Mio Knight Rider GPS has voice of KITT Inside
When we were first contacted by Mio about their Knight Rider device, we couldn't wait till the day that we could finally tell you. An officially licensed GPS unit with the original voice of KITT behind it, how could you lose?
Thankfully, you can't! We have been very fortunate to get this exclusive extensive look at the Mio Knight Rider GPS. No longer will you have a boring list of computerized voices telling you directions on your GPS - now you can have KITT himself!
It's the first time since the TV Movie Knight Rider 2000 - has William Daniels been involved in anything officially Knight Rider. In fact it had been rumored for quite some time that Daniels wanted nothing to do with the series. We are thrilled that this was not the case, and now we have this device here, complete with newly recorded dialog by Mr. Daniels (this isn't reused TV clipings, it's 100% original recordings!)
One of the great unique features with this concept, is that KITT will address the driver by their first name. Simply set your name from the pre-recorded list of hundreds, and off you go. You can be Michael if you want to be a purist, but if your name is Aaron, Joe or David, you can have that personalized experience. (Unfortunately Devon, Bonnie, Wilton are missing from the list, but Mio hopes to address this error)
They've also taken several design cues from the Knight 2000. The device has dual nose type designs on the left and right, complete with a red type of scanner insert. However, the actual use of this scanners LEDs is to be KITTs voice box. It's a pretty neat effect, and initially we were bummed that it wasn't more accurate to the voice box to the series, but in the end the effect still felt the same.
The device is going to be for Canada and the US, however additional maps are available for purchase (for our global fans) via Mio's website for their other devices, so we imagine this unit would be the same.
We must admit it was pretty enjoyable driving around with KITT, that we kept getting lost on purpose, just so we could hear him make more announcements. Which was probably the only annoyance - we wish KITT would talk more. Have KITT nag me when I get lost, have him keep his scanners peeled and determine the best course to our destination - keep him vocal, keep him fun. Michael always told KITT to shadup, we love to be at the place to do that too.
MSRP is about $270, and we expect the final product to be released in the fall. Check out KITTRules for more information.
Unless there's video of William Daniels actually recording his voice for this, I would seriously doubt it's his voice. It doesn't sound a thing like him...even with age.
Cool, but there were some problems with audio on the video. Looks like you have a couple of instances of 2 different audio tracks playing at the same time. Hard to understand what you're saying.
thanks! try watching the video again, I've fixed the audio.
Please tell me this is going to be available in the UK. I'm not usually even tempted by a GPS unit, but this would make a purchase inevitable.
William says the names right but the phrases are spoken too low. It's as if Mr Daniels pitch was off.
Odd, old age maybe?
Of course I will stil buy one to hook up to my voice box.
I don't know what that first poster is smoking, obviously its William Daniels.
Since he can't say all names, i hope they make versions where he says "Sir", "Mr", "Mam"
cool will the unit be available in australia hope so
sucks
I are confused.
Listen to the video review at Gizmodo: http://gizmodo.com/5019065/hands+on-knight-rider-gps-verdict-its-kittastic
The part where is he says "Michael, where would you like to go today" sounds like KITT/Daniels, but what about the part where it says "turn left, then take the next right?" That can't be him, it sounds totally different. Explanation?
For Those of you that are Dumb enough to say its not William Daniels....Well Thats Stupid they can't say its one person and have be someone else, Not to mention it's been a long time since anyone heard his voice(As Kitt) It's not just him talking normally it's the way he says stuff as KITT. For those of you confused about the other video there are 3 Voices, Male Female and Daniels. Also if it's stupid I guess your not old enough to appreciate it or your just terminally pissed off at the world and jealous you can't come up with something better.
So Anyway I can't wait to buy one I have been looking for one for when I start to travel around the US this coming year and Now I know what one im gonna buy so im Just gonna wait till it hits stores !!!!!!
Mio....Hmmm....wonder if they have updates for any of their products...Bought one at Radio shack in Dec....maps at least two years old, and NO RESPONSE from them via their tech support. I'll never buy another, not even one that has anything to do with David Hasselhoff!!! YUK
I'm so buying this thing! I can't wait!
Oh Scott, by the way, Mio actually does have map updates. When I was cruising the site for more on the KR GPS today I noticed they had some. So there ya go! lol!
I hope it has maps for Brazil, Me and my wife are big fan of KITT. I really wanna have one.
Or just get a KITT voice for a TomTom. Duh.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=q8FGKjRf5GU
Proves it's all in the pitch of the voice.
the vid is not my doing, showing as well that others thought the same as me.
"David Springs said:
Or just get a KITT voice for a TomTom. Duh."
