Getting closer to the finish line
This morning we took yet another step toward our commercial launch early next year with the launch of our Dash Express pre-order program. The intention with this program was to provide a way for our extended family - our past and present road testers and those of you that have been following us since the beginning - to reserve a unit.
I wanted to take a moment to say just how much we appreciate the support of our Dash Community and the many enthusiasts out there that have taken the time to reach out to us with feedback and ideas. We are doing something totally different here and we wouldn’t be where we are today without all of your support. Please keep your feedback coming - we read all of it, and are trying hard to get as much of it as possible into the product.
We recently began the final phase of testing of our new hardware. A few hundred beta testers are partnering with us to put the new devices through the paces. While we still have a lot of work to do, we’re getting there. Check out our updated product page and our YouTube videos to see the latest and greatest details.
Thank you all for your continued support and drive safely!!!
Paul Lego
CEO
December 17th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
This is six kinds of awesome.
However, I was a little miffed that I learned about the preorder availability via Engadget rather than via email, especially since I signed up months and months ago specifically so that I would be notified as soon as orders were being taken.
An email sent in late November assured us that you would “…be back in touch as soon as this [preorder] program becomes available.” However, I still haven’t seen an email to the Dash mailing list announcing this, and the news is already all over various gadget blogs. Not cool.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Well guys congrats! I am in for one. I had a lot of smoothing over to do with the wife but the gas prices video sealed the deal
I look forward to getting the unit in February. One thing I can’t find on the site is if the unit is blue tooth capable. Add hands free calling to this and it is everything I wanted and WAY more.
To Ryan:
I was notified via email this morning. I think it may have been a spam thing for you or a case of a bad email address or something.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Interesting. I did search my spam folder for a Dash email but didn’t find anything. I got the previous Dash email updates just fine, so it’s strange that this one went missing.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
From: Dash Road Test
Subject: Dash is taking preorders
at 12:44am 12/17/07 If that helps
It is very odd you didn’t get it, and I would be upset if I had missed out on it not being informed so I am just trying to alert you that I think at least some of them went out.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
I didn’t get the email either. Darn. At least I haven’t missed out on the fun of preordering.
One question I have, though. Does the $12.99 monthly fee include the cellular internet service, or do I need to have a cellular internet account ON TOP OF my Dash account?
That might be a determining factor for me.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
I certainly hope it covers everything! I just read the product page and I don’t see that though but I would be willing to bet it does.
Either that or it better have bluetooth so I can tether it to my treo on the sprint evDo network.
December 17th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
I didn’t get an email either — then again, Engadget and Gizmodo are part of my morning routine, so at least I found it there. Was a bit upset that I wasn’t notified, but what can ya do…
December 17th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
@ Ryan and David - We did send out the email last night, so I am sorry to hear you didn’t get it before hearing about on the blogs, but I am happy to see you got the news!
@ David - Yes, the service fee INCLUDES the cellular data service.
@ Steve - Did you check your junk mail folder? I am spotting a pattern here that is disturbing and will have to get back and check out what happened.
December 17th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Aww and the guy who was trying to answer all of those without any knowledge gets no shout out… I want my money back ;p
December 17th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Mark — checked and re-checked spam. No mail…
December 18th, 2007 at 12:56 am
@ Roloc - Thank you very much for the assistance and sorry for the oversight. It is very much appreciated!
December 18th, 2007 at 4:34 am
Are there any plans to add an XM receiver to the Dash?
December 18th, 2007 at 6:09 am
Is anybody else dissapointed in the price? $600 is for a very high end GPS and the $15 a month would allow you to buy a new low end GPS from a premier GPS seller every year. I realize the two way communication with real time traffic is the difference. I am not saying it’s not worth it, the problem is my new worth can’t afford it:)
Because I am “broke” my excitement has decreased, but I am still very interested to see if the traffic information hits a marketing sweet spot. I am hoping that this will become a must have for commuters and tech-nerds then hopefully push down the price similar to what has happened to XM receivers.
December 18th, 2007 at 8:02 am
Hey Mark — question for all of us early adopters (my order is in as well!). Any way to determine how many other units will be or are active in our particular region? esp for those of us that are not in the northern California area? Would be nice to know — if not by actual number (I can understand why you would not release that) than maybe by % of orders or similar? Or do the units report any sort of this info?
If it helps I didn’t receive the mail either — yahoo servers
December 18th, 2007 at 9:19 am
The blog takes a long time to load. Could it be due to the fire maps? Once the maps were added download times increased significantly.
December 18th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
@Mark You never have to justify ignoring me… my wife certainly doesn’t
Why is everyone so excited about traffic. to me the Traffic is like one of the last things I am excited about. I am way more excited about things like the saved searches, send to car, your own RSS lists or places you go. Ohh and did I mention gas price searches… In my giant gas guzzler that will save me $10 a month probably.
