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Installing it to the point where it works take 2 or 3 minutes. Hiding the wires will depend on how well you want them hidden and the type of car you have. You can have it professionally installed and have everything hidden the dash, BB wanted $100.00 for that. I may still do it, but for now, I manage to do an acceptable job on my own.

Tuning can be a bit laborious, the remote does not seem to let you go to any channel you like, rather to a preprogramed one. So if you want to listen to # 123, you’ll need to keep turning the dial, for while. Maybe there ins another way, but I haven’t found it yet.

If you get an in home set up to go with it, taking it in and out of the car cradle is a snap.

The sound is EXCELLENT. When they say CD quality, they aren’t kidding. I have used a variety of FM transmitter in the past, GPS, Ipod docks and so on, and they never work well, and I suspect some of the negative reviews are using this method. If you are able to direct connect, its amazing, if you have to transmit via FM signal, you may be disappointed.

I love this radio, I still hate traffic, but at least I have something to do now, its great.

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I’m going to miss it. Because………. XM’s company is a nightmare. I have been struggling with them for months over their lifetime subscription. Stay away from XM. THey have made unauthorized charges on my credit card, told me lies about refunds, resolution, etc. Their reps are overseas and all read from the same script. They’ll put you on hold for a long time then come back on and tell you that it was all an accounting issue and that everything is ok. Not so. Read the reviews about their customer service then decide. My credit card company is having to resolve the issue.

Do the research, please!

Boss BV9976 In-Dash Motorized 7″ DVD/MP3/CD Touchpanel Widescreen Receiver with USB, SD Card, and Front Panel AUX Input (Detachable Front Panel) | Cheap Car Stereos…

JVC KW-XR810 Double-DIN Bluetooth Dual USB/CD Receiver with USB 2.0 for iPod/iPhone, and Bluetooth/Satellite/HD Radio add-on capability | Cheap Car Stereos…

- sound quality: excellent. Very happy in this regard. I have this connected at the line level to a JL Audio 400 watt amp and Morel Tempo speakers. Professionally installed.

- navigation: so far so good. The voice quality is great. The UI works well and I haven’t found it slow when searching for an address or a POI. I like how it behaves as your drive.

- iPhone integration: generally very nice. Both for video and music and phone contacts. The audio quality I am getting for better music files is what I had hoped for. I am using the Pioneer iPod cable. There are glitches here and there, such as transitions. For example, shot off the unit/vehicle with video playing, then when the unit starts up again, the video doesn’t play but you hear the sound. This continues even after acknowledging the safety screen. Can be lived with.

Voice quality during phone calls appears to be good. Or should I say nobody has complained nor misunderstood me. I did move a microphone a few times before settling on the rear edge of the visor. This is a less hidden, less integrated place to put it, but this places the microphone much closer to my voice. Sound levels in my Tundra aren’t too bad. The doors are lined with Dynamat.

- voice recognition/control: overall surprisingly good. There is a bug that happens if your phone connects to the unit before you have acknowledged the safety notice for the GPS. Voice commands related to the phone refuse to work at all. This bug earlier led me to believe that the VR was useless. Work around for this is to hit that OK button in GPS mode as soon as possible after starting up the unit. I have used the VR even for specifying an address or searching for a point of interest, and it all works well. The VR voice is computer generated and not nearly as smooth as the GPS voice. One of several points of integration between the unit’s separate systems that could use some improving.

So overall, I am very happy with this choice. I have not used such a unit in the past, so my expectations were actually quite high. I am used to better integration between features. I am however quite impressed with the overall quality of the user interface. Much nicer than I have seen on earlier receivers. Useful and looks good, not a silly display of flashing graphics. I believe it could be improved on, but I develop user interfaces for a living, so take my opinion as coming from a more critical point of view.

Pros: cheap, sounds good, easy to install, plays mp3′s on both data CDs and USB sticks, and supports iPod connectivity with optional cable as well as audio AUX input on the front panel.

Cons: User interface is a bit clunky.

Notes: I have a Mac, and to get songs to play properly and in the correct order on a USB stick, you have to copy them to the stick in the order you want them played, and then *remove* all the hidden files that the Mac copies as well. The Alpine will skip these hidden files, but it takes a few seconds for it to realize it can’t play them.

Also, my unit does not seem to like Memorex CD media. A burned Memorex CD plays fine at first, but then in the middle and toward the end of a CD it starts to skip, drop out, and eventually stop playing altogether with “error” on the display. TDK media has no problems at all with everything else being the same.

