ALright guys, heres my review of the Pioneer AVIC-N1.
First off, if you think you will have any trouble installing this, you probably will haha. I took a look at it first and thought it was waaaay to advance for me. Splicing into my VSS wire is not my idea of fun. So i bit the bullet and took it to my local shop. Took them most of the day, but they did a clean install. THey said the best spot would be the top of the double din, even tho it blocks the ac vents, so you can see the screen without adverting your eyes that much. And i must say, after a couple of days, i'm glad they put it there. They mounted my GPS antenna in the corner of my windshield and so far no reception problems. The guy said my car had to leave the shop legal in terms of parking brake wire, but he left me a lot of slack so I could do it myself. But it turns out I can pop the parking brake to the first click in my protege es, and although nothing happens with the brake, the car thinks its on, so i'm probably gonna keep it like that that way if a cop pulls me over I can still say theres no way I can drive and watch a movie. But anyway, lets get to the review.
Navigation:
Wow! The cool factor on this is enough to warrent the purchase. This navigation has so far been dead on and recalculates directions very quickly. I've used a non touch screen navigation and it takes forever to enter address, but with the touch screen, you're ready to go in a minute esp. since the unit narrows down what road your trying to spell and then gives you a list of all the avalible roads with that name (ie. ave's vs. roads, towns and things like that). Or you can look up a place to go with their over 12 million points of interest which is really cool. You can search by name or by catagory. And looking through the list quickly, they have a lot of choices. Even this local pizza shop was on the list, I thought that was amazing. The unit offers a couple of map views, all have their distinct advantage....but the best view is probably the guide view. It has a map on the left side of the screen and zooms in on turns and junctions and forks in the road to let you know which way to go, and on the right side it has distance to your next turn and what kind of turn you are going to be making. All in all, anyone who doesn't think they need navigation might want to take this for a test drive. i feel a lot more confident taking trips to places I don't know too well all because I can quickly find my way home.
Audio:
Pioneer quality. Although only 2volts pre outs, I still have my gains on my amps set to the same from my old 4 volt unit. If you like mp3's, this unit plays them lovely. You can view songs while one's playing and you can listen to the radio or cd's while in navigation mode. There are a tons of audio options, i'm still trying to learn how each thing effects the sound, but if you can't perfect your music with this, you are a true true audiophile lol. One downside, with the radio, you can't name your presets, which I had learned to love from my old radio.
Video:
Everything you can expect from a in car tv. Good quality, although not as sharp as maybe some alpines, you really won't notice because its good enough. IT has a good angle for viewing as every seat in the car can see the picture fine. The controls are a little annoying because they bring up a big thing that covers the movie, so i would suggest in investing in the dvd remote, but other than that. No complants.
Conclusion.
This unit is everything it says it is. And while some units may do somethings better (i'm actually not so sure about navigation, this is the best i've used) You really can't get a better bang for your buck. The unit has a plain but intuitive GUI and all your friends will be impressed the first time they see your monitor flip out. ANyway, let me leave you guys with some pictures. And feel free to ask me any questions.
