Ugly.. (long post)
Long story short I purchased and evaluated the Clarion NICE in anticipation of integrating it into the stock NAV bezel like many have done here. In short I returned the Clarion because it did not meet my needs and went another route with the Pioneer AVIC-D1 plus XM nav traffic module.
I want to offer my opinion of the Clarion not to bash it but give others that might be considering the unit a little more insight into its capabilities.
The Clarion is a great unit and the stealth factor by having it integrated like stock is a huge bonus. Plus the large 7" screen is nice as well as many of the other options built into it. The price is about the best you will find in options that can be permanantly integrated into the Armada too. But it just was not going to work for me for the reasons below.
Firstly and most importantly it's point of interest database is entirley too small. I am not sure how many locations are stored in it but I could not find some of the most popular stores in here Los Angeles.. ie.. Radio Shack, Best Buy, Target. I need the ability to use the NAV like a mobile yellow pages and the Clarion's smaller list of gas stations, banks, atms, and other services seemed like it would only be sufficent for going out of town on roadtrips and not finding your way around businesses while in town.
In addition the POI search function was not nearly as intuitive and more combersome to operate than many of the fully integrated products are. This is were the Pioneer shines.. it has a 11+ million POI database from which to query from. And the search and input functions are very intuitive and easy to use. NAV traffic so far seems very cool although I am still evaulating the accuracy. But the system has rerouted me three times around traffic and definitly saved some time and frustration. Bein able to view all the reported accident and road hazards rported to the highway patrol in somewhat realtime is a nice feature!
The maps on the Clarion are at best mediocre when compared to the details of some of the other major brands as well. My biggest gripe is that the map would orientate "North up" only when you zoomed out to a scale of 1 mile or larger. Most other units let you stay in "direction up" mode when you are zoomed out to 10-25 miles or so. There is nothing I can't stand more than looking at Nav with the map pointed north when you are actually driving in a different direction. Dunno if all Clarion NICE units are like this but mine would consitantly orient north as soon as I started zooming the map out.
Video playback on the Clarion was decent. The screen as viewed in normal mode was a little small. It would crop about 1.5" off either side. When you viewed in stretched mode this would stretch whatever you were watching fairly drasticly. They all do this to a degree but the Pioneer does a much better job and offers 5 different viewing mode/resolutions.
Sound output on the Clarion when connected to the Aux input seemed fine and it worked well with the stock headunit. Presets for the Sirius radio and other user interfaces seemed pretty good.
Similarly sound on the Pioneer sounds as good or better than stock on the stock speakers.. although I have now given up dual zone entertainment ability. I can probably get some of that function back with a seperate DVD player and entertinment switch with monitors that output to IR headphones.
There is not very much adjustment for screen brightness on the Clarion and it is not automatic. At night the screen in NAV or Sirius mode would light up the entire cabin which I didnt really like. Again the Pioneer does a much better job at this.
Finally hacking the system to allow video playback while in motion was ether unavailable with the Clarion or would require covering the NAV bezel with something that would block the GPS signals while in motion. With the Pioneer you can actually ground the parking brake and another pin on the headunit that disables all locked out functions.
Overall the Clarion just did not seem (IMO) up to par with what else is currently available. Still a great unit for the price.. and again this is only meant to give others an idea of what to expect. If you want top functionality then you might consder looking at other options in my opinion.
Ultimatly by choosing to go with the Pioneer I paid more and gave up stealth as it might attract unwanted atention from theives. This worries me after spending so much and the pains I went thru putting it in myself.
Aestheticly the integrated Clarion with OEM headunit probably looks more OEM and pleaseing to the eye, but that is all personal preference.
I also gave up the dual zone entertainment functionality but may get that back. There is probably more, but in the end I can not say enough about the Pioneer as it is a serious piece of gear for the price! I looked at the Alpine which is also very nice but very expensive and still does not hold as many points of interest as the Pioneer.
Hope this helps anyone that is shopping around in the future. Again the Clarion has a niche and purpose... I think chosing a NAV unit will depend ultimatly on what you are looking for it to do.
