ok, just got this thing installed and want to give a few brief thoughts..... I have had about 25 minutes of actual play time and most of that was connecting my phone and transfering some info.

Got my box in from crutchfield....bought the unit and the ipod cable

initial thoughts $50 for an ipod cable and it already has USB, you have to be kidding.....

opened the box and at the top is a small brown box with all the wiring and connectors, microphone and gps sensor...also has install manual and a few other documents, but I don't think it came with an owners manual...looked everywhere and can't find it......that is really, really annoying....and I think it just didn't have one. ipod cable came in separate bag

install -

for the most part it was really easy, no extra brain to mount, everything is self contained......all the connections to the unit come in quick disconnect form, except one, the USB.....I will talk more about that in a bit

I figured I would wire everything and then just drop in the unit.

I downloaded the instructions for factory nav install and began

removed the w200, dash and guages. mounted the GPS unit behing the guages on top of an A/C vent right under the dash. just a peel and stick for a little metal piece and then the sensor is magnetic - this thing has a ton of cable and could be placed almost anywhere in a car

I then ran the mic through the dash and up the D/S pillar and mounted it to the visor.

I then soldered the wiring harness and heat shrinked and then connected it to the car...now, first little annoyance is not all wires are in main harness - for example remote turn. there is a speed sensor wire in the harness for the factory nav, so tapping in to that was easy.

I didn't do a rear camera or extra video out or in other than ipod

I then ran the brake wire down the center and then decided to put the ipod cable in center console - this is where the ipod cable became really annoying. The cable uses the USB and and R/L/V rca's and the way the cable is designed is really dumb. the rca's are really long, but the USB is short.... so I couldn't run the cable until I installed the stereo because the USB is permanent on the back of the unit - this will also be annoying for any service or change.

Highights

Pros

1. fairly easy install
2. nice looking unit
3. includes flash based Nav, USB, SD card, 1/8 input, and crappy ipod cable.
4. seems feature packed, nice EQ (need to research more)
5. Optical out (for future use)
6. music starts pretty quickly, nav can take a bit to boot
7. nice clean sound
8. easy access to fuse on back, not sure if this is same thing that was problem before. it is 10amp


cons
1. IPOD CABLE design
2. control **** button could stick out a little more and is sometimes touchy
3. A bit slow to respond to commands - first nav system, so I could be off
4. not so great in glare - limited experience
5. Voice command sucks, so far worst one I have ever used- we will see if I am doing something wrong or need to move the mic or something.


it has a ton of other features you can look up, and so will I, especially if I get a manual

 

I wonder if you could use a USB extension cable on the USB part of the iPod cable.

ex:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1091099783406

 

any pics from the install?

 

Im sure you have checked out AVIC411.com. I believe there is a firmware upgrade. you may want to check if yours came with the new firmware or not. Ive heard it makes a good difference. Ill be getting the 900bt soon as well.
thanks for taking the time to post...
-nick

 

the reason the usb is so short on the ipod cable is because most people have their ipod interface ran to glove box, or console, because you use the radio not the ipod.. and you can run the rca's to the radio.. connect usb in the glove box.. and that way you can disconnect it and use the usb for a flash drive and not have to pull the unit out to change a cable or anything

 

anybody have this avic and using the steering wheel controls? how do you like it?

 

I have the steering wheel control on my avic... but I do not like it at all other than the fact that its functional...

The response is slow... its quicker to adjust the **** on the headunit itself.

And yes, the new firmware actually makes a difference. The system is more responsive and they got rid of the blue boxes on the map.

 

To make the steering wheel controls work, did you use a PAC SWI-PS controller or something else?

 

 

Yup thats the one I used.

 

how much was your pac?