cyantist 10+ year member
freqshow
Well, after much delay and a lot of effort (since nobody makes a 2-din dash kit for my car), I finally got my Alpine IVA-W200 installed..
I had to make a 2-din kit out of a Scosche single din kit.. It doesn't fit perfectly, but it is as good as I can get it without butchering it too badly and still keeping it fairly strong and intact.. If I took away any more plastic, there would have been nothing left to mount it to.. Apparantly Metra has a 2-din kit in the works for my car (2005 Mazda3, still about 2 months away), so this will have to do until then..
Overall, I like the deck so far, but it's missing a lot of features that my IVA-D310 had.. The thing that I do like about it the most over the D310 is the Full-Speed iPod Control, which, I'm happy to report, works flawlessly.. This is the way it should have been with the KCA-420i adapter I had previously.. Searching is fast and the SQ is excellent.. I can find any song out of the 3500 on my iPod in about 5 seconds.. Way to go Alpine!! After so many disappointments lately, it's nice to know they finally got something right.. Since I use my iPod as my source 99% of the time, needless to say, this was a HUGE issue for me.. The 420i was nearly impossible to work with and became simply a 'jukebox' of random tunes.. Anyone that runs one surely knows what I mean.. I ditched mine a while back to go back to AUX-IN, but at least I could find what I wanted to listen to.. How uncool..
Other features that are missing as opposed to the D310:
Now, this might seem like a lot, but honestly, I don't mind giving them up for the improved iPod controls that ****** so badly via the 420i.. Except for the screen size and lack of rotary encoder (never been a fan of the electronic volume control, but I'll get used to it), these will all be fixed once I add the PXA-H701 (which is much better than the stock D310 controls anyways), so for me, it's a non-issue.. And I think we can ALL live without MX.. I've never used it, so I don't even notice it's missing.. Just so you know, MX has been replaced with a 'Loudness' function, again something I'll never use..
Finally, the other thing I didn't like about the D310 was that it was a flipout screen.. I've never liked the way these look in the car since it seems like such an afterthought.. I've been wanting to get my hands on a 2-din unit for a while now since I prefer the look much better as it seems much more integrated into the dash and has a 'factory' look.. Also, when the screen was open in my D310, I couldn't see the display on my Escort Passport SR-7.. After I found such a unique place to install it (where the factory radio LCD display used to be, which gets replaced with a blank panel or a pocket in aftermarket dashkits), moving it wasn't really an option I wanted to consider..
All in all, I'd have to say it's a step backward from my previous D310, but again, the improved iPod controls make up for it, and the H701 is going to take care of the rest.. As you can tell, I had a few personal reasons for choosing this over the D310.. Out of the box, the D310 is far superior to the W200, but for me personally, the W200 was a better choice and was just what I was looking for.. Getting a proper 2-din kit is going to make it even better since it still doesn't fit quite how I'd like it to, but for now, I'm quite happy..
Anyways, here are the pics of it installed in my car..
I had to make a 2-din kit out of a Scosche single din kit.. It doesn't fit perfectly, but it is as good as I can get it without butchering it too badly and still keeping it fairly strong and intact.. If I took away any more plastic, there would have been nothing left to mount it to.. Apparantly Metra has a 2-din kit in the works for my car (2005 Mazda3, still about 2 months away), so this will have to do until then..
Overall, I like the deck so far, but it's missing a lot of features that my IVA-D310 had.. The thing that I do like about it the most over the D310 is the Full-Speed iPod Control, which, I'm happy to report, works flawlessly.. This is the way it should have been with the KCA-420i adapter I had previously.. Searching is fast and the SQ is excellent.. I can find any song out of the 3500 on my iPod in about 5 seconds.. Way to go Alpine!! After so many disappointments lately, it's nice to know they finally got something right.. Since I use my iPod as my source 99% of the time, needless to say, this was a HUGE issue for me.. The 420i was nearly impossible to work with and became simply a 'jukebox' of random tunes.. Anyone that runs one surely knows what I mean.. I ditched mine a while back to go back to AUX-IN, but at least I could find what I wanted to listen to.. How uncool..
Other features that are missing as opposed to the D310:
- No Internal Crossovers
- No EQ (Bass and Treble only)
- No Time Alignment
- No MediaExpander
- Smaller Viewing Area (6.5" vs 7")
- No Rotary Encoder
Now, this might seem like a lot, but honestly, I don't mind giving them up for the improved iPod controls that ****** so badly via the 420i.. Except for the screen size and lack of rotary encoder (never been a fan of the electronic volume control, but I'll get used to it), these will all be fixed once I add the PXA-H701 (which is much better than the stock D310 controls anyways), so for me, it's a non-issue.. And I think we can ALL live without MX.. I've never used it, so I don't even notice it's missing.. Just so you know, MX has been replaced with a 'Loudness' function, again something I'll never use..
Finally, the other thing I didn't like about the D310 was that it was a flipout screen.. I've never liked the way these look in the car since it seems like such an afterthought.. I've been wanting to get my hands on a 2-din unit for a while now since I prefer the look much better as it seems much more integrated into the dash and has a 'factory' look.. Also, when the screen was open in my D310, I couldn't see the display on my Escort Passport SR-7.. After I found such a unique place to install it (where the factory radio LCD display used to be, which gets replaced with a blank panel or a pocket in aftermarket dashkits), moving it wasn't really an option I wanted to consider..
All in all, I'd have to say it's a step backward from my previous D310, but again, the improved iPod controls make up for it, and the H701 is going to take care of the rest.. As you can tell, I had a few personal reasons for choosing this over the D310.. Out of the box, the D310 is far superior to the W200, but for me personally, the W200 was a better choice and was just what I was looking for.. Getting a proper 2-din kit is going to make it even better since it still doesn't fit quite how I'd like it to, but for now, I'm quite happy..
Anyways, here are the pics of it installed in my car..
