At first glance this is a very clean looking head unit. It has all the standard tactile buttons for fast forward, reverse and volume, but where it really shines is the 4.3″ TFT-LCD touch screen. All the functions for searching and feature adjustment can be entered via the touch screen. The LCD screen also displays all the source information such as track, album, station, etc, based on what you have connected. You can watch movies on the LCD screen as well, but if you dont get a bypass module, then you will be limited to watching them only when the vehicle is stopped.

The ipod interface is very fast and functions much the same as the actual ipod. Menus are navigated the same way that the ipod does with your choice of searching by page, alphabet, or percent. There is a tactile back button as well as a back button on the touch screen. Playback is flawless and starts the second you select a song. You have the option of shuffle, repeat and mix. The mix option turns your ipod into your very own radio station by playing all your music in random order. The only thing I dont like about the interface is once you choose an album to play, the back button does nothing. So if you want to go back and play another album by the same band or search in the same general area, then you have to start your search over starting at “A” again. Its a minor annoyance, but something they could improve on.

Menus are very easy to navigate once you have done it once. In fact, the manual makes it sound much more complicated than it really is. If you want to change the bass and treble setting, one push of the “audio” button takes you to a screen with “balance/fader”, “bass/treble”, etc. touch the menu that you want to change and it will go to a new screen with adjustments. All the menus are very intuitive and well organized. There is also a screen they call “multi-info”. It divides the screen into 4 equal sections for information. There is a menu to setup the different views, by default you will see album/track, fast forward/reverse, date, and time. The time also displays the world clock if you click on it.

The unit has a pretty standard 50W x 4 (18W x 4 RMS) which is more than enough power to drive your average door speakers to a good level of volume, if you dont go too crazy with with the bass setting. Sound quality is very good, which is not a surprise for a brand that has stood for quality for the past 20 years. The unit has RCA line-level outputs for external amplifiers that has front/rear/sub connectors. It also has connections on it for a bluetooth unit to connect your phone or bluetooth enabled MP3 player. It has a connection for video input and output for external dvd players and external touchscreen monitors. This is a nice feature if you plan to add headrest screens to your system for game and/or movie watching. The unit also has a single Ai-net connection for connecting any of the Ai-net accessories that alpine offers, including the PXA-H100 audyssey digital sound processor and dvd/cd changers. The last connector is for the alpine GPS navigation system. All the optional modules are purchased separately.

The unit is a double DIN unit, so it is not for everyone, but if you have an opening that will accommodate it, this unit is certainly worth checking out. Installing the unit should be a breeze, but it is worth measuring the opening you have on your vehicle first. On my 2001 Ford excape, even though it said double DIN and the store said it would fit, it did not. A small cut here and there and I made it fit, but worth checking ahead of time.