Satisfaction guaranteed
Cargo-sized players and tranistor-based radios have been superseded by slick CDs, MP3's and DVD's. But the challenges of occupying passengers during long and often ardous journies has not diminished. Here the Tech Eye team examines a few of the many options to divert brawling and bawling children and reduce back-seat driver volume.
Damage limitation with a DVD
This one, we're afraid, is strictly for the passengers, but as a driver it might just save your sanity. Few things send a shiver up the spine of the hardened driver faster then the plaintive cry of a bored young passenger demanding to know: "Are we there yet?" Hopefully this little beauty will stave off the car-induced cabin fever long enough for you to avoid dropping them off at the orphanage on your next road-trip holiday. This is Sony's MV-700HR, and some readers among you may remember it from a recent Tech Eye column. This portable DVD player has a seven-inch TFT screen on the outside, so it can be held and watched more easily than a typical laptop or most other flip-open players. It can hang unprecariously from a headrest, should your child be armless, and has a cigar adaptor for the car (that means you can plug it in, not that it turns into a cigar). An optional battery gives you three hours playtime and it comes with a theft-secured car cradle, but if you leave this behind in the car for a long time, we think you deserve everything you get. It's available in black or silver and costs zł.2,499, which seems a lot, but, as all do-gooders are wont to say, think of the children, or at least yourself, and you know it makes sense. L.M.
Sounds of the future
Anything that takes your mind off the journey is a blessing but a high-tech device that gives you another purpose for being behind the wheel is really somethin' - or something else, depending on whether you prefer Eddie Cochran or The Sex Pistols. Panasonic have packed a whole galaxy of features into their top offering that will take an age for you and your family to tire of fiddling with. The fully digital amplifier, radio and CD allows you to get ahead of the pack in terms of quality, while the boffins at Panasonic's labs have realized that it don't mean nothing without a bit of sharp packaging. One of the slickest elements to the CQ-C9901N is its fully motorized 512 - yes 512 - color display. Nestled in a neat chrome black case this sound system will have the neighbors craning their necks to catch a glimpse of what's going down with the sounds. The only down side, however, could be the back seat-friendly remote control that ensures you are last in the queue when it comes to choosing what gets played. If that hasn't put you off, the CQ-C9901N can be had for around to zł.2,100.
J.T.
Hands-free fun with your phone
For most people, taking phone calls in the car is a necessary evil, and although it is illegal to use your mobile phone while trying to negotiate a roundabout, for example, hands-free kits mean that even your precious driving time is infected by calls from the office. But if you're going to talk and go, you may as well do it in style, and Nokia's range of hands-free kits are some of the best on the market. The 616 pictured here is as easy to use as crashing a car and uses Bluetooth technology so you can do your hand signals, give other drivers the fingers and shout at the secretary all at the same time in high quality audio. It supports two individual users, with personalized contacts, voice tags and audio settings, and has car optimized SMS handling features. You can even write text messages using the optional HSU-4 handset. Expect to pay around zł.1,800 so people can stare at you and wonder who you're talking to as you drive past ranting to thin air.L.M.
Krówki-resistant Kenwood?
Whether it's Bach or Black Sabbath one of the biggest factors to add clarity and crispness to your favorite sounds are the speakers in your vehicle. One of best known manufacturers of sound systems are the clever people at Kenwood, who list the KFC-PS1700P set-up as one of their top offerings. The giant 170mm woofers are twinned with 25mm Teflon soft-domed tweeters and together boast a whopping 220 watts power - certainly enough for the young ones to sing along with Maja the bumblebee, and the not-so-young to rap to Poland's Tede, or Eminem. Of course with such tremendous power at your finger tips increasing the loud switch will also guarantee drowning out any annoying whine from back-seat drivers. Tech Eye notes that Kenwood does not provide values for the KFC-PS1700P's coke- or krówki-resistance, and we do advise shopping around on the internet where the zł.1,200 list price can be almost halved.
J.T.
Never get lost again
All dressed up and nowhere to go or, worse still, all revved up and don't know where you're going? Fear not, we have the package that will rescue you from roadside befuddlement and make sure you never take a wrong turn again. This is Alpine's blinding new navigation system, the IVA-D300RB and NVE-N099P, and we think it can't be beaten. The seven-inch TFT touch screen does away with pesky remote controls and even feels different depending on which button you press (we have no idea how they do this but we are willing to blame witchcraft). The unit can handle all your audio needs (built-in DVD/CD drive with MP3/WMA playback and AM/FM tuner) but here we will concentrate on the navigation functions. Software with the unit contains all the mapping data for Europe (again, we're blaming witchcraft) along with points of interest such as petrol stations, tourist attractions and even the types of restaurants, for when the curry urge overtakes you. You can even link the thing to your Nokia phone so it will call up the requested hotel/restaurant/club of your choice to make a reservation. One more button push and the thing is telling you exactly how to get there. It does everything but pick your main course. For finding places you can use addresses, postcodes, names or even latitude and longitude co-ordinates.
The smooth vocal directions are actually good enough to follow with a plethora of information, and are backed up with layout diagrams on the display. If you turn off the advised track, the system has an uncanny knack for rectifying your stupid human mistakes and the system receives special messages from FM broadcasters so if the traffic news announces a major tailback on your route the computer will come up with an alternative without you having to do a thing. Frankly, after using this thing, we are willing to admit that machines are destined to inherit the earth and all we can do is be happy that we can drive directly to our destinations without getting lost. L.M.
