"Group Buy" for Ipod Interfaces from Vais Technology

[datavortex]

Originally posted by mtnrunnerTalk about the Internet working for us! I outta buy everything like this! As of this post it looks like we're up to 39 units!

Yep! 41 units now, just nine more to go until we can celebrate our best possible deal.

I noticed your sign-up sheet has been updated to reflect make/model/year of car which may come into play for Eugene as I believe the wiring harness will differ car to car. Any chance you can update for all participants to expedite Eugene's readiness to ship?

Absolutely. Just email or post your information and I will update the page. I added those sections at Eugene's request after we started getting many signups. I'm happy to backfill the old data that we missed initially.

Not sure what you mean by Obfuscated email address. I know what the word means but what's the value of a "confused" email address? .. or are you suggesting something like "bill at MS.com vs. [email protected]?"

Yep, that's what I meant, you got it.

At what point is the group buy closed?

Right now I'm leaning toward the end of the month. The discounts stop at 50 signups, so my own interest in extending long past that figure will be minimal. I think it will be at least October 1 until Eugene is caught up enough on production to get through our new orders, so leaving it open that long should be enough for most people to notice. I'm pretty sure Eugene will be happy to get all the orders he can.

Again, Thanks for putting this together! Assuming our 4Runners with NAV and CD-TEXT work with this puppy we'll all be in iPod heaven!

My pleasure! Always happy to save money on shiny new toys.

 

[mtnrunner]

Yep! 41 units now, just nine more to go until we can celebrate our best possible deal.

FANFRIGGINTASTIC! just need to stay drunk till October :-(

...I'll email you my car info

 

[slowginjoe]

Slowgin, I have a 2004 with Nav and it shows "CD-TEXT" in the emblem on upper left side of unit. I'm hoping it will work too despite that I don't seem to get title info on CDs. We may have different units, the bottom right emblem on my HU reads "17010", what does yours read? Also, I tried using the pac-audio and no go on 12 pin port, Eugene says his uses the 20 pin port. Finger crossed!

mtnrunner, i must have the same unit as you do. there's a gold 'CD Digital Audio [text]' emblem below the left knob and a tiny17010 number on the lower right corner. it should, hopefully, better, gotta work!

 

[slowginjoe]

Just counted.... 47! We're so there! Those of you that wanted in at the $221.99 price, now's your chance to jump on board and take us there!

SIGNUP!

:rocker:

 

[mtnrunner]

mtnrunner, i must have the same unit as you do. there's a gold 'CD Digital Audio [text]' emblem below the left knob and a tiny17010 number on the lower right corner. it should, hopefully, better, gotta work!

And I checked my HU for CD-text and indeed it does display it in the 'audio' screen but while in nav it does not overlay the text when moving thru tracks, just says track1 etc.

I WANT MY IPOD NAV NOW! If it doesn't work I'm buying 06 4Runner!!!

 

[oldboy]

What's the conceptual installation for this?

How does this get hooked into the existing nav/stereo system?

Where would one mount this unit in a 4runner so it would look cool?

thanks in advance.
Lou

P.S. I've looked at the site, but I'm a total noob when it comes to electrical mods. I have the nav unit w the 6 disk changer in my 4runner...
PPS. This would give me a cool reason to swipe the IPOD I gave my wife. She doesn't use it very much.... :bash:

 

[mtnrunner]

Re: What's the conceptual installation for this?

P.S. I've looked at the site, but I'm a total noob when it comes to electrical mods. I have the nav unit w the 6 disk changer in my 4runner...
PPS. This would give me a cool reason to swipe the IPOD I gave my wife. She doesn't use it very much.... :bash: [/B]

Oldboy, here's an excellent resource I used for attempting a aux-pod hookup to my NAV: http://www.castulucci.com/projects/carpc/oemnaviaccess/

It was very easy using this guide from Rando to make the mod, though device did not work, which is why I'm now buying this one.

I plan on putting the aic-100i cable into the center compartment so I can access the ipod anywhere in the car and keep it hidden. Wife and I chase our seats when we carpool daily allowing one of us to recumber in back seat so accessing ipod from rear seat is a must. I'll have to drill a hole in center box somewhere but would not want to alter dash anywhere visible and this device should allow for ipod control from steering wheel controls and nav unit. So, yea, sign up and steal that ipod back!

Also, did you get cd-changer aftermarket or stock and what does your emblem say in bottom right corner of head unit, my number is 17010. Plus, I think you loose cd-changer access with this unit.

 

[slowginjoe]

Re: Re: What's the conceptual installation for this?

Plus, I think you loose cd-changer access with this unit.

I could be wrong, as I often am, but I think you can cycle through the cd changer 1 and cd changer 2 (which would be the ipod interface) on our nav system. I thought I read it somewhere but can't remember where...

 

[datavortex]

Re: Re: Re: What's the conceptual installation for this?

I could be wrong, as I often am, but I think you can cycle through the cd changer 1 and cd changer 2 (which would be the ipod interface) on our nav system. I thought I read it somewhere but can't remember where...

