HU with built-in docking station for iPhone or iPod?

[CZ Eddie]

I was looking at the Dual that has a built in docking station for iphone/ipod. I saw it at Fry's and it held my iphone pretty sturdily. I hate cabling and love this idea. But didn't fall in love with the deck overall.

Are there any good decks out there with a similar concept? Whether the iphone stands up like this one, or you insert the iphone into the unit chassis?

It just needs to have a connection so I just pull the iphone out of my pocket and stick it on the head unit. No cabling or anything to fuss with.

Any ideas? Budget is under 2 bills, unfortunately.

http://i27.tinypic.com/jzxqnp.jpg

XML8110 - In-Dash AM/FM/Bluetooth® Ready Docking Station for iPod® (http://www.dualav.com/mobileaudio/xml8110.php)

[Bumpin' Goalie]

Many decks have rear USB which allows wiring to be concealed into glove box or console. You can fabricate a dock into your console or dash and connect said wire to it.

Not sure how confident you are at custom work.

[CZ Eddie]

I'm fairly comfortable with DIY in general, but I haven't seen any good ideas out there to copy and imagination isn't one of my things. I thought about your post today though, and looked around my '99 4runner cabin for a good spot for a dock and don't see anything real convenient. And I'm looking for complete convenience here.

I did find one cool looking deck that might my needs. The Fusion CA-IP500:

YouTube - Macworld Video: Fusion iPod Car Stereo CA-IP500 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPuCpyo_Vm8)

But watching the video, I realized that I want to listen to Pandora and I don't think this will let me. Which brings me to another question. Do ANY decks allow you to listen to Pandora on the iPhone?

[DonH]

I'm fairly comfortable with DIY in general, but I haven't seen any good ideas out there to copy and imagination isn't one of my things. I thought about your post today though, and looked around my '99 4runner cabin for a good spot for a dock and don't see anything real convenient. And I'm looking for complete convenience here.

I did find one cool looking deck that might my needs. The Fusion CA-IP500:

YouTube - Macworld Video: Fusion iPod Car Stereo CA-IP500 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPuCpyo_Vm8)

But watching the video, I realized that I want to listen to Pandora and I don't think this will let me. Which brings me to another question. Do ANY decks allow you to listen to Pandora on the iPhone?

only with an AUX jack for a 3.5mm headphone jack really

[CZ Eddie]

YES, some decks WILL allow you to listen to Pandora over the iPhone using the deck's controls!


Pandora FAQ (http://blog.pandora.com/faq/contents/10012.html)

Click the above link!

[CZ Eddie]

Looks like the Alpine Pandora deck isn't too far out of my budget.

YouTube - Alpine IDA-X305S In-Dash Receiver with Pandora at CES 2010 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGbMyNXd7vQ)

This is actually going to be more important to me than being able to insert the iphone INSIDE the deck. I'll just have to suffer with cables until future dock-decks are released with Pandora app functionality.
Or figure out some sort of DIY dock method.

[DonH]

i stand corrected! lol

[4OZGLOVES]

That alpine looks great but unfourtunatly I don't think it plays CDs and that ***** if you ever want to compete

[CZ Eddie]

edited to remove possibly bad info.

btw, the alpine can control a cd-changer.