The only thing I am disappointed about is that I don’t see bluetooth anywhere on here. If I could tether the thing and have that connectivity it would be a huge plus. But if I could do that chances are I wouldn’t need the service all that much so that is probably why it was left off.
December 18th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Roloc, I’m guessing you don’t live in the SF Bay area. If you did, you’d probably be as stoked about the traffic stuff as I am.
I’ve been wishing for a device exactly like the Dash ever since moving here.
December 18th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
@Ryan - Sacramento but I get to work from home 3 days a week
so that is a contributing factor I guess. When I do get to the bay it is generally for an A’s game and I try to get in and get out 
Don’t get me wrong the traffic is cool, but that is the least amazing thing I have seen from you guys, and probably the only thing I think the dash has that other systems sort of provide (read: dash is more robust but others have “traffic”). I am totally amazed with the potential of the my dash portal and custom feeds and searches.
December 18th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
@ Brady - we don’t really comment on potential future features
@ Houston - Hopefully you will get a chance to check out the product in person and I hope at that point you will find that the product is worth the price. But
@ Tyrenta - thanks for the feature idea, this is something we will have to look into. We certainly won’t release geographic order information, but maybe in the future we can share more geographic usage data (in the aggregate only)
@ Roloc - Glad to hear you are excited about the content platform we are building. It is close to my heart since it is something I and the team have been working on for a while now. You are correct, we don’t have BT in the product today but we are constantly evaluating the market need for this feature.
Finally - Thanks to all of you for alerting us about not getting the email notice. We found that a large group of people didn’t get the message sent to them so we sent it today.
Mark
December 20th, 2007 at 5:57 am
Possible feature:
Every weekday morning I drive to work and every afternoon I drive home. It would be neat if the dash automatically routed to my destination based on the time of day.
I use the gmail notifier to alert me to emails in my gmail account. A dash notifier that would keep me posted on travel time would be great. People who travel and use planes would appreciate this function to know when they need to leave the work site to catch their plane.
There are news nerds, weather nerds, gadget nerds and traffic nerds. I think Dash should try to be a leader in the traffic nerds and having something on users desktops would create that attachment all day at work and when at home. People love having the weather shortcut on their desktop. Think of the marketing when somebody has to leave a little earlier to catch their fly becasue the dash notifier says traffic is getting worse. The other employees in the room will be impressed and possibly become customers.
December 20th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Will the Dash and the 2-way service be available in Canada and if so, is the pricing the same?
Thanks
December 22nd, 2007 at 1:38 pm
@ HPatlik - Currently the Dash Express doesn’t work in Canada, but it is a market we are very interested in.
Mark
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:14 pm
I’m considering getting the DASH device for my wife who is a real estate agent. Can the device be sent multiple addresses and the best sequence of addresses selected and routed?
December 26th, 2007 at 6:22 am
I check the blog everyday and have dash express set on my Google news alert for “as it happens”. A suggestion is to have a real time traffic map somewhere on your website from different parts of the country to show buyers what it means to have real time traffic.
December 29th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
I began looking for a new GPS in June 2006, but the more I looked, the stronger my conclusion that the technology hadn’t changed much from my 6-something year-old Garmin Streetpilot III other than manufacturers adding a bunch of “fluff” features having nothing to do with navigation, and a little fast location finding chip. That conclusion was reinforced in Jun 2007, when I bought a Garmin Nuvi660 in preparation for a trip to Atlanta. I sold it the week after the trip. So though traffic information is of great interest to me, it isn’t available in my area.
It was with tremendous interest I read of Dash in Oct. 2006…and began salivating: Everyone is their own little traffic sensor. Of course, the dichotomy is it depends on other local Dash users, of which there won’t be many, initially. Not being among the chosen 4 percent of beta testers, I may discover anomalies unseen in big city testing, but I bought one just the same. To build up the database in less populous areas, maybe Dash needs a referral program.
It’s going to be a long wait until March. I just hope Dash refrains from getting bought out for a while, because real innovation from the larger GPS companies hasn’t been seen in a long time. A GPS that plays MP3s wirelessly over Bluetooth? Oh, good grief.
December 31st, 2007 at 9:16 am
Hey there! Any updates as to whether Dash will be at CES, and do we have any more videos to see before the grand release?
January 2nd, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Hi, I ordered your product the very first day and can’t wait to try it out, now I have a few suggestions. How about including a small window sticker with the Dash Express to let other Dash Exprss user know your out there and helping collect traffic data, kinda special club of sorts ( although theives could spot you too ). Also how about a onsite forum for sharing ideas and getting help.
