Alpine vs Pioneer headunits

[williamwong]

Looking at Alpine iva-502ev and Pioneer avic-f900bt, anyone here have any experience with headunits?
about how much should i be seeing to pay for one of these without getting ripped off?

[sKy.xD]

Alpine 502 wins for majority of people. Really cant go wrong with both just more preference.

Well you just missed out on huge sales audio shops had in melbourne due to the stimulus packages a few weeks ago.

Alpine 502 was 1100... down from the usual retail price 1900.

[crunkman99]

ive got the alpine, got it for 1900 becasue insureance was paying for it. i like it heaps, i had a kenwood flip out before and it the alpine is way better.

1100 or under for it is a realllyyy good price.

the alpine has everything. ipod, dvix, and boots up very quick compared to other head units.

[illuzi0nz]

jb's having their stocktake sale atm, 30% off all their car sound until monday 1st june. :)

[reedyek4]

never had a problem with alpine in my life. very reliable and parts are easy to get hold of..i recommend the 05/06 9if you can still get hold of them?) series of headunits as imo they are the best in the bizz

[TGS79]

The Alpine 502 is a great Unit and has the ability to intergrate an external Nav which works off an external GPS antenna so you will loose signal when going through tunnels and I have heard the maping isnt the best but Alpine may of updated this by now. Where as the Pioneer deck I believe has a VSS (Vehicle Speed Pulse) input which will constantly feed the internal Nav information so no lose of tracking.
But the 502 has the Multi EQ feature which for Tuning and Time Correction is an aboslute dream to work so if your looking at sound quality this would be the way to go but it is at an extra cost and aditional interface. You could also look at the Clarion range as well as they have made some major improvements over last years range.

[Stig]

daym, $1100 for a iva-502ev... i paid alot more than that

pretty good head unit imo, just the ipod feature is kinda crappy imo, but just use a usb instead to play your music.

tip - faster the read speed of the usb is the faster the usb songs will load

think jb is selling them for 1887

[denrie]

Get the Alpine! Pioneer isn't really that good. Alpine has a wider range of features, easier to use & looks a whole lot better imo :)

[Terryfying]

alpine ftw..never had a problem...sounds fantastic and looks great too...had alot of problems with pioneer ones and i went through 2...shit like cds egtting jammeed..sometime sound quality is shit etc etc...wouldnt touch any pioneer head decks unless its the top of the range ones..then theyd be with par with a avg alpine one