slacker G1 for car?

stark4

New Member
Nov 5, 2008
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do you guys use slacker G1 in car? i'm thinking to buy the slacker G1 to replace sirius radio. i don't want to buy G2 because it's expensive for me.

i have some question for those who use slacker G1 in car.

Does the slacker G1 turn on/off itself when you turn on/off your car engine?

i know i have to buy the car charger for $29.99 on their website to power on the player and i have "aux in" in my car so i can use that for audio right?

should i buy 2GB or 4GB? i only need to listen to 1 or 2 stations so 2GB is enough right?

Thanks
 
Oct 29, 2008
422
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18
do you guys use slacker G1 in car? i'm thinking to buy the slacker G1 to replace sirius radio. i don't want to buy G2 because it's expensive for me.

i have some question for those who use slacker G1 in car.

Does the slacker G1 turn on/off itself when you turn on/off your car engine?

i know i have to buy the car charger for $29.99 on their website to power on the player and i have "aux in" in my car so i can use that for audio right?

should i buy 2GB or 4GB? i only need to listen to 1 or 2 stations so 2GB is enough right?

Thanks
Sure you can use it in your car. Yes you would use your aux input on your stereo. Your portable has it's own battery power. So you will have to turn on/off portable separately from your car engine. Car charger would be to charge player battery. It would not be used to power it all the time since the player has it's own battery. 2 GB would give you about 12 stations I believe......Go for it.
 

stark4

New Member
Nov 5, 2008
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Sure you can use it in your car. Yes you would use your aux input on your stereo. Your portable has it's own battery power. So you will have to turn on/off portable separately from your car engine. Car charger would be to charge player battery. It would not be used to power it all the time since the player has it's own battery. 2 GB would give you about 12 stations I believe......Go for it.

it will be really annoying if i have to turn off/on the player itself every time i turn on/off the car. i want the slacker to be like satellite radio you know. I want it to shut off automatically when i turn off the car and on automatically when i turn on the car. Can the player operate without the battery?

i wont be removing the player from the car. i'll only use it in the car and not planing to charge the player outside. That's why i want to get the car charger to plug it in all the time.

Thanks
 
Oct 29, 2008
422
7
18
it will be really annoying if i have to turn off/on the player itself every time i turn on/off the car. i want the slacker to be like satellite radio you know. I want it to shut off automatically when i turn off the car and on automatically when i turn on the car. Can the player operate without the battery?

i wont be removing the player from the car. i'll only use it in the car and not planing to charge the player outside. That's why i want to get the car charger to plug it in all the time.

Thanks

Well most the sat radios have external power. That is why they have power cords with the kits. They use battery from the car to power on/off.
I'm not 100% on this, but I am pretty darn sure the Slacker portable will not work with no battery, and just the car charger. The car charger simply charges the battery it is not a external power source for a missing battery. Maybe others will chime in on this with other views. You could also call Slacker support. I think your out of luck on this one though.
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
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it will be really annoying if i have to turn off/on the player itself every time i turn on/off the car. i want the slacker to be like satellite radio you know. I want it to shut off automatically when i turn off the car and on automatically when i turn on the car. Can the player operate without the battery?

i wont be removing the player from the car. i'll only use it in the car and not planing to charge the player outside. That's why i want to get the car charger to plug it in all the time.

Thanks

I have mine setup so that I can use the car charger, but I can tell you that it does not come on and go off when you start and shut off the vehicle. So, you have to manually turn it on and off each time. You can't remove the battery it is not user replaceable.

Unlike Sat Radio the Slacker G2 does not have docks available for use in the vehicle. It is said they will likely have a car dock in the future, but rather that would mean it would turn the device on and off is a question I don't think anyone can answer. I just know the current setup doesn't work that way.

I really don't find it that much of annoyance having to turn it on and off as it is something you just get use to doing. But if that is a deal killer for you then I wouldn't suggest you get the Slacker device.
 

Geronimo

New Member
Nov 14, 2008
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I have mine setup so that I can use the car charger, but I can tell you that it does not come on and go off when you start and shut off the vehicle. So, you have to manually turn it on and off each time. You can't remove the battery it is not user replaceable.

Unlike Sat Radio the Slacker G2 does not have docks available for use in the vehicle. It is said they will likely have a car dock in the future, but rather that would mean it would turn the device on and off is a question I don't think anyone can answer. I just know the current setup doesn't work that way.

I really don't find it that much of annoyance having to turn it on and off as it is something you just get use to doing. But if that is a deal killer for you then I wouldn't suggest you get the Slacker device.

Perhaps there will be a G2 car dock but the op was asking about the G1. It is less likely that there will bea dock for that device.
 

sphere79

Member
Dec 1, 2008
51
1
8
I have mine setup so that I can use the car charger, but I can tell you that it does not come on and go off when you start and shut off the vehicle.

If you were to pause the player and you had a switched accessory that turns off with the key, the player will turn off - and then on again with power. But only if you pause it (or unplug the cable from the headphone jack which pauses it) before turning the key, and only if you have the option of a switched accessory. Even then it will wait 30 seconds or so for no activity and then shut off but it will still shut off.

I only learned about the "pausing when you pull the headphones out" thing recently. I always throw it in my jacket wherever I go, so now I just unplug it from my line-in (I only use USB power on long trips in the car) throw it in my pocket and don't worry about it. It shuts itself off.

So, you have to manually turn it on and off each time. You can't remove the battery it is not user replaceable.

Look closer DAB - there is a door (you can pry it with a fingernail) - there's actually a small hole you're supposed to use an open paperclip in to help open it. It actually has a (rather fancy) spring-loaded mechanism to hold the door on. The trick to opening it without a paperclip is to get nails under both corners of the door and pull evenly.
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
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Perhaps there will be a G2 car dock but the op was asking about the G1. It is less likely that there will bea dock for that device.

