preiner

After 4 years of swearing at Lexus that they couldnt even bother to provide auxillary inputs to the DVD / Navigation system, Vais Technology seems to have provided me the holy grail.


I received my AIC-100i yesterday and installed it in 1 hour.

So far its fantastic. The unit and the cables are VERY professionally made. This doesnt have the cheap look that you would be afraid to install.

The sound quality is great and the volume level is fine when you swap between devices.

I used to have to use an FM modulator which always had sound quality and volume issues.


The iPod integration is very complete, allowing me to select playlists on my DVD touchscreen and I even get a VAIS logo on my iPod when plugged in (how cute)


For the second set of inputs I connected in my satellite radio which also works.


Shortcomings:

* Cant see the artist name/title on the dvd nav (not their fault - another Lexus problem)
* Doesnt include an iPod mount. You have to buy that separately from proclipusa.com (also works very well)

* No mounting screws (another trip to store) - use #8 self tapping


Score:

9.0 out of 10 (a strong recommend)

If any of you are in the Seattle area and would like help installing, drop me a mail...

preiner@paulanddarcy.com

StrmRdr23

glad to hear it worked out for you! too bad they don't make an ipod integration unit for the non nav rx300 post some pics, man! btw, i'm in bellevue/seattle area too! good to see another another local guy on here

RatherPlay

If I had to guess their success rate based on personal experience and other posters, you're the exception. The hardware concept is great - integrate an iPod, charge the battery, and provide a spare set of input jacks. However their software (firmware) has bugs. What version does your unit indicate? (Hit the DISC button until you see 11-1 and then hit TEXT button)

If your unit does not display artist/song name, make sure the VAIS is in "CD mode" and not the default "MD" mode. Also, my unit will not display the name if VAIS is selected when I power on the car. You must hit the power to the radio off, wait a second, then power on the radio. Then names will be displayed. Also my unit will randomly "lock up" while playing songs. Must hit the power on/off, then cycle thru inputs with the DISC button to get it going again. VAIS technicians blame it on Lexus, I blame it on VAIS considering the multitude of firmware releases as they try to get it right.

Overall, I'd rate their unit a 4 out of 10. I base this on price and features. If it was a $99 unit, you'd put up with the quirks.

My opinion.

preiner

I want to post some pix, but Im not sure how. Do i just copy them into this reply, or do I have to find a place to host the pix and then provide the URL?

Anyway,

Its been 3 days of trying every combo of features the VAIS has. So far every feature works as advertised with 100% reliability.

My 2002 RX 300 has to run in CD mode. This is disappointing because I wanted CD TEXT. My radio appears to be able to receive RDS messages from radio stations but not able to display CD text.


Anyway heres some info..

2002 RX 300 with DVD Nav

Ipod Photo 60 gig unit

Sirius Sportster 2 radio as the 2nd aux input.

Firmware is unknown. Too lazy to walk to car now, but its recent. I got the unit last week.


Anyway the only Vais feature I really dont like is the requirement that you create playlists for everything and it cant handle empty playlists.

I respect others having trouble. But for me its sweet!

Maybe this latest firmware finally got their bugs worked out.

dud

Where did you mount or locate the iPod?