This will be going in the 05 Subaru, double din only.

Alpine IVA-W200
http://www.alpine-usa.com/en/p...-W200

Kenwood DDX6019
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-0...nwood

Eclipse AVN5435
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-0...N5435

What else is out there? If I make a jump in price its going to be for the Pioneer AVIC-Z1... not sure if I wanna do that yet, though.

Thanks for your time!


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Modified by steveee at 9:07 PM 9/26/2006

 

if u want something that isnt going to be outdated in a lil over a year just buy the Z1. that piece is fantastic! voice command, 30gb harddrive, perfect i-pod integration, bluetooth capable, HD based Nav, 6.95" screen...I could go on. Its the best Nav piece available.

2nd choice would be a 5435.

 

Alpine W200 if you ask me.

 

W200 is what i'd recommend

 

AVN5435 is a great piece just like the Pioneer Z1. I think the Eclipse unit lacks picture quality but does offer some stuff that the Pioneer z1 have. For example, it has theft protection for year and great customer service. Personally, I've used/installed both and the Z1 seems to be a better unit w/ a stock sound system and traffic/nav piece for xm is awesome. Fijitsu Ten, the maker of eclipse, makes a lot of Toyota's radio's so it does offer OEM "quality" and feel. It also has a 5v or 8v preout so it can drive your aftermarket amps more efficiently.

You can get a better sense of both units if you go to a Circuit City. They carry both Pioneer and Eclipse. I was in the same situation as you but i decided to go with Pioneer because Circuit City was offering instalation and a Portable GPS both for free (About 800 bucks saved)! Hoped that help some.

 

I love my z1, i say it wins hands down. But hell I love all of my pioneers, lol. But really it easy to use. Very user friendly. great picture q. and blue tooth. great headunit if its in your budget.

 

z1 1st, ddx 2nd.

 

you really can't compare the z1 to the 5435...if you're going to compare the z1 vs any eclipse, it should be the 5495. yes, pioneer has the voice activation, bluetooth (optional) and xm traffic (optional plus monthly charge), but it all depends on how you're going to use it. i personally don't like the voice activation, don't get me wrong, i like the concept but has anyone tried saying "baltimore" to the unit? i have never gotten the unit to correctly pick up the word "baltimore". living in maryland it's pretty essential to do so. but then again not everyone with a z1 lives in md. i love the bluetooth feature in the unit, it's great! xm traffic is also a great feature, especially in the baltimore-washington area, with all the construction and accidents we have here. but in my opinion i like the eclipse over the pioneer for the 5v preout on the rca's. i'm using my head unit as a music jukebox (ipod, satellite radio, cd's), sound quality to me is more important.

but like i said it's all about how you use the unit and what features you're looking for not always what it can do.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vicn77 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">but like i said it's all about how you use the unit and what features you're looking for not always what it can do.</TD></TR></TABLE> I have to agree, but I still think the Alpine is the better unit overall. 94

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fcm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I have to agree, but I still think the Alpine is the better unit overall. 94</TD></TR></TABLE>
Why is the alpine better? because its alpine? give some features that it has that the competition doesnt.

My only gripe with the Z1 is the 2.2V pre-outs while the 5435 has 5.2V (the reason I said that would be my second choice.)

 

Thanks a lot guys, I'm heading to circuit city today to get hands on with the Z1. If its as great as everyone says, I think I'll make the jump in price!

 

z1 FTW

 

z1 fo sho...even heath agrees hahhaaha

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by incubus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Why is the alpine better? because its alpine? give some features that it has that the competition doesnt.</TD></TR></TABLE> Yea, because it's an Alpine, also, as 2 of the 3 HUs he was asking about do not have navigation built in, I assume he's not looking for navigation, so the Alpine, [@ 1/2 the price of the Z1] has a price point that the Z1 does not, the Alpine has "Pulse Touch" on screen control, The Alpine is both XM and SIRIUS satellite radio ready, of the 3 he mentioned and the Pioneer the only other one with that feature is the Kenwood, USB input for MP3 player, I don't see that on the others. 94

 

Just got back from Circuit City, and they didn't have a Z1 on display. I guess thats online only. I did, however, check out the lower end models, and the picture quality wasn't the best. I'm sure the Z1 looks a zillion times better, so odds are I'm going to go with it. There were no alpines so the jury is still out.

I am actually very interested in navi, which is why Kenwood had me first with the DDX6019 / KNA-G510 bundle pack. The 80's theme'd menus are a huge turnoff tho, lol.

I'd like to play around with Alpine's offering, so I'm checking around local electronic stores.. I'd like to get hands on with the Z1 too.

 

Adding navigation to the Alpine IVA-W200... http://www.alpine-usa.com/en/p...N872A will bring the price up above the Pioneer, but if you look at the specs and features of the 2 units, and check out the pix and sound quality of the 2 units I am confident you will pick the Alpine. 94

 

^^^ boy, you like that alpine dont you?

