Demolition

90beater is right about the button colors at the bottom of the screen. It's really not noticeable. The nice thing about the AVIC-D3 was that you could select the LED colors but with this JVC, the LED's are so much smaller that it's really insignificant.

I have a black '07 Toyota 4Runner that uses that orange-yellow color on the dash. If you select the yellow color on the JVC then it matches okay (not nearly as good as the D3 but good enough). Because my interior is also black, I sometimes select the "Black" color on the JVC and that looks cool too.

- 90beater, I'm interested in finding out what you're able to do with the SD card. Experiment around with it and then post if it's not too much trouble.

***Correction*** The icon is under "System" in the "Settings" field of the GPS. Not "Sound".

Hope you find it okay.

You can change the opening and closing statements by going to the "FUNC" icon when you have the map open. Then go to "Settings" and it's (I believe) under "Sounds". It'll say "Opening" and "Closing". All you do is type what you want it to say (short and quick because it's limited space) and it uses the Text to Speech software to read what you enter in that field.

Not a big feature but neat if you're into that.

Hey 90beater, you have your install done yet? I'm curious to see if you were able to mountg the unit more flush than mine.

Also I'm just curious to see how you (or anyone else for that matter) like it.

Hey Gaucho, I wanted to let you know that hd54321's suggestion regarding the Ipod artwork displaying was the EXACT reason why there was such a delay with the Ipod songs (major props to hd54321 for that!). I shut off the "Display Ipod Artwork" feature and it's literally 10 times faster now (about a second tops).

Searching is also a bit faster when going through artists, songs, etc. Although another thing I might try with the JVC (like I used with my AVIC-D3) was to use the "Genre" field in the Ipod as a place to label the letter A thru Z (using the first letter of the artist name or a "#" for a number). I rarely used the "Genre" field anyway because you can simply create a playlist of different genres and store them on your Ipod. This is just another faster way to find an artist on your Ipod if you're having difficulty.

One more thing, I was on vacation the past few days and used the JVC navigation. DEAD on!

Now that I'm figuring out more of the nuances with this thing, the more I'm loving it.

So when are we starting the JVC411.com forum?

No bluetooth installed. I was going to but i was paranoid about the compatibility issues with my Blackberry (JVC didn't list it as a compatible phone).

I'm still liking it so far though...not loving it.

The only two things that annoy me currently are the lag times between songs when trying to change them on my Ipod. On my Avic-D3, I could push the shuffle button and it would simply go thru all my songs. the Arist and Song Name would instantly appear on the screen and if I didn't like it, I'd simply hit the Next button on my steering wheel and another song would pop right up and start playing. Not so with the JVC. It seems that you're not able to change songs until the Artist and Song name are displayed (sometimes that can take about 10 seconds to load). I guess that's what you get when you use Microsoft Windows to navigate your folders.

Another thing is that I don't have an amplifier or subwoofer currently. I just replaced my factory speakers with some Alpines and that was good enough for me for the time being. The AVIC-D3 had good enough bass for me but the JVC is severly lacking. I'm not too picky but when I play "Panama" by Van Halen, I want to feel the bass drum (which I did w/ the D3). And I have all the settings on the unit set for the highest amount of bass (I think). I know I need a sub to really get what i want but I didn't think the JVC would be worse sounding than the D3.

My complaints regarding the Ipod use could be resolved though with some updates from JVC (maybe just need to figure out how to read Ipod folders more efficiently). But the lack of bass is upsetting and I'm not ready yet to install a new sub yet (but when i do, it'll most likely be an integrated amp/sub). I want a clean look but I don't want to spend $700 for the Stealth sub for my Toyota 4Runner.

The removeable face was the main reason I bought this unit. My D3 was stolen out of my car in my driveway, with a high end Prestige alarm installed. So anything can happen. Don't trust just the alarm no matter how good it is.

I had the installation done at a shop. A friend of mine is one of the managers there (and I'm really just getting into the aftermarket car stereo thing over the past year so I don't trust myself to install anything more than some speakers currently). No amps or sub installed...yet.

That pic from sonicelectronix looks weird because I don't have that 1/4" trim going around it like that pic shows (as you could see from my pictures). Plus, another problem I could see with it sitting flush is that it might be more difficult to reattach the face plate to the unit. You have to angle it in at the top, then press the bottom in pretty hard to have it connect. Let me say that I'm just guessing that it could be difficult to mount it flush with the removeable plate, I don't know this for a fact.

And the video walk thru of the unit might be a bit much. Especially since I don't have a video camera. Feel free to ask any other questions though.