Yeah, if you want one that sucks!
You definitely tell that the pitch is off especially at the end of a phrase. I like the adjustments in the YouTube video above.
My guess is that Mio did not have people who were real big fans of the show. They just threw this together with little regard for details like the pitch and have "Devon" and "Bonnie" as name choices. Still, I give them credit for getting the man himself to do the recordings!
The added bass in the voice samples was most likely added by Mio to compensate for the small 'tinny' speakers (and possibly road noise). Many FM radio stations still continue to overdrive bass for the same reason.
Nice thing. The software is the same like on my NAVMAN S90i. So there can be updates. But I wouldn`t buy the S90i again because of the bad software and street-maps (for Europe)
Way cooler than an iphone and needs to be in a muscle car that is a pig on gas.
I agree, the pitch of WD's voice is wrong.
ha i think tht is cool i will like to get one
Does this have voice recognition? It's cool that it asks where would you like to go, but it would be much cooler to tell it the destination instead of typing it in using the touch screen. I'm just saying.
All this talk about the pitch being wrong.
Who cares. Get over it. I don't think any of you had anything to do with the development of this product. besides, you can't expect the man to have the same tone of voice for ever. Our voices do change with time you know. geez. It still pretty cool if I say so myself.
Lose the the LEDs on the sides and put a long LED bar on the bottom.
I am betting that some of the phrases are recordings of Daniels, but the rest of it is synthisyzed by the computer in the pitch and cadence of his voice so that it can say all the different combonations that need to be said. They had him say certain things like the greetings, etc. Everything else is computer generated from bits of his words or etc.
I would also like to see a larger, square version of this. Maybe 6x6.
This way it would be the perfect fit for one of two double screens in a dash.
I would dissasemble it from it's enclosure and mount it as the first screen, with a matching video screen next to it.
The audio would be routed out into a larger amplified speaker under the dash.
This would be a smash for not only the Knight Rider replica driving experience but at car shows too!!!
I wonder if Mio would be willing to simply load this software onto other larger units they make for special orders?
That's all they would have to do!!!
Maybe they could sell the software alone to work with all of their units?
hmmmmmm.....
As a matter of curiosity... does this MIO have the same "safety" feature as some other GPS' that prevents menu choices and location selection from being made while driving? I had one in a rental car once that wouldn't allow any choices to be made while it registered motion. So basically... driving down the highway and wondering where you can grab a bite, or fill up, means you have to pull over and STOP completely, make your choices, and then pull back into traffic again. Utterly stupid IMO. Some have that feature, some don't... that's the only thing preventing me from pre-ordering the Mio. :/
Kevin - the device does have that (it's so you don't sue them if you get into an accident!) - How ever you can easily disable the warning in the preferences or on the screen when it first comes up.
Thanks Neil. I'm glad they made it optional. The one I had in the rental car didn't allow any bypassing of the feature. So while I do understand the safety reasoning behind it, having my wife check things out and look for banks, food, etc wouldn't be dangerous, but we couldn't do it.
Cheers!
People really need to quit bitchin'. It is a cool product no matter how it's made and as a custom mechanic,I am sure it could be modified in just about any way possible to the imagination. You should give credit where it is due,because someone thought of a really cool product.
Does anyone know, for definite, if you can get Irish/European maps for this? My brother's going to New York in a couple of weeks and I'm tempted to get him to buy one for me (if that's possible, I know the demand is probably huge, hence the pre-ordering). I've spent hours looking (maybe in the wrong places??) through Mio's site, their KR site, and the net in general, but I can't find an answer. I'd even settle with these maps coming out in the next few months. I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO want to get one, but.....
I was never really interested in purchasing a GPS but I was a Fan of the Knight Rider series and hopefully the "New" KNIGHT RIDER 2008 Series. 1 just bought this GPS and its pretty cool. The only Prob, I have is after I transfer some voice files around, I was then missing the initial Kitt voice TTS file? I've been in contact with tech support and they say they are working on the problem. Hopefully it will be soon! Besides that it's a nifty little novelty item!
sounds like a lot of them bouight the unit for the voice, I just bought the unit so I could travel without the bloody, fold up maps, mine is a christmas present so I haven't even taken it out of the box yet, won't till christmas day. but come on people stop complaining about something so trivial, who really cares if it doesn't sound like him , as long as it does the job it was really made for.
Do you know if the spanish voice for the GPS is also from the dubbed version of Knight Rider? The guy who did the voice was German Robles, and many people think the spanish version of KITT sounded even better than the original.
KITT = Mr. Feeny from Boy Meets World. The voice is identical.
Lindsey: that is because it is the same actor. Good ear! :)