Alpine Glidetouch?

[probedb]

Anyone have one of them Alpine headunits with Glidetouch? What's it like??

I've got the iPod adaptor and want to use it with that but my old Alpine unit was pre-Glidetouch and not great for controlling an iPod so wondered what the new ones were like cos they're nice headunits :)

[gmogle]

Me me me me I do,

Only fitted this at christmas.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/gmogle/P1020055.jpg

Sorry about the large pic and it really shows how scuffed my dashboard really is, oh well add it to the list of jobs to do lol

Anyway the one I have is an Alpine 9855r, the scroll bar is pretty good and funky, no where near as good as the iPod wheel though, scanning through albums / songs if you have more than 100 is a bit of a pain because as you slide your finger over it does them 1 by 1. If you do it quickly it does them about 20 a time so its not too bad. But it is a cool ay of selecting songs, the missus loves playing with it !!!

The sound quality is phenomenal but be warned that most RXs, well mine does have the most hideous door plastics that rattle if you turn the bass up too much, also the standard speakers arent up to parr. This again is another job on my list to do as well as sorting the rattles.

1 major word of advice though mate is to wire a switch into the power aerial lead then you dont have to have the awful aerial up all the time, otherwise when you turn the stereo on it comes up.....why oh why didnt they do like my mates R32 Skyline where its in the front windscreen (yes I know the booster one is in the back). Halfords do the switch, fits perfectly, cost 99p, aiming to get another to turn on my water injection, here is a pic of where it sits in the pocket under the radio:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/gmogle/P1020061.jpg

Overall though mate I like the radio and thought the slidewheel is good, bad points though are that it only has 3 animations and even with the brightness turned down its still very bright.

Mounted the KCA adapter in the passenger footwell out of sight and leads are hidden and go to the glovebox so the iPod isnt on show either. As you can control it from the radio there is no need to have it out.

This is where I got the radio facia (thanks MattR):
http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/3469.html
and highly recommend the adapter block:
http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/pr...ts_id/1612.html
Oh and not to mention an aerial adapter as the RX has the old long male plug.

Hope this helps, have some more pics of where the bits are hidden etc if you want me to send them to you ?

If you want to be really flash there is a colour version of mine coming out, 9965 which plays DVDs, colour screen etc etc but price is over 500 plus pounds !!!

Gareth

[probedb]

Cool, thanks very much for the detailed review :D

I think I'd end up getting one of those aerials you can put on your windscreen as had one in the probe and was fine...then get the rear one filled in. Gives me an excuse to get new speakers and rewire the whole properly according to the post in the ICE section on the site :D

[gmogle]

No worries mate, there is one already on the back window that was designed as a booster aerial for the stock radio. I have read on some on the american rx7club that you can buy a booster unit that allows you to use this as the main aerial. May be worth investigating.

If you do put one in then post up a how to mate.

I cant believe Mazda thought putting an aerial there would be ok, it totally ruins the look of the car when its up, the MX5 is the same !! Bizarre.

Gareth

[probedb]

I shall do a post when I get one, friend fitted it before I got the Probe so they'll know where to get it.

Scrapped the idea of a car PC so I'll be after the same headunit as you :) Got the same front components as the guy who posted the speaker install thing too so got those to put in as well!

I can do electrical stuff, it's when it involves pipes and things I'm no good.