Nav head unit vs. CD head unit

[dooski 10+ year member]

Hey I was wondering should i go with a Nav unit or a regular HU, it will be going in a 2010 camaro and i will be using this adapter for it. The nav unit fits the adapter pretty well which is y im leaning towards a Nav unit but at the same time if the Sq isnt there I will go with a regular HU.

Also If u think i should go with a Nav Hu let me know what brand/model

Same if u think i should use a regular Hu.

Here is the pick of the adapter I will be using.

http://underground.alpine-usa.com/upload/blog/116/orig.jpg

Click to read more...

 

[CAT MAN 5,000+ posts]

if you want a screen go ahead and do nav. if you wont use it get a cd

 

[West]

DO NOT GO NAV!!! At least if you have an older vehicle... The Pioneer Navs are a real mess to install and some install shops do not know how to put them in to older vehicles. For the nav to work you have to install a cable to the rear (reverse) tail lights and one other cable to your vehicle speed sensor (it is in a very hard to reach area)!

Go with the Pioneer AVH-P4300DVD. It does not have Nav but it has a 7'' screen and can play movies (you can get it for 360$). A 78$ 5'' Tomtom has lifetime maps and does not require 125$ to install (thats what i was quoted a local shop JUST to install the nav components of my AVIC-X930bt, thats not including the rest of the parts and labor)!

Plus the Nav units themselves are twice as much as the 4300... ANYTHING BUT NAV! lol

If you have a car that had nav standard before then its as simple as buying the right wiring harness... Still the head unit is gonna eat up $$ that would be better spent on speakers, cables, and amps...

Also, you cant type anything into the nav unit unless you have the parking break in use. There are overrides to this which are relatively easy to do, but a reputable dealer will not override the parking break mechanism. Tomtom is the way to go... I am telling you lol //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Not sure about the specs on other brands... but they all require the use the parking break to enter destinations and watch movies (I can understand the movies, but you could have your passenger setting the naviation while you are driving)...

Pioneer also skimped on the RCA connections on my nav unit... they are only 2V, wish they were 4...

Best wishes,

Joe

 

[brodeisel 10+ year member]

Well depends what you want. With a lot of just regular cd player's you can get better sq controll and more options especially if you go used. Get your self an eclipse deck everyone loves them that gets them or i know some one selling a mint alpine 9886.

 

[West]

Sorry just saw the part when your driving a 2010 camaro... Unless the 2012 navigation units are really spectacular, I would recommend an older dvd unit minus the nav. One great tip I can give you is to read the installation manual before you buy... thats if you want to do a self install.

If you want all the "top of the line" audio features... only the highest priced Nav units have high output RCA's, Although, Kenwoods do a pretty decient job having 4V's on their RCA's across the board. It begs the question, what else do the companies skimp on in the nav units?

Alpine Electronics of America, Inc.

That alpine is a beautiful system, no doubt.

http://www.alpine-usa.com/product/view/ina-w900bt

That alpine is over 1000$ and uses the cheapo 2V RCA's... not to be harp on about it, but it boggles my mind that companies cheap out on things that they think consumers won't notice.

Both of Alpines Nav heads would probably totally meet an average Americans expectations, but you are here asking questions and obviously care about the audio aspect of your head unit. True the 2V outputs probably wont give you noise when you hook them up to an amp, but it isn't something that I want to worry about in a new system, and because I wasnt paying attention when I bought it I have regrets :/ Btw that 4300 has the nicer 4v RCA's lol and is 1/3 of the cost of Alpines flagship unit.

Anyways, back to wiring this **** head unit... lol

 

[vaiboy 10+ year member]

If you are looking for a nav unit that still has SQ capabilities this new Clarion looks promising, 3-way Crossovers, Time Alignment, and 5 band EQ. I don't know when it will be available though.

Clarion U.S.A. | NX702

 

[West]

Wow... Its currently VERY hard to find units like that ^^ clarion with Time Alignment with DVD and/or nav. If you really want Nav then that would be the way I would go. If you get one, be sure to write a review on here. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[dooski 10+ year member]

DO NOT GO NAV!!! At least if you have an older vehicle... The Pioneer Navs are a real mess to install and some install shops do not know how to put them in to older vehicles. For the nav to work you have to install a cable to the rear (reverse) tail lights and one other cable to your vehicle speed sensor (it is in a very hard to reach area)!
Go with the Pioneer AVH-P4300DVD. It does not have Nav but it has a 7'' screen and can play movies (you can get it for 360$). A 78$ 5'' Tomtom has lifetime maps and does not require 125$ to install (thats what i was quoted a local shop JUST to install the nav components of my AVIC-X930bt, thats not including the rest of the parts and labor)!

Plus the Nav units themselves are twice as much as the 4300... ANYTHING BUT NAV! lol

If you have a car that had nav standard before then its as simple as buying the right wiring harness... Still the head unit is gonna eat up $$ that would be better spent on speakers, cables, and amps...