Long story short I purchased and evaluated the Clarion NICE in anticipation of integrating it into the stock NAV bezel like many have done here. In short I returned the Clarion because it did not meet my needs and went another route with the Pioneer AVIC-D1 plus XM nav traffic module.
I want to offer my opinion of the Clarion not to bash it but give others that might be considering the unit a little more insight into its capabilities.
The Clarion is a great unit and the stealth factor by having it integrated like stock is a huge bonus. Plus the large 7" screen is nice as well as many of the other options built into it. The price is about the best you will find in options that can be permanantly integrated into the Armada too. But it just was not going to work for me for the reasons below.
Firstly and most importantly it's point of interest database is entirley too small. I am not sure how many locations are stored in it but I could not find some of the most popular stores in here Los Angeles.. ie.. Radio Shack, Best Buy, Target. I need the ability to use the NAV like a mobile yellow pages and the Clarion's smaller list of gas stations, banks, atms, and other services seemed like it would only be sufficent for going out of town on roadtrips and not finding your way around businesses while in town.
In addition the POI search function was not nearly as intuitive and more combersome to operate than many of the fully integrated products are. This is were the Pioneer shines.. it has a 11+ million POI database from which to query from. And the search and input functions are very intuitive and easy to use. NAV traffic so far seems very cool although I am still evaulating the accuracy. But the system has rerouted me three times around traffic and definitly saved some time and frustration. Bein able to view all the reported accident and road hazards rported to the highway patrol in somewhat realtime is a nice feature!
The maps on the Clarion are at best mediocre when compared to the details of some of the other major brands as well. My biggest gripe is that the map would orientate "North up" only when you zoomed out to a scale of 1 mile or larger. Most other units let you stay in "direction up" mode when you are zoomed out to 10-25 miles or so. There is nothing I can't stand more than looking at Nav with the map pointed north when you are actually driving in a different direction. Dunno if all Clarion NICE units are like this but mine would consitantly orient north as soon as I started zooming the map out.
Video playback on the Clarion was decent. The screen as viewed in normal mode was a little small. It would crop about 1.5" off either side. When you viewed in stretched mode this would stretch whatever you were watching fairly drasticly. They all do this to a degree but the Pioneer does a much better job and offers 5 different viewing mode/resolutions.
Sound output on the Clarion when connected to the Aux input seemed fine and it worked well with the stock headunit. Presets for the Sirius radio and other user interfaces seemed pretty good.
Similarly sound on the Pioneer sounds as good or better than stock on the stock speakers.. although I have now given up dual zone entertainment ability. I can probably get some of that function back with a seperate DVD player and entertinment switch with monitors that output to IR headphones.
There is not very much adjustment for screen brightness on the Clarion and it is not automatic. At night the screen in NAV or Sirius mode would light up the entire cabin which I didnt really like. Again the Pioneer does a much better job at this.
Finally hacking the system to allow video playback while in motion was ether unavailable with the Clarion or would require covering the NAV bezel with something that would block the GPS signals while in motion. With the Pioneer you can actually ground the parking brake and another pin on the headunit that disables all locked out functions.
Overall the Clarion just did not seem (IMO) up to par with what else is currently available. Still a great unit for the price.. and again this is only meant to give others an idea of what to expect. If you want top functionality then you might consder looking at other options in my opinion.
Ultimatly by choosing to go with the Pioneer I paid more and gave up stealth as it might attract unwanted atention from theives. This worries me after spending so much and the pains I went thru putting it in myself.
Aestheticly the integrated Clarion with OEM headunit probably looks more OEM and pleaseing to the eye, but that is all personal preference.
I also gave up the dual zone entertainment functionality but may get that back. There is probably more, but in the end I can not say enough about the Pioneer as it is a serious piece of gear for the price! I looked at the Alpine which is also very nice but very expensive and still does not hold as many points of interest as the Pioneer.
Hope this helps anyone that is shopping around in the future. Again the Clarion has a niche and purpose... I think chosing a NAV unit will depend ultimatly on what you are looking for it to do.
