Off Road Pages screen gripe

[LittleFish]

Due to lengthy build times for vehicles in 2021, custom ordering my "perfect Gladiator" wasn't an option. I located the "closest" version to what I would have built and bought it. I ended up with 95% of what I would have ordered so it's pretty darn close. At the time, there were exactly 4 Max Tow units with the Penstar in all of British Columbia (for those in the USA, B.C. is 364,764 square miles, California is 163,695 square miles. Yes, there's less population but that's a lot of area to cover). I drove from 6am, caught 2 ferry boats and returned home at roughly midnight in order to get this truck. Please don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this truck! but the things I don't love... I really don't love!

I'm going to refrain from overly ranting about the lack of a brake controller or extendable towing mirrors (heck, not even a factory option for add on towing mirrors) on their flagship towing model... at $70k out the door, the "it's a jeep thing" doesn't quite cut it. Simply put, FAC, you really did *hit the bed on this model.

Why does FAC not include the Off Road Pages option on the 7" screen? I don't get it.

One would think a screen that indicates your vehicle's "vital statistics" would be included on the vehicle they use to widely advertise the towing capabilities of the Gladiator (regardless of screen size). The 1 model that is almost guaranteed to be "worked" harder than the other models in the line-up. The 1 model where things like transmission/coolant/oil temps NEED to be monitored. Instead, we get individual readouts on the dash cluster that we must scroll through. That scrolling takes the driver's eye's off the road longer than just glancing over to a screen that quickly gives the driver all the information they need in 1 place.

If space is the concern for the 7" screen (I do get that), just scrap the useless half round digital guage images and go with simple bar guage images. Heck, just go with the temps/pressures and forget the guage images if that's what it takes. FAC's tech engineers must be able to write the software code needed for this to work on the smaller screen...

Okay, bitch session over.

Sponsored

 

[Jocww]

Due to lengthy build times for vehicles in 2021, custom ordering my "perfect Gladiator" wasn't an option. I located the "closest" version to what I would have built and bought it. I ended up with 95% of what I would have ordered so it's pretty darn close. At the time, there were exactly 4 Max Tow units with the Penstar in all of British Columbia (for those in the USA, B.C. is 364,764 square miles, California is 163,695 square miles. Yes, there's less population but that's a lot of area to cover). I drove from 6am, caught 2 ferry boats and returned home at roughly midnight in order to get this truck. Please don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this truck! but the things I don't love... I really don't love!

I'm going to refrain from overly ranting about the lack of a brake controller or extendable towing mirrors (heck, not even a factory option for add on towing mirrors) on their flagship towing model... at $70k out the door, the "it's a jeep thing" doesn't quite cut it. Simply put, FAC, you really did *hit the bed on this model.

Why does FAC not include the Off Road Pages option on the 7" screen? I don't get it.

One would think a screen that indicates your vehicle's "vital statistics" would be included on the vehicle they use to widely advertise the towing capabilities of the Gladiator (regardless of screen size). The 1 model that is almost guaranteed to be "worked" harder than the other models in the line-up. The 1 model where things like transmission/coolant/oil temps NEED to be monitored. Instead, we get individual readouts on the dash cluster that we must scroll through. That scrolling takes the driver's eye's off the road longer than just glancing over to a screen that quickly gives the driver all the information they need in 1 place.

If space is the concern for the 7" screen (I do get that), just scrap the useless half round digital guage images and go with simple bar guage images. Heck, just go with the temps/pressures and forget the guage images if that's what it takes. FAC's tech engineers must be able to write the software code needed for this to work on the smaller screen...

Okay, bitch session over.

I concur thats why when I learned that I upgraded to the 8.4

 

[cmak0]

I plan to install an aftermarket radio system so I went with the 7” to save money. There are better aftermarket head units available if you want to spend the money.
I personally will replace the head unit myself and may go with a speaker package from American sound bar.

 

[Gvsukids]

Due to lengthy build times for vehicles in 2021, custom ordering my "perfect Gladiator" wasn't an option. I located the "closest" version to what I would have built and bought it. I ended up with 95% of what I would have ordered so it's pretty darn close. At the time, there were exactly 4 Max Tow units with the Penstar in all of British Columbia (for those in the USA, B.C. is 364,764 square miles, California is 163,695 square miles. Yes, there's less population but that's a lot of area to cover).

So about the size of Texas.

 

[Challenger85]

Someone else posted it, I forget the website. But you can buy the 8.4 screen and it’s plug and play.

 

[TroutFishingInAmerica]

I live not far from BC and cross the line as often as permissible now days, caught my biggest Rainbow in BC and let it go. Yes in desolate areas it's more important to have a grip on what your vehicle is doing, I do have the off-road guages and it's my go to screen. I hear you, should be a standard feature.

 

[Gvsukids]

Someone else posted it, I forget the website. But you can buy the 8.4 screen and it’s plug and play.

Yes, but you have to use the tazer to unlock the off-road pages after upgrading.

