Well, it's about that time. I've put it off long enough and gotten by using a LOC, but I am now officially in the market for a new headunit. To date my setup is as follows: car deadened with eDead v1SE2, eDi 6500s, 1 13Kv.2, and 2 Nine.2 amps.

I was originally looking at the new AVIC D3, but was turned off by the non-hard drive Nav setup and the fact that I couldn't listen to a CD and use the Nav at the same time (unless route was pre-programmed). The options that I really liked were the fact that it is a double DIN unit, has Bluetooth capability, a clean interface, and a USB adapter. Upon further research I found that if I attached a USB drive, the folders and tracks would not be displayed properly being limited to a certain number of characters and I think I saw that the unit even assigns names to the folders and files like F001 and T001.

Here's what I am now thinking for a unit...
- I originally wanted a double DIN unit so it would look somewhat stock but would settle for a single DIN unit
- While video/Nav would be nice, it is not necessary since I would probably not use it enough to get the most bang for my buck
- I love music, so excellent audio options/quality are a must
- I would like the capability of adding Blueooth via an add-on or within the actual unit (I have a Motorola Q if that matters)
- Ability to add an iPod adapter
- Ability to add a USB hard drive if unit does not have internal hard drive (I want to have as much music as possible in the car at all times and having thousands of CDs is not practical nor is leaving my iPod in the car since I use it everywhere)
- Text display of songs from an iPod or USB drive needs to be able to show full title (unlike stock headunit) and the navigation through the iPod and USB drive needs to be as user friendly as possible

Does anyone have any recommendations for me? I've searched Crutchfield but am looking for opinions from the community. Thanks!

 

Anybody?

 

if a HD is so important just go for an eclipse HD unit.

 

Agreed. That's who I would look to for a HD unit, but if I can add a USB drive of my own and get the same functionality, that might be a more cost-effective option.

 

I would recomend a JVC KW-AVX800. Its a 7" widescreen double din display, usb, sd support, plays anything you can through at it! Ipod connectivity(need a adapter) and Bluetooth ready (need a adapter) I'm personally am gonna be buying this unit in a week or two and you can even get it brand new on ebay for like $550 or so

http://mobile.jvc.com/product.jsp?mo...hId=133&page=1

 

Personally I am a big Alpine fan.

with the w200 you would have the double din, you can add HD, bluetooth, and nav.

The blackbird nav is really cool, with the docking station it plugs into your headunit and you can move it from car to car.

It also has an mp3 player that you can run through your headunit.

There has been a lot of bad press about the blackbird, but they put out a software update and I have had no issues with mine, it is very easy to use and accurate.

 

I like the features of the JVC KW-AVX800, but I can't seem to find any more images of it's interface or additional details on the features. Namely, I read that it has a USB port, but it can only handle up to 10GB. I'm not sure what that means and if there actually is a limit.

 

The Kenwood DDX7019 also seems comparable. Anymore info on this unit or the JVC one above?

 

instead of a D3, find a D2. they can be had for cheap-ish now that the D3 is out.

 

I just purchased the JVC AVX800 and am very pleased. I had been told by one well-known website that this would not fit in my dash, but it fit snug as a glove. I also added the bluetooth adapter (one of my personal requirements) and it works excellent! One of the reasons I purchased this combination is because the bluetooth will do both phone AND stream audio from your device - plus the AVX800 can control your audio device as well (previous/next track, volume, etc) .

I picked it up on ebay for about $530 (plus bluetooth for another $100). I installed it myself - 1st time installation - and it was easier than I thought it would be. I checked today and someone has a new one for $515!!! A great price for a unit that has so many features.

The unit does have a USB port that I have used with my jumpdrive, and it can play off an SD card.

I have watched a few movie clips on it, and the screen is really great for the price(though I anticipate for a thousand dollars more you could get one even better).

Here are a few screen shots I took for reference. Please note, the screen is MUCH better than shown here - the poor quality is a result of taking pictures with my cell-phone camera and then compression.







































Showing SD Card Slot and DVD/CD input slot.


(note, this is the alternative time display. Normally the time would show up in the lower left-hand corner of the screen in a small sized font. (see 2nd image) I use the large display because my cell holder partially blocks the fiew of the time of the alternative. )


Movie viewing - the time display here usually would not be here. This is showing because of the time settings I have chosen


Touch the screen and the DVD controlls are shown. Note: you do NOT have to show these controlls to use them - you can touch on the screen where the controlls WOULD be and it will perform the action.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions or would like any other pictures...


Added image on how music is managed. Everything is managed by folders. The left side scrolls the folder and the right side scrolls the files in the folder. It is really easy to use. I've been quite pleased.

 

Damn bro thanks for the pics. This helps a ton. Can you post any pics of the menus associated with the USB or SD. I'm assuming they're the same but I'm trying to get a sense for how easy it would be to navigate through a ton of music on an external HD.

 

Pioneer AVIC-Z2 or Infill G4 with Streetdeck(Car PC - mp3car.com). I think the D3 has the ability to stream bluetooth, dont quote me on it though.

 

kenwood dnx 7100

i would get that over my d3

 

I agree that those both have everything I'm looking for but I'm not too keen on spending $1,800 for the Z2 or $2,200 for the Infil G4 with Streetdeck. Now if there was another CarPC solution then I would be all over it, but I'm not super familiar with CarPCs and searching around mp3car.com can take a long time when trying to find answers to specific questions.

The JVC AVX800 is appealing because of its features and price tag and if I can hook up my USB drive and effectively navigate through my music folders, then it would be the perfect solution. Even the JVX NX5000 would work, but again I'm not sure how the folder navigation is with the internal hard drive.

 

Ive been looking at all the units listed and by far i think im going with the kenwood 7100 ive tried it out on some classmates car. For the price its a great unit. In the range of 1100 to 1500 "depending on where you buy it" you get a unit with built in navigation, hi speed ipod funtion "audio and video" which you can control from the unit, capable of blue tooth, and it has a slot for sd card. I used to have the ddx6019 and i loved it.

 

I wonder if the Kenwood DDX8019 would better suit me since I have the ability to add a mass storage device via USB 2.0. Since it's designed for that purpose I have to imagine the folder navigation must be very intuitive. Also, if I feel like it later I can add the nav unit.

 

There is another carpc on mp3car, but its a flip out, and im not to fond of it, there are a few computers there that you could put into the car and then hookup a monitor, your own custom pc if you will.

 

Does anyone know if each time you use the navigation on the dnx7100 you have to insert the disk, or does it store the map. I am as well trying to decide what unit to go with. I have the avic-z2 or the dnx7100 in mind. Big price difference, but are they worth it?

 

the navigation for the 7100 is stored internally, 2gb is stored for north america. updates run through the secure digital via the SD slot. you can indeed play dvds while navigating

 

Okay so I've narrowed my search down to a few units...
+ JVC KW-AVX800
+ Kenwood DDX7019 or the DDX8019 (I think the only difference is that the 8019 has an additional USB input and an additional A/V input so I would need to decide if that's worth the extra $200)
+ JVC KD-NX5000 or the Kenwood DNX7100 (I don't really NEED navigation but I like the internal hard drive on the NX5000 and the DNX7100 is close in price to the other 2 models I mentioned above)

Decisions, decisions. I'm leaning heavily towards the Kenwood models but any input or reviews would be helpful.