Made Entertaiment on Your Car

Got this item last month and it rocks, can’t beat value & reliability for price. I do have a few little gripes.

Good:

This is a decent head unit with very good interface, screen clarity and DVD playback. Sound quality was very good considering I have no amp and I liked that sound options could be configured. I read reviews on other sites before buying and as advertised most of the functions worked. I was able to play DVDs, MP3 CDs, and regular CDs. The bluetooth worked ok for audio transfer (with Nokia 6230 & Blackberry Pearl), and handsfree mic sounded ok on receiving end. I like the piano black with brushed chrome look and feel. I did not install the backup camera, and did not get the tv tuner unit in time for the install, but the aux-in port works fine.

Gripes:

I haven’t gotten the ipod interface to work yet though – i currently have an Ipod nano (3rd gen). The Dual logo displays on the ipod, but the head unit keeps saying “connecting…” I think it may be a compatibility issue with the nano firmware version. Will check this out, but I can use the 3.5mm in jack as an alternative, and the nano does get charged using the ipod jack connection. I had to use a by-pass for the parkbrake – had a little trouble at first, but resolved this. Would have liked this unit to come with Divx and have more functionallity with the bluetooth – does not read call address book on blackberry pearl correctly. Tends to get warm quickly.

Overall:

This unit was professionally installed in a ‘04 “Corolla”. Installation was quick and almost pain free (by-pass to parking brake took some time – I do not live in a state with video restrictions). I would recommend this unit to any one. Its a good sturdy unit with lots of features, and I could not find another unit at lower price vs reliability concerns.
Rating: 4 / 5

I was wanting to purchase this because of the features and the price it was being offered for. I decided not too simply to save money and ended up receiving it for Christmas. I was really nervous reading about it and the reviews of people saying that it breaks right away and this and that. Well I installed it about 5 days ago and was very careful with my wiring, installation, and just overall cautiousness when handling it to avoid shock on the unit. I wired it up cleanly and got it installed and looking great. I held my breath while I turned the car on and to my surprise, it was much better than I expected. You have to remember this is Dual, not pioneer or alpine or any other $700 headunit. It’s not going to be “Top of the line”, but it does work more than enough for what it cost that I’ve seen so far. If it does break, I’ll try to claim a warranty repair/replacement or upgrade. But it does seem to be working strong.

Previously I only used Pioneer branded audio equipment, so yea the sound might not be as super clean as my old DEH-P510UB pioneer premier headunit, but I’m also driving a honda accord with pioneer speakers and no subwoofer, so I don’t really plan on going to any car shows or anything!

The Unit I received stated that it was manufactured in March of 2009 so it has some upgraded firmware I believe and it does work with my iPhone.

So far it does everything that it advertises except for the bluetooth connectivity portion of my iPhone, it DOES WORK, I just cannot see the “name” of who is calling on my screen, just the calling number. All numbers say “unknown”. Other than that it works great.

NOW FOR THE CONS that I have noticed, however nothing would make me return this except for a malfunction:

– Yes, from previous reviews, the fan is a little bit loud. I only noticed this with my dashboard taken apart. Once it was all put back together, I couldn’t even hear the fan so I don’t see that as an issue AT ALL.

– The Touch Screen is not near as sensitive as it should be, especially for a motorized screen. It doesn’t have to be iPhone level, but I would rather not have to push the screen as hard as is required to make a selection. If you’re conscious and pay attention then it shouldn’t be too much of an issue. You can also use the right nob to make selections.

– The memory for the screen position isn’t very accurate, sometimes it forgets where the screen was previously and picks a different position. However simply pushing the angle button solves this pretty quickly.

– Theres a weird issue when you are using your iPhone as a music player and bluetooth phone at the same time. Sometimes if the headunit is playing songs off your phone, and then connects to bluetooth, you have to disconnect and reconnect your iPod cable to play music again. What I did was use my old generation 2 iPod and put all of my music on there, and leave it in the center console as a sort of hard drive. And play music off of that.

– Of course, being that it is not a Pioneer or other expensive brand head unit, the equalizer options are not near as vast. But it still does sound good and is waay better than stock.

I’m sure I’ll end up throwing a cheap subwoofer in there for some bass. Just keep in mind, that so far, the Pros/Specifications greatly outweigh the Con’s for the price that this cost. (199.99). The closest Pioneer head unit was over 400.00, and that didn’t include the 129.99 bluetooth adapter. So since I’m not driving a Lexus or a show car, this head unit is awesome.

I plan on editing this post if the headunit does malfunction and explain the outcome.
Rating: 4 / 5

This dvd player sucks, it doesn’t have stereo bluetooth so don’t think about playing music using bluetooth, it doesn’t have a usb port and the AUX 3.5 jack doesn’t work. You have o hook up two huge cables to listen to your ipod(if your ipod works). I don’t want to plug in my ipod every time I get in my SUV, that’s when stereo bluetooth would be nice, or at least a usb port. I would recommend buying this if you don’t mind all the extra hook ups and lack of extentions. I ended up getting a Pyle which has everything, is easier to install and will last longer.
Rating: 2 / 5