Double din GPS options?

[CenterIsl]

Well, let's see compared to the Qualir 7" I posted a link to, the JVC has...4x50w (versus 4x45w) and a subwoofer out but no direct iPOD support. And they both appear to be fully buzzword compliant. Then again, street price for the JVC is almost 3 times that of the Qualir...

[mts]

I just installed a Kenwood 7140 and am quite pleased with it. It's got the fully adjustable color which is nice to match everything exactly and the full 7" screen is nice too. Kenwood is offering a rebate on most of their units from 6/1 to 8/1 so that didn't hurt either. I had a portable Garmin I really liked and so the transition to the Kenwood (Garmin based) GPS made things easy.

[gstoli]

Installing a Qualir in a Porsche is somewhat oxymoron. You can find the JVC for 700-800$ so the price is double not triple.

Despite being "snob," , my personal experience with "no name" brands is that I eventually end up buying the expensive unit, because I am not satisfied with actual every day operation.

On the other hand I see the Kenwood DNX7140 at 1499$ after rebates and I wonder what is so much better with the Kenwood that justifies the double price. Reviews of the unit do not describe a wow experience, so why not keeping the extra $$$ for some other upgrade?

[mts]

Originally Posted by gstoli

On the other hand I see the Kenwood DNX7140 at 1499$ after rebates and I wonder what is so much better with the Kenwood that justifies the double price. Reviews of the unit do not describe a wow experience, so why not keeping the extra $$$ for some other upgrade?

I can't really help you with the wow experience as I don't have too much of a basis of comparison. I can tell you my friend who has a Pioneer AVIC unit in his Boxster was favorably impressed with my Kenwood DNX7140. The main reason I went with the Kenwood is it was highly recommended by my local high-end stereo place (they've been around for 20+ years and I trust them). Since they were doing the install (since I had to deal with the MOST-BUS issues on my car) and they seemed to think it compared very favorably to other lines they carry (Including Alpine and JVC), that was good enough for me.

I can't argue with the logic of going more cost effective and saving some cash though. Makes sense to me.

Of course, like you, 90% of the time I end up regretting not buying the higher end product at the end of the day though.

Good luck!