One of the best 2DIN in dash all in one navigation systems for your car

There are only a handful of double din, in dash, all in one navigation systems available for the car today. Eclipse, Pioneer, Alpine and Kenwood were the 4 that I looked into (the latter two aren't exactly all in one, they have separate nav units). Let me first tell you how I narrowed my decision down to the Eclipse before going into details of the unit itself.

The Alpine IVA-W200 and NVE-N872A combo was just too expensive for me... well over $2000 for the package. I wanted to spend less than $2000. However, the Alpine looked like it had EXCELLENT navigation support as well as audio controls.

The next to be removed from my list was the Pioneer. This isn't to say the Pioneer navigation is poor, it was actually the DVD movie playing feature of the pioneer lineup that didn't agree with me. The only unit they had which played DVD movies was the system that came with a hard drive, the AVIC-Z1. I didn't want the hard drive model because 1) I didn't need to store music on it, I have an iPod and 2) The hard drive bumped the price to over $2000.

Kenwood was the closest 2nd, the DDX-6019, even though it has a separate nav unit, the KNA-G510, the separate nav unit is TINY. In fact, the 2 unit idea has some good points too, if the nav dies, at last you still have the display screen, or vice versa. But the 3 things that I really liked about the Kenwood was 1) Slight larger display (about .5" bigger) and 2) the nav is all on solid state flash memory, no moving drive for a nav disc, and 3) about $300-$400 cheaper than the Eclipse. What turned me away though, was the navigation map display. The Kenwood uses Garmin as the navigation backend. While Garmin does a good job, the map display looked a little cluttered to me compared to the Eclipse. Note, that I might be biased toward Eclipse a little because I've had lots of experience with the Toyota/Lexus navs in the past and their nav systems are nearly identical to Eclipse. Regardless though, along with better iPod integration, the map display made me finally turn to the Eclipse. Ok, on to the good part.

Here is a quick breakdown what I found to be the highlights of the AVN6600

- Very clear 6.5" widescreen display with 400x234 resolution. The touchscreen is very responsive, don't have to mash very hard on it to perform a button press. It tilts quite a bit too so regardless of where it's mounted in your car, you can adjust it to a comfortable viewing angle.

- Dual DVD drives, one for the map, one to play DVDs, CDs etc... So you can watch a movie and use navigation at the same time (for the passengers of course, not the driver!)

- Endless addon capabilities including backup camera, sirius radio, HD radio, iPod, CD changers, Audio/Video input, Audio/Video output.

- So many things to tweak the sound, circle surround, 5 DSP settings, subwoofer out (including level and xover controls), truebass, and a PARAMETRIC EQ to boot (not graphic!).

- Tiny, about 1.5 square inch, powered GPS antenna that you can mount inside or outside the car, or even under the dash to keep out of sight. Note, mounting under the dash may degrade GPS signal, and you cannot have metal blocking the area where you mount under the dash.

- You can customize the splash screen with your own JPG. This screen is displayed when you turn on your car. Note, this is not the same as the background wallpapers that is shown when the system is up and running, there are only 5 preset choices for those.

- Gyros and speed sensors in the system do a pretty good job at maintaining your location, even when you lose the GPS signal due to an obstruction (parking garage, underpass, double deck bridge, etc...)

- Relatively easy to install since it is an all in one unit.

- Maps are fairly up to date. I believe the maps are based on 2004 or 2005 info and the disc was just released early this year. But as with all navigation systems, it might not always pick the best route, even if the maps are 100% up to date. So far though, it hasn't gotten me lost.

- Concise and thorough navigation instructions. Warns you well ahead of time when you need to turn. Also, when approaching an intersection, half the screen zooms into the intersection to give you a closeup of what to expect there, including one way streets and stuff. The other half continues to show your current position. This is VERY HANDY.

- When you have a route programmed, no matter what screen you are in, even if it's not the map screen, the voice commands will still come up and tell you where to go. When a voice command comes up, it attenuates the music in the background and plays the command very loudly throug the front left speaker.

- The speed sensor automatically detects when you get past 50mph and bumps up the volume of your music. Bumps the volume down when you reach a lower speed boundary, I belive it's like 43mph or something.

- Can program areas to avoid so if there is always an area the nav leads you through, but you know it's not a good idea to go there (i.e. traffic, bad roads, one way streets), you can tell the nav not to go that way.

- 106 saveable destination points. I believe they are saved even if you remove power from the unit.

- Routing is very fast, especially for a DVD based system

- iPod control is superior compared to some other units I've used. Though the iPod adapter still hooks up via the CD changer port, it is not one of the systems that "mimics" a CD changer. It actually has different ways to browse through your songs so you don't have to assign a playlist to a "disc slot" like you do with other iPod adapters. Response time is reasonable when browsing through songs, but of course, it still is slow compared to doing it on the iPod directly. Displays track, artist, and album info nicely.

- UI is very easy to use. I didn't have to even read the instructions to program a route or set radio presets. I always recommend reading the manual though to get the most out of your system.

- The display automatically dims at night (i.e. when you turn on your headlights). Not only that, when in the navigation map is on, the display actually inverts from a white to black background so reading street names at night is much easier and not too bright.

- Sound quality is pretty darn good for a small built in amplifier. It rivals my stock Lexus IS300 stereo. But if you want better sound, use the very nice 5V preouts to add an aftermarket amp.

- Plays MP3 and WMA discs. I haven't used this feature yet because I have an iPod, but I can see how this would come in very handy. It displays all the ID3 tag info too! One other note, it supports CD TEXT.

- The DVD player is excellent as well. It can do pretty much everything my home dvd player can. The screen viewing mode can also be changed just like my LCD TV at home, regular, stretch, smart strech, and zoom

A few things I don't like too much.

- When in map mode, there aren't controls to switch through the radio presets. You have to switch back to the radio screen to change the radio presets. There is however an optional remote control for this unit, maybe you can do that with the remote.

- On certain freeways and roads, the current position pointer seems to be a little off to the left. On a freeway, this makes it look like I'm driving on the median. Not a big deal, but it bugs me a little. This could just be a small defect on my unit. Any comments on this topic from other AVN6600 owners are welcome!

- The unit is pretty deep. My dash is pretty deep too, but I had a hard time cramming all the wires back there during installation time, espeically since there are so many add on options you can plug back there.

- The volume up/down and track up/down beeps are ANNOYING AS HELL to me. They are quite loud and are pretty harsh sounding. You can turn the beeps off, but then you also turn off ALL the touch screen beeps, which are much more pleasant and customizable too. They should have made the volume and track beeps customizable like the touch screen beeps.

- Does not support RDS! My stock Lexus stereo supported it so I miss that feature a lot. However, with the HD Radio add on, you get song information, which I believe is something all HD radio tuners support natively. Can't wait for HD radio prices to drop so I can get one!

Overall, this is an excellent system. A bit on the pricey side compared to others, but with the features it packs, it's hard to beat. Plus, with all the add on options you can get, you can upgrade at your own pace. If you don't need all the bells and whistles and are mainly interested in navigation only, you might want to take a look at the AVN5500, which is about $300-$400 cheaper. The navigation portion of that unit is identical to the AVN6600.