Yes there are even less accessories for the G1 than the G2 at this point, though many of the accessories created for the G2, will work with the G1. But if I was a betting man, I wouldn't bet on a dock for the G1's at this point.

If you were to pause the player and you had a switched accessory that turns off with the key, the player will turn off - and then on again with power. But only if you pause it (or unplug the cable from the headphone jack which pauses it) before turning the key, and only if you have the option of a switched accessory. Even then it will wait 30 seconds or so for no activity and then shut off but it will still shut off.

Interesting I know on the G2 that when you remove the headphone jack it doesn't go into pause automatically, so that apparently that was removed. But this is good for the G1 and since that is what the OP was talking about. However, I understand that if you manually pause the G1 or G2 they will both shut off after so many minutes or at least go into standby, then after another period of non use they will both actually do a hard shut off. I know my G2 will power back on so I assume the G1 will too, but it will remain in the paused state until you manually reach over and push play and this has to be done within a couple of minutes are it will go into standby.

However, I got the impression that the OP just didn't want to have to do anything, but turn the ignition off and back on. But he would have to pause and/or unpause. But after thinking about it, your post would indicate this would be doable if he was leaving it in his car as he says. Me, I wouldn't be leaving mine in my vehicle. But if you were taking it out, that would mean you'd have to insert the power and headphone plug. I am doing that now myself and it does get old, but until there is a dock I have no choice. Though as I said I doubt they will ever have a dock for the G1's, but those of us with the G2's may luck out eventually.

I only learned about the "pausing when you pull the headphones out" thing recently. I always throw it in my jacket wherever I go, so now I just unplug it from my line-in (I only use USB power on long trips in the car) throw it in my pocket and don't worry about it. It shuts itself off.
Yeah too bad the G2 doesn't support this! Though it will turn off if you manually pause it.

Look closer DAB - there is a door (you can pry it with a fingernail) - there's actually a small hole you're supposed to use an open paperclip in to help open it. It actually has a (rather fancy) spring-loaded mechanism to hold the door on. The trick to opening it without a paperclip is to get nails under both corners of the door and pull evenly.

Yeah, I was thinking G2 and not G1, but you know there are those that say you can't buy batteries for these things? I have never looked because I currently only have the G2 at least until my woot arrives.

I do have concerns about my headphone jack because inserting the plug in that jack so many times will surely wear it out. So a dock would resolve that!
 

sphere79

Member
Dec 1, 2008
51
1
8
Yeah, I was thinking G2 and not G1, but you know there are those that say you can't buy batteries for these things?

I don't think Slacker will sell you one but I'd imagine (even though the battery has their logo on it) it's an "off the shelf" battery and likely the manufacturer could be tracked down. Even if the little clip on it was specially designed, worst came to worse I'm sure I could find a suitable cell phone battery and make it work. I replace the batteries / jacks / cracked LCD's myself in all my gadgets when they are out of warranty. Ebay (though the fees have gotten high imo) is still a great place to get parts when needed. I kind of have to since I always liked oddball Archos MP3 / video devices and items are shipped to France and back for service!

That sucks that the G2 doesn't have battery access. I know it probably slims the device a hair but essentially you're gonna get 2 good years outta the Slacker G2 and it's downhill from there. Maybe down the road they'll offer a "service" where they gouge you to put a new battery in?
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
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I don't think Slacker will sell you one but I'd imagine (even though the battery has their logo on it) it's an "off the shelf" battery and likely the manufacturer could be tracked down.

That sucks that the G2 doesn't have battery access. I know it probably slims the device a hair but essentially you're gonna get 2 good years outta the Slacker G2 and it's downhill from there. Maybe down the road they'll offer a "service" where they gouge you to put a new battery in?

Well it doesn't make much sense to have the battery accessible, but not provide replacement batteries to me. Though in reality I don't think they had sold very many of these to really worry about it. I honestly think the Woot thing was just their way of dumping them off on us so they didn't lose their whole investment. So, it is doubtful that they will ever make a battery available, but like you said you may could come up with one on your own.

Yeah the G2 is tiny compared to the G1 and yet the battery life is a tad bit better. I would guess since the G2 is their main device now that they would provide some ability to send it in and swap out the battery. If the battery dies within the first year they would likely just exchange it under their 1 year warranty I assume the battery is covered since it is technically not user replaceable.

I like the G2, but the text is very small on it and it does great while on the go. But I think the G1 is going to suit me fine for use around the house. I am thinking I will just turn the display to always be on and plug in the power to be able to view the album art and read the artist bios etc. Then at night I can just have the display turn off. I wish both of these devices had a sleep timer on them, but I just usually pick my new age channel and let it play all night and my speaker system turns the sound off with its sleep timer.

If these things caught on good enough not only could they come out with docks, but they would do a speaker docking system, clock radio dock or even a boombox. But of course right now they just have not sold enough of them to warrant an investment to have those type accessories created. They haven't sold enough to spark the interest of the Belkins, Griffins etc.
 

Geronimo

New Member
Nov 14, 2008
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Yes there are even less accessories for the G1 than the G2 at this point, though many of the accessories created for the G2, will work with the G1. But if I was a betting man, I wouldn't bet on a dock for the G1's at this point.


M point was that we are proviing responses that are not relevant to the originaly inquiry----which was G1 specific.
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
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M point was that we are proviing responses that are not relevant to the originaly inquiry----which was G1 specific.

I got your point! But I think it has since been clarified. What else should we do, just go back and remove all the conversation that was off course? I think the conversation still has value, but now for both the G1 and G2.