Looking at a couple of new indash DVD players

[evil jose]

for my truck. Forced to upgrade after my truck got broken into a few weeks ago :mad: Fucking thieves! Anyway, originally my plan was to sell my Alpine W200 to a buddy of mine and get the W505. Now a good friend of mine installed a Pioneer F900BT in his Supra (still waiting to hear his first impressions) and now I'm considering it because of it's "more bang for the buck".

Alpine IVA-W505 Specs from Crutchfield (http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=168550&i=500IVAW505&tp=75)
http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/products/2008/500/h500iVAW505-x.jpeg

Pioneer AVIC-F900BT Specs from Crutchfield (http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=168550&i=130AVICF90&tp=75)
http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/products/2008/130/h130AViCF90-o_mt2.jpeg

Were talking about a $50 difference in price going by Crutchfields MSRP. What would you go with and why?

[momo stallion]

pioneer is nice cause it has nav built in but thats a small screen.

id go alpine.

[jluv]

That's an easy choice for me. The 505 has a 7" screen, so a half inch bigger than your 200 was. That Pioneer has a 5.8" screen, so more than half an inch smaller than your 200 was.

I really dislike the idea of double-din with the CD slot on the face. I don't like all the big buttons and stuff on the left either. Looks cluttered. Just give me a screen and hide that other stuff behind it.

Plus, I already have a million add-on modules for Alpine, so there's no way I'd switch, personally.

You know Eric will get you better than retail on that 505. I don't think he sells Pioneer, so you'd have to score a new hookup. That in itself is a good enough reason to stick with Alpine or Kenwood. I have never been a big Pioneer fan.

Oh, and screw Crutchfield!!! lol

[momo stallion]

read the review on that link you posted from crutchfield jose. seems like its problematic.

[xtremestang92]

With my personal experiences with both, I say, if Sound quality, screen size, and DVD is most important, then go with the alpine. If navigation and bluetooth are more what you are looking for, then do the Pioneer. To get the same quality navigation as you would on the pioneer on the alpine, you will spend much more on the DVD Nav system then you did on the entire Alpine screen so keep this in mind. The blackbird nav to me is somewhat limited.

Cody
Car Toys-Ft. Worth

[krazy kris]

my buudy has the pioneer touchscreen in his goat and he loves the shit out of it,he got his at best buy for like $600

[jluv]

The blackbird nav to me is somewhat limited.



Please explain.

[xtremestang92]

Please explain.

Weak GPS signal, limited points of intrest, phone number search, things of that nature. You get exactly what you would on the portable unit. I can't tell you how many alpine portables I swap out that are defective. The pioneer nav is much more reliable and will put you in a more exact location. They did go away this year with the speed pulse that was required in older units in order to get full functionality of the nav. You will find that the alpine, as well as any portable for that matter(even garmin) will sometimes have you in a wrong location. exp: driving down I-35, when there is a split in the road to another intersection, there are times that it will all of a sudden place you on the access road rather than your exact location that is still on I-35. Thinks of that nature.

[jluv]

Weak GPS signal, limited points of intrest, phone number search, things of that nature. You get exactly what you would on the portable unit. I can't tell you how many alpine portables I swap out that are defective. The pioneer nav is much more reliable and will put you in a more exact location. They did go away this year with the speed pulse that was required in older units in order to get full functionality of the nav. You will find that the alpine, as well as any portable for that matter(even garmin) will sometimes have you in a wrong location. exp: driving down I-35, when there is a split in the road to another intersection, there are times that it will all of a sudden place you on the access road rather than your exact location that is still on I-35. Thinks of that nature.


I've had that sucker deep in the woods, up in the mountains, and all over several states and have never had a weak signal. Heck, even in a parking garage, where my Sirius cuts out, the Blackbird has never failed to get a signal. I guess I don't notice the limited points of interest thing. It has a ton and the software can be upgraded. Phone number search? What's that? The Blackbird will give you phone numbers when you look a place up. Not sure if that's what you're referring to, but it's a handy feature for sure. The only time this one has ever messed up on me was in some small towns coming back from Colorado. It got a little sideways but I was able to zoom in and it got us back on track. I wonder how a DVD one would do in the same spots. Then again, I wouldn't trade the portability and dockability of this unit for anything else - portable or hardwired. It's pretty kickass to eject this thing and put it on the dash of my gf's car or throw it in my pocket or backpack on the trail. It was especially handy for getting elevations while up in the mountains.

I will say that I had bad luck with the Gen 1 Blackbird. I owned two and they were both problematic. Luckily, my Blackbird II hasn't had any of those issues. I use it every day.

