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It's time to swap out the original stereo for a new double-DIN stereo/Nav unit. I've combed this entire forum, several *other* forums, eBay, Crutchfield.com, Amazon, and several other sites. It's difficult to determine which brands/models are the latest and greatest, let alone which ones have which features and which of those features are desirable and/or necessary and/or... Holy crap!



So here's the question, for April 2011... Which brand and model do you like, assuming the following:



1. I'm capable of modifying the car as necessary, both physically and electronically to fit any standard system.

2. GPS is required, and should be easy and affordable to upgrade year-to-year, (this is a tough one as far as I can tell).

3. Satellite radio and iPod/iPhone are not necessary. I have no desire for either, although USB/HDD/AUX would be great for my MP3 player.

4. Bluetooth sounds interesting, but I don't know that I need it in a cabriolet?

5. I'm not seeking audiophile quality - the stock speakers will probably be fine, and I don't need additional amps, subs or crossovers.



Ideas?

i would look for a nav that allows street address first, and not city



i would absolutely look for a decent eq section



bluetooth is a must for the phone, and is much safer



i do have a single din full nav deck for sale, if you don't want to lose the cubby

I wish there was a big store I could go to and try them all out, but there's nothing like that here in Upstate NY, or anywhere that I know of, except for an enormous electronics mall I visited in Seoul, Korea a few months ago. But then the selection was fairly well mixed with Chinese/Korean-made stuff that you'd never see over here anyway!



There's also no way to try out the units from a year or two ago, which would fit my criteria just fine, but nobody carries them anymore.



Just try searching for "DVD GPS DIN" on eBay and you get hundreds of no-name Chinese knock-off stereos with every imaginable feature, and "guarantee genuine map map file no pirate".



City first is generally OK here in the NorthEast where the towns are far apart and fairly discrete elements.



I'd prefer that it fit the decor as well, and not look like a piece of transplanted alien technology.

I'm considering the Pioneer AVIC series. There are so many of them that comparing them is a real learning exercise... D-, Z-, U-, F-series, etc... Holy cow!



Some people seem to love them, some people seem to hate them, especially the NAV component, which many reviews say is nigh worthless, as well as the Bluetooth being marginal at best?



Any experience from the group?

i have 3 Z2s and love them all - i just put one in the 968 - unfortunately they don't make them anymore - i love the NAV of this unit, but the new ones are backwards (you must enter city first on the new ones)

big fan of the Pioneer Elite series for home theater but use Kenwood Exelon in both cars. Kenwood uses Garmin for nav; still have to enter city first but it will let you alternately search street names by state. Kenwood also uses Parrot for their bluetooth interface; works very well with Droid and Blackberry (never had an iphone). I really like the Kenwood interface to both Sirius and iPod.

Parrot works very well with my Google Nexus One Android phone!



What model do you use in your car? There are quite a few...

i had a parrot 3000 i think - worked fine, but was a bit cumbersome in the car, as it was just another gadget stuck in there



i really liked the JVC single din unit i had in the car, but i am too old and feeble to remember how to work it when i don't drive the car enough, so i switched to the same unit i have in the other cars - great deck though, and loaded with features (like a hard drive so you don't have to drag around an ipod)

I'll very likely have the car set up as another computer on the Wi-Fi network, so I won't be carrying any mobile devices as they should sync automatically when I pull into the driveway. The car should also back itself up every night to the server just to be safe.



Before a trip, I used to copy a few movies to the car for the kids, although they're a little old for that, now we just take the XBox 360 or the Wii and they play Guitar Hero against each other on long trips. We get some funny looks on the highway. Other kids are like "Oh man! Look at that!" and other parents are like "Oh great. Look at that... No."

I think I will go with the Kenwood Excelon DNX8120, which has BT, DVD, GPS, iPOD, etc., and which seems to have good reviews on most sites.



The Pioneer AVIC series was my first choice, but seems to suffer from boot-up slowness, taking 1-2 minutes to boot up every time. I just want to grip it and rip it, and that would frustrate me to no end!

it is frustrating - it takes about 45 seconds for mine to boot

Just have to be careful to get a complete unit when buying Kenwood because they get you with the term "ready", which means "$200 extra", as in "Bluetooth 'ready' ".

OK, so I got a 6140 instead, for about half the price - but it's got everything I need including Garmin GPS, Parrot Bluetooth, and the iPod cable and steering wheel module thrown in for good measure - neither of which I need but hey they're free.

steering wheel module??? for the 968???

Like I said, I don't need it, but it's included in the bundle, so I'll sell it back on eBay or something and recoup some of the cost.

hmmm - those modules are pretty much vehicle specific - since the 968 gad no controls (i wish it did) i wonder what it fits?

i have a steering wheel module in the truck that was programmable; a single wire universal connection to the wheel and and output specific to the kenwood head unit. programmable in that functions can be assigned to the buttons on the wheel.

sounds cool - must be a kenwood thing - pioneer uses PAC modules, which are pretty much vehicle specific

lol - yup - no pioneer on that one - i had to figure out a combination of modules to make the SL550 work