I can see the big clock being a nice touch for some (I already have a clock right under the unit so it's no big deal to me).

Another little neat feature I discovered was that you can program a "Start Up" message and a "Closing" message. The JVC uses the text to voice software to read what you input into the settings. I programmed it to say "Hello there Stud, how are you today?" when I got in the car with my wife. She gave me the usual look. I'm not keeping that message there but it's kind of a neat extra that they don't seem to mention in any of the literature.

By the way, regarding the Ipod list scroll, when you drag your finger down the scroll bar, it'll show the "Please Wait" message at the bottom of the screen (it doesn't just scroll down the list like a regular Ipod does). I tested it out to be sure and wanted you guys to know that it's not instant. However, it's still pretty fast. Just not much reason to actually drag your finger down the scroll bar. You get the same effect if you just tap the scroll bar approximately where your desired song would be on the list.

Hope that clears some things up.

I tried posting the pics of the navigation but they didn't seem to show up. I'll post again now (sorry if there are any duplicates).

Here are some pics so far. I know everyone's been wanting to see so I just took the pics with my Blackberry (not bad but not the greatest quality).

Hope this helps you guys out. let me know if you have any other questions.

No pics as of yet. Haven't had much chance to even play with it I've been so busy. They're coming though.

Anyway, I'll try and address these questions in order real fast:

Gnat - I haven't really ben able to test out the lane guidance yet (I don't live in the big city either). So unfortunately I'm not able to help out there. From the pics, it looks better than Pioneer's but I can't confirm.

And as I said, no QWERTY. But I know how you feel because I can typwe faster on it as well and this system is excellent at predicting your typing.

Finally with the Ipod, I'm not sure about the "Skip 10" feature. What it does have though is a scroll on the right side of the screen. If you tap halfway down on the scroll bar then it brings you exactly halfway down your list (or wherever else you tap your finger on the bar, 3/4 way down, 3/4 down your list). Or if you simply drag your finger down the scroll bar then it also scrolls down your list quickly. And this feature is fast so no worries getting to the bottom of your song list.

Gaucho: When I meant that the Ipod connectivity was slow, it's just slower than the D3 was for bringing up your songs (or artists or any other list for that matter). You can actually scroll through the long lists pretty quickly. So far I like the searching a lot.

And it does display album art (although it's relatively small). I'd say it's about 1 1/2" bu 1 1/2" so it's not bad. That is a slow feature though because it takes about 10-15 seconds after a song starts to play to display the artwork. And you have the option of displaying the song name, artist and album - OR - the artwork (with the current time). You can't display both at the same time because there's not enough room on the screen. But it's easy to flip between the two because all you have to do is hit the "DISP" button to toggle between the two.

Hope this helps some. As I said, I've been swamped but will try to get so pics out soon.

I also now have the JVC KW-NX7000 installed. Just had it done yesterday so I'm not very familiar with it all yet. I only have the Ipod working because apparently I had a faulty Sirius cable so I'm waiting to get a new one in the next few days.

First off, the JVC sticks out from the dash about 1/2 inch. Something my D3 didn't do at all. Makes sense though because of the removeable face (which was the main reason I went with this unit) and the tilt face option. Not too big a deal to me on this but if that really bugs you, you won't like the JVC.

From what I can tell though, the navigation is definitely nicer looking than the AVIC-D3. I've always preferred the full screen 3D view and this one is sweet. One thing I noticed this morning about the data in the navigation is that I was driving on a 55mph highway (the 55mph speed limit sign was being displayed on the JVC) and within 2 seconds of passing the "65 MPH BEGINS" sign, the JVC displayed the correct sign (pretty cool it was so accurate). Plus there are simply a TON of POI's on this thing.

Also, there is NO QWERTY keyboard option unfortunately. Although I will say that this thing is SUPER good at guessing what you're typing. As you type the letters in, it displays every option on the right side of the screen which keeps the typing to a minimum. The way JVC did the screen like this is why there can't be a QWERTY option (there are 6 rows of letters on the left side of the screen instead of the necessary 3 extra wide rows for QWERTY).

As for the Ipod, it's slower than the D3. Actually I didn't realize how quick the D3 was until I had something to compare it to. There's about a 5 second delay when trying to access your folders in the Ipod. Not bad I guess. But it's DEFINETLY easier to access your songs on the JVC (simply because it took forever to scroll down long lists on the D3). I had that problem rectified on the D3 however by having the "Genre" field on my Ipod simply be the letter that the band name starts with (a GENIUS idea from someone else on this site). I'm also able to watch videos on the JVC without having to access them through the Ipod (never was a big deal to me anyway on the D3 but some might like this about the JVC).

