connect ipod to 4runner?

[theizzardking]

personally, I think you get more out of the Alpine including 4V pre-outs, built HD radio tuner (i believe), higher signal to noise ratio.

on lower end, less than $800 touch screen models, a lot of the cost of the unit is going to the screen. they have to make up for the parts $ by using cheaper parts elsewhere in the unit. but I am kind of picky and have redone my entire stero system with aftermarket.

i linked to teh wrong unit!~
Pioneer AVH-P3300BT DVD receiver - Hands-on Research at Crutchfield.com


i'm not an audiophile either, i just know my deck cost me $250 on sale now $300 not on sale and it has every feature i could ever need and doesn't do anything sub-par to my standards, i'm not one who can tell the difference between a 256k bit rate recording and a 320k bit rate recording, i mostly listen to jazz,blues,acoustic,rock,classic rock,punk,ska,reggae, soul and funk.
very little rap and heavy metal type stuff in my playlists.

after looking around the unit i linked to is the best bang for your buck, it might not be the best performing audio but the plethora of feature more then make up for it in my mind, i don't have nor have seen brians deck so i cannot comment on it, but i think i can say like what brain said, is that it's a give and take situation, more features with a stock look, or top notch sound quality, that said though my unit was about 10x's better then the stock head unit so either way you go will be a vast improvement over what your used to.
i really needed hands free blue tooth,sd card and max amount of ports available and wanted to stay as stock looking as possible so that's why i chose mine in the end.

also read independent reviews of both on crutchfeild,amazon and the like
to get a broader idea over-all how people feel about their stereos, just because me and brian are happy with ours doesn't mean everyone else is either.

crappy cell pics of it installed

 

[Tomsriv]

The reason I wouldn't buy an aftermarket radio is that almost none of them have volume knobs, they have tiny buttons. I'm looking at IzzardKingd pics, how do you reach to adjust the volume without taking your eyes off the road to find the button? With a knob I can find it by feel and I don't miss my target when I'm on a bumpy road or going 80mph in freeway traffic. Something to think about.

 

[IanB]

The reason I wouldn't buy an aftermarket radio is that almost none of them have volume knobs, they have tiny buttons. I'm looking at IzzardKingd pics, how do you reach to adjust the volume without taking your eyes off the road to find the button? With a knob I can find it by feel and I don't miss my target when I'm on a bumpy road or going 80mph in freeway traffic. Something to think about.

They have remotes, you don't even have to reach over anymore.:

 

[theizzardking]

The reason I wouldn't buy an aftermarket radio is that almost none of them have volume knobs, they have tiny buttons. I'm looking at IzzardKingd pics, how do you reach to adjust the volume without taking your eyes off the road to find the button? With a knob I can find it by feel and I don't miss my target when I'm on a bumpy road or going 80mph in freeway traffic. Something to think about.

volume by feel: left hand side by the bezel at the top (in fact it's right were my finger lands if i just grab the bezel)


not too hard,plus the fact that the buttons are pretty big on this double din unit, so that might make it easier as well.
but this is really a personal preference thing, some like knobs some don't, don't get me wrong, i'm not pushing my stereo at all, but you kind of make it sound like i'm going to die trying to turn the volume up , when really that's not the case at all, sure some might prefer the slightly more easy to grab knob over a button but by no means am i going to crash my truck trying to mess with my stereo, there are plenty of other buttons around the truck to do that with, heck my fog light switch is harder to hit and causes more problems then my head unit ever did.......

look you do have a point, a fairly good one if people are like you and have a problem with such things, but not everyone does, so i'll just summarize my post to keep a fight from ensuing.

yes a knob is easier to find the button without looking in general
no looking for a button will most likely not kill you, unless your an idiot, same could be said for almost anything in the car at any given time.

is there a better choice?
no, it's personal preference to you the reader

suggestion:
go to a store and play with the head units and find what suites you the best.
heck i don't know even close your eyes and see if you think you can navigate while in the store...


to the op: nobody has to live with the stereo except for you, seriously make sure you go into a store first and play with a few to get an idea of what you like and what would suit you the best, beyond that everything else is just comparing numbers.

 

[runi9]

@Tomsriv - Judging from the pics on Amazon, the CDA117 has a knob. Good point and thank you for mentioning it!

 

[Tomsriv]

Hey Izzard, I didn't mean to sound like an ass, its just my personal pet peeve. I'm looking at the picture again, the volume on the top and the next track button right below. With my luck I would reach to turn up the volume on my favorite part, hit a bump and end up hitting the next track button!

 

[BrianSD_42]

This baby has a volume knob

:girl: