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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 36 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 22 found the following review helpful:
 Great Entry-Level DVD Player Aug 17, 2011
By J.P.
I just installed this unit in my boss's truck. He previously had a Pioneer AVIC-F900BT and had nothing but problems with it. This unit had much simpler wiring than the AVIC and installed very easily and quickly. All connections were labeled well on the back of the unit. Initial setup was very quick and easy as the menu interfaces are very easy to use. The screen is very bright and clear, and DVD's play extremely fast and look amazing for a 5.8" screen.
Overall, I would recommend this unit to anyone looking for a inexpensive, yet quality DVD/CD player.
Note- Although Pioneer would not be happy with me saying this, the parking brake lock out for DVD's was easy to wire around. You just need a simple 4 pole 12V relay and you are ready to play DVD's while driving. If you need information on how to do the wire around, just check out the YouTube videos.....
13 of 13 found the following review helpful:
Awesome radio, great picture quality, solid product Apr 24, 2011
By lopock3ts
"SPD 48"
I installed this unit in my 2004 Silverado. It fit perfectly and installed with no problems. I recommend you purchase an antenna extension and a wire harness designed for your vehicle. I have installed numerous head units over the years and this one was as simple as any other brand or style I have dealt with. All in all the set up and installation took about 40 minutes. The owners and installation manual lack a detailed sketch of what each colored wire goes to but if you purchase a wire harness adapter for your vehicle the color codes are universal and you simple match color to color and stripe to stripe. With the proper hardware this unit is very simple to install, even for someone with no experience so don't waste your money on having a shop install it. Just do the research ahead of time to see how to disassemble your dash, remove the old radio, and what installation kit you need for your vehicle.
Crutchfield.com is a great reference source. The will tell you exactly what you need to install any after-market audio product in you ride.
I am still learning about this radio but so far I have no complaints. The DVD player works great and the play function can be easily bypassed with a relay switch so you can play movies without the parking brake being engaged. I searched youtube for instructions on how to do this. The unit has a number of preset equalizer settings as well as three custom setting you can program yourself. The unit allows you to turn your sub woofer on and off as you please. This is very handy if you don't want a lot of bass while watching movies.
The touchscreen response time is very fast and all in all the button layout is fairly simple to navigate and the icons are easily interpreted so even without title to tell you exactly where they lead it is easy to understand what they represent.
I am very pleased with this purchase and would buy it again if I had the choice.
13 of 14 found the following review helpful:
Great In-dash Apr 05, 2011
By fadiga
Without writing too many words i'd have to say i love this unit in my car, I drive a Pontiac G6, 2006 and the manufacture radio stopped playing and i had to replace it for about the same price for a new one of these, and i believe i made the excellent choice of buying this one. So far everything about it is great, does all it says and installation was 30mins tops. improved sound system for real and love playing movies while driving. the only thing is that i can't watch the videos in my iPod when i connect it to this unit. you'll need an extra cable from what i understand, for that to work. and yes my iPod is compact-able with the unit and i have my iPod set to allow an external video output. All-in-all i love this unit and u sure will. Need pics? write me and I'll post them.
8 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 Good but . . . Dec 27, 2011
By Steve K.
This is a good head unit but I've got some pretty big design problems.
Pros:
Good picture on DVD playback
Looks good in the dash - nice "high end" feel
Good price
Supports SD cards
Cons:
No remote control
Touch screen is tough to use while driving
Flat volume and scan buttons are tough to find while driving
Constantly displays "No information available" in FM mode
Screen is nearly invisible in bright sunlight
Screen is nearly invisible with polarized sunglasses in any light condition
Connection for ipod is on the front instead of on the back
We'll start with the pros. DVD playback looks nice, the unit looks nice and it was cheap, under three hundred bucks. Not much need for explanation on these.
Now for the cons. A high end stereo that doesn't come with a remote control? I've had lots of head units over the last 15 years and this is the first time in 15 years that I haven't had a remote. The unit is programmed to accept a remote but it's $40 and only controls volume, source and next pre-set radio station or next track on SD or ipod. The remote has lots of other features it's supposed to work with but on this head unit, that's all that'll work.
Touch screens. Do some serious thinking before you make this decision. The touch screen is a total gimmick - real buttons are so much nicer to use. With a touch screen there's no such thing as finding a button without taking your eyes off the road. Every time you want to do anything you've got to stop and look down at the stereo. I know this may not sound like a big issue but after using a remote control for the last 15 years, this is a big change and it feels a little unsafe. At least real buttons would make it so I could memorize where the controls were and I could just reach and feel for them.
The completely flat buttons for volume and scanning perpetuate the touch screen problem. You can kind of feel for them without looking but it's not easy and you'll generally find yourself looking so you don't hit the wrong one.
"No information" problem. I know this isn't the stereo's fault, but, most radio stations don't provide the song information as it plays. Stations that do provide it, generally don't provide the album information or don't split the artist/song title. There are three lines for FM radio, one for song title, one for artist and one for album. I only have one station in my city of 2 million plus people that supplies all three lines. I have two other stations that I often listen to that supply song and artist info but display it on one line so I have two that say "No information". The other three stations I listen to on a regular basis don't supply any information and 75% of my screen is dedicated to a display that says "No information" three times. This technology of broadcasting song information has been around for 20 years now so the stations that don't do it now, probably have no intention of ever doing it.
Screen is nearly invisible problem. The touchscreen isn't like one on your phone with a glass screen but it's like one at the grocery store that you use to swipe your credit card. There's a layer of plastic over the screen that's separated from the actual screen by a little air. When the two layers are pushed together, the unit calculates where they're touching and then decides which button you tried to push. This style of touch screen is MUCH less responsive than the touch screen you're used to on your phone but the bigger problem is that in bright sunlight, the outer layer of plastic reflects a lot of the light that hits it, that makes it look very bright and the screen behind it almost completely disappears. I have a convertible so you can imagine the trouble this often causes. Remember when I said you have to look at the screen to find a button with touch screens? Imagine how much fun it is now that the screen looks like it's about 90% dimmer. Throw on some polarized sunglasses and that layer of plastic interacts with the polarization making it almost black. Now even if the screen isn't in direct sunlight you get that same 90% dimmer effect. In direct sunlight the problem is compounded with sunglasses. It's OK, no one drives around with the top down AND wears sunglasses, right?
Why on Earth did they put the ipod connection on the front?! This doesn't look like it's a head unit designed for people that don't know anything about sound systems so why did they leave you having to have a cord hanging out of the front of your dash with your ipod sitting in a cup holder like a 15 year old girl? Thank goodness for the SD card option. While it's not as intuitive to use as the ipod controls, it's still good enough.
Oh, one more positive I almost forgot, the SD card reader will support any size SD card, not just the 2gb it says on the package. The key is that you can't have more than 75 files in a folder. It will only show you, and you'll only have access to the first 75 files in a folder. Break your massive list down into 75 file chunks, throw 'em in folders and you're good to go. I use an 8gb card.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
fantastic radio! Dec 10, 2011
By foman13
i have had this radio for about 2 months now and i am completely blown away by it. (for background reference in this review i installed this in my 2000 F150 with 4 rockford fosgate power speakers and 2 10" kenwood subs under the back seat.) i have had several radios in my truck before and this one is my favorite of them all. the high pass and low pass filters work beautifully. you can isolate exactly what sound (bass, mids) go to which speaker. the sound when properly tuned is the most dynamic i have ever heard. when im sitting in my truck watching a movie on the crystal clear screen it really feels like im in a movie theater as far as the sound is concerned. i thought being a small 5.8" display would look stupid in my sea of ford dash but it is actually pretty big. the screen is crystal clear and i rarely if ever mistouch when trying to pick out a specific song. the radio and ipod controls are laid out pretty good and when listening to a radio station it will display the song title and artist. all in all this is a fantastic value for the money i would highly recommend.
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