That's about all I have for now. I'll post some pics and more reviews as I get more used to the JVC (and get the Sirius installed).

any other questions then feel free to reply and I'll let you know if I can answer.

I'm getting the JVC KW-NX7000 installed next week. Been looking for some more info and found this European JVC site that shows some nice screen shots and functions.

www.jvc.eu/kw-nx7000/

I'm planning on getting some pics of the install and let some know how it works (compared to my stolen AVIC-D3).

I found another site of JVC's that shows a lot more detail on the NX7000. Don't know why JVC doesn't do the same for their US website but here's a good European JVC site for more info:

www.jvc.eu/kw-nx7000/

Getting it installed next week with the Sirius, Ipod and steering wheel controls.

I played with the similar model (just lacked navigation) and liked the interface so to me it seems JVC has an idea of what they're doing.

I talked to the sales guy at the shop about this unit and he said they've been excited about getting these in for a while. Apparently the Ipod interface is top notch and quick. The same goes for the navigation.

He also told me that you might wanna be careful with buying this radio at some places because JVC initially had a bunch of problems with these and had to do some major upgrades before their "re-release". That's why there haven't been a lot of reviews on this because they're so limited on the market. And the ones that are out there are most likely ones that haven't been upgraded. He also could have been telling me this to make a sale but I got it for a good price anyway from a place I trust that's close to the office.

I am another one that is now looking at this JVC unit (as well as the Kenwood 7120 option).

I had the D3 which was nice until it was ripped outta my Toyota 4Runner a couple nights ago.

I was planning on just upgrading to the Pioneer F series but the reviews on it have REALLY sucked (mainly because they seemd to release it too early). And I felt most of the reviewers frustrations because Pioneer is simply the worst for getting customers updated software to rectify all of their product issues. Enough to the point of me simply not wanting to deal with their products anymore.

So I was ready to slap the insurance money down on the Kenwood option (most likely the DNX7120) but my buddy who sold me the original D3 mentioned this JVC unit as an alternative. I wouldn't have really considered it except that the removeable face is REALLY appealing to me (for obvious reasons).

I saw the GPS review link but was hoping for some more hands on reviews as well. Especially now that I know more about what I'm looking for. So if anyone does track down any other stuff then that'd be great if you could post!

Thanks all

Rock on! Thanks Orange E!

That's exactly what I've been looking for also (except for a Toyota 4Runner).

Care to change the text on that pic to "Toyota 4Runner" at the bottom of the screen and post? I like everything else about it.

Thanks!

Thanks Carbon12. That was an even better idea. I changed all the Genres in my Ipod to the A-Z format last night and now it works great. Took a few hours but was easily worth it now. I can actually access any song in just a few seconds now. Who'd a thunk.

As soon as I posted that message, I figured that I'd have to edit the Ipod songs through Itunes that way.

I'm gonna give it a try because I primarily use the Ipod in my car with the D3 and it's extremely frustrating to hold the down icon for minutes at a time (especially while driving) to get to some artist farther down on the list.

Thanks for the tip!

I have to say that is a pretty ingenious idea!

I just recently bought both an Ipod and the AVIC-D3. I love the Ipod interface on the D3 and being able to carry all my music in my glove compartment but my only problem was scrolling down the the "Artist" that, heaven forbid, starts with the letter "Y". That takes just WAY too long and is one of my two gripes regarding the head unit (the other gripe is that there isn't more information that shows on the screen when I use my Sirius...but that's another matter.

One question, how do you change the artists and albums on just the Ipod only without changing it in Itunes? This might be a dumb question because I'm still new with the Ipod thing.

Well I just got back from my visit to the installer. Got it figured out.

And the answer is...bad Ipod cable. Took us two hours to figure out but who cares. It works and now I'm a happy camper again.

Thanks all for the advice.

I should have been more clear about Itunes. I did use it to download the music onto my Ipod, I've just never purchased the music from them. That's why I wasn't sure if it was an issue with the format of the music on my Ipod.

I'm having the installer take a look at it again to try and diagnose the problem.

I was thinking that there was a chance that it was the file format on the Ipod (because I've never used Itunes, just converted my CD's and downloaded other songs from other sites). Regardless, it's a pain in the a** because the Ipod attachment and interface was the sole reason why I bought the AVIC-D3.

Anyway, if anyone else has an idea, feel free to let me know. I'll also post what the installer finds out.

Thanks

I'll check into it westindie. I do know that the Ipod cable is the correct one (black). Other than that, we'll see I guess.