soo i want to hear some arguments on the diferences of motorized flip out and double din screens...pros cons, that sort of thing...have fun and rock on

 

Are you trying to start a fight

 

Well, I went with an Alpine IVA-D310 (flip-out) instead of a Kenwood or Eclipse double din because of the pixel count (over 1 million). Kenwood and Eclipse both are only 330K. Thats a HUGE picture quality difference. Lets face it...you are buying the screen to watch...why not have the BEST picture available?

What am I going to do about the empty pocket in the dash? Alpine has a din mount center speaker...perfect placement for a 5.1 set-up. Not an exact timbre match with my other speakers....but it will fill the hole perfectly.

Oh, and about too many moving parts (flip out)...blah, blah, blah. Extended warranty covers that.

p.s. Plus the 310 has a super cool PulseTouch feature...it gives a little electrical shock (so to speak)...makes you feel like you are actually pushing a real button and not a screen.

 

I have both chassis now. A Kenwood DDX-7015 in my F-150 and an Eclipse AV-8132 in my Honda Pilot. So, I will give a few opinions.

The Kenwood can not touch the picture quality of the Eclipse. Not even close. The Kenwood also suffers badly from bright glaring days. The Eclipse can be tilted down and it does not have the glare anyway.

Moving parts is kinda irrelevant to me. The Kenwood screen has to motor down to insert a CD or DVD so, they both move. And really, all I am looking for is maybe 4-5 years at most. Because then, technology will change and something better will be available.

One big thing I like about the double din is no hide away box to deal with. All the connections are made right at the unit. There are only a couple of single dins that do not have an extra box. That saves install time.

Depending on your install, the single din screen can block controls to other things as well. A/C *****, vents, switches. That can be a real pain to have to retract the screen to adjust the A/C fan. I do not have that problem now in the Pilot but, did in my Acura TL.

My personal choice is the double din. I love the all in one unit, no extra box and filling the dash and still looking close to stock. My biggest and really only complaint on my Kenwood, is the glare. During the day, even cloudy days, the screen easily gets too hard to see. If you watch a dark movie, forget it.

So, I still think both have their place and will be around a long time. I think there are still alot more single din dashes than double.


BTW...Can someone with an Eclipse unit (double din) in their F-150 comment on the glare. Do you have the same problem?

 

I've had and done it all. Flip outs to me are going to be a thing of the past. If you can fit a double-din, then do it. Looks the closest to factory. I like your comment about not worrying due to the extended warranty, but who wants to go through the hassle of actually using your warranty.

That is why Alpine is only down to one flip out. They are going to join the double-din band wagon next year.

They know where it's at, they are just a little late getting to the party.

 

I'm not knocking the double din...I agree with you. The ONLY reason I did not go with an Eclpise or Kenwood double din is because of the picture quality. The Alpine having over 1 million pixels really put the other pictures to shame, IMHO. I mean, when you buy a TV you go and look at the picture, right? I bought the Alpine because of its picture (and some features). Heck, it only has 2 volt preouts...I like runing with at least 4 volt. The Eclipse is 5 volt (I think).

 

I have a Kenwood DDX 7017 and the screen has six tilt settings, makes a huge difference.

 

Can you explain? Makes huge difference how?

 

When you tilt the screen, it takes the glare off the screen. The one time I used it it worked very good, went from could hardly see it to I could see it pretty good. Not like you were in the shade on a cloudy day, but what more could you want?

 

I will have to try that. I just assumed tilting it up would make it worse.

 

I thought it was dumb that it fliped up but I guess they knew what they were doing.

 

I agree with the pictures are way better than kenwood and elcipse
I also went with the Alpine IVA-d901 which is the best pictures for a DVD screen....and additional to this, its a 7" screen
I also added an alpine Nav and view them maps and streets are lot easier

 

look what i started..ha but i have heard a lot of intersesting points...for a while there i thought i was sold on the alpine but the drawback is the 2v preouts...how much of a difference will it make from the kenwood or eclipse's 5v? cause i have the alpine typeR components and i am definitly gonna run an amp to them so will the sound be that much worse than 5v? thanks everyone..

 

If I am correct the line converters I had were 2v and when I put in the Kenwood with 5v outputs with no other change the sound was alot better(cleaner). I was able to turn my amp up alot and it sound sooooo much better its not funny. I don't know how much was a good head unit and how much was the line converters but I run Alpine type R's too and didn't like them until I installed the head unit.

 

You shouldn't be able to hear a difference. If it bothers you that much, you can get a line driver.