Navigation and XM Radio finally done!

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Brandon DeVore

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The only thing I did not get when I bought the ST that I wanted when I bought a new car was Navigation. After about a year of research and debating and asking alot of quesitons here and on alot of car audio forums I finaly went with the AVIC-D1 from Pioneer.



I have to say Im seriously impressed with the overall accuracy from an aftermarker unit. Its dead on and the options are nearly endless.



I love the XM with the graphics just like my Fiance's Acura TL does. Its nearly identical to it. Its really nice. I did not think i would like XM but im really enjoying the sports and comedy stations. And the best part is... NO ANNOYING UNIT ON THE DASH.



It offers Nav Traffic, which is VERY handy if you live in a big city and/or commute. IT tells you miles ahead there is an accident and traffic is backed up and automattically reroutes you.



Its nice for the convenice to. It has tons of resturants and there phone numbers in it. So if you want to order a pizza on your way home, you dont have to spend 50cent or whatever on 411. Or you can just tell it to find the nearest resturants.



I bought the steering wheel remote for it as well.(You can see in the picture) And that thing makes a huge difference.



I did the install completely myself. Took an entire Saturday. Only required a bit of filing, but not really all that much. I had to rig my own harness to stop it wobbling. The wires were more of a pain then anything.



I wanted it to look as Stock as possible.



Tell me what you all think, All the pictures are up in my libaray if you cant see them here.



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We are looking at doing the same thing, we're just evaluting several different units right now. My question to you is..how does it sound? Do you still have stock speakers or did you change those as well?
 
Where did you purchase the unit from? how much did you pay for it?



I see them on ebay sometimes for $600 bucks but i am not sure if it is a scam or not.



Tom
 
I paid 1000 on Ebay for it. It was from an actually reputable store. I saw the ones for 600 but I did not think it was safe. I paid anthor 15 bucks for the steering wheel remote.



I still have the stock speakers. IT sounds AMAZING. It has a fully customizable audio screen so you can set the equalizer to anything you want. But I still plan on getting new speakers for even better sounds.



I spent almost a YEAR evaluating different models Kimbro. The AVIC- N1 I thought would block my AC vents, and I wanted somethign that looked STOCK, that was the key.



All the Kenwood ones would be to expensive and the Navigation software is crap.



The only other model I was gonna go with was the eclispe ones, but they are more expensive and also the software they use is does not use the same software analising programing that really makes the pioneer stand out. Also the eclispe unit did not have all the neat built in features for the XM system that I wanted.



But like I said, at first I was not interested in the XM or the navtraffic. However now I am SO happy I have nav traffic. I could not get that with any other units.
 
Great job. Isnt that a similar model that Ford puts in the new explorers?
 
Eagle,



Nice mod!



What exactly don't you like about the Kenwood Nav software? I'm installing a Kenwood system, so I'm curious.
 
Thanks for the info. I'm really anxious to get on installed in my truck. We were looking at the Kenwood because we already have the Sirius stuff needed for it. However, if the navigation software is crap then it'll be worth it buy the Pioneer equipment for my Sirius.
 
First question to Big D. If you look at the 6th picture it has a list of all the options you can put on this unit at one time. you can see the option for sirius, you just have to buy the adapter. Sirius does not give you the graphic output for the station, and it does not give you the nav traffic option. I perfer the XM stations better for me anyways.But thats me, and not you, the unit is able to do both.



Kimbro, for ME, i hated the kenwood, i had a debate with my friend at work who had the kenwood put in his car. The kenwood is alot more work. And the software sucks. It does not have half the features that I saw that the pioneer offered. I mean it still did what it needed to do, but the pioneer is alot like what comes in most of teh expeditions, it uses teh same software they put in most cars stock. Acura uses this software, ford, lincon, and so does Volkswagon, BMW and mercedes use a more expensive company. And nissan and somethign else use a garmin owned software. I also hated the background options for the kenwood, it mad it look way to fake. My friend traded the kenwood in for this unit. This unit (unlike the kenwood) also has no brain. So you dont have to have anything put under the seat or anything, and the XM adapter is small enough to hide behind the glove compartment.



