Argggh, I just want a radio that doesn't think I'm in Guam

January 2, 2012 9:45 AM

I'd like to purchase an aftermarket radio for my Ford Freestyle. I purchased an eclipse radio 4 years ago but it has turned into an epic POS. I'd like the following features: -Bluetooth -ability to plug in my iPhone to play podcasts and Pandora etc -gps navigation -xm would be nice, but the other features are more important I researched my last radio and got the worst POS imaginable. So your suggestions are welcome. I'd be ecstatic if I could find something that functioned at this point.
posted by bananafish to Technology (2 answers total)

JVC KW-NT50HDT
posted by jewzilla at 10:06 AM on January 2, 2012

We bought a new car last year and were looking for much the same features in a head unit. We ended up getting this one and could not be more pleased. It pretty flawlessly handles satellite, AM/FM, iPod/iPhone (which you control through the head unit, not the actual iPhone itself), has a built in Pandora function (also controlled through the head unit once you start the Pandora app manually on your iPhone), and Bluetooth (Alpine sells a unit with it included but which isn't on their page, oddly enough - the IDA-X305SBT. Really nifty. The callers voice comes out through your car speakers and you talk back by means of a small installed microphone near the drivers side roof - plus since everything is going through the head unit it knows enough to pause whatever you're listening to as a phone call comes in and then resume it when the call ends.) Only drawback with it is that there is no CD player - not too big a deal for us since we have almost our entire libraries on our iPhones anyway. They make a larger head unit that includes all these features and GPS here. Didn't really look at the one due to the price and the fact that we already had Garmin GPS unit anyway. We did most of our research on Crutchfield.com and through a local installer that came very highly recommended. No complaints whatsoever, and it has made long drives much more pleasant experiences.
posted by Rewind at 10:45 AM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]