RB1 Navigation unit

[TSPowell]

Has anyone purchased a RB1 Navigation unit and installed it? I think I want one!!!! I've seen them sell, ranging from $1500 to $575. Not sure why the big price difference. Any comments would be great.

 

[69RoadRunner]

The price has come down recently on eBay. I bought one for my 03 QC from MR. CD1. It had the latest map DVD. It's for sale in the classifieds if you're interested. I need to lower my price, but I don't know how to edit the ad. Just do a search on RB1 in the classifieds.



It's very easy to install. Disconnect the - cable on the battery.



Remove the screw by the hanger thing on the right side of the dash. Use a trim tool to pull out the dash (there are a ton of clips that stay in place for easy removal/installation).



Remove the 4 screws that hold the old radio in.



Disconnect the wiring harnesses and antenna.



Connect the wiring harnesses and antenna to the RB1.



Stick the GPS antenna behind the dash on the passenger's side (lots of options and I think it was magnetic).



Screw it back in.



Push the dash back in place.



Put the hook screw back in.



Reconnect the battery.



Do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around. That's what it's all about.

 

[JimBob24]

I installed one a few months ago and it is OK, but not great. It does a good job of accessing satellites quickly, but there are a lot of significant roads that are not in its database, which is all on CD and must be loaded each time you use the nav function.



It works well showing your present location, as long as you are on a major state route or US highway, and it has a fair amount of local points of interest, like restaurants, etc. It is nice to have the built-in factory look and the screen is bright enough to see easily. The audio sounds good too. All in all it seems to be a quality unit.



To me, its main weakness is in route planning on a trip. It often calculates routes which are obviously not the best way to go, and there is little you can do to modify this without great effort. It will automatically recalculate a new route if you chose to depart from the calculated route. You can set up a trip specifying each individual leg of the route, which is basically chaining several short trips together, but that can be somewhat cumbersome, especially on a long trip. There is no touch screen so the only way to input info is using a small knob to move a cursor around to make various selections.



The CD must be in the drive any time you are using the nav function, so you can not play a music cd at the same time, although you can still use the radio. (This may not be true if you have the remote cd changer installed). Now that you can get one in the $500. range it is worth that.

 

[69RoadRunner]

CD changers are unnecessary today. Get the Ipod connector from Mopar (I have one) and put all of your tunes on the Ipod instead. It's cheaper and you can store a lot more songs.



I didn't have quite the trouble that JimBob24 had with routing. I live in Northern VA (suburban DC), so all the roads were covered that I needed. The DVD even was updated for a new intersection that my 04 and 05 vehicles did not have.

 

[JeepRig]

2 things. What is the part no. for the Ipod connector?

And, The only thing about the RB1 I don't like, is it does not show your speed. It would be nice if it would show that. I have to carry a handheld GPS on trips cause with the bigger tires my speedo is off alittle.

 

[69RoadRunner]

2 things. What is the part no. for the Ipod connector?

And, The only thing about the RB1 I don't like, is it does not show your speed. It would be nice if it would show that. I have to carry a handheld GPS on trips cause with the bigger tires my speedo is off alittle.

Here's info on the Ipod connector. When you scroll down you'll see that the RB1 is supported.



http://www.wyckoffchryslerparts.com/moipinkit.html



You can have your dealer flash your computer to make the speedometer accurate for the larger tires. Since the RB1 is sold by Chrysler, I guess they thought you'd use the speedometer to see your speed. :-laf

 

[BigDan]

I searched about the RB! and while it was probably a nice factory unit back in 2002 when they designed it its is obsolete by todays standards.



There are just too many things that it can't do when compared to newer models. It sounds like its a PITA especially if you like to listen to music on your long road trip



I'm looking at getting a nice all in one touch screen DVD/NAV/CD