Lock Pick

Does anyone own a Lock Pick which bypasses the In-Drive lockout to keep you from watching your DVD in the front while in gear? If you do, how does it work for you? I see mixed reviews on it..

I have it for the Nav/DVD and for the IPod (in my glove box) of my new 08 LTZ. Both work great. CoastalTech is the website. I contemplated self-install but opted to get someone experienced to do it for me. While its straightforward to do the work, there are some tricks that an experienced installer will be used to that as a novice i was glad I didn't have to tackle. (I'd recommend you find an installer that knows what they're doing.) Its pretty straightforward: 4 pushes of the mute in 6 seconds while in Drive and you're watching your DVD. Same with the window unlock button for the navigation system access while in gear. The IPod works by creating a SOURCE tab on the XM menu...since it connects behind the glovebox to the XM satellite box. Once in the XM Menu, you just push Source, then IPod, then Music and you can control your Ipod just as you do on your Ipod screen. I think you'll find these good, hidden improvements to your audio/video system especially if you do a lot of driving over the interstates. Hope that helps and good luck.

Thanks!

Thanks for all that info!. Yes thats the site I was looking at and it even had a instruction video of installing it on an 07 Tahoe which I have. It does look straight forward except maybe taking off the wood trim. Id be afraid Id break off one of the tabs. I had read people saying they having audio problems mostly with it installed. You have boosted my confidence to get it! I was also interested in getting a bluetooth converter you use along with that will allow you to use your cellphone if it has bluetooth with the phone system it uses with onstar. That way you can use the phone buttons mounted on the steering wheel to control it! . Plus do not need to subscribe to Onstar! Again thanks!

Well...I'll tell you I sat in the backseat and watched my installation. There are 8 clips on the back of that wood trim piece. The guy that did mine started with the clip at about 11oclock (on top edge) and worked down the driver's side, then the same from top to bottom down the passenger side. Then equal pressure from both sides on the 2 bottom clips. The clips are fairly "hefty"...metal...so if you're careful you should be fine. The trickier part is getting the wiring harnesses to fit behind the nav radio box and still have the nav radio component seat as its supposed to so that you can bolt it back down. There is a useless piece of plastic molding back in there that we snipped out to provide ample room for the wiring. All the bolts and tabs hold the factory nav, and AC units firmly in place. So removing that plastic wasn't an issue for stability. I've had NO PROBLEMS with the navigation or the radio since installation. I will tell you on my 2008, when lockpick was first installed, he set code buttons #1, 3,4,and 5 UP and #2 DOWN. It worked in drive gear but when the wheels actually started to turn it went back to "driving restriction". I was sick about it for a moment there. We re-read the paperwork, called CoastalTech, got good service, and opted for 1 down and 2-5 up and it worked as intended. The code setting directions are a little misleading. I think I paid $250 for lockpick, $150 for the Ipod, $100 + a pizza for the install. Took about 1 hour the first time, then 30 mins to correct the code mistake.

Thanks!

One pizza for the install? Man! Tell your guy I'll give him 3 supremes if he drive down here and do mine! All what you said will come in handy! Especially the trip switches! That will save me a call! At least for that anyway!. I figure if it took your installer which knew what he was doing an hour, Id say it will take me all weekend, a roll of duck tape and a case of beer! Ill let you know how it turns out! Ill either get it to work, or tell you how far the unit can be thrown across the street! Thanks!

One more thing I'd tell you about the lockpick and this info is a little sketchy cuz I couldn't see in there really good during the installation. It appeared to me that, as you face the "hole" you'll create when you remove the wood trim and electronic components, there is a small gap or void on the inside right where my installer-dude "mounted" or secured the lockpick box itself. I watched the install video on the coastaltech site and it simply showed the lockpick sorta laying in there with the 3 component boxes. Well, it didn't look like there was that much room in the "hole" once the components were out to just place the lockpick behind or between the other factory components. But my guy kept reaching in and to the top right (like behind the middle-right passenger air duct) to a void where he placed the lockpick box. You'll probably see what I'm talking about much more clearly if you're setting in your driver's seat doing your own installation. Good luck with it...stay optimistic...you'll find it worth while .

Thanks

I don't feel worried at all now after I got all this info from you! I should be ordering it in a couple weeks so Ill stay in touch with you if I have a question. If you think of anything else that may have been a little different than in the video, please email me! You said your installer (mounted) the box right? Didnt just sit it in there? I take it the box has some sort of mounting bracket you could mount it to something? Makes sense. Wouldnt want it to slide around in there and unplug something! Also I wanted to ask. does everything work normal with the radio, dvd and NAV when not using the box? So like if there needed to have warranty work done, you couldnt tell it was installed?

