Just got my 2011 Toyota Tacoma TRD, Looking for a good touch screen Nav, audio system

Hey all, Firstly I'm new here so wanted to introduce myself!

I just got a 2011 Toyota Tacoma TRD and I love it. However I want to change the stock radio with an in screen Nav system. I was looking into the Kenwood DNN991HD. Any thoughts on it? Any recommendations would be great! Ive also toyed with a tablet instead, but i want to get rid of the stock radio layout. Any options? Thanks again.

 

I'm currently working on getting this brought in, but they don't have a tacoma model yet so hopefully with some work they will release a direct tacoma one. With that said, the 10.1 inch screen should fit if you can custom fab

http://www.pixen.net/productspec4.2.html

 

manethon, have you had experience with the pixen units?

most aftermarket OEM lookalikes that I've toyed around with are finicky.

OP, I use an iPad in dash and its pretty awesome

 

Oh yeah. That pixen looks sweet. Could probably get in trouble trying to play angry birds driving though haha. Yeah I wish they had a tacoma version.

ShaneCKC Have you only used an ipad? Not a big Apple user lol. Prefer my android.

 

i have used their old version but not this new one.

the old platform was very stable, wasn't glitchy or grumpy. Its hardware was just slightly outdated and running to many things made it slightly slow down but was very stable.

These guys are Massive in the non usa markets, just like the mercury products i bring in.
There is no tacoma version, i wonder how hard it would be to retrofit and make a kit for this unit. Im gonna talk to some buddies who have a 3d printer and see how feasible it is.

Sidenote, i also have access to a very very nice processor that in the $420 bracket surpasses the performance of anything on the market.

 

I've only tried the iPad for an in dash tablet. Main reason is because of the UI that everyone knows and loves, ease of use in the dash, and RETINA DISPLAY!! Having that direct sunlight readable high definition display in the dash is pretty awesome. I'm not sure that any android tablet manufacturers offer a comparable display?

Gooooood luck with that. Your best bet would be to make some parts to retrofit it into an existing dash kit. Accurately printing a full size Tacoma dash kit will take about 20-40 hours on a 3d printer, depending on layer thickness (quality), and will still need a ton of work to make strong enough / presentable for a dash.

I'd like to see this processor.

 

* Convenient GUI (graphical user interface) operations
* Main channels: 10-band graphic EQ curve adjustable (20 Hz~20 kHz, -15 dB~+15 dB, Q Factor 0.5~10)
LPF, HPF, BPF adjustable (20 Hz~20 kHz, Butterworth, Linkwitz Switchable)
* Precise digital adjustment of crossover point (20Hz~20 KHz, Slope: 6dB, 12dB, 24dB, 36dB)
* Phase (0, 180 degrees)
* 6 channel individual input, 1/2 channel & 1/2/3/4 channel summing input, 8 channel output
* Low or high level input applicable
* Highest resolution, e.g. time delay in 0.01 ms per step and up to 7.6 Meter
* AUX 2 channel input and optical input
* Adjustable sensitivity: 0.5V ~22V
* Input Voltage: 9V ~ 16V
* External controller with 4 presets and main volume controls ( optional item)
* Input Impedance: 10Kohm, Output Voltage: 3.6V, Output Impedance: 570 ohm

 

Those are great specs and all but does it have a model number? Or a brand?

Sounds almost comparable to the Audison Bit processors. Just off of those specs, I'd say that it does not "surpass the performance of 'anything' on the market."

 

nice processor that in the $420 bracket surpasses the performance of anything on the market.

 

The Bit Ten is within that price range.

 

Sound quality and feature set wise - I'm partial to Alpine - I've been using the CDE W265BT head unit for a month and its sound quality is phenomenal. It also has an in-built parametric eq with adjustable bands, and adjustable crossover cut-offs for F/R/S . Most importantly it has 4V pre-amps...which lets you keep your amp gains set nice and low. Its a great looking head unit as well, with full RGB LED light control. I went with non-touch screen because I have an ipad and iphone (also a 3DS and Wii U ) - I don't need to have touch screen electronics in my dashboard. Also, those car audio touch screens are usually resistive type.. nothing too special.

The only thing I didn't like in their touchscreen/nav A/V units was that in order to get the 4V pre-amp outputs, you had to spend $600+ . They have one or two below $500, but feature set wise, it was the equivalent of a $100-$200 Alpine cd-player. Some features that should be included were missing.

As far as Pioneer and Kenwood nav units, in my opinion, it appears to me that they continue to sell the prior year model alongside the current year model at a $100-$150 discount. They advertise absolutely nothing about the speed of the processor or what the lag time feels like when you push the screen. I briefly checked one of these at Best Buy, and discounted it immediately.

I believe there is a manufacturer that makes dock/lock for the iPad mini, so that it can be mounted in place of the Tacoma radio. But it was expensive, and one would most certainly require some pre-amp signal conditioning box to properly take the stereo jack output, and clean/convert and distribute it to front/rear and sub outputs. Its doable, but expensive for what you get, just to run an ipad.

 

I don't care to go through every single difference between the 2 but id say that this unit is more between the bit10 and the bit one in features we would use. I haven't used this one yet or had a direct comparison to either the bit 10 or bit one but i feel for the money its a solid contender for value.

* Precise digital adjustment of crossover point (20Hz~20 KHz, Slope: 6dB, 12dB, 24dB, 36dB)
Bit 10 only has up to 24db cross over slope
* 6 channel individual input, 1/2 channel & 1/2/3/4 channel summing input, 8 channel output
bit 10 only allows 4 individual input channels and only 5 output channels
* AUX 2 channel input and optical input
Bit10 only has 1, and personally would like 2

http://amperecaraudio.com/aa-jm1/

 

That would be me who sells those setups. Yes, it's expensive, but when you compare it's features and quality against what you'd spend on a double DIN that almost comes close to what various iPad in dash setups have to offer, it's reasonably priced.

As for the kenwood units that you checked out at best buy, they were probably their low end units. The excel on series double dins tend to be the best on the market. The 5v pre outs alone say a lot about the quality of the electronics used as opposed to their standard series units.

 

Just noticed your response, I must have missed it before.

I took a moment to mess around with the software and compare it to the Bit Ten software. I think the Bit software is a quite a bit more user friendly. Also, I would rather have 32 band equalization instead of an additional crossover slope to choose from if I had to pick between the two. The other input features are not very important to most systems. And even there, the Bit Ten has the phone input to offer (which is pretty awesome if you ever use it) and the Ampere does not. 8 Channels of output and an optical input is nice to have, though. It's definitely a good unit for the price, but I certainly wouldn't go as far to say that it is "dominating" that price point against the Bit Ten. The Bit One, on the other hand, while being more expensive of course, has all of of the things the Ampere offers and much more. Not to mention I'd stand behind the quality of components used in the Audison Bit processors before any other brand out there. At least Ampere products are made in Korea instead and not China. I'd much rather have some fine Italian made Elettromedia electronics in my ride .

 

understandable, anyways its just another product i found that some users may find as more useful which ever they are. Im not affiliated with this product.

The bit one is a very fine unit for sure

 

Always good to have options! I miss having a DSP in my vehicle. My temporary setup has become much more permanent than I wanted but I've had a lot of other irons in the fire lately. Still have my Bit Ten and the rest of my high end equipment collecting dust for now .

 

i know that feeling:
Im doing a new quick and easy demo install with a basic LOc to a mercury 950z to see how it will come out. I wish i had the time to get my bitone going

 

I just put in a Pioneer AVIC 5100 NEX a few months ago. I'm pretty happy with it. Bluetooth, Nav, etc.