Avic-Z1 or Eclipse AVN-5510?

[JTS97Z28]

Hopefully the mods wont move this to general section as it doesnt seem much activity goes on there. Anyway, I have been a long time Pioneer nav user I have had a total of four of their units starting all the way back with the N1. I just purchased a 00 Accord EX V6 Coupe something that I can just drive and get good fuel economy in. It has a perfect double din slot and I obviously want nav. I wanna try something besides Pioneer and have always liked Eclipse. I ended up purchasing the new AVN-5510 7" nav last night. I know this forum may be biased towards Pioneer products, but does anyone have any experience with the AVN5510 or info about comparison between that and the Z1/Z2? A friend has the Z1 and seems like a nice unit but I still want to try out Eclipse. Here is the link to the 5510 http://www.eclipse-web.com/avn/avn5510overviews.html

Thanks for any help,

James

[dcpmark]

I'm deciding between the Z2 and the AVN6610 myself, which unlike the 5510 has a second DVD slot to do DVDs and navigation at the same time. I can't find anywhere to see the Eclipse in person, as I want to see what the 6610's iPod interface looks like. It also seems from my research that the Bluetooth module for the Eclipse is a non-OEM Parrot unit, which may or may not be a good thing. I can't figure out how much phone information is actually displayed on the Eclipse headunit, or if it is just minimal. The Eclipses have no hard drive to store music, but that's not a big deal for me as I keep a dedicated iPod in the my truck anyway. Finally, Eclipse does Sirius only, while Pioneer does XM or Sirius. I want traffic data, and while I am familiar with XM NAVTraffic, Sirius just started offering traffic data as well. I have NO idea which provides better real-time data, or if they are the same.

 

I would love to find a place where the AVN6610 is displayed with all the various options in place to get a good look. The US headquarters is a few miles from my house....I might drive down there and see if they have any demo units.

[JTS97Z28]

Thanks for the input. The lack of a hard drive and single DVD slot does not bother me as I dont watch DVD's and simply dont need the hard drive.

I wish the same thing I have yet to see a Eclipse unit on display anywhere so its kind of hard to play around with one before buying. A friend of mine bought the 5510 and he absolutely loves it. I cant wait to get it should be in on thursday and I already have all the parts I need for the install. I know this is a Pioneer forum but I will report back with pics and my first impressions.

Anymore input is appreciated.

Thanks,

James

[djmixmac]

Wow, no Harddrive is a hugh issue for me.

 

After tickering around with various Navigations systems that require a DVD, I will never go back!

 

It literally takes more time to calucuate routes, you can hear the DVD spinning and the progess bar while this is happening too.

 

I love the Z1's quicker route calcuations. HDD also capable of Media storage which is important too.

 

 

Go to YOUTUBE and you can see some eclipse navi in action. I was not too impressed with the speed + the boring Interface.

[JTS97Z28]

Well 5 minutes is a bit of an exaggeration either that or you were routing from NY to CA or something. My buddy says his AVN5510 loads route very quickly. Either way if a route loads in 10 seconds compared to 5 I dont care. Also, Eclipse does make units with hard drives this is one of the reasons the 5510 is a couple hundred less than the Z1/Z2.

I just figure might as well give Eclipse a shot especially after I have experienced some pretty poor nav routing with my N1/N2 and the D1. Hopefully Pioneer fixed these problems with the Z1/Z2.

[MisFit]

i'm an eclipse dealer as well as a pioneer dealer. i have had each eclipse nav piece avn 2454, avn 5435, avn 5500, and have installed plenty of 6600 and 5510. i loved the eclipse pieces and only switched to a z1 out of curiosity. pros of the z1 are all the expansion interfaces, like the ipod, sirius and bluetooth. if how cool the screens look to is most important then go with the pioneer. however, i am very disappointed in the navigation of the z1. i liked the way the navi on the eclipses worked much better. even though the ipod and sirius screens are pretty generic looking, i think i'm going back to the eclipse once i sell my z1. also the car your putting it in is a factor. the pioneer has learn capability without a vss hookup. the eclipse does not work at all without it. so if your car has no vss, you best go with the pioneer

[JTS97Z28]

Thank you very much MisFit that was the kind of feedback I was looking for to compare the benefits of each.

[jmorton10]

I had a Z1 for a while & sold it on ebay because a working NAV unit is my most important feature(I travel a LOT on business). I have had NAV units for years & I can now say without reservation that the Z1 was the absolute biggest POS I ever owned as far as NAV goes. I loved all the other features of the Z1, but the NAV was basically unuseable IMHO.

 

I now have an Eclipse 5510 with Sirius, Parrot Blue Tooth & a backup camera in my 06 Ford Escape Hybrid & it is awesome. The NAV function is superb as are the audio functions (I run three external AMPS w/ Infiniti component speakers & sub). It runs from DVD, but it is almost instant -the Z1 was only a hair faster in any function & the 5510 can actually plot an intelligent route from point A to B (a Z1 damn sure can't).

 

Personally, I don't care about a hard drive, I have hundreds of MP3's on CDR & Serius also so what do I need a HD for??

 

I may still swap back to Pioneer some day if they ever figure out how to do NAV right, but they have a LONG way to go at this point (I hear the Z2 is not much better).

 

Another + to an Eclipse: All you have to do is ground the parking brake wire & it's totally unlocked.......

