Ant Riding a Locomotive
September 30th, 2009“The Little Speck in the Window is Waving at Us”
I am hopeless. I wanted to get a cheap stereo for the truck, but I ended up going for a DVD rig with navigation.
I know I’m an idiot. I have no defense this time.
It’s not as bad as it sounds, though. I realized the CD receiver I had ordered was not going to cut it with a rear-view camera, and I really REALLY want a rear-view camera. These cameras are stupid when fastened to ordinary cars, but my truck practically needs tugboats. I can’t see a thing when I look out the back window.
I had a couple of choices. I could get a CD receiver and a separate camera and monitor, or I could get a DVD receiver and a camera. The price would not have been much different. With the separate systems, I’d have two installations to do. I’d have more hardware. And I wouldn’t get the added bonus of easier MP3-folder navigation, which comes with the bigger screen. When I found out I could get a GPS, too, toy-lust kicked in. And Crutchfield had an open-box deal which saved me another 60 bucks.
A GPS is one of the dumbest things you can put in your car, unless you’re going senile. But the fun factor is impossible to ignore. It will be useful. No doubt about that. But I seem to survive without one every day.
I will also be able to hook my cell phone up to the stereo, so I can have more accidents. There is no way I’ll do that. My big goal, as a chronically absent-minded person, is to learn to turn the cell off whenever I get in the car and then turn it on when I get out. Hooking it up to the stereo is like paying people to rear-end and sideswipe me.
I should make up my mind. Do I want a thumb drive, or do I want to put my old 40-gig MP3 player in the glove compartment? I think the drive is a better option. I’ll never fill a 16-GB drive, and a drive doesn’t require power, and a drive will never crash. At least I don’t think it will. It would take a burst of electricity, wouldn’t it? No moving parts.
The only thing I’m sure of is that I’ll never use this receiver to watch DVDs.
I still need nerf bars and maybe an engine tuner. I think that will cover me. Dang. Forgot the bed liner. I better get that before she rusts out.
September 30th, 2009 at 2:45 PM
Any news yet on your sister? I have had you two on my mind and in my prayers all morning.
September 30th, 2009 at 3:21 PM
Not yet! Thanks for the prayers.
September 30th, 2009 at 4:31 PM
Flash drives/cards don’t fail as often as HDDs, but they do eventually wear out; there is a limit to the number of erase/write cycles. Most people will fill it up and replace it loooooong before that happens.
September 30th, 2009 at 5:16 PM
I have a bluetooth connect for my cellphone and rather like it.
It is effectively no more dangerous than talking to a passenger (the push the button to answer the phone is no worse than occasional glances at a passenger)
September 30th, 2009 at 5:18 PM
If you believe that, you might want to check the research.
September 30th, 2009 at 6:21 PM
I still need nerf bars and maybe an engine tuner. I think that will cover me. Dang. Forgot the bed liner. I better get that before she rusts out.
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And Bed-Rail Caps…the first time you drop lumber on your bed rail, you’ll thank me 🙂
September 30th, 2009 at 7:03 PM
Line-X over the rails!
September 30th, 2009 at 7:28 PM
“…there is a limit to the number of erase/write cycles.”
Yep. Odds are high you’ll never get anywhere near it. By the time you have a problem, you won’t be able to get a replacement 16GB drive because they won’t make them that small anymore.
September 30th, 2009 at 8:55 PM
Line-X over the rails!
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Sounds like that’ll work…I don’t know how much dent-resistance it will give you though.
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I’ll be joining the Line-x bandwagon soon. I melted my Polypropylene Bed-liner recently (a long story involving trailer-towing, torrential rain, blown mufflers, and bicycles); so it’s about time I upgraded.
September 30th, 2009 at 10:08 PM
You can get an aftermarket kit that installs those ultrasonic backup sensors that beep as you get closer to objects. Some have a wireless receiver so you don’t have to run cables to the dashboard.
Check on eBay, they’re cheap as dirt.
October 1st, 2009 at 8:21 AM
Forget tug boats…how about a nice set of bow thrusters?
October 1st, 2009 at 12:02 PM
Somehow I knew you’d get the GPS/NAV/DVD system with the backup camera once you saw it. I didn’t mention it because I didn’t want to blamed for that one too 😉
The best tuner for the Dodge is the Edge Juice with Attitude; but the edge evolution cts will be coming out for the Dodge in a few months, and you may want to wait.
Otherwise, the BullyDog PMT is also excellent. Banks is currently a little behind the curve with their tuner.
Hypertech and Superchips make lower end models that are decent, and half the price of the others, but they don’t give you real time monitoring or realtime programming.
October 1st, 2009 at 2:25 PM
A GPS is one of the dumbest things you can put in your car, unless you’re going senile.
Says the man who never leaves his home city?
October 1st, 2009 at 2:40 PM
I have a cellphone – bluetooth connection in my new car (and can run teh controls through buttons on teh steering wheel).
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It stikes me as being every bit as safe as talking to a passenger in teh car (if not more so, I occasionally look at a passenger when I’m talking).
October 1st, 2009 at 2:46 PM
“Says the man who never leaves his home city?”
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Believe it or not, I have been to other cities. I used amazing inventions known as “maps” and “signs.” I probably should not expect other people to be familiar with such advanced technology.
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“I didn’t mention it because I didn’t want to blamed for that one too”
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I blame you, regardless.
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“The best tuner for the Dodge is the Edge Juice with Attitude”
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The Cumminsforum guys seem to like the Smarty, Jr. Supposedly it will jack up my horsepower by around 15%, while increasing mileage. The only down side I’ve encountered is that it may not work if the previous owner screwed with the programming of the truck, and the Smarty people will not let me return it.
October 1st, 2009 at 7:05 PM
Steve, ALL the tuners can give you the same horsepower and torque improvements, and the same mileage improvements. They’re all doing exactly the same thing. The $700+ smarty is doing the exact same thing as the $400 superchips or hypertech.
The difference is in the extras. The smarty offers realtime on the fly programming, which the lower end systems dont; but all the high end systems do. They don’t offer realtime monitoring, multiparameter monitoring, custom program optimization… or about a dozen other features.
So it’s a very good programmer, but that’s all it does. It IS a bit cheaper ($100-$200) than the higher end Edge and Bully Dog products.
The edge, and the bully dog, both offer realtime performance monitoring, performance management, additional sensors, dynamic programming based on EGT reading (in case your program is getting you too hot) and a lot of other extras.
The Banks high end product does too, but it uses an obsolete palm PDA as its display; which is why I say they are behind the curve.
The new Edge CTS gives you even more, though it is more expensive than the Juice with Attitude and the Smarty.
October 1st, 2009 at 7:10 PM
The only down side I’ve encountered is that it may not work if the previous owner screwed with the programming of the truck, and the Smarty people will not let me return it.
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You should be able to ask the dealer how many times the ECM has been re-flashed. Then you would know if it’s been “tampered with”.