H
henryeleejr
Guest
I have a 2005 Honda Pilot (I am the original owner) and it came with the stock stereo - which at the time was just AM/FM with a CD player. For years I had one of those Roady2 XM units that used the FM transmitter.
Over time, the Roady gave me problems so I finally went to a car audio installer and asked about 3rd party options. In the end, I was unhappy with the experience. I ended up with a $150 radio installed that was XM compatible, that needed an XM radio adapter.
The audio installer made me feel like it was one of the only options I had. I wanted something with 5 lines of display (this has only one ... which is torturous). I also wanted one where I could scroll through channels to see what was playing on other stations without leaving my current station (could do with this with the Roady, cannot do this with the new stereo unit). He ended up selling me on this Kenwood model (Kenwood MP342U), and I was simply settling at that point because it seemed like there were no decent options in his store. The thing is very far from being user friendly. I am a computer programmer so it took only a little time to figure it out, but it's poorly designed and hard to use. My wife, for example, hates the thing so much that she just switches to FM radio when she drives my car because she can't figure out how to use it (and she likes XM and had no issues with the Roady2).
The thing is, I am turning this car over to my wife. We both love the car, but hate the radio (and it's simplicity). I would love it to have a nice stereo that is XM-ready and user-friendly. I would also love to see if I could have a back-up camera installed, but I fear these are expensive.
There also seems to be a real lack of car audio installation places near me that I could go to with questions, outside of this one guy who I think did a mediocre job (I had to go back twice because it wasn't working properly - one time was the fuse, another time the radio reset itself and had to be disconnected from all power sources to be fixed). That is why I am turning to Yahoo Answers, in hope some people can point me in the right direction.
I never thought I would say that I miss my dirt cheap $99 roady2 ... I thought that was annoying, but it was gold compared to this scenario.
RepNChicago: This looks pretty solid all around, especially like the iPod connectivity, but it seems to be missing XM?
Over time, the Roady gave me problems so I finally went to a car audio installer and asked about 3rd party options. In the end, I was unhappy with the experience. I ended up with a $150 radio installed that was XM compatible, that needed an XM radio adapter.
The audio installer made me feel like it was one of the only options I had. I wanted something with 5 lines of display (this has only one ... which is torturous). I also wanted one where I could scroll through channels to see what was playing on other stations without leaving my current station (could do with this with the Roady, cannot do this with the new stereo unit). He ended up selling me on this Kenwood model (Kenwood MP342U), and I was simply settling at that point because it seemed like there were no decent options in his store. The thing is very far from being user friendly. I am a computer programmer so it took only a little time to figure it out, but it's poorly designed and hard to use. My wife, for example, hates the thing so much that she just switches to FM radio when she drives my car because she can't figure out how to use it (and she likes XM and had no issues with the Roady2).
The thing is, I am turning this car over to my wife. We both love the car, but hate the radio (and it's simplicity). I would love it to have a nice stereo that is XM-ready and user-friendly. I would also love to see if I could have a back-up camera installed, but I fear these are expensive.
There also seems to be a real lack of car audio installation places near me that I could go to with questions, outside of this one guy who I think did a mediocre job (I had to go back twice because it wasn't working properly - one time was the fuse, another time the radio reset itself and had to be disconnected from all power sources to be fixed). That is why I am turning to Yahoo Answers, in hope some people can point me in the right direction.
I never thought I would say that I miss my dirt cheap $99 roady2 ... I thought that was annoying, but it was gold compared to this scenario.
RepNChicago: This looks pretty solid all around, especially like the iPod connectivity, but it seems to be missing XM?