Damage limitation with a DVD
This one, we're afraid, is strictly for the passengers, but as a driver it might just save your sanity. Few things send a shiver up the spine of the hardened driver faster then the plaintive cry of a bored young passenger demanding to know: "Are we there yet?" Hopefully this little beauty will stave off the car-induced cabin fever long enough for you to avoid dropping them off at the orphanage on your next road-trip holiday. This is Sony's MV-700HR, and some readers among you may remember it from a recent Tech Eye column. This portable DVD player has a seven-inch TFT screen on the outside, so it can be held and watched more easily than a typical laptop or most other flip-open players. It can hang unprecariously from a headrest, should your child be armless, and has a cigar adaptor for the car (that means you can plug it in, not that it turns into a cigar). An optional battery gives you three hours playtime and it comes with a theft-secured car cradle, but if you leave this behind in the car for a long time, we think you deserve everything you get. It's available in black or silver and costs zł.2,499, which seems a lot, but, as all do-gooders are wont to say, think of the children, or at least yourself, and you know it makes sense. L.M.
Sounds of the future
Anything that takes your mind off the journey is a blessing but a high-tech device that gives you another purpose for being behind the wheel is really somethin' - or something else, depending on whether you prefer Eddie Cochran or The Sex Pistols. Panasonic have packed a whole galaxy of features into their top offering that will take an age for you and your family to tire of fiddling with. The fully digital amplifier, radio and CD allows you to get ahead of the pack in terms of quality, while the boffins at Panasonic's labs have realized that it don't mean nothing without a bit of sharp packaging. One of the slickest elements to the CQ-C9901N is its fully motorized 512 - yes 512 - color display. Nestled in a neat chrome black case this sound system will have the neighbors craning their necks to catch a glimpse of what's going down with the sounds. The only down side, however, could be the back seat-friendly remote control that ensures you are last in the queue when it comes to choosing what gets played. If that hasn't put you off, the CQ-C9901N can be had for around to zł.2,100.
J.T.
Hands-free fun with your phone
For most people, taking phone calls in the car is a necessary evil, and although it is illegal to use your mobile phone while trying to negotiate a roundabout, for example, hands-free kits mean that even your precious driving time is infected by calls from the office. But if you're going to talk and go, you may as well do it in style, and Nokia's range of hands-free kits are some of the best on the market. The 616 pictured here is as easy to use as crashing a car and uses Bluetooth technology so you can do your hand signals, give other drivers the fingers and shout at the secretary all at the same time in high quality audio. It supports two individual users, with personalized contacts, voice tags and audio settings, and has car optimized SMS handling features. You can even write text messages using the optional HSU-4 handset. Expect to pay around zł.1,800 so people can stare at you and wonder who you're talking to as you drive past ranting to thin air.L.M.
Krówki-resistant Kenwood?
Whether it's Bach or Black Sabbath one of the biggest factors to add clarity and crispness to your favorite sounds are the speakers in your vehicle. One of best known manufacturers of sound systems are the clever people at Kenwood, who list the KFC-PS1700P set-up as one of their top offerings. The giant 170mm woofers are twinned with 25mm Teflon soft-domed tweeters and together boast a whopping 220 watts power - certainly enough for the young ones to sing along with Maja the bumblebee, and the not-so-young to rap to Poland's Tede, or Eminem. Of course with such tremendous power at your finger tips increasing the loud switch will also guarantee drowning out any annoying whine from back-seat drivers. Tech Eye notes that Kenwood does not provide values for the KFC-PS1700P's coke- or krówki-resistance, and we do advise shopping around on the internet where the zł.1,200 list price can be almost halved.
J.T.
Never get lost again
All dressed up and nowhere to go or, worse still, all revved up and don't know where you're going? Fear not, we have the package that will rescue you from roadside befuddlement and make sure you never take a wrong turn again. This is Alpine's blinding new navigation system, the IVA-D300RB and NVE-N099P, and we think it can't be beaten. The seven-inch TFT touch screen does away with pesky remote controls and even feels different depending on which button you press (we have no idea how they do this but we are willing to blame witchcraft). The unit can handle all your audio needs (built-in DVD/CD drive with MP3/WMA playback and AM/FM tuner) but here we will concentrate on the navigation functions. Software with the unit contains all the mapping data for Europe (again, we're blaming witchcraft) along with points of interest such as petrol stations, tourist attractions and even the types of restaurants, for when the curry urge overtakes you. You can even link the thing to your Nokia phone so it will call up the requested hotel/restaurant/club of your choice to make a reservation. One more button push and the thing is telling you exactly how to get there. It does everything but pick your main course. For finding places you can use addresses, postcodes, names or even latitude and longitude co-ordinates.
The smooth vocal directions are actually good enough to follow with a plethora of information, and are backed up with layout diagrams on the display. If you turn off the advised track, the system has an uncanny knack for rectifying your stupid human mistakes and the system receives special messages from FM broadcasters so if the traffic news announces a major tailback on your route the computer will come up with an alternative without you having to do a thing. Frankly, after using this thing, we are willing to admit that machines are destined to inherit the earth and all we can do is be happy that we can drive directly to our destinations without getting lost. L.M.
