Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I chose the Dice Silverline over the unit sold by BMW because of it's ability to navigate by Artist and Album in addition to Playlists. BMW's unit requires you to set up playlists BMW1, BMW2, etc. The playlists are then accessed directly via the radio buttons 1-6. While the Dice concept is great, I'd have to give the design execution a failing mark. Scrolling is EXTREMELY slow; which in itself would render the extra navigation features nearly useless (unless you're driving cross-country and have all day to press a button, wait 2 seconds, and repeat many, many, many times in order to find that Artist who's name starts with "M"). The real problem is that if you happen to step through your list too fast, either the iPod or the Dice unit (and sometimes, both) lock up and require a reset. Resetting the iPod is pretty straight forward. Resetting the Dice unit requires either removing the glove-box to get at the unit or taking your trunk apart to get at the connector. Alternatively, you can disconnect both your battery terminals and wait the 1/2 hour for the Dice to reset. This also requires you to reprogram your radio presets on recovery. No matter which method you choose, it's a royal PITA. THERE IS NO WAY TO KNOW YOU ARE STEPPING TOO FAST UNTIL MELTDOWN OCCURS! I realize that the speed of execution bottleneck is probably in the iPod and not the Dice unit. Nevertheless, the Dice unit is in-line between your radio control and the ipod. It should, therefore, be able to at least monitor and inhibit your input enough to avoid the melt-down. If this requires more than just a simple firmware modification (e.g. a more sophisticated micro-controller) then Dice should upgrade it's electronics. I'd certainly be willing to pay the up-charge, if any, required to effect a better design implementation.
As it stands, if you avoid using the effectively useless Artist and/or Album navigation and stick with Playlists, you're still ahead with the Dice versus the BMW in that you are only limited in the number of playlists you are willing to SLOWLY navigate. And you're not required to set up any device-specific playlists.
Bottom line: Best available but needs work -- use with EXTREME caution if you're not willing to constantly remove, reset, and re-install.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Dice i-BMW-T Silverline Pro BMW/Mini Cooper IPod Adapter w/ Aux Input
