favorite head units?
 

while searching this topic I noticed that most of the conversations were a few years old. Well, now its 2015, What are the latest and greatest?
Lets say double din under $500 to start

nothing? No one has an opinion on this?

I generally just default to Pioneer as my brand of choice in headunits, personally after owning a double din and knowing the "extra cost" of a double din for frankly FEWER audio features, most of the sub 500 double dins have the audio features of the base model 120 dollar (or less) single dins, as the years progress things are getting to be more and more standard (like Bluetooth is in most everything these days). If you have ZERO intention of EVER running aftermarket amps then by all means go with a cheap double din, but if you plan to have a good system in the car you want something better and you can get those better features for FAR cheaper when you take the double din off the table.

I recently put in a Pioneer DEH-X8700BH and I am pretty happy with it. The Bluetooth stuff works better than most I've used.

I always seem to have it narrowed down between a Kenwood or Pioneer, my last 2 have been Kenwood (1din) head-units in my 99 Z28. :nod:

Personally I've never used a kenwood but I had a friend with one of the early Chameleon headunits and another friend that had a decently fancy kenwood that actually had a separate HPF for the rear speakers and the front speakers, plus the LPF for the sub which I thought was real nice, I just have such a relieable track record with Pioneer I always choose them.

I've had a couple Kenwwods and was happy with them, but it's been a few years since upgrading. I want the bluetooth and charging/connecting a phone via usb ports for streaming internet radio.

If you want pm me I have a very nice kenwood double din if your interested

PM sent

Kenwood KCD-998. Nice stereo, hi/low pass xover for front & rear (I think), and low pass for subs. 2 USB ports, built in HD radio

I have the kenwood DNX571HD double din and i like it a lot.

I too love Pioneer. For me Pioneer was easier to use and operate. I like the older Alpine units. I can't honestly say who has the best HU out there right now because I have been away from the car audio market for a while now.

I am conflicted when it comes to Double Dins. I don't like them in smaller cars really - more in SUVs and such - but also, tablets are so cheap nowadays and offer way more functionality and can be easily updated, why not do that? You may have to custom rig a bit of stuff, but payoff is better IMO.

I just bought another Kenwood BT-901 used on eBay for my Suburban - same unit I have in my Trans Am. It is the only headunit that works with my Zunes. Yeah, Zunes. But it also has a nice 3" screen and I like the display and menu is easy enough to navigate (and works with usb storage and iPods too if I went that route), and doesn't have a CD player which I couldn't care any less about nowadays as I purchase all my music digitally.

I keep all my music digitally but for the off chance the tablet battery runs out or a buddy wants to hear a CD on my system I keep a headunit with CD capability around.

favorite head units
 

do any of these mentioned allow you to customize the background to allow a picture

You'll need to look at the top (1din) models in Pioneer, Kenwood, Alpine, or any other brand to find display options like that. I do know my old Kenwood 9xx series allowed photos or short (about 3-4 second) video clips. It had enough display options that you could totally change the display look. That's one thing I'll really miss seeing since with my new head-unit (Kenwood KDC-X498) I focused on basic audio features I need like 4v F, R, and SW rca outputs to keep the cost down.

With double din(2 din)heads units you should have more options in regards to customizing the display.