double din sat nav

[andygtt]

Im looking to replace the parrot, tomtom and stereo in my car with a single double din unit.... the top alpine unit is one I am leaning to and it seems to be around 1100 notes in the uk... but only 700notes in the US.
any reasons why I cant buy the US unit and upload the europe map to it as this is a much cheaper option?

[davepoth]

andygtt said:

Im looking to replace the parrot, tomtom and stereo in my car with a single double din unit.... the top alpine unit is one I am leaning to and it seems to be around 1100 notes in the uk... but only 700notes in the US.
any reasons why I cant buy the US unit and upload the europe map to it as this is a much cheaper option?

After you've paid shipping, duty and VAT the difference will be a lot less.

[Inverness]

Plus they don't have the same radio frequencies as us, so the radio might not work.

[Decky_Q]

I got one of the double DIN chinese units off e bay and it works a treat, IGo8 is the pre-installed nav, does iPod control, USB, memory stick, bluetooth for phone, TV, auto reverse camera etc and all in and delivered for £200.
Remote control doesnt work though but thats no loss for me.
Save yourself £500+ and just use the setting menu to set it to pioneer or whatever brand you want coming up

[andygtt]

Not going the cheap china route...

so I guess my next question is what is considered the 'best'

Alpine
sony
kenwood
Pioneer

I liked the look of the pioneer a lot but its apparently extremelly slow booting up etc.... the Alpine looks good and the kenwood I know little about.
The sony seems to be 200 cheaper than the others and uses the tom tom software which I am familiar with and like but is it as good as the others?

Given that they are all 900-1100 i want to make an informed decision, not in a rush as the car is still in paint shop having a colour change and I am still remaking the dash ready for this unit and a stack dash.

its also got to be a very good stereo, run my ipod and iphone and have all the contacts in... might even install a rear camera if its simple, it is after all going in a mid engined car.

[gsewell]

Knowing that FM is likely to be switched off in the next few years, I would be looking for a double din sat-nav with DAB and bluetooth (for the phone) and either access to USB sticks or an iPod via the full sized plug (not just line-out) although it would be great if the unit had its own memory that could be loaded from a USB device (laptop and/or portable drive) and then disconnected.

Does such a thing exist?

[andygtt]

most of them do all that... not sure they hold your itunes or music but may be wrong.

[Inverness]

Last year I got (what was then) the top of the range Pioneer, and I love it (sat nav, I pod dock, Bluetooth, DVD etc), works well IMO but I would have gone down the Sony route, but it came out 2 weeks after I had got mine done. Why sony, because they use TomTom sat nav system which I like.

I have use of the following Satnav systems, BMW (full Prof satnav), Honda sat nav, Jaguar sat nav, Pioneer sat nav, Tomtom, and they all work differantley, which can be a royal pain the back side some times, I gave up trying to use the one that came in my parents Volvo!

With regards to DAB I could not find a unit which did evreything and DAB, but was told that the manufactures are looking at plug and play systems in the future.

HTH

[RVIANT]

Pioneer dont do DAB,also their updates are really expensive,i have a pioneer AVIC HD3BT and its awfully slow with the ipod connection, Kenwood works on the Garmin software had a look at one of those for the next car and it looks the best option

[andygtt]

leaning towards the sony one as its cheaper and I like the TomTom software... heard the alpine sat nav was good but not sure its worth 200 more?

[Mr Happy]

I've got a Sony XNV-L77BT in my car and to be fair, it's spot on

(also has a way WAY better screen than the Alpines and Pioneers)

[andygtt]

good news as thats the one i'm leaning towards

gonna wait to see what kind of a deal i can get in the new year

[After Shock]

So whats a good buy as in Sat Nav, Iphone, etc? I don't want a mega expensive unit but don't want to buy a cheap one and regret it!! Always liked Alpine units. Not sure why!

Is it worth looking at units on ebay?? Or is it to much of a risk???

[RVIANT]

ebay always a risk specially on sat nav units, been stung before

[Theoldfm]

Decky_Q said:

I got one of the double DIN chinese units off e bay and it works a treat, IGo8 is the pre-installed nav, does iPod control, USB, memory stick, bluetooth for phone, TV, auto reverse camera etc and all in and delivered for £200.
Remote control doesnt work though but thats no loss for me.
Save yourself £500+ and just use the setting menu to set it to pioneer or whatever brand you want coming up

Is it still working?

[Soop Dogg]

Stay away from the latest Kenwood stuff with the Garmin SatNav. I've had 3 in my car this year (2X DNX7210BT and a newer one with DAB on it which I believe was the DNX4210DAB - all kept dropping user-defined data and were a complete pain in the ar$e!) and finally I've now got the Alpine INE W925R with DAB and it's a marvellous bit of kit - I'd thoroughly recommend it.

[surveyor]

Mr Happy said:

I've got a Sony XNV-L77BT in my car and to be fair, it's spot on

(also has a way WAY better screen than the Alpines and Pioneers)

I'm trying to install one of these at the moment... Do you know if there is an additional trim/bezel to go around the radio? I suspect so, but can't prove it yet!

Thanks

David

[Mr Happy]

surveyor said:

Mr Happy said:

I've got a Sony XNV-L77BT in my car and to be fair, it's spot on

(also has a way WAY better screen than the Alpines and Pioneers)

I'm trying to install one of these at the moment... Do you know if there is an additional trim/bezel to go around the radio? I suspect so, but can't prove it yet!

Thanks

David

The only one that came in the box is a thin flexible one unfortunately. Try a local car audio dealer, they might have some hard plastic versions.

What car is it going into? I didn't need one to fit it into my Golf as I used a Connects2 fitting kit for it.

[surveyor]

Mr Happy said:

surveyor said:

Mr Happy said:

I've got a Sony XNV-L77BT in my car and to be fair, it's spot on

(also has a way WAY better screen than the Alpines and Pioneers)

I'm trying to install one of these at the moment... Do you know if there is an additional trim/bezel to go around the radio? I suspect so, but can't prove it yet!

Thanks

David

The only one that came in the box is a thin flexible one unfortunately. Try a local car audio dealer, they might have some hard plastic versions.

What car is it going into? I didn't need one to fit it into my Golf as I used a Connects2 fitting kit for it.

It's going into a W210 E class MB. I've had a look and think it needs it. Even a thin flexible one is better than what I have.

I bought what was supposed to be a manufacturer refurbed unit, but have been done over.

[djdestiny]

Ive got an Alpine W407BT with ipod connection (audio and video), Alpine Freeview TV tuner module with Alpine aerials, Alpine CD changer, and an Alpine sat nav module incorperating 3D places of interest, 3D maps and speed camera database.

I LOVE it!






(This photo was taken when it was only part installed)