JVC KW-XR816

Ok first i would like to say that chances are reviewer number one must have got a cheap knockoff cause this is by far one of the best head units ive purchased so far.

It says iphone and ipod compatability, thats exactly what it does. ive set up audio and phone bluetooth pairing with my iphone 4, i sit down in the car for about ten seconds, they find each other, connect and i press play and all my music is there. Ive have no prior experience with bluetooth in the past and this was very easy to setup.

The main reason for purchase for myself was that i didnt want touch screen, as futuristic as they seem i dont trust their reliabilty, i like buttons cause if a button breaks you can push harder and sometimes they work, touch screen breaks and its another unit. With the smaller screen it also meant i didnt have to pay the extra 500 - 1000 for GPS which would have served me no purpose cause thats what the iphone is for.

One aspect that i didnt like about this unit is the phone calls. There is nothing wrong with it, it works just fine but i have been told that the person i am talking to can hear themselves cause the mic could probably be better, that being said i never had a chance to set it up properly in the software half.

This unit is incredibly easy to setup in any double din car, the menu layout is very easy to use and just a glance at the instruction booklet will tell you the most obvious shortcut keys that it has built into it.

Bluetooth pairing is a cinch, making phone calls is easy as the unit can access the phonebook in your phone, it also allows the Voice control function in the iphone to make voice dials which i thought was very handy as that features is quite good in the iphone 4 and up. Music can be controlled by either the phone or the unit which is hand when you have 4 people in the car and everyone wants to change the song. The unit allows up to 5 bluetooth pairings for audio so when one person has exhausted their music stash you can switch it over to the next friend as long as they have bluetooth.

In the past i have had a pioneer, another JVC, a kenwood, a Eurovox and a standard bmw unit from 2000 and this is by far the handiest and easiest unit to use. 5 Stars everytime.

I owuld like to point out that the reason i have it 3 stars for \"value for money\" is from my own personal experience when i purchased this unit. looking around all the big brands like Repco, autobarn and JB hifi i thought the average price was around 450 - 500. Only after purchasing the unit for 450 did i find the unit for sale at 200. So all im saying is look around first, you can find it at 200. Just make sure they are a JVC approved dealer first

Most modern vehicles available today now use a double din sized radio aperture. Unfortunately, many manufactures have been slow to follow the market trend and there is still limited availability when looking for a quality aftermarket unit. JVC has been one of the few manufacturers to enter a product in this segment without going down the path of ‘all singing, all dancing’ full screen extravagance, after all few people will watch a DVD movie on route to their destination.

The KW-XR816 promises high specification in a more traditional package. A nice clear screen you can customise to your cars instrument illumination colour is a wonderful touch, means that even the most OCD individual can buy this unit in complete confidence it will blend in beautifully.

Looks aside, there really isn’t much else positive to say about this unit.

The shiny black piano key finish looks cheap in bright daylight and is virtually impossible to keep clean. The buttons on the unit move around in position and have very poor feel to them, for example, the large source button moves around a good 5mm. Despite this unit only being 3 months old you can see the buttons starting to settle unevenly.

One of the main benefits of upgrading from the cheaper unit is the ‘built-in’ Bluetooth functionality, what you should know is this is achieved by placing a dongle in one of the units 2 usb slots. If like me, you have you iPod stashed away and plugged into the rear slot you’ll have to live with the dongle protruding out of the front of the unit. This not annoying enough? Well they’ve kindly added a lovely green LED to make sure you can ignore its existence.

The Bluetooth functionality is a complete joke. Not only does the unit randomly fail to initialise it often requires a full system reset, which is a complete nightmare. Having used a Parrot set previously I expected the same level of functionality, however, this JVC unit is not compatible with popular services such as Viber & Skype. I have tried a number of different mobile on this unit and non-have offered anywhere near reliable functionality.

iPod integration is appalling, possibly one of the worse I’ve seen. Not only does the unit regularly fail to display the correct name and title of track it often stops working without warning. I have tried this on three iPods and all have suffered the same problem, not good enough from a unit at this price point. By far the worse aspect of iPod integration is the menu system, when scrolling through contents after the first couple of pages names are replaced by numbers, for example 101/3250, this makes it completely impossible to find that track you’ve been looking for. Completely useless!

In short this unit is overpriced, with limited functionality and definitely worth avoiding. Cheap Chinese double din units are flooding the market at the moment and actually work. I am defiantly considering selling my unit and trying something else.