Alpine or Eclipse Navigation?
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Alpine or Eclipse Navigation?
I'm about to join the infamous dash-cutting club but I can't decide whether to go with an Alpine NVE-N872A or an Eclipse AVN-5435. Here are my pros and cons.
Alpine Pros: screen will fit nice and flush against the dash. The bezel will look nicer, like the JDM ones they sell in Japan. Also I hear it can do traffic forecasting for XM subscribers (pretty neat!)
Alpine Cons: There is an external speaker that has to be mounted to hear the navigation voice. It cannot be integrated to the car's stereo speakers so when playing DVD movies, you don't have the surround sound you get when listening to CDs. The brain (NVE-N872A) will have to go under the seat (or elsewhere) and if you want to play DVD movies, you either have to take out the navigation DVD and put in the movie DVD or have an external DVD player which will then have to be mounted somewhere else (as if we have enough room already).
Eclipse Pros: Its an all in 1 unit so you just get one piece and thats it! Its a double-din so you don't have to reach to the bottom of your seat to change a DVD/CD. Its also cheaper ($1900 msrp) than buying the Alpine unit WITH monitor (unit $1700, screen $700 msrp).
Eclipse Cons: I've seen a few done on our cars and honestly, I do not like the set up. Due to the fact that the Eclipse unit is so deep in width, the whole unit is pushed outward from the dash. It is not flush! This makes it look, in my opinion, not integrated with the car like the JDM's.
So the question is: Do I go for looks over convenience?
Has anyone given it as much thought as I have and can add anything to it? Anyone got Pros and Cons of their own?
Thanks!!
Alpine Pros: screen will fit nice and flush against the dash. The bezel will look nicer, like the JDM ones they sell in Japan. Also I hear it can do traffic forecasting for XM subscribers (pretty neat!)
Alpine Cons: There is an external speaker that has to be mounted to hear the navigation voice. It cannot be integrated to the car's stereo speakers so when playing DVD movies, you don't have the surround sound you get when listening to CDs. The brain (NVE-N872A) will have to go under the seat (or elsewhere) and if you want to play DVD movies, you either have to take out the navigation DVD and put in the movie DVD or have an external DVD player which will then have to be mounted somewhere else (as if we have enough room already).
Eclipse Pros: Its an all in 1 unit so you just get one piece and thats it! Its a double-din so you don't have to reach to the bottom of your seat to change a DVD/CD. Its also cheaper ($1900 msrp) than buying the Alpine unit WITH monitor (unit $1700, screen $700 msrp).
Eclipse Cons: I've seen a few done on our cars and honestly, I do not like the set up. Due to the fact that the Eclipse unit is so deep in width, the whole unit is pushed outward from the dash. It is not flush! This makes it look, in my opinion, not integrated with the car like the JDM's.
So the question is: Do I go for looks over convenience?
Has anyone given it as much thought as I have and can add anything to it? Anyone got Pros and Cons of their own?
Thanks!!
Joined: May 2005
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From: Tallahassee, FL
I like Eclipse as a company, as well as their products. I would go with the eclipse just because it is a 1 piece unit. I think there is a ton of room behind the dash. I would PM Darkknight1999 and see if he has any numbers to corroborate this. Should fit fine (but then again, I have not cut an S2000 dash before, so I dont know exactly how much room there is).
the reason for it being mounted out instead of flush might have to do with the way it opens to accept DVD's / CD's. If it slides down, then out, you might have to mount it out for it to clear the dash. If it goes more out, then down (bottom never passing parallel with the bottom of the unit....like the Alpine Swing Face head units), it would work.
John
the reason for it being mounted out instead of flush might have to do with the way it opens to accept DVD's / CD's. If it slides down, then out, you might have to mount it out for it to clear the dash. If it goes more out, then down (bottom never passing parallel with the bottom of the unit....like the Alpine Swing Face head units), it would work.
John
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Thanks for responses! But I still am undecided. I guess it has alot to do with installation. I just don't want it to look out-of-place, like I just glued a screen onto the dash. Some of the bezels I saw on the forums look awesome but those all had Alpine units. What do I do!!!???
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From: Pt. A to Pt. B via VTEC!!
Originally Posted by NFRs2000NYC,Dec 29 2005, 06:19 PM
Pioneer would be the best for the s2000. Very nice interface, and can be had for about 850 shipped on ebay. (Not the flip out, the double DIN touch screen)
