Home > Consumer Reviews > Alpine Blackbird PMD-B100 - GPS receiver - automotive

I just returned from a 4,128 mile trip in our new (2007) Motorhome from AZ to MN, WI, IA, NE, KS, NM and the navigation on this Alpine PMD-B100 is completely unacceptable. We had to relie on road maps most of the time and thank goodness we had them with us. As an example, just before we reached our home destination it had me turn into an airport which wasn't a road, but a driveway. It told me to turn into a Pecan Grove where there wasn't even a road and then when I was on the main road leading to my home it wanted me to take I-19 N, make a u-turn and come back on the other side of the Interstate to get me to the exit I was already at. I'm going to check with Alpine to see if there is an update on software or I'm going to have to get something else. If it can't be reliable, it's of no use. We learned after the first error, but after the second one, we rechecked our "common sense approach" much oftener. Putting in addresses is also a challenge and at times you have to use a couple of different approaches to enter it. If it wasn't for the bad navigation it would be a super unit, but, how can you give it more than 1 star when it can't navigate. You don't get to the destination based on how good it looks.

I agree with most of the reviewers on here that this is a well-designed device. The interface is very intuitive and fairly easy to use while driving. The music is a big bonus. The unit itself looks good. However, as a GPS device, this unit is slow, unreliable, has out-dated maps for city navigation, and sends you on obscure routes. That really hurts, especially when this thing is very expensive retail.

My dad got this unit at a discount with his Honda Accord in late '06, and it has been fairly useful. It is fairly reliable for highway driving on long road trips when you don't encounter many new roads. I've driven from Texas to Ohio and back without relying on anything else. The only time I had trouble on long road trips was when driving from Arkansas back to where I live near Dallas, when it directed me way out in the country before realizing I'd missed the turn to the highway I needed to switch onto and I had to stop on the side of the road to let it re-route. Luckily it knew the country roads and eventually got me home.

Driving in the city is another story, though. In the suburbs around Dallas, there has been a lot of rapid growth. Heaven help you if you want to drive on new or newly expanded highways. Pretty much the entire duration of a drive on 121 (a major road for people in Plano, Allen, McKinney, or Frisco) will be route re-calculations. I've had similar troubles throughout the metroplex. As a courier of medical specimens and legal documents, I can't really afford such unreliability.

If you just want a fast, reliable GPS, buy a TomTom One. It's $169 and will do the job excellently. For the difference in price, you could buy yourself an iPod and everything you need to listen to it in your car. Don't waste your money on an Alpine.

I've been using the PMDB100T since Dec. 06. It started out great but for the past few months it reboots itself fairly often, usually locking up at the startup screen. This always seems to happen as I approach a freeway interchange where the guidance would be most useful. Sometimes I can power off, then on again and get it going but other times it has to be removed from the cradle and the battery removed and replaced before it will start up. Not exaclty a wise task to try while navigating city traffic. The points of interest database seems to be very outdated. I have followed directions a few times only to find the destination no longer exists.

The backlight on the controls constantly goes on and off as headlights from approaching cars hit it. It's very distracting at night.

Other family members have Magellan units and I bet I'll end up switching before long. This thing is just too unreliable.

I recently purchased this unit after reading many, many reviews and find the Blackbird a wonderful guidance tool and so easy to program contrary to many other reviews. I find little difficulty disengaging the unit from its cradle when lifting straight up while holding down the release button, and it gets easier each time. You must lift up the antenna before inserting the Blackbird into its cradle. Initially, when turning on the unit, I inadvertently pressed the demo touchpad and the unit would cycle me around the block until I exited the demo. I have experienced no problems accessing satellites. Using it as a stand-a-lone GPS, I get approximately two hours use between charges. When plugged into the charger inside the car, the unit turns on and off with the ignition while maintaining a charge. I am waiting for delivery of the 1.1 software update which includes the NAVTEQ traffic system. I'm sure it will be fantastic. I highly recommend this unit.

This is Alpine's first entry to the portable Nav system so naturally there are bugs in the system as with all new systems.

Recently, I have updated the unit to Version 1.1 software which fixes quite a lot of the bugs that I have found. There are some system performance enhancement as well.

"Traffic" function is now possible with this latest software update. It comes with free 3 months of Navteq traffic subscription. I encouraged those folks who have problems should order this software update from Alpine website. It is available for free on DVD.