Cool man. All personal preference at the end of the day. Good luck with whatever you choose man! Looking forward to seeing your install pics! Do it yourself. Much more fun!

 

"Personal preference' is not code for "posting inaccurate info is OK".

If you want to say you LIKE it better, cool. But since a number of the things you posted were inaccurate (i.e., wrong) I just tought I'd correct them.

I don't have an axe to grind on one vs another. Just keeping things factual.

 

adding my $.02:

I am not sure where you are getting the Eclipse AVN5435 prices but here in SoCal I was able to get mine around 1.5K from an authorized dealer. I could have gotten the Pioneer D1 for 200 cheaper but it had no DVD player so it made sense to me to get the Eclipse because of DVD playability and higher quality audio.

The Eclipse does come with a harness for steering wheel controls but it only works on Toyotas/Lexus I believe, I checked with Eclipse CS. I was able to get the PAC prototype for the Eclipse and after you get used to the delay it works just fine.

I think that they are both fine units, each has positives and negatives and it just depends on what is important to you. One more point, IMHO I think that aesthetically the Eclipse just looks bad a**, the trim matches the aluminum of my 05 console very well. I thought that the Pioneer was kinda of bland.

 

Both units have their Pros and Cons. You cant go wrong with either one.

I think Pioneer looks a little more factory though...

 

The Eclipse is prewired for steering controls. Although nothing currently available for downloads as of yet. If you know the pins of your vehicle it is pretty simple to connect. Toyota/Lexus is simple plug&play.

Peripheral has the iPod2car interface available for Eclipse units to utilize iPod control.

 

I talked to Eclipse Monday on this and for non-Toyotas PAC is coming out with an adapter to go from whatever to Toyota. Comes out in 2-3 weeks.

 

Nothing posted was inaccurate.

1. Satellite – Wash. Both have them its preference.
2. Steering wheel controls – Pioneer better (PAC SWI-PS) It's hardwired. The Eclipse inputs don’t currently work for the G. Although sounds like PAC will have something soon. So a wash if you want to call it that.
3. Warranty – Eclipse goes longer. Pioneer gives a year, which can be extended if you like. I call it a wash, point Eclipse if you like. Doesn't matter to me, still doesn't justify price difference.

Finally, I don't think flaming someone who is trying to add input is "just keeping things factual."

"Just keeping things factual" would be to say "Sure spend $700 more on the Eclipse unit for the better preouts and DAC. That way when you play MP3 music through your stock speakers you really hear a difference." Hahahaha all the way to the bank!

 

Dude was right and I was wrong. The 5435 has a lower-rez screen than the AVIC-D1. I apologize - my bad (finally found someone at Eclipse in tech that knew what I was talking about and asked her).

Just swapped out a AVIC for a 5435 (customer hated the Sirius UI on the Pioneer, preferred the AVIC Sirius UI). The AVIC map display was sharper.

So now the store has a one-week used AVIC D1 in stock (with a Sirius tuner with a never-used antenna). Hope I can sell it (full warranty if anyone's interested).