also if ur going to be hooking up an ipod to ur headunit, kenwood is by far the best imo. the ddx 8019 has 2 usb 2.0 slots. one for a flash drive and the othr for the ipod and will display video on the hu.

 

i think the best bang for your buck is the d3. I got mine for about $200 cheaper than kenwood dnx7100 (i was choosing between the two) came with ipod cable.

i dislike the interface for the kenwood, went to fry's and tried it out. seemed like it took too long to draw menus and its poorly organized.

the d3 seemed a bit more intuitive with the menus and seemed more responsive. I like things chop chop, i'd get annoyed with the kenwood very quickly.

...my 2 cents.

 

yup the D3 is a better deal and most stores are selling them for about 899 installed( authorized dealers)

I really liked my D3. The NAV was always good and had plenty of POI's. The XM control was perfect to. It even shows pictures of the station you listening to. Plays DivX, DVDs loaded with MP3's, and has ipod video control.
It really does alot for the price.

2 months ago I "upgraded" to the Eclipse AVN5510 and what a differance in sound quality!! The EQ is top notch. 7 band eq with the option to set the eq curve for each band.
You get something like time alignment but no option to set your distance. I feel in love with the sound as soon as I turned it on with out even touching the eq.

The NAV is good but I dont think its as good as the D3.
Alot of roads are not on the 5510 that were on the D3.
Siruis control is great and the ipod is good also.

The screens looked about the same to me but I never watch dvds so it wasnt a big deal to me.

I like the 5510 over the D3 becasue of the SQ. Also the 5510 has 2 cd/dvd slots so you dont have to take the nav disk out to listen to a CD unless you want to watch a movie

if you have anymore questions just ask

 

forgot to mention the 5510 lets you keep your sterring wheel control right out of the box but the power harness is not plug and play which really isnt a big deal if you have 20 min

 

Hmmm... sooooo many choices. I'm looking up the specs and reviews on the kenwoods as we speak. I see a lot of complaints on reviews about the menus' and in the d3 and how slow the ipod functions are I also see the same complaint about the eclipse...
Hmmm... Does the Alpine have the ability to display ipod video? And does it connect with your steering wheel controls?

 

the alpine will connect with a little box that you can buy. i think you can buy a box that will allow video to show up, i'm not certain

 

eh I noticed no delay at on on the D3 of the Eclipses ipod control.
I guess some people are just impatient. At the most I waited 2-3 seconds while it searched for an album

The Alpine CAN connect to the controls with a add on from PAC parts

 

What about the NAV for the Alpine... can I play a CD while using the NAV since its a seperate unit or are the hdd NAV systems the only one that can do this? Also can the blackbird II be updated? Also I heard from some of the reviews that some of these NAV systems will only let you enter new locations and information when in park and it will not let you while you're in drive... which is bad for me as I need to use my NAV while on the road/highway... will the Alpine allow this that you guys know of? By the way THANK YOU GUYS so much for all the help... you're really helping me make a good decision.

 

yeah absolutly the alpine will play cd's dvd's while driving and yes if you bypass everything you can input stuff when you're moving.

 

that's awesome. What about NAV anyone know if Alpine can use NAV while in motion?

 

Kenwood decks are probably the only descent products they make, cuz their amps and speakers are crap! if you do go with a kenwood make sure its the excelon... Same thing happened to me too, when I got the alpine, the sound quality somewhat improved over stock, but when I got the Z2 it sounded 100x better!

 

yeah you can use the nav in motion

 

blazeplacid do you still need to get an harness adapter for the 5510 or do you need to modify the one that comes with it... also is that menu button on the bottom really yellow? some pics i see it is others i see its not

 

Anyone know if the blackbird II is the ONLY NAV compatible with the IVA-W205? Does any other nav fit in that port?

 

Hey guys I'm doing a D3 combo deal for my fellow Scion enthusisasts, I'm doing the D3, Bluetooth kit, iPod cable, D3 remote, kit and harness for $870 shipped to your door and I'll even pre-wire it for the DVD bypass if you want. PM me for details. I've sold a lot of D3's on here and I'm an authorized Pioneer dealer.

 

you wont get better sound quality then the eclipse

..and it has a available ipod adapter
..and map and DVD resolution quality is amazing

The extra money I spent was worth every cent. I will never purchase anything other then eclipse.

Dont go cheap with A/V equipment

 

does anyone know if there is a way to play divx files on the eclipse units without having to convert them to dvd format?

 

So pretty much the main difference between NAV and GPS is that GPS is satellite and NAV is just stored data? GPS is real time so to speak... and can coordinate/triangelate your position? Are there any HU's that have GPS or have the option to add GPS?

 

No, all Navs use GPS. There is a GPS antenna that comes with your Nav unit that is used to find your location. This is not a pay service, its free. Navigation and GPS are the same basically, its a real time system. The stored parts are the maps, then your position is overlayed onto the map, because otherwise it would just be some coordinates that you would not understand. Get it?

 

As far as on screen graphics god, which unit would you guys say would be the most visually pleasing? Also which units have the option to change the backgrounds/wallpaper? I read somewhere that the eclipse does not have that option?