BearTK
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Posts posted by BearTK
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On 5/2/2024 at 10:35 AM, Escape said:
Interesting idea, but I'd rather have the 4.2SC from @BearTK.
Mind you, I do have some wild dreams about a P38 (or Classic) with the supercharged Aston V8 by Tadek Marek. Preferably the 6.3l version. 😁
Wow. It's on a Q-plate, too. At least mine has the original number
Still hopeful I'll find enough freelance or a new job so I don't have to sell, but perhaps I'm undervaluing slightly if a good respray would put it near £30-40K auction estimates. In the meantime I picked up a cheap BMW X3 as a daily driver... which needs a transfer case rebuild or a centre bearing and a lot of tidying, but apparently is 'a good one' since it's a 3.0sd M-Sport. All I know is I had to remove the drug-dealer tints from the front window and someone spilled some talc under the seats.
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On 11/12/2023 at 11:45 AM, simonr said:
What about just using an Android head unit? Many will talk to iPhones or Android phones, but will run Android Apps natively.
I used to have a single din unit in my 110 with a motorised pop-out screen that worked pretty well running MemoryMap. I have an ATOTO double din unit in my van. While it doesn't do much off-roading, I still find things like MemoryMap useful - and a host of other navigation apps.
There's bound to be an inclinometer app - though I've tended to find that you 'know' when it's too steep long before the inclinometer tells you it is! 🤣💩
My tolerance for angles and steep is rather lower than that of most 4x4s - I've chickened out of stuff that I KNOW a G-wagen can do, for example, but unless I've got someone with me to keep an eye on things it's not worth the risk IMO.
Because of the unique way the Range Rover Classic dashboard is designed* a single-din motorised screen is a bad idea - if it doesn't automatically tilt back it obscures the heater controls and vents and is too low for a safe 'at a glance' eyeline anyway IMO, whereas the floating ball-mounted Garmin and reversing camera screen are easy to see and still don't obstruct vision.
Other than that I've no real objection to hacking an android head unit, but the cheapest ones are horribly made and have resistive touch screens (as do many of the cheaper big-brand units, a thing that seems bizarre in 2023 - maybe they have a stash of them to get through). I'm very interested in the rash of widescreen displays for adding CarPlay to a head unit with aux in and that might be my preferred route, but at that stage I'm back to 'why don't I just use a mechless DAB head unit with aux in and an iPad or tablet'.
Which I suppose really does answer the question of what I do to upgrade for me. Nice as Kingsley's Alpine-with-screen-shoved-in-the-console solution looks, I think I'll get the cheapest trusted-brand mechless (so shallow - more clearance for wiring) DAB radio with aux, bluetooth and USB, and add whatever 4G + GPS tablet offers the most screen quality and bang for buck as a semi-permanent fixture.
*FSVO designed as opposed to 'it just happened that way' -
21 hours ago, FridgeFreezer said:
These days it's hard to beat whatever cheap Android tablet is floating around, or if you want more control & tinkering then there's a ton of Raspberry-pi based stuff out there.
Or just throw Linux on an old laptop and call it done.
Inside a car is rarely bad enough that you really need a ruggedised version of anything - modern laptops & tablets are already designed for all the abuse regular consumers give them (drops, splashes, coffee spills, etc.) so are pretty hard to break, especially if they're just sat on a dashboard.
That's a thought - shallow single-DIN RPi housing with a suitable four-channel amplifier hat and a suitably cased touchscreen. That would be very much in keeping with the way this RRC is built too, I could probably find a capacitive touchscreen and case it in a rugged-looking way on a ball mount that really complements the refined post-apocalyptic aesthetic (this is a compliment from my perspective
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My first thought was an iPad - I'm more familiar with Apple kit generally - but I wanted to try and get some of the feel of the Garmin Overlander's interface; I think the main thing I wanted was something that would know about the reversing camera and switch to it - something I've seen implemented on Android-based head units. To be fair if Garmin had just not locked down the Overlander to the almost moronic degree that it will only work with one specific backup camera, it'd be fine, but if I'm going to redo the electronics I may as well get it right. Oh, and being able to sign in to TW2 - my opinion of the Overlander would have been VERY different if I'd been able to sign in to TW2 when I first got it.
I quite like the Surface idea - Windows has a lot of software, is easy to hack. I have an external GPS receiver with a power switch on it, I'm not actually sure how that works - maybe it's just a repeater. And yeah, I see no reason for ruggedised with the caveat that I think things like Toughbooks are better at tolerating extremes of heat and cold. I doubt the Garmin is that special in that regard!
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I think this is the right forum to ask in, I apologise if it's not. This is something I theoretically can suss out for myself, but I don't want to reinvent the wheel and I also don't know what the best solutions for the UK are, as many results when searching are American focused.
One of the most exciting things about getting the Range Rover was the presence of a fabricated metal bar on the dashboard for a ram mount... nah, just kidding, but I was pretty pleased because a couple of years ago I was testing 4x4s and got a Garmin Overlander to review. This device is huge, so when shoved into the windscreen of a current Wrangler, Hilux or whatever it served less as a map, and more as an obstruction. On top of that despite having a tethered WiFI connection and a web browser, the sodding thing wouldn't log in to TW2 - ultimately it was no more useful than a regular satnav apart from adding some dials for altitude, pitch and yaw.
So of course it's spent of the time sat in a box while I wonder what the hell to do with it. Then I got Desmond and have a Range Rover that's basically made of added-on dials, screens and brackets. The Overlander fits very well on a ram ball mount I was given, and doesn't obstruct or obscure anything. Still useless as a means of finding BOATs but meh. I thought I'd finish the review, and get some tips and details up and some nice pics of it in a 4x4 that actually could benefit from it rather than a modern thing with CarPlay/Android Auto and a larger, sharper screen already provided.
Except it only supports one kind of reversing camera (discontinued), is still not terribly useful for navigation compared with a phone, and I'm sure I can put something better together.
Is there a rugged Android tablet/Windows tablet or iPad setup that people have found particularly useful and user-friendly as a way of getting TW2/similar off-road navigation, some sort of media control, and accessing reversing camera stuff? Anything which has the necessary sensors and software to replicate the pitch/yaw dials (though I have some analogue ones on the dash I might not keep them if I replace the dash to reduce the number of holes). I have a Panasonic CF-19 and vehicle mount but that's a really bulky and obnoxious setup (it's also quite slow). I was looking at a rugged Windows Mobile phone thing but thought Windows Mobile was pretty much dead as a platform of any relevance for apps, really only suited if I could develop my own app.
Bonus would be if I can use it as a media source and replace the single-DIN CD player with a pure amplifier, just headless media controls and simple, shallow fitting.
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The "Pass the Bucket" 4x4 For Sale on Ebay Thread
in International Forum
Posted
Oh, I don't think mine would be that appealing without a serious body restoration!
It has just failed the MOT on crusty mounts below the headlights. That panel does look shabby from underneath, so I'll replace both - it doesn't appear to have a strip between them so it should be quite straightforward I hope.