johnnysenna Posted December 17, 2006 Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 I am thinking of getting one of either the Kenwood DDX6029 or PioneerAVIC-HD1BT double DIN sized hi-fi for my new Golf GTI which comes next week. The idea would be to have an all in one unit with sat nav, Ipod controller, Blue tooth hands free phone, decent hi-fi, DVD films etc....the lot, all in one box and not perched on the top of the dash. The Pioneer does it all straight out of the box whereas the Kenwood needs additional modules for sat nav and blue tooth. I can get the Pioneer fitted etc for about £1950 and the Kenwood for about £1500 fitted (including the sat nav and phone modules). But which is better? I know the Kenwood uses Garmin sat nav, so it should be reasonable. Both units have speed camera data available. The Kenwood has a LW radio, the Pioneer doesn't......you need this for the cricket obviously. Any ideas please fellas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silentandy Posted December 17, 2006 Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 £1500 sounds a bit steep for the Kenwood kit, you can buy it all online for about £1000 including the bluetooth plug-in. Are they charging £500 for installation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rs32 Posted December 17, 2006 Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 the Pioneer does not detect speed cameras - but detection equipment will soon be illegal anyway. Never had the thought "must have speed-camera detection", it just doesn't seem necessary. Haven't used the kenwood interface but the Pioneer is excellent imo - Nav, music and bluetooth are all very easy to control and the mapping has been spot on so far. The benefit of the Hard-disk mapping is the speed it manages new routes, recalcs and alternatives linked to the TMC software. All very easy and FAST !! I know RedRobin ran its predecessor for over a year so hopefully he can add to this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRobin Posted December 17, 2006 Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 Both very good except that the Kenwood SatNav map graphics I examined last Summer looked as if a child had drawn it!! I would also check out Alpine's offering - They've been doing SatNav longer than the others. I swopped from Pioneer to Alpine and it wasn't because I thought the Pioneer wasn't good but just that the Alpine is better (and also the Pioneer doesn't link to my Multifun steering wheel). rs32's Pioneer is more up to date than mine was, and it's D-Din. Wouldn't this thread be better responded to in the Car Electronics forum? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnysenna Posted December 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 [ QUOTE ] the Pioneer does not detect speed cameras - but detection equipment will soon be illegal anyway. Never had the thought "must have speed-camera detection", it just doesn't seem necessary. Haven't used the kenwood interface but the Pioneer is excellent imo - Nav, music and bluetooth are all very easy to control and the mapping has been spot on so far. The benefit of the Hard-disk mapping is the speed it manages new routes, recalcs and alternatives linked to the TMC software. All very easy and FAST !! I know RedRobin ran its predecessor for over a year so hopefully he can add to this. [/ QUOTE ] Thanks. I know the Pioneer doesn't "detect" speed cameras, what I meant is that it has their location on its sat nav database, and this is NOT going to be made illegal of course, unlike radar detactors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnysenna Posted December 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 Many thanks lads, very useful. I should think that the Kenwood's satnav will be quick enough?? I don't know if my local dealer does Alpine. I am in Newcastle. I think that I need local dealer support in case anything goes wrong, so I will probably have to make do with either the Kenwood or Pioneer. I don't know if I am being over-charged for the Kenwood, I thought £1500 was quite good. The RRP on the kit is £2500, for what it's worth. I have been advised to get the extra thingy which tells the sat nav how fast the car is going which makes it more accurate. Shall we move this thread to the car electronics forum? Or I am allowed to re-post it over there? Or is that not allowed. Many thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDiAvant Posted December 17, 2006 Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 Try Turners in Sunderland, or Auto Sounds in Newcastle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnysenna Posted December 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 [ QUOTE ] Try Turners in Sunderland, or Auto Sounds in Newcastle [/ QUOTE ] Thanks mate. The prices/kit I mention above are from Autosounds in Newcastle. I quite like them, they have fitted a Tracker to my other car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy Posted December 19, 2006 Report Share Posted December 19, 2006 I would try http://www.ice-works.com/ He was Turners top installer who did most of the competition and show cars and has setup on his own. or Ask Austin at sounds alarming on byker bridge Newcastle im not a fan of the other two companys myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigface Posted December 20, 2006 Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 i was lookin the same with kenwood and alpine, i was quoted £1400 for the kenwood system including 6 hrs for fitting and £1570 for alpine with a free ipod nano! although the system for the alpine is not being supplied until end of january so the price was approx! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnysenna Posted December 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 Thanks lads. Much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fresco1 Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 Am a bit late jumping in, but am also wrangling with the double din dilemna. Have been a Pioneer fan my whole life - my living room is currently proof (seem to be a lot of Pioneer badges on stuff!)!! Have been completely convinced that the Pioneer unit was the way forwatd. Then I had a look at RR's Alpine at Devil's Dyke (thanks again, Robin!). Am now 100% sure Alpine is the one to get. Would also get the Freeview unit with it, for the sake of a couple of quid - and stick screens in the headrests. Have concluded that if you like the idea of loading all your CD's etc onto the one unit go for the Pioneer, if not then the Alpine is the sensible choice. But either way, you'll be pleased I'd imagine (as I would be, when I get this sorted!). Happy shopping! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silentandy Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 [ QUOTE ] i was lookin the same with kenwood and alpine, i was quoted £1400 for the kenwood system including 6 hrs for fitting and £1570 for alpine with a free ipod nano! although the system for the alpine is not being supplied until end of january so the price was approx! [/ QUOTE ] What's the new Alpine model? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigface Posted December 23, 2006 Report Share Posted December 23, 2006 not the screen but the sat nav, its called blackbird from memory, i dont have the spec sheet here at the minute, it has a portable screen as well for the sat nav Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fresco1 Posted December 26, 2006 Report Share Posted December 26, 2006 Damn, am still trying to sort out my decision making on double din ... ! I may need help! I am fairly sure I am going with the Alpine IVA-W200Ri DVD Navigation Package Double DIN + FREE Alpine TV Tuner TUE-T112P deal from a certain company who does Car Audio on the internet (ahem). What I can't figure out (and hence the help needed!) is whether this comes with a multi-CD facility built-in (I think it doesn't), or if I need to allow for a separate multi-CD piece of kit also. I am also keen on getting twin rear screens wired in for the kids (although I swore blind I would never do this) - but it seems sensible to knock this on the head at the same time. Again, can anyone advise if they have a similar set-up, are they happy with it, etc etc. All info greatly welcomed! Mrs. Fresco said I can buy it next week if I put in a set of fitted wardrobes in the guest room (deal!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnysenna Posted January 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Just had the Pioneer fitted yesterday. Lovely thing. A couple of teething problems to sort (multi-function steering wheel harness doesn't work all it should, screen doesn't dim automatically at night) but overall, I am delighted. Only downer is the slightly slow Ipod access, but I knew about that when I bought it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incubusrich Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Hi Johnnysenna, I assume you ended up buying the Pioneer AVIC-HD1BT in the end. To be honest this is the Sat Nav I have been looking at to install into my new GTI when it arrives in March. If you don’t mind Johnny I have a few questions; how has it been so far? Have you had any big problems with it? What do you mean by the slow ipod access? I was thinking about adding an Ipod connection to my sat nav it but then I thought there was no point as the 2 din comes with 10 GB hard drive. I remember reading somewhere that every time you play a CD it automatically records it to the hard drive. Is there anyway of connecting your laptop to the din 2 so you can transfer music? I would really appreciate it if you could add some photos for us all to have a look at? My finally concern is the security of this device. Unfortunately you can not take out the screen when leaving the car parked. What are your thoughts on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rs32 Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Re security - it doesn't look much when switched off and left parked - not garish or "look at me" at all - no extra concerns about leaving the car for me. search the GTI for Robin's Pioneer Gizmo - I posted some pics - you can also look at http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/products/10/20/241/AVIC-HD1BT/index.html Still no complaints about this unit in over 6 months / 10k miles of use, other than the Bluetooth call quality - more to come on that in a separate post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rs32 Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Attention AVIC-HD1BT owners I've been concerned about an echo when using the mobile over Bluetooth with the HD1BT - every person I speak to complains that their speech is repeated to them. Just spoke to my installers and Pioneer have now released a software update, having acknowledged the problem. If you are experiencing any sort of echo or poor Bluetooth call quality then get then ask your supplier to update the sofwtare using the Pioneer Disc. I believe this is all done in-situ and is purely a CD or DVD-based patch. Mine's being done next Thursday, thursday, thur .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incubusrich Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Thank you for your help rs32. Just a quick question, where is your gps ariel located on your car? is it on the dash board? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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