This is the easiest way to add an AUX port to your car stereo. If you have done any basic automotive work or have any electrical experience at all you will be able to install this easily. I did have to purchase an antenna adapter kit for ten bucks. I found this adapter at a local Murrays/O’Reillys parts store.

First, this is a satellite receiver. Anyone that expects a satellite receiver to work 100% like an FM radio, doesnt understand the concept. While more forgiving than DirecTv or Dish, you really need to be able to see one of the two satellite locations for uninterrupted reception. Im not going to fault the radio because it blanks out inside a house. It needs an outside (or south window) mounted antenna (included) unless you happen to live where there is a terrestrial repeater (I do).

The radio needed two firmware updates when received. They took about 15 minutes. Added several features and fixed several bugs.

XM audio quality on the included ear buds is good. Much better than I expected.

Sound quality through the powerconnect FM transmitter in my work truck is much better than the previous clip on your FM antenna device. No issues at all in driving around out in the country out of repeater range. Usual dropouts going through tunnels, or under gas station awnings I had with the XpressRC.

The MP3 section is great. Audio quality is excellent. Needs a MicroSD card to store more than 7-10 albums at 256K rate.

Havent tried the song or station recording feature yet. 30 Minute buffer works fine.

Easy to navigate. Now if the screen doesnt burn out like my XpressRC did, Ill be very happy with this receiver. I do plan to try to buy an extended warranty for it though.

It claims 4 hours for XM live, and 16 hours for MP3′s. Ive been playing MP3s for 6 hours and the battery indicator hasnt moved yet.

The documentation claims you shouldn’t have the radio in an environment over 95 degrees as it will limit the lifetime of the battery. Its 5 degrees warmer than that here in the shade, so I figure 120+ in the truck when its parked.

Might need to keep a spare battery in the fridge

If the product holds up to daily use, Ill be a happy camper.

I originally looked at modulators in a big box store, but they started at $80, which was out of the question. This one, with external plug and switch, was the perfect solution. It let’s me play the xm, my ipod, or listen to Pandora from my phone. It was easy to install (as easy as any project that requires taking the dashboard apart, anyway) and performs exactly as promised. The only hitch I found is a very slight drop in volume relative to the previous installation, but not enough to be a problem in any way.

Overall, this is a fantastic modulator for the price.

Pioneer has earned my respect and loyalty for the customer service I have received!!!

update: As of now, the Sirius website requires a human click every 90 minutes for streaming audio. This particular radio will play for hours without intervention but will eventually shut off. These features may be updated at whim by Sirius through software updates.

How does it sound? It sounds exactly as described – it’s meant to be a tabletop boombox. It’s the perfect companion for garage, laundry room, or kitchen. Don’t expect real high fidelity sound out of these speakers. It has both a headphone jack and line out jack so it’s possible to use amplified speakers or route the output into your home stereo system. When the line output is fed through my home stereo system the sound is wonderful. However, when I plugged my iPod into the aux input I was not impressed with thee quality, which I fault the iPod for.

I’ve been waiting for a gizmo like this ever since I subscribed to Sirius. I am an apartment dweller with no means for an outdoor antenna. Sirius works great in my car, but the only way I can listen at home is by being chained to my computer. Sirius has always made possible streaming audio from their website. But, every 90 minutes you need to click on the dead man’s switch to keep the music flowing. This radio works exactly the same as the Internet streaming but is self-contained with a beautiful display. It also functions as a clock radio, although it’s a tad big for the nightstand.

Before purchasing, it’s best to become familiar with how streaming audio works on their website. You will need to purchase Internet streaming ability from Sirius in addition to your radio account. Be sure this is all working first.

The radio connects to your local area network via wired Ethernet or wireless with an external 802.11 antenna. You have all the settings available to you – enter the IP address of your choice or select dhcp via wired or wireless. I had a small gotcha, which was it wouldn’t connect via WAP so I needed to configure my router for WEP. Everyone is tending to move away from WAP so this was a necessary evil. I entered my ASCII key and it connected just fine. My Sirius username and password worked right away. If you have MAC address filtering, you can retrieve the address via the menus.

The tuner works similar to that of a dashboard radio with a turn and push to click dial. Menus are accessed fairly easily, but it took a little while to get into some of the settings. The first thing I wanted to set was the clock and DST. Be advised that automatic time setting is on by default. The first day, I had to wrestle a bit to get it on the right hour of the day – so, don’t set any alarms until you work all this out or put the clock into manual settings if you don’t trust it. It’s all configurable.