[momo stallion]

i havent used the blackbird II, just the one and it seemed slow when connected to the W200. id imagine its gotten better.

[evil jose]

Just some thoughts.

I like using Crutchfield's website as a quick place to do comparison's of both features and prices and I know I can do better elsewhere when purchasing. So don't think because I posted links and pictures from Crutchfield that I was planning on making this purchase from them :) My last 2 or 3 head units I've purchased from EW and as long as he carries what I'm looking for I'll buy it from him.

Anyway, I normally do not read user reviews but after what momo said I went ahead and checked it out and it's pretty compelling stuff. I know the Pioneer had some problems before I posted about my interest in it, namely the slow boot time. There's even a YouTube video of it and it is slow but I could probably live with it if that was the only thing. From most places I'm leaving, I really don't pay attention to the radio or music for a few minutes anyway. I was really hoping that the Pioneer F900 would deliver everything that it was promising. The thought of having everything that the Alpine W505 offered plus built in GPS and MSN direct would have been an acceptable trade off for the smaller screen as well as more buttons and the slot drive using available space on the screen.

As it stands right now I'll be going with the W505. I could live with some of the problems with the Pioneer but not that many :(

[jluv]

Just some thoughts.

I like using Crutchfield's website as a quick place to do comparison's of both features and prices and I know I can do better elsewhere when purchasing. So don't think because I posted links and pictures from Crutchfield that I was planning on making this purchase from them :) My last 2 or 3 head units I've purchased from EW and as long as he carries what I'm looking for I'll buy it from him.

Anyway, I normally do not read user reviews but after what momo said I went ahead and checked it out and it's pretty compelling stuff. I know the Pioneer had some problems before I posted about my interest in it, namely the slow boot time. There's even a YouTube video of it and it is slow but I could probably live with it if that was the only thing. From most places I'm leaving, I really don't pay attention to the radio or music for a few minutes anyway. I was really hoping that the Pioneer F900 would deliver everything that it was promising. The thought of having everything that the Alpine W505 offered plus built in GPS and MSN direct would have been an acceptable trade off for the smaller screen as well as more buttons and the slot drive using available space on the screen.

As it stands right now I'll be going with the W505. I could live with some of the problems with the Pioneer but not that many :(

No reason for the frownie face. The 505 is no slouch! Sure, it will cost a little more to add nav, but in the end, you'll have a better setup, imho. WHat's a little extra cash when you get to enjoy the benefits every day?

[evil jose]

No reason for the frownie face. The 505 is no slouch! Sure, it will cost a little more to add nav, but in the end, you'll have a better setup, imho. WHat's a little extra cash when you get to enjoy the benefits every day?

Certainly the 505 is no slouch, it's what I originally planned on using. The Pioneer had pretty much all of the features I wanted in the 505 with the added bonus of built in GPS, Bluetooth, and MSN Direct. Just to bad it isn't working right.

Guess Eric is about to get a PM from me :D

[DECHman]

Hey waddya know, I can say something about this. I have had the w505 in my truck for a few months after my old D300 got stolen.

Got the W505 along with the BBII, little disappointed to be honest. I needed to stay with the ALPINE because I love the PXA-H701 processor!!! That said I thought it would be an uprgade from my old IVA-d300 but I must have really been used to it cause the ergo nomics of the W505 seem to have gone backwards.

Small touch screen buttons, a USB inteface that always seems to be "banking" (read the owners manual before buying), extra parts required to work with my system (specifc fiber optic cable required & hard to find navigation inteface for the H701 voice guidance input).

Havent tried the included Ipod video thing yet (not an Ipod guy) but hope the interface is better than the USB options.

Bluetooth works Ok if a little low in volume.. main screen has 2 sucky display options (liked the D300/310 better) .. small clock display and no clock display if navigation is selected (just time remaining to destination or arrival time) of course the BBII data is already way out of date and hard to navigate.

That all said picture quality is great, sound quality is typical Alpine (good) and generally laid out well... just needs some fine tunnning to take the best of what the other big DD players are doing well (KNWD and PION) and incorporate it into the next model.

If I were to put one in the wifey's SUV I would do a F900 or 80 series KNWD, both have better built in navigation and OEM type ease of use. I want audio performance most of the time and nav sometimes, thats just me.

[Clifton]

I had a Pioneer Avic-D3 and loved it. Took a few days to figure everything out but it was well worth it. The navigation rocked!

[jluv]

Hey waddya know, I can say something about this. I have had the w505 in my truck for a few months after my old D300 got stolen.

