Alpine IVA-W505 In Dash 7" DVD Receiver

Full featured, best head unit on the market

Strengths: - Easy to install - Outstanding integration with Apple products (iPod music & video, iPhone) - When paired with the Blackbird II GPS unit, the bluetooth phone support with the microphone is incredible

Weaknesses: - Blackbird II GPS is lacking: graphics are lousy, can't find many locations and a lot of obvious street names are missing

Summary: 2008-08-22 09:26:03 I was skeptical about this head unit because it "does it all" but I was surprised to learn that it really does do it all, quite well. The only feature that isn't on par with other similar products is the Blackbird II GPS unit. The graphics are so-so, and quite often it doesn't know street names and can't find obvious places, such as the Best Buy store that has been there for a few years. I love the iPod integration... it will play video from my 80GB iPod Classic and the 3rd generation iPod Nano (the square one). iPhone 3G integration is amazing... downloads all of my contacts, recent/missed calls, and the audio quality using the included mic amazes everyone that hears it. That's got to be my favorite feature!

I did an install video which includes my demonstration of bluetooth phone integration (iPhone 3G), iPod, Sirius, and a backup camera. Please check it out by going to iTunes and searching the iTunes Store for "truckblog" to download it and watch it on your iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, or computer.

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it sucks

Strengths: the 7" screen is nice and clear, and that is the only good thing about this unit

Weaknesses: everything else are terrible !

Summary: 1. it cost the most among car GPS / multimedia units on the market

2. The lady voice is terrible, it sound like 19 century computer synthesized voice

technology, sometime even skips !

3. The GPS is so slow that when the route gets a little complicate, it gives out info after

I already pass the point !, I guess this unit still using 286 processor.

4. There is no way to adjust the screen angle to reduce glare

5. When tilt the screen (open), there is no visible button to close it with normal sitting

position.

6. The stereo sound quality is worse than its $200 little brother CDA-9856

7. I can not live with this junk for another day, so I rather loose money to change to

Eclipse AVN 726E, and it works.

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