Boar-Ral, thanks for the post and research. I researched it out myself, and I connected the pink wire (from the nav pack) to the speed pulse generator located in the steering knuckle on the front wheel. The "professional" installer who installed my kit told me that FORD does not have pulse speed sensors. Boy was he wrong. Anyway it works just great now. Yes the Pioneer Navigation Kit worked just fine without it being connected to the speed pulse generator, but the accuaracy is supposed to be much better. If anyone is interested in the navigation package, I found a pretty good deal at the website http://www.etronics.com. I wish I had paid this price for it. This navigation package is so accurate, I cannot believe it, and I am a pilot, and also I am a paramedic in an ambulance with a navigation package, and this Pioneer package is by far the best I have seen! Well worth the money. The DVD that comes with it covers all of the USA and Canada! Tomorrow, I will try and upload some photos of it installed in my 2000 Excursion. Again thanks alot Boar-Ral for the assistance.

 

I agree that it is a very professional system. Pioneer has been manufacturing navigation systems for many years now and the interface is continuously being tweaked.

Unfortunately, there is not coverage for this portion of Canada yet. (There is coverage from approximately Kamloops, BC, Calgary, AB, etc. and south.) Pioneer has informed me that all data has been collected for the rest of Canada and in late spring or early summer of 2004 they will be releasing the update DVD.

Did you purchase the touchscreen that goes with the navigation system or did you use a different LCD display? I was tempted to save money and purchase a different LCD display but realized that in order to fully realize the potential of the navigation system that I should use the display built for it. Without the touchscreen, using the unit would be much more difficult, I would imagine.

I mounted my LCD display beneath the cubby beneath the rear defrost, backup assist, and 4WD controls. It seems to be a perfect position for me. I can glance down easily without looking completely away from the road, and with the armrest down and my arm resting on it, it is right in front of my hand, for easy navigation. The navigation unit itself is enclosed in an enclosure resting on the transmission hump, covered in matching carpet. The shop that built the enclosure was originally going to build a flat platform over the transmission hump and then angle it upwards towards the cupholders, creating two new single-DIN openings for other equipment. Unfortunately, in trial runs, positioning the navigation unit like this resulted in it reporting a bad installation position. (I believe this is due to the internal gyroscope.) So we needed to mount the unit flat against the transmission hump.

If anyone is interested in photographs, I can take some. It is very cold out now, unfortunately. (With windchill, it is approximately -55F.) Once it warms up though, I will be able to take some photographs of the installation.

(I also need an excuse to take photographs of the stereo system behind the third-row seat. I am not entirely happy with the setup, but it is functional if nothing else.)

 

Here are two photos of my Pioneer NAV-SYS 910DVD DVD Navigation System. The first photo is with the touch screen retracted into the radio, and the next picture is with the touch screen deployed for navigation. Also you can play DVD movies on this screen through the Pioneer radio/DVD player displayed.

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As I had mentioned in a previous posting. This system is fantastic. The accuracy is unbelievable. So if you are thinking about a navigation system, and want a professional look. You cannot go wrong with this package. It is a little pricey, but my Excursion is well worth it!!!!

The nice thing about it is you do not have to look down to see the map, it is right there. All your navigation instructions are audio. It mutes any radio or DVD movies playing and gives commands. It also has a mic so you can give verbal command making it virtually hands free once set-up.

 

Nice set up! Do you know if its compatible with the steering wheel controls?

 

Nice Question, acutally it has a remote that attaches to your steering wheel. I am not sure if it will work with the current steering wheel controls.

 

While I cannot say with certainty if this is possible with the Pioneer navigation system, I know that there are a couple companies that make kits to integrate your steering wheel controls with aftermarket headunits. More research is required.

As luck would have it, as this discussion heats up, my display is beginning to come loose and I need to get it reattached better. (I purchased the standalone touchscreen for the unit, not a retractable one as seen here.) Once I have a day off (Friday and Saturday), I will take photographs. With my current hours, it is dark when I go to work and dark when I get home. Bleh!

 

if any body has a question about gps, ask me, i've had about 14 units so far from garmin to magellan, the 76s would be good, but it offers no color screen, on ebay for about same price you could get a meridian color with a nice color screen, more maps via expandable sd cards, but a lil less resolution, the street pilots that garmin makes and also their newer units are nice, but for my dollar id rather get the magellan roadmate 700, it has a nice size good resolution color screen, autorouting, no need for a computer, it has built in hard drive with all information of the lower 48 US, and some of canada, it is portable and can be moved to any car you want or take it with you, so no need to mess with sd cards or anything of that nature, you can get oneon ebay new for about 800-900 bucks....you have questions, i have answers(for the most part in gps)

 

I have the Garmin 76. It can be bought for about $250. It has a US map of all highways and main streets-not side streets. I bought it mainly for my boat but use it on all long trips in the EX. It is easy to use. I just set it on the dash and watch the display. Also shwos speed, ETA, ect.

 

I also have the Garmin 76s and also purchased the RAM bracket for mounting. The nice thing for me on the Garmin is that I also take it out of the truck for hunting, hiking, etc.. Amazingly, the unit had info on rivers and lakes when I went up to Cordova Alaska fishing last year. Might also want to but the plug in for the cigarrette lighter to save on batteries.

 

2 AA batteries last 8-10 hours and the cig liger accessory is about $25 so I stuck with the batteries.