Upgrade to navigation

[scottiedo]

I know, I know, read and research. I have a good excuse I am studying for grad school midterms and was curious if someone could either point me to the thread regarding aftermarket navigation/car stereo systems, or can answer the following for me:

I have seen several brands out of Hong Kong, for an upgraded car stereo/navigation system. Are these brands trustworthy?
Do people have experience with these brands?
What other brands are recommended?
Do any of these stereos work with the steering wheel buttons?

I would probably set my price limit at $500, unless there is something that is must have.

Thanks, I have a 2012 Mazdaspeed 3.

[NCspecV81]

Alpine INE-Z928HD or U008X with the Alpine plug'n'play perfect kit and bezel. Done deal. It's a little more than what your budget is but well worth it.

Alpine INE-Z928HD Navigation receiver with 8" screen at Crutchfield.com

KTX-M38 full kit. Everything works, even the steering wheel buttons.

[scottiedo]

Thank you for the info! Does anybody have any other recommendations as well?

[Mazdaspeed3KHP]

Originally Posted by NCspecV81 Alpine INE-Z928HD or U008X with the Alpine plug'n'play perfect kit and bezel. Done deal. It's a little more than what your budget is but well worth it. Alpine INE-Z928HD Navigation receiver with 8" screen at Crutchfield.com KTX-M38 full kit. Everything works, even the steering wheel buttons.

It says built in bluetooth and nav. Does this mean there is no need to wire a bluetooth mic? Also can you confirm the bluetooth buttons on the steering wheel work because most kits dont.

Also this will basically plug right into the oem harness? No need to cut wires ? I'm really in experienced with aftermarket head units if you cant already tell.

[g00s3y]

For the price, the Eonon units are a decent deal. They are not perfect and have little issues, nothing that makes it unusable though. They have been upgrading their units recently, and hopefully with the release of the android powered headunits, they will fix most of the quirks they had with the older units.

[scottiedo]

I ended up going with this unit given the Black Friday deals. With all of the harnesses etc it ended up being a really good deal. It is a smaller screen at 6.1 inches, but got good reviews.

Amazon.com : Kenwood DNX571HD 6.1" 2-Din AV Navigation System with Bluetooth & HD Radio : GPS & Navigation

Amazon.com : Kenwood DNX571HD 6.1" 2-Din AV Navigation System with Bluetooth & HD Radio : GPS & Navigation
Amazon.com : Kenwood DNX571HD 6.1" 2-Din AV Navigation System with Bluetooth & HD Radio : GPS & Navigation

[NCspecV81]

Originally Posted by Mazdaspeed3KHP It says built in bluetooth and nav. Does this mean there is no need to wire a bluetooth mic? Also can you confirm the bluetooth buttons on the steering wheel work because most kits dont. Also this will basically plug right into the oem harness? No need to cut wires ? I'm really in experienced with aftermarket head units if you cant already tell.

Yes ALL the buttons work, the only thing I'm not completely certain about is the mic since I don't have my car to do the install just yet. It completely depends on if the mic is passive or active. I've taken a look at pictures of the mic online and only see 2 wires on it so it appears to be passive, which will be good to integrating it to the new headunit. However, I can't confirm until I physically take a look at it in my car.

I bought a few adapters to connect it to my usb in the console and the stock sirius antenna. I'm even going to be reusing the stock gps antenna. Only potential wires I'll be cutting is the stock mic given if it's a passive unit. If it's an active unit I'm just going to use the supplied mic from alpine.

If you need I can get a picture of what all is in the kit from alpine and some cheap adapters I purchased. I'm going from a 13' tech to installing my own headunit, and making sure everything works like "stock" was highly important to me.



Here's an image of the factory mic and I only see 2 wires here. If this is only a 2 wire setup for passive all one needs to do is to unclip it from the stock bluetooth unit and use 2 posi-taps to effective splice it w/o cutting.

[Mazdaspeed3KHP]

I see what you mean. Having all the oem functions work was important to me as well.

I'm guessing the non-tech package will involve more work as there is no gps.

[NCspecV81]

Originally Posted by Mazdaspeed3KHP I see what you mean. Having all the oem functions work was important to me as well. I'm guessing the non-tech package will involve more work as there is no gps.

GPS antenna can just go right on top of the headunit and work just perfect. A non-tech would be quite a bit easier.

[Mazdaspeed3KHP]

Originally Posted by NCspecV81 GPS antenna can just go right on top of the headunit and work just perfect. A non-tech would be quite a bit easier.

Nice. I think I found the kit I want now once you confirm the mic wiring. I'm hoping it will be passive so it can just be spliced.

When you get time shoot some pics of the parts and install. I don't think I will need as many adapters since I don't have Sirius.