I also just got the IPOD adapter and WOW> it completly integrates. you can put an MP3 disk in there and sort by the folders. Its great.

 
Looks like you convinced me. It's an easy fix to buy the Sirius component for the Pioneer.



I'm so glad you did this. Thanks for all of the info. I needed something new for the truck. It's been almost a year since we did anything to it...what a sin!! :D
 
I recomend getting the remote tho, the only downside for me is I like the flush look. The onlything that left me with is knob on the bottom left thats used for tuning while in map mode, and also used for your presets is set in some. now i could fix this buy changing the angle. the only reason I dont do it is because i like the flat look. The remote makes things a ton eaiser and it mounts on teh steering wheel nicely.



Im getting the TV put on it soon as well as a dvd player. but im probably gonna just use a PS2 or something so I can have both.



Also when you get it installed have them ground the parking break lead. or if you do it yourself I can give you the instructions. This way you dont have to put the trucks parking break on every time you want to use the navigation features. I grounded it, and works alot better, you can just stop or whatever to use it. you get a warning everytime but big deal. Also the gryroscope in it stops you from using it if your going over 2mph. so no lawsuits anyways.
 
Install looks great. I have they D310 Alpine unit in my F150. I liked it a bit better than the Pioneer or Eclipes. I in bad areas so I nee something that retracted and has a face plate that can be removed.



 
No kimbro, the navigation will work even if you dont have either one. XM is the only service that offers the premiem features for the unit however. Like the enhanced graphics. XM also offers Navtraffic. Wich Sirius does not. Navtraffic is like 3 dollars more a month, and I was not gonna pay for it at first, but i wanted to see what it was like. If you live in a big city, and drive on roads that are useally busy, i recommend this feature. I have to travel 2 interstates to get to my job. it useally takes me about an hour and half to get to work in the morning. The first day i had navtraffic the interstate was shut down and I had no idea. when the unit told me to turn before the interstate i thought it was crazy. but i did it anyways, I made it to work about 15 mins sooner then I normally do, and I missed the whole mess on the interstate. Its just a nice feature i never thought I would ever need. It tells you when your at police checkpoints, where construction is, stuff like that, and only the XM service offers that, the XM unit for the D1 is also REALLY expensive, i picked it up on ebay for 100bucks. You can get a sirius unit for like 40.



Its all really what you want to get out of the system. if you want EVERYTHING the unit offers, i would go the XM route get teh tv tuner and the rear camera, and dvd player, and XM for the enchance graphics and teh nav traffic, but if you perfer the sirius, go with that, all your sacraficing is the navtraffic and the enchance graphics on the satalite stations.
 
Looks to be a pretty nice unit.



I bought a Lexus RX model so it is a bit harder for me to update the Radio as the heat and A/C controls are integrated into the digital radio.



I am sure they are out there, just don't know where...
 
Thanks for the info. We'll keep our Sirius, it just fits up better. Besides with Sirius in the house, boat, office and truck...doesn't make much since for me to switch to XM just for the Navtraffic. Besides, I don't live in a big city and don't visit them often either so that's no great loss for me. I'm sure I can live without the additional graphics as well, although it would be cool.
 
I have the AVIC- N2 (same nav) and its fine during the day. It looks dim from the flash of the camera. When the headlights are on the background turns black.
 
My '02 has the radio on the rear console. Can you still connect to it? It really doesn't matter to me as no one has ever used it, but I'm just curious. Great job you did on it. I did see that it will hook up to a rear view camera what I'm planning on installing as well! You have to purchase the XM converter separate or is it built in? I'm using a Roady hooked into the cassette player and it sound good that way, but would like to have everything rolled into one.
 
I have that same unit in my Escalade, and I love it! So much so, that I'm putting one in the Mustang next week as well. It looks good in the dash of the ST.
 

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