January 4th, 2008 at 11:08 am
You should contact the fellows at bc highway to join your Canadian Marketing program when it comes available.
January 9th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
A major interstate in town is closing for two years, which makes the traffic and routing features much more appealing to me.
Question: Since that interstate would normally be included on most of my routes will I have the ability to remove that section of roads from the maps, or will TeleAtlas mark it as closed and the update be sent to my Dash unit?
Without this key update most of my routes will be no good. This is why I had considered Tom Tom previously (actually have the unopened unit ready to return), but I’m this close to thumbs up from my better half on getting the Dash.
January 11th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
$600 price tag? Or, this device can sing and dance?
Hefty monthly fee for what? Traffic info or Map update? Most users would like traffic info in real time. But map update once a quarter is more than enough.
Please study competitors in both stand-alone devices and GPS on Cell phones.
Price/Performance does not seem to be a good bid from Dash.
January 17th, 2008 at 6:52 am
$600 price tag is to high, that was the price for gps 2 years ago, now most are $300 area, also why do we have to pay a monthly fee?? I mean come on I already pay for the internet access, I understand the traffic updates/map updates but that should be optional for those who don’t want to pay monthly. Your going to not gain alot of poptional customers with a reqiured monthly fee for the purpose to use to your own internet to update.
January 20th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
600 is not to high considering what this device replaces. Gps and realtime data. I have not been so excited about a device in a VERY long time so far it sounds like this is the Holly Grail of personal navigation devices. I wish there was a little more info on what the interface looks like and how it does it’s thing. Bluetooth has only been used by myself for DATA to my GPS and with it built in I see why theu decided not to include it. Some may say for hands free but lets be honest here has the handfree on a GPS ever really been that good?? I use a headset for that! The biggest features I see that ALL automotive type GPS units I have used lack are the following.
1. A QUICK MUTE..I cant tell you how many times I have been on the phone only to have my GPS start talking and making a mess out of the phone call!!
2. The ability to add a location you are at QUICKLY.
3. Breadcrum routes. I do alot of travel to new areas and I really wish once I went off the known roads it would breadcrum the route and let you add it ti the datatbase even if only on your own device.
Its Funny because the personal GPS devices for hiking and such have these features but the Automotive ones seem to have left these out for some crazy reason
And the final wish list feature is the ability to see other units on the map that have allowed it as well as online. Kind of like the Garmin Rino devices. This ability would allow asset/dispatch tracking for a company at a VERY reasonable price with ZERO down time for install of the unit.
MAN I WISH I HAD BEEN IN THE BETA GROUP!!
February 3rd, 2008 at 9:03 pm
A few questions:
I live in Seattle and travel every so often to Vancouver BC (Canada) and surrounding areas. Will the DASH still function as a “normal” GPS with street level information for basic routing and driving? i.e. are there maps in there?
Also wondering what other information is provided on screen. My Tom Tom gives me my speed which I use frequently as it’s more accurate than my car’s speedometer. Any possiblitly of elevation information? Would love to see some additional screen shots on the web site.
What about sending my trip information/log to my computer for business travel logging etc? Would be neat to have it upload the day’s driving everynight from my garage to my Outlook Calendar or similar application.
February 4th, 2008 at 7:07 am
Team Dash,
For your customers that have $600 tied up on their credit cards waiting for the product release, a little e-mail note every so often (weekly?) would be a deserved and appreciated indication that Dash cares about its customers, appreciates their patience, and is making progress towards product release.
February 7th, 2008 at 5:33 am
* Rob B
I totally agree here, the info pipe has been very bad from Dash maybe its so the device isn’t spoiled but a little love once a week just to let people know if the status it still the same would go a LONG way. Also the statement that your card is not charged until shipped is a little mis-leading because it does sit as a pending charge so it might as well be a charge.
February 12th, 2008 at 5:49 am
Rob, Matt, I’ll second/third that…. We all know that bringing a new product to launch is challenging, but letting us know what is going on would make a huge difference to those of us already committed and ready and waiting.
February 13th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
11 work days left to make Feb 08 Launch
February 16th, 2008 at 3:14 am
I pre-ordered the unit and my credit card got charged for it despite you guys saying I wouldn’t be charged until the unit shipped. That said, I’ve been charged but I still do not have the unit. What gives??
ojavaid@gmail.com
February 18th, 2008 at 5:12 am
Technically its a pending charge…read my post from Feb 7th
February 19th, 2008 at 5:33 am
8 work days left…I will say this Dash people it woud be a very big mistake not to prep your pre-order people if you are not going to make the Feb shipping. I for one will not purchase if I don’t recieve any warning. I have to say with all the quite I’m a little concerned its another delay.