So I've been lurking around here for a while, and I searched the forums for days looking for any advice, but I didn't find any (although I did find some other useful stuff).
I just picked up an older Caddy with low miles and I figured it was time to do an install.
So I decided on a few things:
1) I need navigation
2) I'd like a DVD player (though it's not imperative)
3) I'd be willing to custom fiberglass a bezel so I can fit a double-din HU (thus, #2 would be feasable)
4) I have over 150GB of mp3s that are looking for a home, so I'd need some type of hard drive thingy to connect and interface with the HU.
Looking around, I only found 2 solutions.
1)Kenwood DDX-___ with an accompanying nav. system, and the Music Keg.
2)The Eclipse AVN5495.
Can anyone suggest anything else, or knows of anything else out there that'll work? I realize I could get a seperate double din DVD player, and a Garmin dash-mounted GPS and an iPod, but that's sloppy looking. I'd like for everything to look as streamlined (hidden) as possible.
Anyone?
Replies (4)
pigwiggle on 02/17/2006 17:16:55
I think the Kenwood HU w/ Music Keg is your best bet. I've done quite a bit of looking to find a decent head unit with a hard drive and native mp3 functionality; things just aren't there yet. Maybe in a few years the car audio manufacturers will catch on to this market, but I wouldn't hold your breath.
I'm using the Rockford DMP1. It has an upgradeable 20GB HD with wireless networking capability. You can rip a disk on your home PC and the DMP1 will sync itself from your car at night. Rockford really blew it with this one though. The PC side software is bad and the client side software is most likely stolen under the GPL public license. They've discontinued them so they are cheap ($150); the open source community has filled in with some decent software, client and PC. Overall, I’m happy with it.
However, if you have an extra $3,000 you can get a single DIN Windows XP computer with a 7" LCD touch screen, GPS navigation, 100GB HD, wireless network, DVD/CD read write (rip your disks in the car), etc. And if you lived in one of those cities with endless WiFi this thing would be incredible. Voice Over IP, email client, on demand podcasting, Internet radio (XM and Serious also), and so forth. Nice, but expensive.
swez on 02/17/2006 17:32:53
Funny you should ask about such an integration package. We had been debating that topic a week or so ago.
Kenwood Music Keg comes in 2 flavors. They have a 10 and 20 Gb HDD systems and one can easily integrate this product into most of the newer Kenwood HU's. Since your music storage needs are much higher, more drives would be needed. (that could get very expensive)
Rockford has a similar product too. It is limited to 20 Gb as well.
Nav unit... buy a few good maps. (LOL) For under $25.00, you can all the maps you wish. Flashlight and magnifyer are extra.
Actually, Nav's can be a nice feature or very annoying, depending on the operating system. My Dad has a Garmin in his Van. Nice, large display, easy to use and easy to read in all but very bright ambient lighting situations.
The flip side, it's bulky, needs a dedicated CD reader, GPS and not cheap either. It works well enough, but not a pretty install on this monitor. When they come back from Florida, I think I will reposition things, for better workability.
Why not call Crutchfield with your needs and see how they address your needs with available solutions. That would at least give you a good idea what's now on the market.
Crutchfield Advisors: 1-888-955-6000
Good luck and let us know what you come up with OK?
Swez
UKinstaller on 02/17/2006 22:11:29
pioneer avic-d1!! doesn't have a hard drive, but it's awesome. it's much chieper than the eclipse units, and you could add an axternal hard drive really easily.
the pionner avic-Z1 is getting ready to come out. it's double din, folding face, touchscreen, navigation, hard drive, dvd player, everything you could ask for. i think the MSRP is around $2799. it's awesome.
-UK
ttocs on 02/18/2006 11:08:35
its sounds great, but I doubt my truck is worth that much
I just picked up an older Caddy with low miles and I figured it was time to do an install.
So I decided on a few things:
1) I need navigation
2) I'd like a DVD player (though it's not imperative)
3) I'd be willing to custom fiberglass a bezel so I can fit a double-din HU (thus, #2 would be feasable)
4) I have over 150GB of mp3s that are looking for a home, so I'd need some type of hard drive thingy to connect and interface with the HU.
Looking around, I only found 2 solutions.
1)Kenwood DDX-___ with an accompanying nav. system, and the Music Keg.
2)The Eclipse AVN5495.
Can anyone suggest anything else, or knows of anything else out there that'll work? I realize I could get a seperate double din DVD player, and a Garmin dash-mounted GPS and an iPod, but that's sloppy looking. I'd like for everything to look as streamlined (hidden) as possible.
Anyone?
Replies (4)
pigwiggle on 02/17/2006 17:16:55
I think the Kenwood HU w/ Music Keg is your best bet. I've done quite a bit of looking to find a decent head unit with a hard drive and native mp3 functionality; things just aren't there yet. Maybe in a few years the car audio manufacturers will catch on to this market, but I wouldn't hold your breath.
I'm using the Rockford DMP1. It has an upgradeable 20GB HD with wireless networking capability. You can rip a disk on your home PC and the DMP1 will sync itself from your car at night. Rockford really blew it with this one though. The PC side software is bad and the client side software is most likely stolen under the GPL public license. They've discontinued them so they are cheap ($150); the open source community has filled in with some decent software, client and PC. Overall, I’m happy with it.
However, if you have an extra $3,000 you can get a single DIN Windows XP computer with a 7" LCD touch screen, GPS navigation, 100GB HD, wireless network, DVD/CD read write (rip your disks in the car), etc. And if you lived in one of those cities with endless WiFi this thing would be incredible. Voice Over IP, email client, on demand podcasting, Internet radio (XM and Serious also), and so forth. Nice, but expensive.
swez on 02/17/2006 17:32:53
Funny you should ask about such an integration package. We had been debating that topic a week or so ago.
Kenwood Music Keg comes in 2 flavors. They have a 10 and 20 Gb HDD systems and one can easily integrate this product into most of the newer Kenwood HU's. Since your music storage needs are much higher, more drives would be needed. (that could get very expensive)
Rockford has a similar product too. It is limited to 20 Gb as well.
Nav unit... buy a few good maps. (LOL) For under $25.00, you can all the maps you wish. Flashlight and magnifyer are extra.
Actually, Nav's can be a nice feature or very annoying, depending on the operating system. My Dad has a Garmin in his Van. Nice, large display, easy to use and easy to read in all but very bright ambient lighting situations.
The flip side, it's bulky, needs a dedicated CD reader, GPS and not cheap either. It works well enough, but not a pretty install on this monitor. When they come back from Florida, I think I will reposition things, for better workability.
Why not call Crutchfield with your needs and see how they address your needs with available solutions. That would at least give you a good idea what's now on the market.
Crutchfield Advisors: 1-888-955-6000
Good luck and let us know what you come up with OK?
Swez
UKinstaller on 02/17/2006 22:11:29
pioneer avic-d1!! doesn't have a hard drive, but it's awesome. it's much chieper than the eclipse units, and you could add an axternal hard drive really easily.
the pionner avic-Z1 is getting ready to come out. it's double din, folding face, touchscreen, navigation, hard drive, dvd player, everything you could ask for. i think the MSRP is around $2799. it's awesome.
-UK
ttocs on 02/18/2006 11:08:35
its sounds great, but I doubt my truck is worth that much
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