New member from central CT

[Bad Bowtie]

Hi everyone!

Figured I pop in and say hi. I just came from "over there" and realized where I really needed to be. I signed up "over there" about a month ago or so when I bought my TB and figured things out pretty quickly. I'm the proud new owner of a 2008 Trailblazer LT 4.2L 4X4 42,500 miles, Dark Cherry Metallic. I've been a Chevy guy forever and will be for life (an old caprice, cavalier, Z28, TB, hopefully an older vette in the future).

This is my first truck and I absolutely LOVE it. I haven't done much to it yet, only threw in a Kenwood DNX6990HD DVD/Nav head unit and backup camera as well as switched it over to Mobil1 extended performance (got the mobil1 oil cap and engine sticker too).

I plan on throwing new wheels & tires on it when needed (wrangler duratracs) as well as switch to EBC drilled and slotted rotors with the yellow stuff pads when the time comes as well.

I'm a DIY kinda guy and am looking forward to searching the forums here to catch up on all the good stuff as well as posting my upgrades and findings as well. Happy trailblazing!

 

[Daryl NHT]

Welcome!

 

[fletch09]

Welcome over

 

[CdnGMan]

Welcome aboard mate...

 

[The_Roadie]

..I just came from "over there" and realized where I really needed to be. ...

Welcome! As you discovered, there is no longer a "there" over there. "There" is now "here", unless you enjoy ghost towns with a sheriff who only pops in a couple of times a month, and whose neighborhood watch volunteers are all drooling zombies.

 

[ConeKilrAutoX]

Welcome to the NATION !

 

[Bad Bowtie]

unless you enjoy ghost towns...

I'd like to wheel through some ghost towns in the desert one day...

I just finished reading your older post about your 4 years of wheeling from 2005-2009. I'm supremely jealous. Absolutely amazing scenery as well as a kick-ass wheelin' setup. I'd love to get out to the desert one day, the Northeast just can't compare.


Thanks for all the welcoming comments everyone!

-Matt

 

[CaptainKD]

Welcome!

 

[Denali n DOO]

Welcome to GMTNation! Glad you switched over, this is the place to be Your gonna love it here, the perfect site for you and your truck. Oh....and post some pics of your ride......

 

[dmanns67]

Welcome to the club!

 

[Porkins]

Welcome to the the very much ALIVE Nation!

 

[Boricua SS]

welcome over

 

[Ryda55555]

Welcome! You'll find pretty much every answer to any question here (about GMTs and then some) and if there's no answer everyone helps out to solve your problem, great site and great people
But pictures are a must

 

[Wooluf1952]

Welcome


In case you haven't heard:
http://gmtnation.com/forums/topic/218-welcome-to-gmtnationcom-heres-the-story/

 

[barron03]

Welcome

 

[ddgm]

Hi everyone!

Figured I pop in and say hi. I just came from "over there" and realized where I really needed to be. I signed up "over there" about a month ago or so when I bought my TB and figured things out pretty quickly. I'm the proud new owner of a 2008 Trailblazer LT 4.2L 4X4 42,500 miles, Dark Cherry Metallic. I've been a Chevy guy forever and will be for life (an old caprice, cavalier, Z28, TB, hopefully an older vette in the future).

This is my first truck and I absolutely LOVE it. I haven't done much to it yet, only threw in a Kenwood DNX6990HD DVD/Nav head unit and backup camera as well as switched it over to Mobil1 extended performance (got the mobil1 oil cap and engine sticker too).

I plan on throwing new wheels & tires on it when needed (wrangler duratracs) as well as switch to EBC drilled and slotted rotors with the yellow stuff pads when the time comes as well.

I'm a DIY kinda guy and am looking forward to searching the forums here to catch up on all the good stuff as well as posting my upgrades and findings as well. Happy trailblazing!

Hi ,
Welcome to the forum, I'm a newby to here too. I have a Saab 9-7x and I would like to install a NAV unit, mostly for the backup camera . I see you have a Kenwood and that is what I'm leaning to, mostly because of the Garmin. What camera did you use , did you install everything yourself and are you happy with your setup? Also if you don't mind, could you post a picture of your dash? I am a Snowbird, my Saab is in Florida and I won't be going back there until late October so I have time to research this and ask questions about this.

Thanks, Doug

 

[Bad Bowtie]

Hi ,
Welcome to the forum, I'm a newby to here too. I have a Saab 9-7x and I would like to install a NAV unit, mostly for the backup camera . I see you have a Kenwood and that is what I'm leaning to, mostly because of the Garmin. What camera did you use , did you install everything yourself and are you happy with your setup? Also if you don't mind, could you post a picture of your dash? I am a Snowbird, my Saab is in Florida and I won't be going back there until late October so I have time to research this and ask questions about this.

Thanks, Doug

Hey Doug,

The camera I ended up using was an Audiovox ACA200W. I did not install it myself, but I would have if I had the time. I had it installed 1 week before my wedding and was too busy with last minute things to do it myself although this kind of project is right up my alley. I've done many stereo installs before and would have loved to dig into the dash of my new truck.

As mentioned above in my OP, the head unit is a Kenwood Excelon DNX6990HD DVD/Navigation receiver. I'm very happy with the performance of the head unit and camera so far. For what I wanted to pay, I feel I definitely got my money's worth. There are much more expensive head units out there (Kenwood Excelon's included) that have cooler features like send/receive text messages and internet browsing, but I didn't need all that. This unit has plenty of features that I'm more than happy with. I'm not sure about the Saab's, but the TB's have a double din dash and this unit fit right in with no problems. The camera is completely adjustable for vertical height so you can have whatever range of view you like. I have my angled down so I can just barely see my whole bumper line so I know when I'm right up on something. Whenever I put my trailer hitch receiver in, it's right in the bottom center frame of view and I can easily backup and hitch up to my boat first try every time on my own without help. In addition to the pics attached, I tried to attach a quick video of me going from Nav mode to the backup cam and back so you can see how quick it loads and what it looks like when reversing. Hope this info helps.

-Matt


**update** I'm still pretty new to posting and I couldn't upload a .MOV so here's an external link to the video. Hope this works.

 

[ddgm]

Thanks for the quick reply and great pictures. The Saab 9-7x is on the same platform as the Trailblazer, Envoy, etc. It does have the double din and I would lose the 6 cd player. No biggy!
I am told that the 9-7x share the oem nav with the Hummer3, so don't know about the wiring. I suspect it would work. Your's looks very nice and I'm assuming that the backup camera is activated when you shift to reverse. Crutchfield only lists 2 single din models with motorized screen but I'm not too interested in that. This basically would be a 6 month vehicle for use when I'm in our Florida place. It is red and without trying to be snobbish, it is really finished off nicely and handles really well due to refinements made to the suspension and steering by the Saab engineers or so they say.

Thanks again, Doug

P.S. I'm sure you will hear from me again about this

 

[Bad Bowtie]

I should have probably specified that the camera automatically comes on when I put it in reverse, but it definitely does. In addition to that, if I push and hold the blue illuminated button under the volume control knob it will just come on whenever I want so I can literally watch traffic behind me as I'm driving down the street too. It's all in the settings of the head unit; I can program it to come on or turn off whenever I want (if for some reason I didn't want it to come on when I put it in reverse or press and hold that bottom button).

Also, since it easily pairs with devices via bluetooth,or by connecting to the iPhone hardwired cable you can get (which I also have installed), you wouldn't even miss your 6-disc changer. I can't remember the last time I used a cd. It's digital playlists all day long now.