 

What FCM is true! When you add the nav. unit to the W200 it adds up to the price of the Pioneer unit. and the stand alone alpine Nav. is great with the zagat ratings and points of interest. Yoyu will not be disappointed with the Alpine. It is well worth the money.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fcm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Adding navigation to the Alpine IVA-W200... http://www.alpine-usa.com/en/p...N872A will bring the price up above the Pioneer, but if you look at the specs and features of the 2 units, and check out the pix and sound quality of the 2 units I am confident you will pick the Alpine. 94</TD></TR></TABLE>
first off, both pioneer and kenwood can do sirius or XM. Pioneer can control both at the same time. P-bus on the pioneer can daisy chain up to 7 things at once. so you could have XM,sirius,i-pod,tv tuner, outboard dvd player/changer, an Aux input for another mp3 player, and an HD radio tuner.

second, if the alpine costs as much as the Z1 when you add nav, why would anyone pick the alpine? The alpine has a smaller screen, no better sound quality, NO hard drive for music built in, DVD based nav, I-pod integration is poorer, lower pre-amp voltage, no voice command, poorer FM tuner, the blue tooth adapter is $100 more, and the alpine requires a $160 adapter to have the USB u were talking about.
I have messed with just about every brand of head unit out with an I-pod adapter and the only other brand that I think is as good as pioneer is Jensen (sadly.) The pioneer I-pod menu is set up identically to the I-pod itself, which means you can see what is on your ipod with out having to go thru every folder.

The alpine has pulsetouch, great its has its own version of touch screen, which plenty of ppl, myself included do not like. I dont see how you think that is a redeeming feature.

Also the bluetooth integration is fantastic with the Z1.

Steveee, where do you live? if you live by me you can come to my work and play with the Z1 we have it set up with the ipod adapter, XM and bluetooth on the wall.

 

^^^^damn, somebody did their homework!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by incubus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
first off, both pioneer and kenwood can do sirius or XM. Pioneer can control both at the same time. P-bus on the pioneer can daisy chain up to 7 things at once. so you could have XM,sirius,i-pod,tv tuner, outboard dvd player/changer, an Aux input for another mp3 player, and an HD radio tuner.</TD></TR></TABLE> As we are no longer a Pioneer dealer I can only go by what Pioneer says about satellite radio... http://www.pioneerelectronics....RADIO and I already acknowledged that the Kenwood does both, [as they say they do on their site], Pioneer has P-bus, Alpine has Versatile Link.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by incubus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">second, if the alpine costs as much as the Z1 when you add nav, why would anyone pick the alpine? </TD></TR></TABLE> Well gee I don't know, but they do and in droves, maybe it's because SQ and pix is better, could not find spec sheet for the Pioneer so I could not compare the 2 directly.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by incubus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The alpine has pulsetouch, great its has its own version of touch screen, which plenty of ppl, myself included do not like. I dont see how you think that is a redeeming feature.</TD></TR></TABLE> You asked what Alpine had that the others did not, well it has pulse touch and the others do not, and plenty of people including myself do like it.

I do not think the Pioneer is a bad unit, I just think the Alpine is a better unit, you obviously do not, so you and I getting into a pissing war is not going to help the O/P I suggested he go have a look at both and make up his own mind, he tried but found that the Pioneer top of the line unit was not on display, now why is that?
I know it's not because it's only available online, as that is not the case, not sure about the US but up here if you are a Pioneer dealer, all Pioneer is available to you, in fact Pioneer insists. 94

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fcm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">he tried but found that the Pioneer top of the line unit was not on display, now why is that?
I know it's not because it's only available online, as that is not the case, not sure about the US but up here if you are a Pioneer dealer, all Pioneer is available to you, in fact Pioneer insists. 94
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not all CC's will have the Z1 on display, just for the fact that it is not carried in all stores. It depends on the market he is in, most of the stores in the dc/baltimore area have them on display and in stock but not all, just for the fact some stores do not have the customer base that would spend 2000+ on a unit.

they're both good units, no one is denying that, like we've said before it's really up to you, what we say are pluses to us may not be one to you. you have to decide what you really want in a all-in-one unit and decide what you're price range will be and go from there. the man might even car about satellite radio or even have an ipod, so it might be a moot point saying one is better than the other.

i agree with fcm, just try and find the units on display somewhere and play with them and ask a salesperson to point out some key features of each unit. you should find the eclipses and pioneers at cc, bb has alpines and pioneers and tweeter, if you have one near you, has alpine and pioneer also. depending on where you live some items seen on their website might not be displayed in stores.

i personally have the eclipse avn5435 and love it, the options i could want in it is the dual zone feature and bluetooth capability, but hey i didn't think it was worth the extra 1000 to get it. i've installed plenty of alpines and pioneers and i don't have any gripes about them, except for bypassing the safety features.

good luck in your searching!

 

Realistically it depends on what you're looking for in your double din. Personally sq & audio features are my main concern so I went with a kenwood kvt915 which has tons and tons of such.

I'm honestly not sure why the ddx6019 is even an option, the only real kenwood double din to go with is the ddx8017 (basically the kvt915 I have).

To the op, if you even plan on building a system in your car I would def. check out the ddx8017, you won't regret it

 

Well purchase time is nearing, and I still haven't gotten hands on with either units! I never saw the Kenwood DDX8017 until today, I'll check it out in depth a little more later, but I'm really swaying towards the Z1 at this point.

After viewing all three systems it seems the AVIC Z1 has the most flush fit for a double din dash. The others seem to have rounded edges which throws off the factory look, imo. I'm looking for something that not only performs well, but appears as if it came stock from the dealership.

Thanks Incubus, Fcm, Vicn, Misan and others. All of the feedback is helping me weigh out my options. I'll let you guys know which one I go with.

As far as the bypassing, if I opt for the Z1, how easy is this to accomplish? No DVD playback over 15mph is VERY lame. What needs to be done?

Thanks
Steveeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

look on http://www.avic411.com, it should tell you how to bypass any pioneer unit.