There was not any "mounting" ... no brackets or any hardware. I believe my installer found a "tight" place to put it ... as I said, in that void area high and right inside the hole behind the NAV box. I suspect it was a slot that led to a void up behind the airvent. The LockPick does not rattle, slide, or move. It may just be laying back in there or he may have wedged it in to a tight spot but he kept taking it out and then putting it back in that same spot...it always took him a few seconds to get his fingers on it and get it to set there just like he wanted it. He may have used some 2-sided tape but I don't think so. In fact, as I said, he had to take it all out a 2nd time and change my code and he again struggled to get his hand in that void and reach it with his fingers. It was a tight fit. I think I mentioned after 4 or 5 tries, we decided to use snips in the back middle of the hole to snip about about a 5-6" strip of plastic bracing material...that gave room for wires. Had it been me installing, I might have fiddled around with that longer seeing if I could make it work but he spent 10 minutes trying to get the wires low enough out of the way of the Nav box and they just wouldn't fit. So I gave him permission to make that cut. Everything works as normal. You can't tell the Radio, DVD, Nav has any difference ... ya never know that its been altered in behind there and nothing appears different on the screen unless you push the XM Categories and see that "SOURCE" tab with "IPOD" (...and that's only if you put the IPOD box in too). The IPOD box is an easier install than the LockPick. But as far as just doing the LOCKPICK box, there's nothing different on any screens. I have a $100 Belkin Ipod player for my Pick-up and in my F-150 its only putting sound in the front channels...sorta disappointing. But since that IPOD box has a standard IPOD connector laying in the glovebox, it really puts out the same exact sound as the factory system. I'm very pleased with it, too. I actually think I'll like that device more in the long run. Movie watching while driving isn't something I do much unless its a long trip on the interstate...and the Wife always sleeps. As far editing NAV while I drive, I've found using MapQuest to send the directions to OnStar being very quick n easy since you can do it on your PC at home/office.

One more thing, get a bath towel, lay it over your wood trim console. Once the wood trim is off, and you've taken out the bolts, lay the 2 bottom components on the towel, then fold the towel over the top of those 2 components and lay the NAV box on top of that towel. This'll protect your console finish and the component boxes themselves. Tools required are really only a thin flat bladed screw drive to pry the trim off with, some electrical tape for taping wires or pull-ties, and a cordless drill driver with a socket head for those bolts...snips if you have to cut that brace.

I've had mixed thoughts on the lock pick! For one i didn't have the factory rear entertainment so i didn't have the DVD/Nav head unit so we added an aftermarket screen in the rear and installed the lock pick. For some whacked out reason the vss is screwed up and it will show me driving off in the middle of no-where and tell me that my distance to destination is 77 miles and that i should arrive in 6 minutes. Now don't get me wrong i'd love to go 77 miles in 6 minutes but i don't think it's really plausable! I've taken it back three times and finally they installed a new one. The new one doesn't have me driving off road but the travel time is still not accurate. So i'm going to wait it out a little longer and see if it adjusts and if it doesn't i'm getting it taken out and getting a refund!! Oh yeah the lock pick i opted for was the 320 so for that price and cost of install it better freakin work perfect! Those are my issues so far!

I've got one for sale. It works fine, just doesn't do what I want. Probably getting a whole new nav system instead. 350 shipped with tellphone video bluetooth unit.

I just saw your comment and was wondering what did the unit not do you wanted? I was also wondering how did the bluetooth with the cell phone work?

i havent had any problems at all with mine...my tahoe was manufactured 09/06 so it autoblocks everything which is nice but it works as advertised...i knew this before buying but jsut to spread the word...the "2 extra video inputs" that the gmx320 provides have the banner across the top of the picture just like the rear view camer has so its not really functional if you get annoyed by that type of stuff

mystic...maybe your switches are flipped wrong...reread the manual on their website it looses tracking when its enabled (how it tricks the unit into letting you watch movies in drive) so i think if you disable it then that should solve your navigation problems ive read that it can take a couple mintues to recalibrate its position

mikenewb...if your going to get one and you have the rearview camera imo its worth the extra couple of bucks to show off the camera while in drive...that feature put me over the top to get one the install is very very easy to do yourself especially if youve done anything to your car before b/c like the video shows the plugs can only go in certain slots

Mikenewb said:

I just saw your comment and was wondering what did the unit not do you wanted? I was also wondering how did the bluetooth with the cell phone work?

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I mainly wanted it to power the plug and play sirius tuner and radar detector. I also added a front view camera.

When using the front view camera, the radar and satellite aren't powered when the car is in reverse, and instead of the reverse camera showing up when I put it in reverse, the front one would come on.

When I changed it to completely eliminate the front view camera, it worked fine, but I still had the alternator whine from the sirius, and it was just too much of a pain to push all the buttons everytime I wanted to listen to satellite, which is every time I drive, so I took it out and went back to the aux jacks I've been using.

I never got around to setting up the bluetooth.

2007TahoeLTZ4x4 said:

mystic...maybe your switches are flipped wrong...reread the manual on their website it looses tracking when its enabled (how it tricks the unit into letting you watch movies in drive) so i think if you disable it then that should solve your navigation problems ive read that it can take a couple mintues to recalibrate its position

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I've taken it back and had the dealer check it again and they said everything is set correctly and they called coastal tech to double check. I'm not sure what's wrong with it. I understand that it looses tracking when enabled but even if i never enable it the nav is still a wreck. I'm on the verge of just taking it back and getting a refund.