerelectronics.com)

USA Products Car GPS-Navigation

AVIC-X710BT

Products Page

Operations Manual .PDF

Oh, and then there's this...

[CarlBkk]

Great info, thanks Rich. Having read through it I'm going to avoid undue hassle and buy new from a dealer in Bkk.

[CarlBkk]

Just to give you guys an update regarding my car hifi journey here. I brought back from second hand focal KR 3-way component speakers (from ebay UK) in the hope of installing them in my Honda Civic here. However, I found a great shop called The Voice behind The Nine shopping centre on Rama 9. Brilliant family owned business, very friendly, English speaking and a great demo room where you can instantly switch between speakers and amps to hear the difference.

In fact, I wanted an amp to drive front component speakers and back coaxials. The guy in the shop said I shouldn't get one straight away because the head unit I liked (a top range Pioneer with GPS, around 30,000 baht) was so good and powerful I wouldn't be able to hear the difference. But I A/B tested it anyway with a 15,000 baht JL Audio amp. He was right. No difference at all! He saved me 15,000 baht.

The component demo was incredibly valuable. I had expected to want the Focals or Morel drivers, but it was clearly the JL Audio CS3 series which were better than both. So I sold the Focals to them for what I bought them to the shop, bought the JLs for front and back and had it all installed and set up with an hour of tuning. No subs or amps bought and it's bloody excellent. Punchy, clear and loud. Exceeded all expectations. 60,000 baht total.

I highly recommend this place.