Azentek Smart Mirror Review and Hands-On

By: Ben Vollmer, Car Audio Nationals/Team SoundDomain

A few weeks ago, I posted a blog  with a video about a new product from Azentek called a SmartMirror. Well, I bought one, and man am I happy I did! The box arrived and I was so excited. Inside the box  there is the mirror, different mounting brackets for different types of windshield mounts, a microphone, and power cord assembly. The unit has a "Getting Started" manual for using the product, but the complete users manual is supposed to be online. After poking around for some time on the Azentek website, I still couldn't find the manual. So much of my discovery was make just from poking around.   

The unit feels OEM. It doesn't feel like other units I've looked at that are somewhat cheesy - the Azentek is as solid as they come. On the passenger side of the mirror is an SD card reader used by Navigon to supply the maps and programs required for the GPS. 

So here is the unit hooked up to my trusty Astron power supply in the Ferrari Garage. 

 

Bootup is quick - in less than 5 seconds the unit was on the main menu.

 

 

From there you have four different options. One is for the Navigation, one is for Bluetooth, Media and System Setup. We are going to focus on the GPS and the Bluetooth. Let's start with GPS.

 

 

 

Startup for the GPS portion takes a couple of seconds. Not a big deal, but don't expect to click on it and have it pop up on the first run.

 

 

We are going to give it a new destination.

 

 

You can either enter an address or do a Point of Interest. We will put in an address.

 

 

Here is the screen. While it lacks the nice feature of limiting characters only to those you can select that you find on a Garmin or Alpine's BlackBird, it does do an awesome job of auto-filling your choices.

 

 

From there, click "Start Navigation" and the Navigation screen takes over. It has some awesome features like the ability to be able to display the speed limit for the area you are in. Killer if you have a lead foot like me.

 

 

The Bluetooth setup with my Samsung BlackJack II was painless - it took no time at all. The only feature missing from Bluetooth was the ability to sync my contacts from my phone to the unit and then share them between the phone address book and the GPS address book. That to me was the sole missing function to making this piece perfect. The microphone picked up well and the speakerphone was loud and clear and overall was a great experience.

The number one concern I heard when talking to people about this mirror is that they don't like the way most other aftermarket mirrors look in the car. They tend to look cartoonish and not very OEM-like. So I backed the Audi out and did some side by side comparisons.

Here is my OEM Mirror. 

Here is the Azentek placed over my OEM mirror.

 

And here they are side by side. As you can see, not that much difference in size at all.   

So if you are in the market for a GPS and want something discreet and good looking, I would highly recommend taking a peek at the Azentek SmartMirror.  And in case you're in the market for a CarPC, Azentek has some very solid example as well!       

in the forums!

Additional Reading:
Azentek on SoundDomain
Azentek Homepage