[jondotcom]

Hi everyone...

I've been lurking in the forum for a week or so, and I've got to say I really appreciate all the helpful info you guys are providing!

I'm a new SXT owner, and I've got a few questions about the factory stereo setup.

Here's the back story: I bought the car slightly used (2000 miles) and the previous owner replaced the Factory 6-disc MP3 player (w/ Uconnect) stereo with a Pioneer DVD 7" head. When I bought the car from him, he gave me the Factory head as well. I don't need the DVD unit, and I can get $1000 for it on Ebay, so I'm seriously considering selling it and using the factory head unit instead, so I can use the Uconnect.

Q1: How well does Uconnect work? It sounds really cool, but I'm curious to know how people who actually use it like it.

Q2: Has anyone added amps/new speakers/subs to their factory head unit? I definitely want an upgraded system (my SXT doesn't have the Boston Acoustics upgrade) but I'm not sure if it makes sense to upgrade everything but keep the head unit. Are there any sound quality issues (doesn't Mopar use Alpine for these head units?)? Of course an aftermarket head is ideal, but it seems I'd be giving up Uconnect for this, and I'm trying to find the best solution.

Q3: How does the display look when playing MP3 files? I've seen photos of people listening to the radio, but I don't know what it looks like when playing MP3s. It's really important for me that the display is intuitive, and shows all the necessary info. Can someone post a screenshot of how the display looks when playing MP3s? How's the navigation through folders?

Q4: Do all factory head units come UConnect enabled? I know it is a factory option (which the original owner of my SXT purchased), so I have the Uconnect rearview, but I'm considering buying a navigation head unit on Ebay instead of using just the 6 disc changer I have. Will this be Uconnect ready, or would that head unit have to have been from a car with the Uconnect option installed?

Q5: Because the display is important to me, would I be best off getting a Nav head unit? Anyone have screenshots of this? How do you guys like the Nav unit? I already have a Magellan handheld unit that I use, so do any of you have feedback on the particular REC head unit's navigation features?

Thanks in advance to you all. Sorry this is so long-winded... I've just accumulated so many questions! And I had to leave town for 2 1/2 weeks the day after I bought my Magnum, so I'm not able to answer my own questions!

-jon

 

[obiwan]

Q1 - It is a nice feature I do think there is some latency between the handset and the BT module, my original hands free unit cut out less.

Q4 - Uconnect is seperate from the headunit but intergrated with it so you get the display info in the Nav unit.

Q5 - I love the Nav unit, I had transplanted one in my '01 300M, its really nice when you need to find a business you thought was one place, but wasn't. With the home feature you can plot a course from anywhere and it will take you back. The icons for POI have increased, display screen is much cleaner than before and very bright. Well worth the $$ IMHO.

 

[LAGuy]

Q1: I love it. Small lag on answer, but overall works well.

Q3: Displays Artist and Song Title as well as current folder. Can also display the song list. Which is handy when navigating a 135 song MP3 CD!

Q5: The display is gorgeous. Very bright and clear. The NAV unit works great.

 

[gamsberry]

As a mobile mp3 player I'm actually going to give it a C-. These days anything should sound good and this one does but the user interface is extremely poor given the amount of screen real estate they had to work with. If you keep your music in multi level directory's there is a lot of scrolling & pressing enter to move around within a disk. There is no one-click to take you to the top level. It is capable of reading the ID3 tags but will not display them as a default setting. it displays the filename of what is playing instead. It does not respect the ID3 track tag so it plays each directory in alphabetic order on the filename. But worst of all there is no aux input. And it is pretty unlikely that one will be build since the 06 models come with one. That being said it is a nice system, especially if you have the evic too. But that integration comes at a price - less features & flexibility that you can get with aftermarket gear. If all you really want is nav I would recommend selling the oem head unit & looking at some of the spiffy new models that garmin has out.

 

[jondotcom]

Thanks so much to you all for your responses... and to gamsberry for posting the photos! It really helps a lot seeing the NAV unit it action, and will help me make a more informed decision if I choose to upgrade to the NAV unit.

I do not have the EVIC system in my Magnum (I wish I did though). Will that adversely affect how intiutive working with the Nav system will be?

gamsberry- did you say that the '06 Magnum Nav system has an aux input? If that's the case, would I be able to purchase one of those units and use it in my Magnum?

Also, does anyone have just the 6 disk changer that they could photograph? I was considering getting the Nav unit, so it really helped seeing those photos, but I have the 6 Disk changer (though it's not installed, I'm considering reinstalling it) and I'd love to see the photos of how MP3 CDs are played/displayed.

Thanks again y'all!

 

[w5blt]

I can't be of much help, but, I finally got a cell phone that I can use with the Uconnect. I think that it's great. Once set up, I don't have to do anything. If I get an incoming call, I just answer it and it mutes the radio/CD etc. The audio on the receiving end is great. I was really amazed. I'm using the NAV unit with the 6 CD player and they all work in concert very well. I'm one happy camper.