Got the W505 along with the BBII, little disappointed to be honest. I needed to stay with the ALPINE because I love the PXA-H701 processor!!! That said I thought it would be an uprgade from my old IVA-d300 but I must have really been used to it cause the ergo nomics of the W505 seem to have gone backwards.

Small touch screen buttons, a USB inteface that always seems to be "banking" (read the owners manual before buying), extra parts required to work with my system (specifc fiber optic cable required & hard to find navigation inteface for the H701 voice guidance input).

Havent tried the included Ipod video thing yet (not an Ipod guy) but hope the interface is better than the USB options.

Bluetooth works Ok if a little low in volume.. main screen has 2 sucky display options (liked the D300/310 better) .. small clock display and no clock display if navigation is selected (just time remaining to destination or arrival time) of course the BBII data is already way out of date and hard to navigate.

That all said picture quality is great, sound quality is typical Alpine (good) and generally laid out well... just needs some fine tunnning to take the best of what the other big DD players are doing well (KNWD and PION) and incorporate it into the next model.

If I were to put one in the wifey's SUV I would do a F900 or 80 series KNWD, both have better built in navigation and OEM type ease of use. I want audio performance most of the time and nav sometimes, thats just me.

The Ipod interface is exceptional. You can make the clock display larger, and I agee with you about the clock display while using nav. You can just touch the screen and get it back though. The touch screen buttons don't seem small to me and my fingers are like bratwurst. I haven't had issues with the Blackbird nav being hard to navigate; I think it's just something you get used to like anything new. You can update the nav software, btw, if yours is out of date. If you have iussues finding those parts, just call EW. He got me the nav/processor interface super fast and I had the "special" Alpine optical cable (fucking Alpine :mad: ) as soon as it was available.

Personally, I love Alpine's user interface. It's simple, thorough, and logical. Kenwood's UI is a major pain in the ass, imo.

That 505/BB2/701 combo is top notch!

[EW]

DECHman is/was in the business so he will have no problem getting parts.

We just installed a Premier DVD nav like the one shown above and from that experience, I would never own one and I would be embarrassed to sell it. Slowest boot ever, horrible knob, just poorly designed imo.

[DECHman]

My biggest complaint is the USB interface, I am using it with a 40Gig hard drive and it always seems to be "banking"... Here is an example:

Drive to blockbuster listen to song, turn off truck, get movie, get in truck, start to drive away rest of song finishes playing and then restarts until it "banks" enough music to continue the folder it was in.

Also won't use or recognize playlists from Windows Media...

Might just break down and get an 160gig Ipod so I can navigate the audio better, make playlists and have plenty of movies to keep the kiddies entertained on the daily bus service to and from school!

I have had the system in the truck for a few months and had all the parts I wanted before I started (except for the voice guidance nav interface).

Just wanted to pass on my real world time spent with this unit.

EW is the guy to see and knows his stuff better than most, and is able to get what is needed quickly!!!!

[jluv]

My biggest complaint is the USB interface, I am using it with a 40Gig hard drive and it always seems to be "banking"... Here is an example:

Drive to blockbuster listen to song, turn off truck, get movie, get in truck, start to drive away rest of song finishes playing and then restarts until it "banks" enough music to continue the folder it was in.

Also won't use or recognize playlists from Windows Media...

Might just break down and get an 160gig Ipod so I can navigate the audio better, make playlists and have plenty of movies to keep the kiddies entertained on the daily bus service to and from school!

I have had the system in the truck for a few months and had all the parts I wanted before I started (except for the voice guidance nav interface).

Just wanted to pass on my real world time spent with this unit.

EW is the guy to see and knows his stuff better than most, and is able to get what is needed quickly!!!!

I don't know the first thing about USB stuff or Windows Media playlists. I guess that's a good thing! lol

[evil jose]

I appreciate everybody's input. I went ahead with the 505 as I wasn't about to risk being disappointed with a $1K head unit. Can't wait to get it installed! Went with some minimal options namely the iPod adapter, Sirius Radio (previously had XM), and a wireless RF remote so I can control the stereo from outside of the vehicle.

[jluv]

and a wireless RF remote so I can control the stereo from outside of the vehicle.


Hmmm... Please tell me more about this.

[EW]

Alpine has a RF waterproof remote with "up to 100' range". Receiver plugs into the 1/8" remote jack on the back of the deck. $120 list.

[jluv]

Alpine has a RF waterproof remote with "up to 100' range". Receiver plugs into the 1/8" remote jack on the back of the deck. $120 list.

Very cool. I need to check one out next time I'm in there.