American Head units..

[impyboy]

sorry, should have been titled, Head units from the states :P


I've been checking out the Pioneer range of head units, and finally decided that i want the DEH-P6800MP. nice little unit
I came across an american website which listed the 2006 range.. and i was like, 'hang on, you've got the models all mixed up!' (i'm in the UK, BTW)

so it turns out, that Pioneer makes different models for each country. The 6800mp/680mp (US), 6850mp (australian) models look so much better than the UK's 6800MP!!!! (which looks more like the US's P4800MP). (what's with the 6800 adn 680 anyway? the only difference i found is the badging, and 2v difference in the RCA pre out, and warrenty)

so now, I want to buy the US version - the Premier (pioneer) DEH-P680MP, but it means I miss out on some features such as sat radio coz it wont work here, and i miss out on RDS coz it's not one of the features on your HU's.

i love the blue lights and the design, but to get the same Look here i'll have to upgrade to the deh-P75BT, which is over £100 more and has Bluetooth, which i don't need.

anyway, enough blabbing. so, should i get the P680MP from the States and miss out on some features but have a megacool looking HU, or stick with the UK one, which doesn't look as good but at least has all features that work?

oh, and another point, if i get the US one, it'll look like i have a more expensive unit in my car AND i'll have a unit which no one else has over here

[L84THSKY]

My situation is the opposite. When I left Germany, I brought back the "Kiel" model Blaupunkt head unit. I've since upgraded to the "Heidelberg" model and love the way it looks in my car.

Originally Posted by impyboy

AND i'll have a unit which no one else has over here

[roadrash]

Just remember... the more expensive your audio gear looks, the more desireable it will be to thieves.

[GREX1969]

I bought a reconditioned sony head unit from the states when I was over there years ago and it was dirt cheap. However it's a real pain not having the RDS as you don't know what station you are listening too (unless you know all the frequencies for the stations?). I also found that it wouldn't find odd number frequencies e.g. Vibe 101? Don't know if that's because it's reconditioned or USA don't use odd numbers?
Also don't forget the warranty is a little tricky to honour if you don't live in the states.

[L84THSKY]

I'm not sure the RDS issue is strictly a US/Europe thing. My original Blaupunkt "Kiel" model I brought home from Germany had RDS, but so does the current "Heidelberg" model I bought in the US. And If my memory serves me, the Blaupunkt units can be set for odd or even increments on the FM tuner.

Originally Posted by GREX1969

I bought a reconditioned sony head unit from the states when I was over there years ago and it was dirt cheap. However it's a real pain not having the RDS as you don't know what station you are listening too (unless you know all the frequencies for the stations?). I also found that it wouldn't find odd number frequencies e.g. Vibe 101? Don't know if that's because it's reconditioned or USA don't use odd numbers?
Also don't forget the warranty is a little tricky to honour if you don't live in the states.

[impyboy]

my main concern is having a cool unit with ability to play cd and mp3s, which also has the aux input for an external player.

As for the RDS issue.... i've lived without it in Australia, i can do without it here there's only 3 stations i listen to anyway. won't be too hard to remember . just means i wont be getting the traffic reports and stuff.

with the steps in changing radio station freq, i'm pretty sure there's a way to change it. there was a way to change it in my last pioneer HU, and that's 10 years old

[L84THSKY]

If you wanna see something really cool, checkout this unit. I bought it from a dealer in Scotland. Never sold here in USA. This box plays Microdrive compact flash disks. My 2gb drive hold over 30 albums of music; I have two of them. The unit is now mounted under the glove box; I can swap disks while driving. With this device, you can copy files from your computer and pop them in your car, no CD's to burn. The artist and song title scroll accross the screen of my headunit.

Originally Posted by impyboy

my main concern is having a cool unit with ability to play cd and mp3s, which also has the aux input for an external player.

[impyboy]

that's a pretty cool gadget...only i'd have to get a blaupunkt head unit to ue the drive...wouldn't I?

there's quite a few nice head units these days with the USB or SD card slots, which would quite happily take 2 GB cards too. but they're a little over my budget.

for now, i'll be happy to just burn the mp3's onto a re-writable CD, or just plug in an MP3 player into the socket......once i get an mp3 player