 

~John

[dcpmark]

Can you tell me more about the BT phone interface? What info is displayed on the headunit? If you have Sirius Traffic, does it work well? Do you have the iPod interface, and if so, how does it compare to the Z1?

 

TIA

[MisFit]

if i'm not mistaken, there is no display for the blue tooth. you dial through your phone. therer is an external controller for volume, answer, and hang up. its kinda cheesy. all the other interfaces have pretty shitty screen menus. but as said before, the navigation is much better, and thats what you buy it for

[jmorton10]

Can you tell me more about the BT phone interface? What info is displayed on the headunit? If you have Sirius Traffic, does it work well? Do you have the iPod interface, and if so, how does it compare to the Z1?

 

TIA

 

I don't have the Ipod interface (I might be the only person left in the Country that doesn't own an Ipod) but I've heard the Ipod functionality is great (It was not good at all in the older 5500 but it's been vastly improved in the 5510 from what I hear). My son has an Ipod, but he never lets me use it.....I have CD-R disc's with all my favorite MP3's that play super from the Eclipse, so I don't really have any use for an Ipod myself (I don't think my kid ever takes his off)

 

The BT does not display anything, it is all loud clear voice commands & it works super (it is a Parrot 3100 but in a proprietary version for the Eclipse). When a call comes in, it automatically mutes the sound system (no more missed calls because you couldn't hear the phone ring over a blasting stereo) & you talk. To dial out, you use voice commands (I just say "call Mom" etc) & it works perfectly at any speed (I use it constantly when on business trips & the people I'm talking to say it sounds loud & clear). The only feature I don't have set up is incoming caller ID. It is available, but I don't really care about it as I always answer my calls so I didn't bother to set it up. The setup uses the very small Parrot keypad to control it. It has two buttons(a green one to start a call, a red one to hang up) on either side of a round volume control knob. The hookup & setup of the B/T was simple.

 

I use Sirius all the time when I'm on the road & it works perfectly, but I don't have the traffic option. A co-worker has the traffic program & he says it is kind of useless in his opinion (he had high hopes for it, but he's not real impressed with it) All the Sirius info I use is displayed on separate source screens in the head unit & it works well.

 

I want to make it clear that I am not trying to be a jerk by criticizing the Z1. If NAV was not so important to me, I would still own the Z1. A neighbor of mine has a Z1 (I installed it for him in his Acura MDX) & he loves it, but NAV is just a gimmick for him. He will never actually use the NAV for trip routing, so for him it is just another cool feature to play with. I loved all the other features of the Z1 a lot, but found the NAV totally unusable. I took a business trip to Cleveland OH from upstate NY involving multiple locations I was not familiar with & trying to navigate with the Z1 it was a total disaster. The POS routed me miles out of my way (I was an hour late for an important meeting because I screwed up & relied on the NAV to get me there on time), routed me off the wrong exits, told me to make u-turns (the Eclipse never puts you in a situation where you would have to make a u-turn), missed one address totally etc etc etc What really cracked me up (although it was not the least bit funny at the time) was when it told me to "make a legal U-Turn" as I was driving down a 6 lane divided highway!! (of course at that point, my Wife thought it was necessary to say "how much did you pay for this piece of junk??") as I was already steaming mad........

 

Coincidentally, I recently made almost the exact same trip again using the Eclipse 5510 so that gave me a chance to do a direct A/B comparison of the two units & the difference was absolutely night & day. The 5510 routed me right to the front door of every destination & saved me so much time over the previous trip that it was amazing. I should have just spread a map on the front seat for the first trip & done my own "navigating".

 

At one point, I had to meet with a Football coach at John Carroll University (my son may be playing FB there this Fall) & I had no idea how to get there from my location at the time. I inputed the exact address for the coaches office & then the NAV gave me 3 different route options. One was an easy interstate route, but one of the other options was shorter & went on roads through some REALLY nice residential neighborhoods. I had some time to kill so I decided on the "scenic route". When I got there, the coach asked if I had any trouble finding him & I told him that the NAV routed me right to his front door. He was interested to see the route so I showed him how it had routed me.

 

He was totally amazed at the route. He told me that that was exactly the route he used to get to work every day to avoid massive traffic jams, but he said "I would never have tried to route you that way, I would be afraid you would get lost"

 

~John

[dcpmark]

Thanks for the info, guys. So, if I live in a big city (LA), rarely leave, only use the nav for every once in a while find various new POIs but would use traffic data every day, and would prefer a meatier BT interface that displays info on the headunit, do you guys agree I should stick with the Z2?

 

TIA

[jmorton10]

Thanks for the info, guys. So, if I live in a big city (LA), rarely leave, only use the nav for every once in a while find various new POIs but would use traffic data every day, and would prefer a meatier BT interface that displays info on the headunit, do you guys agree I should stick with the Z2?

 

TIA

 

That makes sense to me.

 

~John

[Beep13]

Misfit,

 

You gave a nice breakdown of eclipse vs pioneer, how does the new kenwood fit in?

 

Thanks

[jmorton10]

Misfit,

 

You gave a nice breakdown of eclipse vs pioneer, how does the new kenwood fit in?

 

Thanks

 

One thing I can tell you about the new KW is that it uses the Garmin GPS module. That is a good thing there because there are $200 Garmins available that are 50 times better than the Z1 NAV function.

 

I have a Garmin 2610 on my Harley & it works just as well as my Eclipse does.

 

~John