Great unit, but not all-in-one. The 872A is the trunk-mount Nav unit - you still need an Alpine headunit to mate with it.

 

alpine's nav is bar none the best in the industry....that's why it's $1600 for the nav alone

 

What i have been told is that the Alpine's IPOD integration is one of the best. They are steps ahead of the other manufacturers as they came up with it first and had the different generations of products to tweak and come up with best and quickest IPOD integration.

 

I disagree with you both.
1) I've used both the Alpine and Eclipse EXTENSIVELY. The Alpine is good, and their screens look good, but the Eclipse works at least as well as the Alpine. The Alpine Nav being $1600 is only because it is a separate unit. It has NO edge over Eclipse's all-in-one design, and is way more ugly to install.

2) Eclipse's IPOD integration is EXCELLENT. I have their IPOD adapter, and it is super quick and flawless. I am actually beginning to prefer it over my CD, etc. All of the IPOD menus are available on the 6600 screen, and easy to navigate.

Jerry

 

the alpine unit IS better than the DVD based navi of the Eclipse units. It's made by a different company and has MANY more POI's along with being voice activated. who says that you have to install it somewhere that is constantly visible?

For those of you who still disagree with me about the DVD (Eclipse) based navigation being less accurate than the HDD based one (Eclipse)...i challenge you to try them both and then come back with your real time results. you may not think about it because it seems so minute but the HDD is actually more accurate. Pretend like you're getting it for your 85 year old grandmother who can't see half a mile in front of here and needs to be taken directly to her doctor's office and wants to be notified when she's infront of the building.

the ipod adapter for the AVN6600 works great. I have both items in my car and absolutely love them both

 

Why you would not need to install a nav system where it is visible is beyond me.

 

Hameed I beleive he means mount the brain somewhere out of sight which is fine because there is really no need to see or access the Alpine navi brain once it is installed unless of course you have to reset the unit.

As for how good it is, sure itis good. I sell both Alpine and Pioneer and I have to say for the money the Pioneer is just as good as the Alpine in terms of navi but when it comes to ipod integration Alpine is by far the best one I have used.

 

correct, since the alpine navigation unit is a box that has absolutely no screen on it why would you really need to see it all the time? now since you have to hook it up to a screen you can get all of the output of the navi without seeing the ugly little box.

 

I assumed the VPA-B211A would be coming along for the ride. I was just noting I like the Alpine unit and wish it was an option to select. =)

 

wow, didnt this was still going.

Going to re-read..hope there is a lot of new info in here

 

Does this poll still stand?

 

probably for the most part. in the end, just find a dealer for each and go mess around with them. the unit could sound great on the internet but in real life you could just not get it at all, and wish that you went the other route.

comes down to what you like in the end, not what other people say

 

Thats true.

 

I may be a little biased, but ever since I got my Avic-Z1 i can't seem to ever go back to anything lesser. As for a few of the posts that stated bluetooth problems, they have already come out with an update for it and as of not being able to play dvd's while driving....past tense. Also have a fix for that.

 

personally i like the clarion max675vd with navi. But pioneer is up there