The display has a wonderful signal strength indicator so you can place it for the best reception or switched to wired Ethernet. There is no option for batteries, so you will need an AC outlet and the radio is amazingly heavy for a small box. It has automatic or manual brightness and a remote control, plus an input jack for a CD player or iPod, but no interconnection cables are provided. The display presents the channel name and song name with a nice volume control knob.

If you have Sirius and you’re looking for speakers for your iPod or iPhone, get this radio instead of amplified speakers. I’m extremely happy that I can finally listen to Sirius in any room at home without an antenna. You’ll need a solid, reliable broadband connection to operate this radio else you will hear dropout’s and interruptions. This is not the fault of the radio. Again, test out the streaming audio on your computer first.

I got this AVIC-Z120BT unit a few days ago and installed it in my 2009 Nissan Frontier. The install did take a while; but, I had several quotes by some car audio installation places and I decided I’d be better off doing it myself and saving the money. So far, I am absolutely loving having this system in my truck!

In the attached video, I tried to go over some of the main features of this unit. I’ll also try to cover most of the same material here for people that don’t want to spend the time to watch the video.

Here are the things I’m loving about this Pioneer navigation system:

1) The sound quality is very good. The radio reception is also exceptional for both AM and FM.

2) The media source selection is great! This unit supports playing from CDs & DVDs (including MP3s from either), SD cards with either video or music, iPods (using an additional interface cable), USB keys, or the internal AM/FM tuner. You can also add an HD radio tuner, although I didn’t add that feature. Personally, I love that I can stick an SD card with all my music in this unit and it is always available to me without having to mess with an FM transmitter or hook up my phone to the receiver.

3) The navigation system itself is very good. The maps are up to date in my area, and it looks like new maps can be downloaded from Pioneer when they are available. It has all the standard nav features, like being able to adjust the scale or change the top of the map to be either North or to be inline with your current heading. It also offers turn-by-turn guidance, waypoints, and can be controled using voice commands – although I haven’t played with this much.

4) The Bluetooth interface on the receiver is amazing! It automatically downloads the contacts from my phone whenever it turns on and then I have access to all of my contacts through the nav system. Even though my Android phone does NOT support voice dialing over Bluetooth, I can now use the voice dialing feature of this receiver and it automatically dials my phone.

5) The voice interface in general is very good. It handles everything from voice dialing to switching inputs – even when I’m driving down the highway. The included mic works fine for phone calls in the truck, although it does sound like I’m talking on a speaker phone (which I basically am when using this system).

6) Incoming calls on this system work very well. A small overlay pops up on the screen that lets you answer incoming calls, hang up, etc… It also mutes (or turns down) the currently playing audio during the phone call.

7) The backup camera is a great addition. It switches on automatically when the truck is in reverse, and it can also be used in conjunction with the map view – which will be great for towing.

The system boots fairly quickly. The backup camera and previously selected music source are available almost instantly, where the navigation system and other controls are available after about 15 seconds. My Android phone typically takes about 45 seconds to connect from the time the system first starts up.

9) I should have shown this in the video, but the screen tilt can be adjusted if you need it to angle up a bit. In my truck, I don’t need it to tilt at all; so I tend to forget about that.

10) The interface looks great and is very easy to use! The system also looks great in my truck.

11) You can set an anti-theft password through a ‘secret’ interface, and the system will prompt for the password if the backup power is ever cut. I think this is a dubious ‘anti-theft’ feature since the system could easily be stolen and the thieves wouldn’t find out about the password until they were back at the secret lair . I guess I would have the satisfaction of knowing they probably couldn’t use it…

Although I absolutely love this Pioneer nav system, there are some quirks in the firmware that I hope will be addressed by future releases:

1) [*** UPDATE - This is fixed in firmware version 2.003. ***] When booting the system, you need to press OK on the warning screen BEFORE the system connects to your phone. Otherwise, you won’t be able to voice dial until the car is turned off and back on again. If the system boots up into the map screen, this is pretty easy since the prompt will show before the map is displayed. If, on the other hand, the system boots into the media mode, the prompt won’t even display until you manually switch to either the home screen or the navigation system – and it can be easy to forget until you need to make a call…

2) The AM and FM presets are named based on the text being broadcast by the station. That makes no sense in my case, so I end up with presets with names like “ive,”. I wish that could just be turned off and I could just have the frequencies displayed – or it would also be great if I could name the presets myself. Normally, I don’t mind remembering the preset numbers – but this interface doesn’t really lend itself to that. Hopefully this will be fixed/changed soon!

