I ordered a new head end today. I'm just fed up with the factory radio's inadequacies. I'm not a satellite radio fan, But I just can't deal with the lack of options to connect "other" music to the factory head end.

Now... it's a 1.5 DIN radio with a 6 disc changer. This is pretty agressive --- and cool in a way. But it has no options for auxilliary inputs whatsoever and it's sound quality is only adequate.

Nobody seems to sell 1.5 DIN radios... which is OK, I guess. The unit I ordered turns the extra space into a pocket.

Why this unit? I looked at a lot of them. For the features I wanted (USB in, Bluetooth (more than just hands free), and AUX in), many competing radios were upwards of $300 andput some of these as expensive options and/or on the back of the unit (requiring wiring, etc).

So... this unit has AUX-in and USB-in on the front panel. Means you can play music from a memory stick. Some new head ends don't even have slots for CD (this one does). It will also play from an MP3 encoded CD. Some units I looked at even had SD card slots, but it's easy (and cheap) to covert SD cards to USB and some SD card readers don't read the SD cards > than 4G (or 2G). My laptop and my flat panel are examples of non-cheap items where the included SD card reader doesn't support large SD cards.

So the USB input is good and the AUX in will cover anything else I can imagine (even connecting my laptop for longer drives).

HD radio support? I don't know if I'm excited about that. Aparently there is some HD radio going on in Southern Ontario (Rogers? CBC?). I'm not sure that I require exceptionally high quality radio here because the X is fairly noisy by default... but whatever.

The real kicker is that this unit is $150 on various web sites (and aparently flying off the shelves).

I'll let y'all know how the installation goes when I get it.

Oh... and I got the dodad ($70) that makes the steering wheel controls work on aftermarket head ends. I'll report on that too.

 

What's the name/model? I'd like to see pictures of the installation.

I generally like factory radios. My truck came with the factory radio, but has a Pioneer 1-DIN unit installed that came with the truck. Not something that I'm particularly fond of.

 

Sorry. Doh! moment there.

Dual (Electronics) XHD6425

I forgot to order the bluetooth bit. At least Best Buy stocks that.

It seems very aggressively priced for the feature list.

 

"X" are double din.... i work at a stereo shop and i dont see how your going to install that unit which is 1.5 din with a dash kit since they only install like double din's or single din's in "X"s... please post pics, i want to see what it looks like... good luck tho.....

Regards
Rob

 

KrazyGee you need to get some photos of your truck on the gallery with all those mods. We would enjoy seeing that nose with H-D lamps.

 

i will as soon as i get back from Vegas...... yes yes SEMA baby......


Regards
Rob

 

hey guys check out the eclips avn units. awsome in-cash dvd!!!installed in an x

 

Rob, ur goin to sema?

 

yes sir..... going for a week....... hey guys i will throw up some pix tomorrow night of the "X" modded out... everything is on right now...lookz freakin awesome.... thanks again for all the help with my choices...

 

ZBeeble, How is the XHD6425 working for you? I just ordered one from Crutchfield on Friday and can't wait to get it installed. I ordered the Bluetooth module also but it was backordered.

 

Well... It's a pretty slick unit. It sounds good. My Treo 680 smartphone doesn't always like to pair with the Bluetooth module after waiting to start (with the Diesel, the radio is on (while waiting to start), gets paired with the phone, then off (starting), then on again. I find that popping out the radio front (it removes if you want to take it with you to deter theft) makes the radio turn on only once.

But otherwise the bluetooth works nicely. You can find one at best buy. It's really good a picking up my voice and the call display on the radio is really cool.

Neither CD nor USB support OGG (only mp3 and wav)... but I doubt too many of you truck guys know what an OGG is, so putting "OGG" and "XHD6425" in the same post will attract a lot of non-truck-owning techies to find this page using google. But it doesn't support OGG. .

I use an SD card in an SD USB stick to hold music. You might get 1000 miles from the tank if you drive nice. You probably have to stop before that to take a bio break... but you'll still have music that you havn't heard yet with even a 2G stick. I have a 4G and an 8G stick. Maybe I need a bigger fuel tank .

The HD radio sounds good. I can't really tell the difference as I drive a diesel .

The sound can be louder than the stock unit and it sounds better.

If you have steering wheel controls, get the little doodad that makes them work. Bonus is that you can map those buttons to do anything --- I use the mode and next buttons to change the display and skip the current track.

The remote is cool. Other than being easier to use to dial the phone, I don't know how useful it is. I don't let other people in my truck control the radio. It's my truck after all .

To the comment above about double DIN, I'm led to believe (by the folks at crutchfield) that the X's slot is not double-DIN. While I use the designation "1.5 DIN" ... that's just my interpretation of someone saying that it's "more like a one-and-a-half DIN unit" ... in the end, most, if not all, double-DIN units won't fit, I am told.

 

I will try to remember to snap some pics with my phone of the unit next time I'm out and about.

 

"Most Double Din do not fit"?????


As to popular belief... I have only installed double din's in superduty's and excursions ( with the same dash ). the newer superdutys go right in with double din....... any installer with hands on knowledge can get the job done... like i said before... i will be installing a kick-azz system in the "X" and i will show u close ups of a double din installed.... So if your not comfortable installing a double-din take it to a local speciality stereo shop NOT!! bestbuy,circuit city..etc and they should be able to do it no problem....

Regards
Rob

 

I'll stand corrected on that, then. However, for $150, the XHD6425 is a sizable improvement on the stock unit. It doesn't have a changer --- but with an 8 Gigabyte USB stick, I don't care about changers anymore.

 

Here's the pics I promised. The cubby isn't sloped, so things tend to fall out of it the way I drive .

http://strike.dclg.ca/~dgilbert/excu...dio/index.html