Perfect GPS/MP3 combo idea, less than perfect execution in the real world.

The Blackbird seemed made for me when I first found it, around about early spring this year. I had been looking to add both a GPS and an MP3 player to my 'older' vehicle, when I spotted the Blackbird in a web search.

BOTH an Mp3 player AND a GPS in one slick unit? I was hooked. I did a little research on it, and it seemed like a solid piece of technology that wasn't totally out of my budget. Yet as a happy co-incidence, a unit fell into my lap - a local radio contest picked me to win one. How's that for Providence handing out candy? Still, considering I used it for only 2 weeks before deciding it wasn't for me, perhaps I'm less disappointed than if I had had to return it to a store for a refund - that might have soured me totally on it.

In any case, once I had the Blackbird in my hands, I wasn't disappointed with it - in looks alone, it's 5 stars. A solid black plastic body that feels up to years of use surrounds a beautifully clear screen, with a nice large 4-way navigational button to the right that lights up in a snazzy blue colour automatically in low-light conditions; a nice touch. On the back is the flip-up GPS antenna, about the size of a postage stamp. The bottom contains the charging port, as well as a connector for the included dashmount holder and a port for talking to other Alpine products. Atop the unit is a manual volume control, which I didn't use very much, and the power button, which you have to hold a few seconds to activate - quite sensible.

By now you're wondering: yes, but how well does it WORK? Rather well, I have to say... as long as you're trying to find the general area of a destination, and don't mind a little confusion along the way. It seems that though the Blackbird can talk you to your destination, it doesn't have the word 'oops' in its vocabulary, which it should. More on that in a moment.

Now, that's not to say this isn't a wonderful bit of tech. The Blackbird features the ability to slide in an SD memory card full of your own MP3's and create a custom playlist to listen to through your vehicle's own stereo speakers. Yep, that's right - the Blackbird contains an FM transmitter; just tune your car radio to a blank station and music surrounds you. The Blackbird also uses this feature to give voice prompts, lowering the MP3 volume appropriately to make itself heard. As far as I could tell, it's only in a female voice, and the FM transmitter only works if the Blackbird is plugged into the car's power( cigarette lighter )port. I patricularly liked this feature, as it kept my eyes on the road. Still, blank stations tend to fill with voices when travelling, so you may find yourself changing frequencies often.

Using the Blackbird on the road was a mixed bag. It has a plethora of features to allow you extremely detailed information about the area around your vehicle. You can find any one of six million Points of Interest, such as hotels, gas stations, restaurants, shopping, and the like - the Blackbird will display them on the map or let you choose a path to the nearest one. While a wonderful feature, I found that the Blackbird often forgot to mention a gas station was on the OTHER side of the 4-lane road, necessitating a hunt for a spot to turn around. Annoying, to say the least.

This theme continued with highway travel. Collector lanes beside the main highways were often lumped into the 'main' highway by the unit, giving me only seconds sometimes to decide if what the GPS was saying and the overhead signs were displaying would match up in a safe fashion. Fortunately, I know that if I missed a turn, the Blackbird would automatically recalculate my route on the fly, which led to less panicky 'I missed my turn' moments. Still, at highway speeds, you shouldn't be wondering which lane you should be in.

The display is crisp, a touch screen with a simple GUI that keeps things uncluttered. The main map is fairly clear, with the current road( that you're on )displayed on the bottom, and the name of the next turn displayed at the top. Turn indications are on the left, and can be made to fill 1/3 of the screen as an option. Time to destination, estimated time of arrival( at current average speed )and other data are optionally displayed below that on the left, while battery life and GPS signal strength are on the right of the screen. All of these icons can be changed with a touch, or through the Setup menu icon on the screen - but NOT while driving, that's just asking to kiss a guardrail, folks. This goes along with the Disclaimer screen that the Blackbird ALWAYS displays on startup - use your common sense with a GPS.

One amusing point about using the Blackbird at night: speeders don't like it. Many a set of headlights that came zooming up in my rearview mirror suddenly slowed to proceed at a sane pace until they came close to my car, then took off again. Why? The Blackbird lights up the inside of your car in a very similar fashion to the way a police cruiser's displays do. In my case, the Blackbird could be easily seen from behind between the front seats as it sat on the dash. Combine this with a late-model white car at night, and humour ensues.

Battery life is nothing spectacular, and is downright disappointing. I managed about 3 hours continual use with the Blackbird before it decided enough was enough and shut down. My PDA lasts longer, and they have the same screen size, though I imagine the GPS eats a lot of power to boot. Still, you can purchase extra batteries, which easily slide out the right side of the unit, though they're not hot-swappable. Besides, most people will keep the Blackbird plugged into it's dash cradle, which I must admit held it quite securely to the windshield by suction. The bumps in the road did jiggle it around a lot sometimes, but it never felt loose at all.

Overall, I liked the blackbird, but was disappointed with it's constant 'almost at the right spot' performance. I have not used other GPS systems in the same price range, but I sure hope they're more accurate. Constantly adjusting to turns, driveways that are nowhere near the 'destination reached' icon, and other similar flaws convinced me to sell the unit on eBay to someone who can put up with it. Maybe it's me, but I expect that if I had to pay near what the Blackbird costs in retail, it had better lead me to my front doormat. GPS is by nature, not as accurate as all that, I understand, yet perhaps combining this technology with a dead-reckoning attachment for a vehicle's wheels would take a lot out of the Blackbird's 'oops' factor. Time and again, I went from happily whistling as the unit faithfully directed me to a destination to cursing it as the road I wanted ended well short of where I should be, leading me to hunt for house numbers or entrances. Circling the block in a strange city is no fun, and neither was most of my time with the Blackbird. It definitely proved to be too much of a good thing, sadly.