Jun 9, 2008 02:14AM | by 
After spending a week with my commute partner, I can’t imagine life without without this driving companion. Overall, I believe the greatest benefit of the Dash Navigation system is in its awareness of the traffic conditions ahead as well as the amazingly accurate ETA time calculated at the outset of your commute. In my humble opinion, the confidence that this navigation tool gives you on your daily commute is worth more than its unique features list.
Okay, well, let’s go through my impressions of this unit:
The Goods…
Internet connectivity / Web integration -
The great part about having a truly “connected” GPS navigation device isn’t necessarily what you can do in the car but, rather, what you can do before stepping in to the car. I regularly use the “send to car” feature to input addresses of places I intend to go throughout the day. For example, if I want to try out a new restaurant for lunch, I’ll shoot off the address to my Dash device as oppose to printing out the Google directions. This saves on both paper and the added step of entering the address in manually on the device.
During my initial week with the Dash unit, I happened to come across 2 update packages from Dash.net. First was a map update followed by a larger software update with an improved traffic model. Having a GPS navigation that constantly updates and improves is a phenomenal thing. It gives you the confidence that your investment in device is accruing in value as opposed to whithering away into obsolescence.
Much like Facebook, Dash has employed a set of application APIs to allow for third party websites to extend their services onto your Dash GPS unit. Currently, there are a handful of Dash applications that available. The ones I find most useful are WeatherBug and ColdwellBanker Home Search. Both of which utilize your GPS data to give you the most relevant location based information on weather or on homes on sale nearby.
“True” Real time Traffic…
Of course, by now, you know about Dash’s claim to fame as the only GPS Nav device out there to give you “true” realtime traffic info. Although this is somewhat a marketing play on words, Dash does to something interesting here. The primary traffic info overlay data is still from the road sensors on the freeways. These data, like all other traffic data, are delayed by 15 minutes. Therefore, when you are just behind an accident on the highway and have slowed to a crawl, the data on the Dash unit still would display green. However, beyond this initial traffic info layer, Dash does also overlay fleet data from trucks which improves the coverage of traffic data beyond major highways and onto major surface streets. This is a big help if you spend a good portion of your commute navigating the side streets before getting onto the freeway (or the other way around). Of course, you’ll have to discount all the red slow traffic at the intersections since they likely reflect the fact that these are drivers stopping at lights. The third and, arguably, most interesting traffic input is from Dash users themselves. Every time I drive around with my Dash unit on, I’m creating traffic data. This form of “crowd sourcing” is quite powerful if you assume that there are hundreds of other Dash users around you on the road. Combining the data streams from all three sources, the Dash network works to give probably the most comprehensive real-time traffic model there is on the market today.
Auto On/Off
This is not really a big deal on paper but for me, I found it to be surprisingly useful. Since GPS navigation units are, by definition, after-market devices - they lack the sophistication of in dash integration of factory installed NAV units. However, the Dash GPS does a nice job of building in an auto on/off functionality to mimic that integration. Unlike some other NAV units on the market today, the Dash has a charging port on the cradle as well as the unit itself. When I go to turn on the engine, the Dash unit recognize the 12V DC current coming from the car and turns itself on. Likewise, when the engine is turned off, the unit recognizes the power disruption as offers a choice to continue or (left alone) turn itself off in 30 seconds. This feature, although minor, adds a nice touch to the overall user experience. I understand that some cars (especially GM) has a continuous power source despite engine shut down. In that case, users will have to rely on manually turning the unit.
The Bad…
There are a few gripes I have with the unit but nothing too major. The first and foremost is the lag in GPS location. At normal street driving speeds, one can anticipate up to a 3 to 5 second delay. This makes it locating a new destination a bit challenging especially if you need to make U-turns! Hopefully, Dash can address that with upcoming firmware updates. Also, the GPS acquisition time can take upwards of 2 to 3 minutes especially if you had been trapped in a parking garage for a little bit. However, normally, the GPS acquisition time takes under 1 minute given a clear view of the spy. Another bad is the weight, for dash mounted GPS navigation device, the Dash comes in as a heavy weight. I opted to buy a custom mount to go onto my car’s vent holes rather than to use the included windshield mount. The extra weight would surely make for a jarring experience if you haven’t properly secured the NAV unit.
Those are my initial thoughts on the Dash Nav unit - hope you all find it useful!