3) I wish this system would show album art for songs that are on the SD card. I called Pioneer and verified that isn’t supported in the current firmware.

4) On bright days, the display tends to be a bit washed out – even on the brightest setting. It’s still visible, but just barely. I may end up getting my front windows tinted to help out with this.

Overall, I really love this system and would highly recommend it if you want an integrated nav/bluetooth/multimedia system in your vehicle. The combined feature-set that this added to my truck wouldn’t have even been possible a few years ago; and, the Pioneer pulls it all off with a very nicely integrated user interface. There are some quirks in the firmware, but I think they should all be easily addressed by future firmware updates – I just hope Pioneer does us all the favor of actually updating the firmware!

I will update this review to reflect any changes in my opinions, or if new firmware versions are released.

EDIT: The above is my original review. It DOES work will all speakers, for BT audio and hands-free. It’s just that the settings for this are somewhat hidden. After spending some more time with Kenwood tech reps, I was told that there must be a defect, so I was referred to a local repair facility. This was an authorized retailer/repair – Suburban Audio in NJ near Philly – and the repair guy there knew exactly what setting was off and I had it fixed within minutes.

The proper setting can be found only while the radio is in BT hands-free mode (page 48 of the pdf manual). The setting to adjust is “Bluetooth HF/Audio”, where you can select “Front” or “All”. Even though the manual describes this for voice, is applies to both voice and audio streaming.

Audio/Video: I’d give this a 9/10. Right from the installation it was just a joy to use. I mainly only used it sync’d to my iPhone and the menu system on the unit was faster than I would have expected it to be. Switching from audio to video on the iPhone was just a couple clicks to turn on a movie. The quality on the unit was great, I started up a DIVX movie on the iPhone and it was as clear and crisp as it would be playing on a 1080p tv. Scrolling through your music library is nice, it’s setup for two speeds, so if you have an enormous music library to scroll through your fingers won’t get sore! BEST feature barnone is the Pandora streaming feature, if you’re in an area with good signal, this works perfectly. This seemed to also somehow really improve my AM/FM reception dramatically.

Navigation: Not too much to say about this, but it works! As mentioned there is just something missing, not even 100% sure what it is exactly but it’s just not as seamless as the NAV units by Garmin are. The best part about it is that it is built-in and in your dash, no worrying about plugging it in or sticking to your windshield. I really like that I can grab a contact from my iPhone and set for navigation. Selecting Points of Interest is just a matter of typing in what you’re looking for. Unlike my Garmin that I use, the keyboard on this unit is very fast and responsive…so that is a big plus.

Phone: I haven’t used the phone too much, but the call quality is actually a lot better than I had expected. I did have to turn down the volume on my phone (still controlled even though it’s on bluetooth) to stop some static. Downloading contacts to the unit is fast and dialing numbers on the unit is quite quick.

Installation: I’m an electronics nut (and cheap)…so I took this on myself. The main thing I’d say if doing this yourself, have patience. I literally had to deconstruct my entire center console and dash to get this to fit perfectly. I didn’t need to, but because of the size and extra “stuff” behind this unit, it was the only way I’d be happy to do it. This is not (unless you have a very new vehicle) just a plain wiring harness swap and push in type unit. You’ll need to route cables, splice into vehicle speed sensor, reverse wire, parking break. It wasn’t terrible, but it’s not a one hour job.

Cons: Not much negative to say about this unit and the price explains why. The one problem I had was that Pioneer did not include the radio cage for installation. I needed to buy it separately and it also came with the trim plastic. One other thing that I haven’t yet figured out how to change is the shuffle feature. When I plug in my iPhone and set all songs to shuffle it works great, but when I turn off and come back it’s off…just a small annoyance.

Would be glad to answer questions and will update when necessary.

I have only two complaints, both regarding the bluetooth. I have gone back to using my Motorola earpiece for hands-free cell phone use — the bluetooth through the stereo just chops up the incoming call way too much. The other complaint is the location of the bluetooth button. It’s located too close to the main control dial. When I turn the dial, my other fingers tend to make contact with the bluetooth button sending the stereo into bluetooth mode. It should be located on the far right side of the unit so that it can’t be activated unintentionally.

