Well i am a lazy person to be honest. Currently i have a pretty decent Alpine deck with a simple Aux input. I am getting tired of plugging it in all the time. My wifes car has bluetooth and it is nice to not hook anything and it just connects. So i have been looking at some decks. I prefer Alpine so i am sticking with that brand. I am just curious if the aftermarket units work well?

Thanks.

 

This is the deck i was looking at buying.

Alpine Electronics of America, Inc.

 

Shouldn't be an issue. That stuff has come along way.

 

You'll love it. I got an el cheapo Pioneer a few years ago. I'm a 7.75/10 happy with it. Being able to hop in, turn it on, and connect was such a treat. I can rock some internet radio, turn by turn directions, and make a phone call without the deck or phone stroking out. That blew my mind. The deck you linked is much nicer than what I'm running so I'm sure you'll see a sweet tech improvement.

Things I don't like:
--It takes maybe 20-30 seconds to connect and finally play music. Probably a result of it being old and cheap.
--The maximum volume for my system under CD or 1/8" headphone jack was 58/62 before it would sound like crap. Running bluetooth I can only run to about 48 before it sounds like crap. Not loud enough for Domination by Pantera.
--There is a delay under phone calls. My buddy has factory BT on his 2009 dodge and I notice a delay when he calls from the road. I'm not sure if new BT equipped vehicles have reduced that.

Let me know how you like that Alipne. I've been thinking about upgrading.

 

Good to hear. I will probably go pick it up sometime this week.

 

I have a Clarion double-din head unit that's ~3yrs old. I had some connectivity issues with it when I had a first gen Droid X. Sometimes it took a long time to connect or wouldn't connect at all and not resume audio after a phone call. Since upgrading to a Droid Maxx, I haven't had any issues and it connects faster when I first turn on bluetooth. Usually the head unit manufactures have a connectivity list of devices it pairs nicely with.

 

I've used a Pioneer AVIC-Z2 (bought in 07 or 08) that needed a separate Bluetooth module, but worked very well . more recently used a Kenwood DNN991HD and it works great when set up for one phone, but doesn't handle multiple drivers very well. Kenwood was purchased this summer. The installer advised me against alpine as he said they aren't as good as pioneer /kenwood.

 

Hey Black, did you get the HU?

I have an older alpine deck cda 9857 and was wondering if the old harness would plug into the new Alpine units. Cheers!

F15

 

Yep i did get it. No the new and ild harnesses are conpletely different. The bluetooth works like a champ thou!

 

Granted, I've got a single din HU in my truck, but the factory harness and the Sony I picked up were completely different. Had to rewire it then hook it to the illumination wire for the headlights, otherwise it would shut off as soon as I started moving.