I have a possible line on a cheap Ford nav unit and am wondering -- with the nav, is there a major improvement in sound quality over the Shaker 500? I've heard that the factory unit is largely a reboxed AVIC-D1, is this true? If so, it should be considerably better than the S500, right?

Anyone who's done the job, please chime in!

 

I went from a S500 to the nav unit and noticed a considerable imporvement in sound quality. Not to mention useability of the sound system and many things that just work better. Like ID3 tags in MP3s work like they should.

 

Much improvement.

 

Bah, I got impatient waiting for KC to get back to me, and grabbed an Avic-D3 from eBay, heh. May God have mercy on my soul.

 

Is that one a 6cd in-dash changer too like the factory nav, or just a one disc?

 

Sadly, one CD/DVD! Meaning, of course, that if you want to play music you have to pop the nav DVD out and run on whatever route you'd saved before ejecting the DVD.

But! It plays DVD movies, and has really good integrated iPod controls and an iPod jack. Considering the only CDs I play are just 600mb of burned MP3s, I'm just going to plug in an iPod and play my music off that. And for $750 new and warrantied, how can you go wrong?

 

I thought the Factory Nav costs $1995? That's what the price list for 2008 shows?

Too much money IMHO.........

 

Woops -- I was talking about the Pioneer AVIC-D3 at $750. You can get the factory nav for $1300 on eBay, and the occasional Mercury- or Lincoln-painted nav shows up for $600-800 (though it's painted silver instead of Ford black)...

Not so bad, but I really couldn't justify the near-double expense for the factory unit, especially since the Pioneer's got built-in iPod controls and an aux jack on the front.

Edit: And the Pioneer unit plays DVD movies, which is a huge plus in the land of frequent hour-plus ferry trips!

 

The pioneer is a single disk drive. The factory unit has a single dvd drive and a 6 disk cd reader in one housing. Nav and mp3s work at the same time.

 

Ugh, you have to pop out the DVD just to listen to a music CD? And does it have enough power to sound better then the S500 without using amps??

 

Yep -- however, it saves whatever route you've entered into it before popping the DVD out, though, so the nav still works. I'm not concerned about that 'cuz I intend to just keep my music on an iPod and play it using the deck's iPod controller. Being able to watch DVDs is a plus, too.

The AVIC-D2 has a DVD drive and CD drive, so you don't have to do disc-swapping, but its iPod control is not nearly as good. The only CDs I personally listen to are burned ones full of MP3s, so just running off my iPod is good for my situation. If you like CDs, then the D2 would be the better bet. Cheaper, too!

I believe Infinity said the S500 head unit can't even drive the factory amps to full output, and therefore running a more powerful head unit through the factory Shaker amps results in a major gain in sound quality and volume.

And again, for $750 (even less if you go for the D2), what's not to love? At that price, you can just buy a CD changer and have it wired in and still be hundreds ahead. And watch DVDs

 

And have a major theft target.

I'll stick with a Factory head unit that fits, works well and is generally not a target for theft. Besides, the disk swapping would get very old. 6 cds full of mp3s hold plenty of tunes.

 

An 8g iPod holds about twice as many I really love the factory nav, but I just can't justify (afford) the extra expense. Hell, at $750 and $1995 respectively, the Pioneer could get stolen twice and I'd STILL be ahead a few hundred bucks

Also, the AVIC-D2 has DVD and CD slots -- the main difference between the D2 and D3, as I understand, is (aside from cosmetic differences) that the D3 loses the extra CD drive but gets much better iPod control.

 

The factory nav goes for about $1300 street price with nav DVD and GPS antenna. The damage done to steal the head unit will cost far more than either unit.

The Pioneer is a nice unit and am glad you like it. Just trying to show that there are good reasons not to go aftermarket as well. The factory offerings have come a long way, not to mention warranty coverage. Used to be if you wanted anything close to decent, aftermarket was the only option. Not any more. Aftermarket will always be cheaper for new parts.

 

Oh, I agree absolutely! In fact, the factory nav was the original plan...

I wish I had the extra $500 to justify the factory unit -- it looks much more at home in the Mustang dash than anything aftermarket, and you can't go wrong with a built-in 6-CD changer! If the thing played DVD movies, I probably would've broken and gone for it, cost be ****ed.

As it is, it's Pioneer and iPod, which'll suit me just fine. I might throw an envious glance over at Ford Nav owners though