Other than the disappointing bluetooth, I don’t have much to complain about. It’s a nice looking, not gawdy, unit which fit perfectly into my Tahoe. The USB connection is hardwired — there is a cable coming directly from the rear of the unit — so I used a short extension cable to connect my IPOD or jump drive. That way, if anything were to happen to the end of the cable I can simply plug in a new (cheap) cable and it’s fixed.

Although it cannot display an IPOD video, it does play the video’s sound when I am watching a video on my IPOD in my car — it definitely beats having to put earphones on. The main control dial is a tad dainty for my fingers, but nothing I can’t get used.

I adapted it to a double DIN stereo space with a Scosche dashboard adapter with a nice little pocket space underneath the single DIN stereo opening. The Kenwood unit fit perfectly into the adapter, it looks great, and I brought my USB cable in through the back of the storage pocket so I can place my IPOD or jump drive neatly into the pocket space — it’s also a great place to store several CDs.

All in all, it’s a very nice stereo for the $218 I paid for it.

So this is what I set out to find.

I narrowed down my search to this unit, a Kenwood and a Sony. I have had a JVC unit in the past and it did well, I just couldn’t find a decent looking JVC unit.

I was looking for under $200 with Bluetooth, Front USB Aux, Front Aux for MP3 player, nice looking face, detachable face(not a must but i am not sure if they are made that way anymore), ability to read MP3 CDs, front text and a nice easy to use layout.

I took me about a week to settle on this one and find a good price. Although much cheaper than C-Field, C-field gives you the install instructions as well as the install kit…so in actuality it would have cost the same to buy from C-field.

Got it and had to install it myself and reminded me of the old days being a kid and working on my stereo (and no…I don’t have a “system”)

ran to BB to buy the install kit and harness. Wired up and installed the kit and worked great.

Took some time to figure out the menus but if you actually read the manual they make it clear (imagine that!)

Pros:

Bluetooth works great. However, I can’t figure out how to have more than one phone connected at once. I have a Blackberry and a LG. They both connect but can’t be connected at the same time (meaning I can’t have both able to connect to the head unit in case it rings in).

Can have all speakers, front or other pattern to hear your call. I felt like I was shouting at first and people told me to speak normally. HU shows who is calling and you can upload address books. Audio automatically mutes during call. microphone was included and gives you a great cord length to run it so it is hidden.

Front USB – best feature. Buy a few 4-8 gb thumb drives(fast ones) and you’ll be very happy and never need a CD again. Gets hung up occasionally on certain songs or larger sized files. Best to arrange it on the thumb drive yourself with folders and subfolders. I have not used any programs to sync or organize but i am sure things like media monkey or some other program would help. will play file name on the screen

Front aux input – great…haven’t used it for my mp3 player…sure it works and i don’t have an iPod so i don’t have to buy the extra cord. Can’t comment and how great this is…guess I will have to try this week.

Display/Layout – Kinda wanted a more LED based display but the Predator looking display works fine (remember when the Predator self destructs on his arm?). Decent to read. I like that I can change the color …the green looks great and is calm/soothing. But if you have different makes/interiors you can try to match. Colors are Red/Blue, Red/Red, Green/Blue and Amber/Red….i think…look at the manual to be sure. Alpine hasn’t changed the layout much. Knob for volume, tuning, menu scrolling,etc. all buttons are easy to press and don’t feel flimsy.

CD – Works fine but my old failing Acura HU works a bit better at reading CD then this unit. I haven’t tried with MP3 cds yet…not worth it with click and save USB.

Sound- excellent, great fine tuning, bass and treble is great and I can hear much richer undertones and instruments you don’t typically hear. should be expected from Alpine though. I have Polk 6x9s in the rear and they sound great…I have other speakers for the front but I never put them in…yet.

Install wasn’t bad if you buy the harness and install kit. Depends on the car though.

Cons:

As mentioned before – CD reading is ok/decent. Display could be better but I knew what I was getting when I bought it and the other Alpine unit with the better display got worse reviews overall.

Bluetooth not syncing with multiple devices at once…has 4 slots but won’t allow me to have 2 phones at once.

Something like this radio is a much better value:

http://www.amazon.com/ARIR200-Tabletop-Wi-Fi-Internet-Radio/dp/B001PPVXPK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1263493600&sr=8-3

Having a regular “real” satellite radio makes sense because you can use it in places that you don’t get internet, such as a car or while walking around with a portable, in which case an “open” Internet Radio wouldn’t work. But if you are in the vicinity of a Wi-Fi hot-spot, then you CAN use any regular Wi-Fi radio, why would you lock yourself to SiriusXM’s content by buying this radio?