General head unit question (Edit*: Now Installed W/ Pics!!!)

[Topdog]

Hi all,

Basically I've been looking around at various head units. Want to buy myself an early xmas present perhaps . The main function I want is Ipod control, I've been looking very closely at the Clarion Vrx486vd. The touch screen function interfacing with the Ipod is really winning me over and I can afford it haha. Just wondering If anyone has played around with this unit? or a unit with a pop out screen for that matter? My biggest concern is that over time, the car bumping around would cause the screen mechanism to stop working. Should I be worried about this?

Or alternatively are there any other decent 2 DIN fixed touch screens I should consider?

Thanks for the input guy and girls

[nytrojen]

I personally love Alpine. They interface really well with iPods, it's really easy to navigate and the sound quality is much better than any Clarions I've heard. Try one of these two maybe?

The bonus with the first one is that it also has built in bluetooth, and I can tell you first hand that the quality is amazing. It syncs with your phone automatically so you can dial straight from the HU without touching your phone

http://alpine.com.au/products/product.asp?modelID=424



http://alpine.com.au/products/product.asp?modelID=423

[Topdog]

Oooft. They're awesome, but way out of my price range . I'm only looking at spending about $600 tops. Is that wishful thinking?

[nytrojen]

Oooft. They're awesome, but way out of my price range . I'm only looking at spending about $600 tops. Is that wishful thinking?

Mmmm... not really. It's good that you have a budget. If you look around hard enough I'm sure you can find something in your price range that does exactly what u want.

Do you absolutely need the touchscreen/folding screen? If not, I can highly recommend the Alpine CDE-103EBT if you're after a head unit with decent sound, excellent ipod integration, USB in, aux in and built in bluetooth. I got mine for $420 and personally, i reckon it's well worth sacrificing a touchscreen for it.

http://alpine.com.au/products/product.asp?modelID=419



If you absolutely must have (want) a folding or touchscreen, you might be able to find a Pioneer double din for that much. I know that I've definitely seen JVC double dins with iPod integration ging for that much on sale

Or if you can stretch your budget a tiny bit, how about this:

http://www.ryda.com.au/Pioneer-AVIC-F310BT-GPS-In-Dash-Car-Solution-p/avicf310bt.htm



Also, remember that the Alpines were listed with their RRP. I'm sure you can find it MUCH lower than that price

[Topdog]

The reason I'm so touch screen wanting is that I have a lot of music on my ipod. When I was driving around in dad's car, we installed a sony head unit which integrated with the ipod. flicking through artists was a pain because you had to keep clicking the 'next' button and in the end I just ended up creating playlists and going off those. If you wanted a specific artist it was nearly impossible to find because you'd be clicking 'next' for like 10 min :s. So yeah unless there are better single DIN units that make artists much easier to find, I'm pretty keen on the touch screen. But I'll definitely check out the ones you've mentioned. Thank you so much for the input. You've given me more options

[nytrojen]

The reason I'm so touch screen wanting is that I have a lot of music on my ipod. When I was driving around in dad's car, we installed a sony head unit which integrated with the ipod. flicking through artists was a pain because you had to keep clicking the 'next' button and in the end I just ended up creating playlists and going off those. If you wanted a specific artist it was nearly impossible to find because you'd be clicking 'next' for like 10 min :s. So yeah unless there are better single DIN units that make artists much easier to find, I'm pretty keen on the touch screen. But I'll definitely check out the ones you've mentioned. Thank you so much for the input. You've given me more options

Trust me, the CDE-103 is really easy to find songs on ur iPod. I have 25000 songs on my ipod, and you can search for artist, song, album genre as well as couple others. Plus it has a fast search, which means it splits your music collection in 6 sections, so you use the 6 number buttons to quickly flick to a particular section of your music. For example, Number 1 will be A-D, 2 is E-H etc etc. Then you just rotary dial to what you're searching for.