 

[Chestnut]

That sounds annoying. My biggest annoyance with the vehicle is the fan knob. WHY!!!! WTF is it doing front and center!? Wife takes a phone call and every time tuns the fan knob and the fan revs to full. Don't know why turning it down from Auto starts at full speed either.... I've tried teaching her that the off button is the best way. That way it pauses my book instread of playing with no sound and loosing my spot. I have a feeling the fan knob is going to cause a lot of friction in my life.

I don't find the offroad pages all that useful yet. Most of the information can be found in the cluster by the speedo. Well on my model, not sure if they are all the same.

 

[Challenger85]

Yes, but you have to use the tazer to unlock the off-road pages after upgrading.

Well, that’s lame. It does have other uses though.

 

[LittleFish]

So about the size of Texas.

No, not really... B.C. 364,764 Square Miles. Texas 268,596 Square Miles. All of Texas and a little more than half of California kind of big.

 

[LittleFish]

I concur thats why when I learned that I upgraded to the 8.4

Unfortunately, upgrading wasn't an option in my case. This was 1 of 4 trucks in all of B.C. and 3 of them were barely over base model trucks.

 

[LittleFish]

That sounds annoying. My biggest annoyance with the vehicle is the fan knob. WHY!!!! WTF is it doing front and center!? Wife takes a phone call and every time tuns the fan knob and the fan revs to full. Don't know why turning it down from Auto starts at full speed either.... I've tried teaching her that the off button is the best way. That way it pauses my book instread of playing with no sound and loosing my spot. I have a feeling the fan knob is going to cause a lot of friction in my life.

I don't find the offroad pages all that useful yet. Most of the information can be found in the cluster by the speedo. Well on my model, not sure if they are all the same.

Yes, they are all on the cluster. 1 screen at a time vs. the head unit where they are all displayed at once. Pulling a load up a steep grade, you don't want to flip from screen to screen, taking your eye's off the road longer than you should in order to make sure that you're reading what you are wanting to read. Ever see full size trucks smoking away on the side of a mountain pass and all they're towing is a tent trailer. If they were watching their guages, they would have pulled over to cool down before they broke down.

I do get that most Gladiator owners will never tow anything but if the consumer has stepped up to the Max Tow... odds are, they are going to tow!

Yes, the fan knob in the middle is a bit of a goofy spot and I've experienced the same thing as you. If you want to see a car where switches, etc. make absolutely no sense... MINI. We had a 2005 MINI and it was a super fun car to rip around in but the cockpit design was ridiculous.

 

[be77solo]

Unfortunately, upgrading wasn't an option in my case. This was 1 of 4 trucks in all of B.C. and 3 of them were barely over base model trucks.

He meant it's easy to upgrade yourself if you ever decide to do so. I swapped the 5" in my Sport with the 8.4", took about 10 minutes and ~$1200 for a brand new unit/bezel. To add the Off Road pages like you want, the Tazer for ~$300 can enable them along with TONS of other useful things..... they are great.

You could then sell your 7" and get ~$400 or so for it from guys that want to upgrade from the 5" to the 7".

Just one option to eliminate what seems like your main gripe if you choose.

 

[Chestnut]

Ever see full size trucks smoking away on the side of a mountain pass and all they're towing is a tent trailer. If they were watching their guages, they would have pulled over to cool down before they broke down.

No honestly, I live in flat land. I'm talking 3-4 feet in elevation change over 10 miles. I also have a manual so the Oil temp and Engine temp are next to each other. I usually just leave the oil temp on the gauge, if i don't have the instant econ up. I like the instant econ as a gauge for how hard the engine is working. The only time engines get stressed it's because there is a 45 mph headwind, that usually means cooling isn't an issue. More worrisome is the 45 mph tail wind as there is less air movement for cooling. A 45 MPH tail wind is a myth though if you do a U turn it'll still be a headwind.

 

[steveorama]

No, not really... B.C. 364,764 Square Miles. Texas 268,596 Square Miles. All of Texas and a little more than half of California kind of big.

Alright as a now transplanted Texan from the PNW I'm chiming in here.

This comparison is still not apples to apples. We can all agree that BC is larger by size and we can all also agree that both Texas and California have a greater population, but you're analogy doesn't take into consideration the spread of population. Texas may be 268K square miles, but the population areas are spread out across the entire state. You may have hours upon hours of driving between some those areas of population and others are never-ending urban sprawl, but they are still distributed in all regions of the state.

(These red areas are where the larger cities are located)

Now BC, has 80% of its population in an area the size of the Houston metro area with around the same number of people.

So in all fairness it's not like Jeep needs to service all of those 364K square miles the same as they do 268K in Texas. It would only be apples to apples if Houston existed as it does now and the rest of Texas simply didn't. There's an overwhelmingly large majority of the province which is undeveloped and uninhabited for the comparison.

Okay, rant over until an Alaskan chimes in.

Sponsored