I recently replaced my broken Kenwood Touchscreen HU with an Eclipse AVN2454. Didn't have any experience with Eclipse stuff (not sold in my country), but since I only heard positive comments about them, I didn't think twice when I got a good deal on it.
Well, looks like I didn't do enough research, and I'm very disappointed with it. First of all, many functions cannot be controlled using the touchscreen. Instead, you have to use the tiny buttons to select the source, change volume etc. etc. etc. Then, the MP3 support SUCKS. First of all, it doesn't play MP3s on DVDs which is no biggy since not many HUs do this. BUT, the navigation / user interface for MP3s on CDs is a joke. It shows 9 tracks at a time, but only the first 7-8 characters. There's no way to scroll and / or flip pages if you have more then 9 tracks in one folder (wtf ). Instead, you have to skip tracks one by one to get to the next page. Also, the speed is unacceptable. It takes FOREVER to change folders, and the pause between tracks is at least 4-5 seconds too long. Overall, MP3s are pretty much unusable on this unit.

I don't know about current Eclipse HUs, but my guess is that the MP3 support HAS to be better. Still, if you plan to get an Eclipse to play MP3s, make sure you check it out before you purchase.

Would be really nice if there was a way to integrate better MP3 support. But with Ipod support not even being considered by Eclipse (at least this is what I heard), I guess I'm stuck with what I have. If anyone has any suggestions about a possible solution, feel free to chime in.

 

I believe the 5435 adressed all those issues you spoke of.I have the 5435 and havent experienced any of that.Excep when you first load up a cd with mp3 it does take a while to recocgnize them.Once they are loaded it pretty smooth.I filled up a cd with at least 100 songs and flipping thru them is a breeze!!

 

What car do you have im guessing a GS, I have a SC300 and was wondering if the 5435 would fit because i was looking into them and havnt herd of any sc300 with it.

 

I guess it's the same size as the one I have, which is double din. Fits without a problem in my SC4, but it'll leave a 1/2 din gap open.

 

it'll fit, i have the 5435 in my sc4, i have it recessed so i can put a faceplate over it when parked... the 1/2 din slot, i just had a cd holder put in that space.

 

I was about to get the AVN 5495, but I learned that the 20GB hard drive (Music Keg) downloads CDs real time... it will take forever to get 3,000 songs in there! This makes spending the additional money for the 5495 not very appealing to me...

 

But if you still want an all-in-one unit that can do Nav and DVDs without swapping back and forth, you are stuck with this unit. The 5435 has a CD and DVD drive and the nav disc is in the DVD.