It was here. You can still you one other changer-like device, such as minidisk changer, XM/Sirius radio, etc.

 

[mtnrunner]

my bad, must have confused the aic with the aux-box

 

[oldboy]

Re: Re: What's the conceptual installation for this?

Oldboy, here's an excellent resource I used for attempting a aux-pod hookup to my NAV: http://www.castulucci.com/projects/carpc/oemnaviaccess/


Also, did you get cd-changer aftermarket or stock and what does your emblem say in bottom right corner of head unit, my number is 17010. Plus, I think you loose cd-changer access with this unit.

Wow! Thanks for the link! That doesn't look too bad. I think I can do it!

I got my CD changer from the stealer - installed after the purchase so it's not contributing to the DMV VAT. That number on my head unit is the same as yours. Is there anything significant about that number?

So, where would the unit go - under the dash somewhere?

 

[mtnrunner]

Re: Re: Re: What's the conceptual installation for this?

I got my CD changer from the stealer - installed after the purchase so it's not contributing to the DMV VAT. That number on my head unit is the same as yours. Is there anything significant about that number?

Stealer? funny!

The 17010 significance is that I didn't think my unit could accept a CD-changer as my attempt with pac-audio ipod interface failed and that was PACs guess why but seeing that your HU accepted the CD-changer means it is cd-changer capable and PAC just had the wrong ext changer code, meaning, finally, that THE AIC UNIT SHOULD WORK!!! and the HU will recognize it as a cd-changer and my nav screen will tell me what I'm listening to and I'll be so happy that I didn't through my iPod out on the HWY in frustration!

Thanks, I'll sleep better now knowing I won't be disassembling my dash in vain again.

The fact that T4R.ORG saves us money, helps us do our own mods and puts us in touch with other forums, like priuschat, I get all warm and fuzzy and think maybe the web will be what finally creates peace on earth! (back to drinking...)

 

[datavortex]

We Have 50 Signups!

Hello all,

I'm happy to tell you that we now have 51 signups, which means we've crossed the boundry for getting the best possible bulk discount. Huzzah! The units will be $221.99 each, and it doesn't get any cheaper than that, so sign up now if you don't want to miss this deal.

 

[ToyotaDan]

Will this actually work?

Guys

Does this unit really work? I have a 2003 4runner with Nav, and I have tried many solutions. I was able to get the monster IPOD adapter to work, but it would only do 99 songs max per each play list and would not do anything randomly (so each time you started the car you start over at the beginning)... big pain in the ass. I also tried ipod2car adapter and that didnt work well (the nav would discover it 2 out of 10 times )...

so since I have had no luck with such devices, what happens when these do not work? is the company willing to refund?

has anyone actually installed one in their car?

 

[TRDSilverBulitt]

Do you guys know if this unit will be compatible with the 2006 OEMValue.com HU's? I'm planning on getting one but they only have the 2006's now. Oh and how do you think I should go about wiring/installing my 10" Pre-Amped Bazooka Tube with the Nav HU? Thanks!

 

[mtnrunner]

Re: Will this actually work?

so since I have had no luck with such devices, what happens when these do not work? is the company willing to refund?

has anyone actually installed one in their car?

Will refund all but shipping is what I understand...

 

[mtnrunner]

Holy Crap, we're at 86 particpants!

Eugene, from vais, tells me to expect a call in about 2 weeks, but I signed up like 5th so it will be longer for later partcipants but wow! ...now I need to build 99 playlists, that's gonna be hard

 

[datavortex]

Update and Deal Conclusion

We've got 86 signups right now, which equates to 106 units, since one guy is a reseller and wants 20 of them! This number is actally going to go down by 4 or 5, and has already been trimmed down by 12 - since unfortunately Lexus owners can't sign up with us for this deal. This came down from Eugene, and basically the problem is that the units are different enough, and differently priced apperantly. This is no fewer than 15 interested Lexus owners though, and this is without even posting in any of the Lexus forums myself, so I'm certain they will have no trouble getting their own group buy assembled.

Eugene also indicated he expects to cull a couple more people off the list due to harware incompatibilities. In the end, he and I both guarantee there will be more than fiftty easily, and I expect still more than 100 units total.

Eugene did ask me to end the group buy soon, which is a bit sooner than I had expected. I will respect his wishes of course, so the group buy is ending Monday night. This will be at exactly Mon Sep 26 23:59:59 EDT 2005!

So, if you haven't signed up yet, you have until then to do so! You've got 81 hours, then this one is over.

 

[mtnrunner]

Re: Update and Deal Conclusion

...Eugene also indicated he expects to cull a couple more people off the list due to harware incompatibilities...

You're scaring me! Please explain what you mean by hardware incompatibilities! Do you know with what Car/HUs?

Thanks

 

[datavortex]

Re: Re: Update and Deal Conclusion

You're scaring me! Please explain what you mean by hardware incompatibilities! Do you know with what Car/HUs?

You know everything I know.