etrex HCx user considering an in-dash car GPS

[captain454]

Hey all, I'm a longtime, hardcore user of Garmin's etrex Vista line, I've owned at least one of every single one of them (from the old black and white to my current Vista HCx).

 

Anyway, here's the deal: I just got myself a new car, which has a double DIN slot, and that means I can install a GPS system in-dash. Now, with my old car, what I did was hard wire my etrex and suction cup it tot the window, and that worked *really* well. There were a lot of features about using the etrex for car navigation that I really liked, but the one that really did it for me was that the etrex could store months of track logs onto the microSD card, and if I ever wanted to go back and figure out when/where I went somewhere, boom, there it was. I also like being able to pull those track logs and archive my history data, it's especially cool when I come back from the racetrack, I can analyze my track speeds and times for future reference.

 

So here's my question: does Garmin make an in-dash GPS that not only takes full advantage of all that real estate offered by the double DIN slot, but also stores track logs which I can transfer to my computer and view in Mapsource (that is, does it record .gpx files everywhere I go)?

 

I didn't believe that Garmin made an in-dash unit, but then I realized that they have licensed their units for integration into other manufacturer's products, specifically I've started thinking about purchasing a Kenwood DNX8120, which uses what looks like a Garmin streetpilot type interface. Will this do everything I want, or is it going to be "dumbed down" to the point where I might as well stick with my etrex again? Thanks for any help of suggestions!

Edited June 9, 2008 by captain454