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After using PCM/Nav on my 987 about five times in nine years I couldn't bring myself to spend $3K on PCM for my GT4, nor half that amount to get XM and Bluetooth audio with the shark fin antenna.
I thought an iPad Mini (~$700) with data plan (~$20/month on AT&T Family Share) and a BT adapter ($11 on sale on Amazon) might be a better way to go.
Having the iPad somewhat integrated from an installation standpoint was important, but I didn't like the iPad mounts I found on the market. After failing to cobble one together from RamMount and another company, I reached out to T-Design for a custom, but relatively inexpensive solution.
I'm pretty happy with the results. Here are some shots of T-Design's mounting solution for a ProClip iPad mount.
Ideally the mount would have integrated power, but I all the powered mounts were a lot less low profile. Here is what the mount looks like with the iPad and power connected, using a three inch cable from the glove compartment that lies nicely in the seam between the glove compartment and the center console trim.
I'm pretty happy with my app substitutes for PCM. The Sirius app ($5/month) is awesome. The stations on the app don't have the crazy compression for satellite delivery, so the audio quality is likely even better than the GT4's sound system can deliver. Plus you can see what is playing on each station and playback of each station's song starts at the beginning when selected.
Waze on a larger screen is also very nice.
As an added bonus, AT&T recently rolled out wifi calling and number sync, which effectively turns my iPad into a car phone. Calls to my mobile number will ring the iPad even if my iPhone isn't around, and use the car's bluetooth phone support.
All in all, I'm digging the setup. I happily only use PCM for FM radio now via the dashboard pod.
Pretty solid idea, wish I'd thought of it. One potential drawback, though, is that from what I understand, those BT adapters don't work quite as well as the integrated ones in terms of audio quality (plus, I'm guessing that's another thing you need to power?). Would make sense, too, that there might be some fidelity loss given that the audio is going analog at least one step "sooner".
But overall, very clean solution. Waze definitely destroys the in-car nav systems...
It is actually a sweet install. Not so sure about the practicality in the long term since you have to take that iPad off everywhere you stop. I know at some point it would drive me crazy to carry that thing around when I don't necessarily need it.
Wow, that looks better than I would've expected! Nice background image on the iPad too, where'd you find that? Instead of the BT adapter route though, did you consider something like the Griffin iTrip AUX? It would've given you a single connection to the iPad over Lightning handling both charging and audio, which for audio means no extra device in the chain adding complexity, requiring power, and possibly degrading quality. That product also has the benefit of having playback controls built onto the cigarette lighter connector, which in some cars takes the sting out of not having head unit / steering wheel playback control in solutions like this, but none of the GT4's sockets are in a location suited to that particular use. Works great on cars that have outlets just below the head unit though.
Good to know that the Sirius app sounds better than over the air too. I activated my free trial once and stopped listening after 5 minutes because I couldn't handle the bitrate. I'd rather listen to HD Radio with ads. And I never really saw much convenience in being able to control the stereo through the instrument cluster given that the stalk was so much slower than pressing buttons, but I in this case I can see how it would come in handy!
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No PDK and No PCM
