Ok so I've narrowed it down to these three models. Can you guys please help me decide.

Price wise the 5435 and the Kenwood+NAV are the same price. The 5495 is about $500 more.

Here are some of the pro's and con's I found between these 3 units. Please let me know If you can think of any more or if any of these are false.

Pro's Kenwood+NAV:

Can play Mp3 DVD Disc
Can operate DVD and NAV at same time
Adjustable Birds eye view for navigation
Satellite Radio Ready
Search by phone number.
E-Brake Safety feature.

Con's:

NAV is a seperate unit.
Lower quality screen than Eclipse.

Pro's Eclipse 5435:

All in one design
Satellite Radio Ready
Better screen than ddx7015.
5.0V Pre-Out

Con's:

Semi-Dual operation of NAV and DVD*
Poor Mp3 compatiblity.
No category POI search.
Speed Sensor Safety feature

(If you start a new route, you can insert a DVD and still get directions as long as you stay on course. If you miss a turn or detour, you will have to reinsert the NAV DVD)

Pro's Eclipse 5495:

Hard Drive Based Navigation.
Search by phone number.
Can operate DVD and NAV at same time.
Can rip cd's and store to hard drive. (20 GB)
Record Radio to hard drive.
5.0V Pre-Out
Mp3 compatiblity up to 320kbps.

Con's:

No Satelite Radio
Speed Sensor Safety feature


Appearance:
Which do you think would look better? The Eclipse has a green back light and the Kenwood has red and green, So what would match better with the orange in our car?

Here's a pic of the AVN 5435 installed.

 

I have not seen the kenwood installed. But you can't get much better than the look of the eclipse installed. It would appear that the 5495 is the best, but I'm sure thats the most expensive one... The birds eye view in navs are for the birds; its looks cool, but when I'm actually using it to go somewhere I don't like it at all.

 

Eclipse 5495 all the way, you cant beat the 20gig harddrive, you should be able to store every mp3 you have on there, i have about 5k mp3's and its about 18gig's. so you'll never have to put any cds in there.

 

Wow, I have fewer MP3s than that, and it's almost 40GB! Are you using only 128kbps?

I'd like to see that unit with at least a 40gb drive (if not 60), as the nav data has to take up some of the room, too.

Also, can you just copy MP3s to the drive, or does it force you to re-rip EVERY cd to the hard drive becasue it uses a odd file format???

 

I'm not sure, but it says it rips cd's to ATRAC3. Also the Harddrive is 30gb but 10gb is used by navi data so 20gb left for music.

 

yeah about 95% are 128kbps at 44khz.

 

i like the kenwood because it can do both navi and dvd... also it can also search by numbers...

 

I didnt know that, thanks. You using the dv4100?

 

A few things that really bothered me about the 5435 (taken directly from users manual) in regards to MP3 playback since I rip all cd's @ 320kbps.
Also, am I correct in stating that Eclipse has yet to come out with a MP3 disc changer ?

1. When MP3 is being played, navigation operation will become slower. This is not
a malfunction of the system.

2. This unit has limitations on MP3 file standards and recorded media and formats that can be used. Be aware of the following points when recording MP3 files:

Supported standards : MPEG-1 Audio Layer III
• Supported sampling frequencies : 32, 44.1, 48 (kHz)
• Supported bit rate : 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128 (kbps)
• Supports VBR.
• Does not support free format.
• Bit rates vary for MPEG-1 and MPEG-2.
• Supported channel modes : stereo, joint stereo, dual channel, monaural

3. Use 128kbps or lower for the MP3 bit rate. If the bit rate exceeds 128kbps, there
may be sound jumping during MP3 playback.


Here is the online manual in case anyone is interested:
http://www.sirius.com/pdf/manuals/AVN5435_OMaudio.pdf

 

I not using one right now... I already researched a bit.. and thats why i decided to get it... check out the www.kenwoodusa.com site... i should have everything by june... hopefully

 

The Kenwood has red AND green. I prefer the green myself because it blends in with the titanium dash. The red bugs me even though it might match the orange a little better. As far as MP3s go, I have a 20gig Kenwood music keg hard drive hooked up to the cd changer controls. It moves lightning quick from song to song, even in random mode.

 

skaline - did you install yourself? or did you get it installed? how much did everything cost you? if you could list individual prices that would be awesome!!

 

Thanks for the link. The max supported bit rate of 128 is unacceptable, I usually try to download the highest bitrate possible!

I really do like mp3 menu of selecting what song you want to play.

 

Did it all myself. Here's a Link
The whole thing cost somewhere around $3k. Got everything from Crutchfield, so most of the big stuff was 10% off since I bought the whole system at the same time. List for the head unit was $1499 so it came out to $1350.

 

Skaline awesome setup. Looks killer on the nite shot.