Clarion NX605 2-Din DVD Multimedia Station with Built-In Navigation/Smart Access and 6.2-Inch Touch Panel Control (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

I bought this to go into my Chevy Avalanche specifically for the Navigation, backup camera and Pandora feature.I love the unit, it does what I want it to do plus more. It's a lot deeper than the factory radio so some shaving to the cavity had to be done for those 04 Chevy truck owners, be aware of that.The installation went well, it was straight forward, red to red, blue to blue and etc. But the one issue I had trouble with was the Illumination/auto dimming feature. Whereas most gps units dim at a certain time of night, this unit will only dim if +12vdc is applied to the illumination/dimmer wire on the back of the unit. I fixed that by installing a push button in one of the cubby holes that will dim it when clicked.Pros:1: Pandora works great, you can like and skip and choose your stations, via the touch panel and swiping up and down on the screen.2: Bluetooth Audio works great. You can play audio files that are on your Android phone, and it will display the album information on the screen.3: Dvd Playback is fantastic, the screen is clear and sharp4: Smart Voice works OK. It's sort of slow, it's dependant on the smart access app on your phone to be running, so launching the app on the Clarion, there is a noticable delay as the app's loading icon swirls around on the screen, talks to your phone, verifies internet connectivity then asks you: "What can I do for you?" it blings like Google now would, then you make your request, it goes up, gets the info then brings it back in a decent amount of time. Not too long by that point. But it's not as seamless as they will like you to believe.5: USB playback: I've had success with up to 64GB thumb drives. The menu structure could be a little better, but maybe with a firmware update..6: MicroSD playback: It works like USB playback does.Cons:1:USB playback: I like to listen to music files in a random order, so I use the shuffle feature a lot. the problem with this shuffle feature is that if you hit the next track option, it replays the current song. same as if you hit previous track. Double tapping doesn't help. Sometimes I will just tap the next folder icon to force it to skip.2: No video playback other than via the dvd player. C'mon, its 2015, we can do digital media files now. I had a $200 Power Accoustik that would play mp4 videos via sd card, or usb3: Smart Access doesn't work for Samsung devices unless you are using the Official MHL hdmi adapter from Samsung themselves. Save yourself the hassle of trying others, I did that for you, they don't work.4: The unit should support up to 5 separate bluetooth devices, but it doesn't. If you have a phone set up, and attempt to add another. It will tell you that you already have a device set up to do those options and force you to delete the access for the first phone.5: The device profiles force you to pick and choose unnecessarily. If you want to use the unit to handle calls, play pandora, and use smart voice access you have to choose the top option of smartphone linking + phone. If you want to use the unit to play music from your phone and do calls, you lose the option for pandora, and smart voice. Your unit can only talk to an android or iphone, once configured, for either, it's done and set. Switching it will render your previous options moot. Which comes back to the whole not supporting multiple devices thing.6: The Navigation works fine, but sometimes makes stupid decisions for you. Like asking you to get off the interstate, just to get back on the interstate and continue in the same direction you were going.

After 3 months of use (it is paired to an iPhone 6, installed in a VW Passat), I recommend you DO NOT BUY this unit. Most frustrating about it is about once a week it randomly and completely freezes. No amount of button pushing will make it do ANYTHING. I have to turn the car off and remove the key to cut power to the unit before I can get it working again. It has happened while navigating, playing Pandora, or just sitting there doing nothing. I go to turn the radio on and halfway through the unit stops doing anything.The Pandora app is terrible; I get about 1 hour of use before it continues to play music, but I cannot like, dislike, or skip songs. It also doesn't show the current song playing. Restarting the app in the phone does not help.The google voice feature is so slow, I could just keep a set of Encyclopedias in the back seat and look up the information faster, and when it finally does do something, the search results are rarely helpful. For Example: You can say "I'm hungry" and it's supposed to look up restaurants nearby. I was a mile from the exit, can see at least 4 fast-food signs, and it showed the nearest restaurant is 50 miles away. USELESS.The processors in the unit can't handle playing music and giving directions at the same time. If i'm streaming Pandora and it cuts in to tell me to turn left, the voice is choppy and sometimes doesn't start playing until AFTER I have to turn. There's just a long silence and I've learned to look at the screen to make sure I don't miss my turn since I can't rely on the voice. Trying to search around with the pinch feature is useless. You pinch and literally 3-5 seconds later the map changes, then you pinch again and wait another 3-4 seconds. I am not exaggerating, I sat there and timed it. It is miserable.The unit cannot handle animating its own menu icons. they are choppy and when you press the button, you hear the chime but nothing happens for several seconds. Sometimes it will interrupt the music briefly just to load a menu screen!I bought this unit based on my extreme satisfaction with the Clarion NX700 I installed in my truck in 2010(ish). What really gets me angry is the 5-year-old NX700 is FASTER than the brand new NX605. It boots faster, and maps load faster, and goes between screens faster.

I wanted to replace my factory installed 1-din head unit on my 2005 Toyota highlander V6 4x4 model with 6.2 inch 2 din headunit to reduce clutter on my car dash. After much deliberation and a good deal, I decided to buy Clarion NX605 over Pioneer Avic 6100, but I should have bought pioneer.The unit was shipped by amazon market place partner pretty fast shipping. Spend the weekend to install the new toy. The unit is responsive, but sometimes fail to understand why it doesn't switch on. In last 3 weeks of use, this has happenned about 5 times. I can not say after using the product I am fully satisfied.Pros1. Responsive, but startup takes about 30 sec2. Rear view camera is available immediately though the system is starting3. HD Radio with digital multicasting4. Intelligent Tune5. Built-in navigation pinpoints your exact locationCons1. You can not register this product on Clarion site2. Documentation quality is not well explained3. iHeartMedia’s TTotal Traffic & Weather Network supposed to provide road condition updates from local traffic centers via RDS-TMC; but Clarion site has posted termination for iHeartRadio & MotionX starting Nov 20154. Bluetooth suddenly stops 'can not be recognized' from iPhone 65. Intelligent VOICE does not recognize asian accent