Customer Reviews: Read 54 more reviews...
 Great receiver for the cost, HD sounds awesome January 8, 2009
I haven't exercised every function and input, but the clarity and signal to noise ratio is excellent. No FM hiss, MP3s play flawlessly from the inputs I tried and the EQ auto-curves give the sound a nice shape and clarity. Menus and navigation when using USB could use a bit of work from the manual dials, but using the remote seems to be more intuitive. And, I wish I could see the writing and icons on the keys since the unit has so many functions in 1-DIN arrangement. Still, using the remote seems to be the way to go for the general functionality. Two thumbs up.
 Great January 6, 2009
Great car stereo. Lots of cool features. Sounds great even with my stock speakers, never felt the need to get aftermarket speakers. Sounds much better than than the $400 system I had in my old car. HD radio sounds fantastic but sometimes loses the HD signal in dead spots. I use the aux for my ipod and the usb is cool. Just plug it in and it plays the music on it even if there are other documents on it. Very loud! I have to crank the volume when I have the top down on my car and it is still only half volume. I dont even know the max volume because I dont want to blow the speakers. I was skeptical because Dual is not a big name brand but it works great and I have no complaints. This is the most features you will the money. Buy it.
Works great! December 26, 2008
I like this unit because of the USB port. I can put my music on a thumb drive and listen to whatever I want. The HD radio works great. I had to fully extend my antenna to get good reception in HD. The controls can be a little clunky, but overall, I like this unit.
Even without HD, this is a great setup, and great sound. December 19, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I don't want to go over what everybody else has already told you. Here are the pros and cons of this radio as I experienced it.
The radio installed easily with installation parts from www.installer.com. I put it in my Ford F150 using the Ford speakers. The sound was good, yet not as much power as my original Ford equipment, so I increased the power by buying one of the Dual 300 watt power amplifiers. This was just what it needed, the sound got much, much better. I would call it perfect now.
The Blue Tooth attachment worked wonderfully with my Blackberry 7100i. So far, not with my Sony Ericson 580i. The calls I make using the blue tooth are excellent. I have placed 10 or 12 calls and all reported very good audio, and most did not know I was using a hands free device. I still had wondered how my opinion would compare, so I left myself a voicemail at home and listened to it last night. It was perfect. There was no detectable difference from any other call. Yes, you do have to end the call by hitting a button on the phone, but I never take the phone from my hip to do that. The phone connects automatically. As soon as I turn the radio on, they link-up and work perfectly. The glowing blue phone button can be used to answer the call or dial the last number again. As soon as a call is placed the music goes into a paused mode and you hear only the phone call. As soon as you disconnect the music returns. The same is with received calls, as a call comes in the music stops and the speakers ring. You tap the blue phone button, either on the blue tooth adapter, or on the radio, or on the remote control, and the call is answered.
The USB port can hold very big thumb drives. I have a mini 4 GB drive in it. How many songs the memory holds is common knowledge, but the specifications say the radio will work with up to 48000 songs, and play them in random order. It also has a search by name function, a search by track number. The Cd plays CDRW, or CDR. It will play MP3, or WMA, and support very high sample rates.
The tone controls are the bass, and treble, plus 6 , to minus 6 in range, plus a preset EQ. The EQ has many settings, and they have pretty good range. I managed to get awesome sound.
I used a two channel 300 watt Dual amplifier on the two front channels. I could have used a 4 channel amp, but I did not see a need for it. My primary speakers are front mounted. The amplifier has a terminal to be controlled by the radio, so when the radio is off so is the amplifier.
The radio has two RCA outputs, one for front channel audio, and one set for rear. I would give this a rating of 4.5 stars; only because I feel that there is a little room for improvement. One would be the way calls are ended, and other would be that the radio would remember what kind of display I want. As it is, if I want to see Track information in the display, I have to set it that way every time I turn the radio on. Not such a big deal, but I wish it were different.
One more plus, the radio can store tone controls for each mode separately.
 Good features but needs to be factory reset often, unreliable! December 1, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've had this head unit for almost a year now, the first 6 months were really good. The unit has some great features and it's priced well.. I was happy, then one day it wouldn't tune in my favorite FM radio stations. All my presets just wouldn't tune in.. there was nothing but static. I was confused because it just happened.. with no apparent reason and other stations would still come in fine. After playing with the unit and trying to figure it out, a buddy suggested I try to reset the head unit (a small button behind the face plate) and sure enough... that did it, I could receive my favorite channels again. I reset it and all was good for about a month.. and then it happened again.. and again.. and again. I can't go a week now without the unit freezing up and forgetting how to tune stations in. I wish I would have bought a less sophisticated unit and went with something more reliable.
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