I tried calling Alpine at their Torrance, CA facility and got nowhere. All I got was to be transferred around via a recording loop and when I finally did reach a live receptionist, the dept. she transferred me to simply was another recording telling me to leave a message and somebody would call me back. Yeah, like I will be holding my breath for that call to come. So guess we are all stuck with this wonderful Alpine product as it may be. Fortunately for me, my unit for some unknown reason has been working fine of last. The battery life has not changed of course but in the truck at least it is doing the job it was supposed to do from the beginning. For how long, who knows but at least I can use it now whereas before it was a total frustration. Anyone else care to try contacting Alpine for this forum, good luck with that…………..

Terry

I will be interested in what Alpine has to say.

(Not at all trying to start an argument, but considering your remarks about Alpine, it’s a valid question.)

Having been in the home and car entertainment business for over 38 years, I can tell you that the above comment is an accurate statement regarding almost all manufacturers. We had our own service department and when we had (say) a dozen or more head units (or home receivers) come back with the same issue, we would contact the manufacturer with the problem (and frequently the solution). I cannot think of a single time when the manufacturer didn't tell us (something like) "We haven't had any other complaints," or, "It must be something you're doing" (sure, like WE caused the right channel to drop out in over a dozen of one particular new model). Yet, two months after one complaint (and manufacturer denial), they came out with a (free) modification kit that repaired the manufacturing defect that we had identified as having caused the problem.

I believe it is in the DNA of manufacturers to deny reported problems for fear that if they acknowledge them, word will get around to their competitors and be used as a selling point against them. Over the years we were able to *demonstrate* our claims to one manufacturer's rep to the point that when we told him we had identified a problem, he would tell the manufacturer "I know you say you aren't having complaints [with this model], but someone has to be first to report an issue, and these guys have been right 100% of the time so far. So you should not just blow them off."

But Joe is right. It has been my experience that most manufacturers will not listen to a dealer when he identifies a problem with a product – not until they begin getting multiple reports of the same problem or complaints directly from consumers.

Nevertheless, I would not blow off all Alpine products simply because they seemed to had issues with their navigation systems. They do make some good products.

Being a dealer for Alpine I would hope that you have voiced your opinion to Alpine several times about what so many owners of this unit have stated here on this forum. And possibly even suggested they log onto this forum and read for themselves if they question your negativity, etc. What’s up with Alpine, are they ignorant or just plain stupid? How does a company that has been known for years as a mfgr. of high end automobile audio products, put a product on the market such as this one and then do absolutely nothing about it other than try to provide an upgrade that costs the out of pocket consumer even more money, and a lot more IMHO than the useless upgrade is even worth. I just plain don’t understand all this. Oh well, once again I have said my piece on this on this forum. My unit for some unexplained reason has been actually working fine for the past several months now but I am most certainly not holding my breath for very long as I just know that one day soon I will light it up and it will probably go tell me to jump in some lake it can’t find…..

Good luck and use another brand of GPS when you are out riding around. I’m reasonably certain any of them will work much better than this Alpine unit does………… Terry