I personally think it is one of the flat out ugliest units available for any car from any manufacturer...forget function, I just can't get past how God awful it looks.

 

+ 1000 on that I was just thinking it would work well in the goat with limited space we have. But you are right on about the ugly factor.

 

If you want a portable nav/dock type unit look at the Alpine W205 and the 2nd gen Blackbird (although the 'bird is not available yet) and it doesn't look like poo.

 

I was checking this out at Crutchfield the other day.

I'd like to see it in action, I'm looking to have a sat/nav/ipod radio that fits in our ride.

 

Eclipse is the bomb, ne-plus-ultra, LOL. The 2005 models look totally factory with the silver trim and green LEDs. Nowadays, maybe Pioneer *might* have a slight edge. Also, Eclipse audio specs are top notch.

 

eclipse is a no go. had one of the 2005 models in my audi a4 and it went to shit after 6 months, screen stopped working and would get all fuzzy like the black and white crap on a tv. sent it in (cost like 11 to ship) and the fixed it. well 6 months later a new problem arose. it stopped playing cd's. and since this was after the year warranty i was SOL. wont ever by anything eclipse again in my life. just my 2 cents! plus the new sh*t is ugly as hell

 

Haven't found a Nav unit that avoids sacrificing high quality audio reproduction. Until then, no Nav unit for me.

 

That thing is crazy looking. I guess if you had a need for the portable portion of it, it makes sense. Too strange to put on my dash, personally.

 

Stay away from Eclipse head units. They are just flat out CRAP. On the other side of the spectrum, their speakers are the SHIT!!! I'm looking at getting some for my baby.

 

If anything I would say the reverse of that is true. Their decks at least until a year or two ago always had awesome audio sections...even the video pieces. But I never liked how the speakers sounded. And fwiw, the 3 year warranty went away when they went into circuit city.

 

i know a lot of people who swear by eclipse. The specs on the audio portion of their decks are the best on the market imho.

 

I swear by eclipse. Dealer installed gets you a three year waranty, at least it used to. Tell me who else does that?

 

eclipse is one of the best decks you can buy...its what i have and will always have

 

If you want a detachable unit, why just dont buy a portable unit and use it when you need it like most of us? I bought a Mio portable unit for $150 at CC, if it takes a crap after a couple of years, who cares? No permanent damage. With that Eclipse Unit, you still have a small 3.5 in screen and a horrible looking HU.

 

Eclipse is known for their headunits not their speakers. If you bought their stuff off E-bay dealers of course you got crap they are all the bad units they wont sell in stores and if you go to a eclipse certified installer you will still get the 3 year warranty and that excludes Circuit City they aren't a certified installer. Their audio specs are awesome 5v Pre-amp outputs?? I belive correct me if i'm wrong they are the only ones who do that.

 

I wasn't going to touch the eclipse headunit/speaker comment with a 10 ft pole. Glad someone else did. The 8053 unit offered by Eclipse has long been a HUGE favorite among audiophiles. It is perhaps THE most popular and well liked "used" piece of equipment in all of car audio. It has maintained a solid value of $150-$200 for what it does. 16v balanced outputs, no onboard amp, and the ever enjoyable crossover and equalizer networks. What is there NOT to drool about?

I'd buy a higher end Eclipse or Pioneer Premier (model dependent) unit over ALL other units out there save 5 very highly sought after HU's: Clarion 9255, Alpine F1 status, Denon Z1, McIntosh, or Nak CD700 (all of these are out of just about everyone's price range)

 

I'm not a big fan of the way that model looks but Eclipse does have some great sounding H/U's. Might not be for everyone's taste but, soundwise, they are pretty damned good. Of course, I'd love to have a Nakamichi H/U but...$$$$ :bomb:

 

You want to talk about head units with tons of problems, that would be a Nak. From what I understand though they are trying to get back into the US market as more than just a niche company and they are doing unit exchanges with their delears, but the dealers are saying that it takes about a month to get a new unit.

 

Eclipse makes some of the best head units available. Been using them for about 9 years and except for minor wear problems, all of been good to me. Yes, they aren't the greatest looking units. But they do their job very well.

 

Eclipse 5504 FTW!!! I still use mine in my truck now. Bought it as a display unit in 2000 for $250. Has been in a few cars, and still works great. I did not put it in GTO minly because I would have lost the steering wheel controls. I would have gone with a newer one for the GTO, but could not afford the prices.

 

Pac SWIX and you have your steering wheel controls back.

 

I wasn't much for the H/U but the Titanium subs (well the older ones at least)are awesome, got a 10in that will put a rumble in your seat.

 

Those are TC Sound based subs if I remember correctly. They have some pretty good deals going on right now.

http://www.tcsounds.com/

 

I extended the wire and put the remote eye by the dome light. You can not even tell it is there.

 

I have an Eclipse 8454 in my 3000gt and its awesome 8volt preamps and it has so many features that I dont even know how to use it to its fullest after 3 years It even has a DSP section where you put a microphone in the car and download the acoustics of your car and upload it to their site where they send back an optimized time delay on the speakers based on the microphone position. I never did this because I have gone to a few sound competitions and I could not tell the great cars from the average ones sound wise. I dont even know how the judges can tell whats better

 

Eclipse 5504

I've owned two of these. I still have one somewhere. Great unit!

 

I have an Eclipse in my car, I love all the features NAv, DVD, Radio, MP3 and more. Looks awesome. I got the mount from a forum member here. I have had this unit in 3 of my cars.

Jon