[nytrojen]

Just FYI: I'm using my CDE-103 with iPod only. I don't have a single cd in my car cos it works so well. My car is no neat and clean without any cds lying around

[Topdog]

Ok well going against everyones suggestions I put a deposit on this headunit http://www.ryda.com.au/Clarion-MAX386VD ... x386vd.htm No pop out screen and I got it for an unreal price. $475 all up including the ipod cable. Couldn't walk away from that. I love to bargain :p. I'll post up photos of my install when I eventually get the unit. Should get it sometime before xmas cause cash is a bit short at the moment. Thanks for all the help though. Appreciate it

[nytrojen]

Ok well going against everyones suggestions I put a deposit on this headunit http://www.ryda.com.au/Clarion-MAX386VD ... x386vd.htm No pop out screen and I got it for an unreal price. $475 all up including the ipod cable. Couldn't walk away from that. I love to bargain :p. I'll post up photos of my install when I eventually get the unit. Should get it sometime before xmas cause cash is a bit short at the moment. Thanks for all the help though. Appreciate it

Damn good price for that unit! Good choice in terms of features and connectivity. Let us know how the interface is... and also some pics of the install

Also let us know if you can play video off the ipod through the supplied cable. That would be handy for long trips.

One thing I love about that unit is the physical buttons. Making adjustments while driving with touchscreen only is just impossible!

[Topdog]

Well I know you wont be able to play any video at all whilst the handbrake is down... although you can buy this bypass off ebay... I'm quite tempted haha. But for sure I'll let you know. Time is going to go soooo slow now haha

[Topdog]

Ok guys, really sorry about being almost 9 months late haha. Things have been really hectic and I just haven't had as much spare time unfortunately .

I installed the headunit towards the end of last year, and in order to restore some respect that I'm sure I've lost, I present you some pictures of the install. Enjoy

Step 1

Leather boot and covering removed

Step 2

Fascia Removed

Step 3

Unplug Cig Lighter

Step 4

Unplug Antenna cable (Does anyone know why there are two? One was female and the other was male. Both were connected to the factory head unit but now I'm only running off one and it's working fine?)

Step 5

Splicing wires to make re-installation of the factory headunit a breeze

Step 6

Tidy up the handy work

Step 7

Handbrake cable run and everything's screwed in place

Step 8

TA DAAAA!!!

The HU is pretty sweet. You are able to play video both from the Ipod and disc (although I haven't really used the video function all that much). Unfortunately there is bad news to this story, it appears there are some software glitches that have decided to show their faces lately. When on shuffle for the ipod, it will jump to the next track half way through a song which is kind of annoying. Lately the screen has been freezing and occasionally the whole screen just flashes green :s. I've spoken to Clarion and apparently it's an easy fix, I just need to pull it out and send it back in to them. So this weekend it's coming all out.

But it's not all bad news, when I have it out I want to ground the handbrake cable to the car body so the video function is usable all the time (dont tell anyone though :p) I also want to pull the centre coin compartment out and make a custom aux in port (for both video and audio) as well as a usb to power up phones etc. This is what I'm thinking of doing anyway, what do you guys think? Has anyone removed the coin holder (it looks like it can easily be popped out but I haven't had a close look as I just thought up the idea last night haha.

Oh and since my last post I've also repaired a few cosmetic blemishes. I bought new custom fit mats from work (3 piece) and a new shifter knob as the original looked like it had seen better days haha

So hopefully I've redeemed myself for leaving you all out in the lurch. Let me know what you think

[garbo41610]

HU looks the goods mate... quick question though, how come you didnt use a wiring harness from the factory wiring to the new HU wiring???

[swingn]

Looks good mate! Those double din screens are absolutely fantastic, especially if you have an iPod or want GPS Prices for them have also really started to come down which is great

Next mod for you should be new gear knob & getting rid of that wood grain!

[Topdog]

HU looks the goods mate... quick question though, how come you didnt use a wiring harness from the factory wiring to the new HU wiring???

It would have been a lot easier, except I wasn't able to find one locally and I wanted the HU in for my trip up to byron so I couldn't wait for one to be ordered haha.

Next mod for you should be new gear knob & getting rid of that wood grain!

I replaced the hideous gear knob since those pictures were taken, I was actually thinking the other day that I'd like to remove the fake woodgrain but hadn't looked into how to go about this?

[garbo41610]

http://www.ryda.com.au/Aerpro-Subaru-Wi ... ap2001.htm