Gadget Review - Vaistech iPod adapter for Lexus

Background:

I have a 2001 Lexus LS430.  Really nice car, cool navigation system, really good Mark Levinson sound system, but there isn't an good way to use it with an iPod.  It has a cassette player, but it really doesn't sound that great and mine was starting to eject my tape adapter randomly.  I had a Griffin iTrip mini and it just isn't a powerful enough FM transmitter for use in a city.

I came across Vaistech's website last fall, and saw that they had interfaces for both audio and video integration with Lexus and Toyota cars.  After 6 months of thinking about it, I bought their SLI model ($300), it has two audio inputs, one dedicated for use with dock connector iPods and one for anything else you want to connect.

Installation:

I initially thought about installing the unit myself.  Then I learned (through taking apart my trunk) that it connects to the audio system through the dash.  I really didn't want to do that so I brought it to my local Lexus dealer and they installed it for only $100.  Not screwing up my dashboard is worth $100 to me.  They installed the unit in the lower glove box.  Vaistech strongly recommends installing it in an accessible location, I guess so you can remove it for firmware updates.

Operation:

I've played around with it for only a little while, but I'll tell you this thing works great.  The Aux inputs act like a virtual MiniDisk changer, which was a Lexus option in other countries.  The one adjustment you have to make to your iPod organizing with the SLI is the use of playlists.  Everything you want to play has to be in a playlist.  This doesn't seem to be a big deal to me, I'm just going to make a playlist for each album I want to listen to on my iPod.  I have a 4GB Nano, so I don't have that much stuff on it, I'm guessing this could be a bigger problem for people with "regular" iPods.

The adapter treats each playlist like it is a CD or MD, you hit the next or previous disk buttons to go through the playlists in alphabetical order.  So far, it seems to work just fine and it changes playlists pretty fast, there is probably a 2 second delay.  The song up/down buttons change the tracks instantly.

So far, my favorite feature is the SLI takes advantage of the LS430's ability to display MD Text.  The SLI causes the system to show the playlist name and song title.  This is really cool.

I know, it's a lousy cell phone picture.  I also should have used a better song than Steely Dan's FM, but that's what I had on at the time.

Sound Quality:

The nice Mark Levinson sound system makes the music I purchased from the iTunes Music Store sound really bad.  I need to try some more stuff that I purchased, but Garbage's Bleed Like Me (a really good album) sounded awful.  The stuff I ripped at 256 bit minimum VBR sounded super.

Podcasts sound about as good as you think they would.

Misc:

Toyota has a great service for browsing and searching the techincal manuals for all of their cars.  Go to techinfo.toyota.com and check it out.  It costs $10 for one day, but its really until midnight of the next day, so it's more like 2 days if you time it right.  A month is $50.  It saved me from tearing any more of my car apart.  Also, the sections are all PDFs, so you can save them, which is also handy.  I made sure I saved the section on reprogramming the remote control keys after battery replacement.  It is a crazy complicated procedure, I guess to make it difficult for people to do it themselves.

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