Thread: N00B Alert : Need advice regarding headunit selection

So... i was all stoked about the Panasonic unit I got, and then I found out why I got it so cheap.. What kind of backwards *** @*(&@(*&@ is having a unit that has a built in HDRadio tuner, but isnt compatible with ipods, or sat radio?!?!!?

Note to self : Never assume ANYTHING when it comes to ANYTHING but especially, women, cars and electronics

Okay /vent : off

So here are my requirements USB Hard drive connectivity and preferably BBE if possible.

I was damn near set on the Kenwood 890 until i read the following on a Crutchfield review

Does not adequately replace the Kenwood Keg
Written by Chris, CO on May 18, 2006
I bought this because I love the Kenwood Music Keg but they're discontinued. This is the obvious and logical next step, USB hard drives.

Kenwood COMPLETELY FAILED at transferring the functionality to this unit. Not only does the browser take forever, but it forces you to use only one of the categories. You can't scroll to Foo Fighters and then choose among their albums, You have to pick one album and go to it. Then if you want to listen to their next album, you can't just hit next, you have to do a complete new album search. It's completely non intuitive. If you're in album mode and hit next album it takes you to the next album alphabetically, instead of the next album by the artist you're on. If you switch to artist mode it takes you to the next artist. Using any of these modes takes you to playlist #1, all music, so you can't just switch to playlist mode and find the next album. Oh and to top it all off, they disable alphabetical browsing in playlist mode, so actually using playlists is impossible if you have more than say, 20. It forces you to do a search for every album you want to hear.

Then to top it all off, they removed direct playlist access, which the Keg had as a fallback in case you happened to memorize which playlist number was assigned to a particular disc. I could get to my most played discs in less than one second on the keg, with this head unit I have to cycle through search categories, then wait for it to slowly plod through the alphabet and then hit next disc over and over till I find the right album.

I hate it. Sound Q is good, browsing isn't.""

So then I cried for a little bit because I thought I found my answer..

But no dice.. However if anybody has experience to prove this guy just is a moron and doesnt know how to use the unit please let me know.

So that leaves us with JVC / Alpine

JVC i was looking at the KD-AR8500 which has bbe and usb, however I havent been able to find any information about the quality / ease of control / browsing of the external device. Plus its discountinued so i'd probably have a hard time finding one to play with hands on. All the new JVC USB units seem to only have the USB jack on the front, which is nice i guess for flash drives etc, but i plan on putting a full size ext 3.5" hd in the glove box.

From Alpine i was looking CDA-9861, which is pretty sweet because it's a dvd player and it can play dvd-r's with mp3s. Then again if i have an external hard drive who needs to fumble with discs so i guess thats a wash That being said i could probably go a lil further down the line to a CDA-9853 which has the neat touch screen since im going to have to pop for the extra cash to get the ai.net > usb adapter.

Please help zee n00b.