Also, you cant type anything into the nav unit unless you have the parking break in use. There are overrides to this which are relatively easy to do, but a reputable dealer will not override the parking break mechanism. Tomtom is the way to go... I am telling you lol //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Not sure about the specs on other brands... but they all require the use the parking break to enter destinations and watch movies (I can understand the movies, but you could have your passenger setting the naviation while you are driving)...

Pioneer also skimped on the RCA connections on my nav unit... they are only 2V, wish they were 4...

Best wishes,

Joe

Yea I will definitely look into that pioneer 4300, but yea I dont really Need the nav cause I could just use my phone if needed, I was only looking into nav cause i thought those were the only Touchscreen Headunits with a 7'' screen. Thanks for the advice Joe

 

[West]

No problem man, glad I could help somebody dodge a possible bullet!

The touch screen is a lot of fun and totally worth the extra money. It will start to become difficult finding touch screen HU's without navigation, since nav seems to be the big trend.

I just finished poping that nav unit in... There were so many wires in back that it was very difficult to get the HU to fit in my dash, but I made it work. (I am not the best with getting wires organized.) My only fear is that the HU will overheat due to lack of ventallation since there are literally 30 different wires to and from the HU and jammed within a 5/4 inch rectangular space lol.

To attach a cable to the vehicle speed sensor (for the nav) took about 2 hours alone >..> The install is what it is, if you are planning on paying someone then it really shouldn't influence your decisions, aside from increasing the costs.

The sound out of it isn't bad on the stock speakers and using no amp, I am impressed as far as that. I was able to up the base on the indoor speakers to where I actually thought there were some small subs in the back of my trunk. The new speakers, amp, and sub will be here soon, I am excited about that.

Let us know what you decide on and what you think of the system when everything is up and going. If you are planning on getting speakers definately try to go to a show to hear all the different brands. The selection at the local shops (even car audio shops) will consist of about 4-5 brands most of which you wont want in your vechicle...

 

[dooski 10+ year member]

No problem man, glad I could help somebody dodge a possible bullet!
The touch screen is a lot of fun and totally worth the extra money. It will start to become difficult finding touch screen HU's without navigation, since nav seems to be the big trend.

I just finished poping that nav unit in... There were so many wires in back that it was very difficult to get the HU to fit in my dash, but I made it work. (I am not the best with getting wires organized.) My only fear is that the HU will overheat due to lack of ventallation since there are literally 30 different wires to and from the HU and jammed within a 5/4 inch rectangular space lol.

To attach a cable to the vehicle speed sensor (for the nav) took about 2 hours alone >..> The install is what it is, if you are planning on paying someone then it really shouldn't influence your decisions, aside from increasing the costs.

The sound out of it isn't bad on the stock speakers and using no amp, I am impressed as far as that. I was able to up the base on the indoor speakers to where I actually thought there were some small subs in the back of my trunk. The new speakers, amp, and sub will be here soon, I am excited about that.

Let us know what you decide on and what you think of the system when everything is up and going. If you are planning on getting speakers definately try to go to a show to hear all the different brands. The selection at the local shops (even car audio shops) will consist of about 4-5 brands most of which you wont want in your vechicle...

I'm still going towards that 4300 cause i will be doing my first install and dont want to deal with that **** lol, but for speakers I own focal access components atm but i might sell those on here and go for cdt's or hertz.

 

[West]

Yeah I believe those are Focal's low end. I am going with their performance series for my car (80W rms). Personally I was surprized how good that AVIC930 unit was at upping the sound quality out of my stock speakers. Granted I am still replaceing them lol, but it might be interesting to see how those focals work on your unit even if you are not necessarilly happy with them now. The equalizers on the Pioneers are great.

 

[ace_800 5,000+ posts]

You could get the Pioneer 3300, which I have. The bluetooth is built in unlike the 4300 and the module for bluetooth SUCK gorilla balls. The BT on the 3300 is crystal clear, many don't even know they are on speaker. It has a 8 band eq and you can add nav if you want. The only thing it doesn't do is stream music via bluetooth and the usb is in the front so you don't get the full 7" screen but a 6.2 or something. I liked it better than the 4300 mainly cause the BT being built in.

 

[dooski 10+ year member]

Yeah I believe those are Focal's low end. I am going with their performance series for my car (80W rms). Personally I was surprized how good that AVIC930 unit was at upping the sound quality out of my stock speakers. Granted I am still replaceing them lol, but it might be interesting to see how those focals work on your unit even if you are not necessarilly happy with them now. The equalizers on the Pioneers are great.

yea I have a 4ch kicker kx800.4 but not sure if i will be using it or not. Its prolly to much for my focal access right?

 

[West]

Turn down the gain //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif and make sure the impedence >or= to the amp's output

(writing if others find their way here)