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SUVs Honda Pilot Honda Pilot Accessories and Modifications
1052 messages, Last post on Nov 07, 2009 at 6:43 AM
You are in the Honda Pilot Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & tidester
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sorry i'm slow on getting to this. i've been away on vacation. You should ask that dealer exactly why a sunroof would void the warranty. By law, a dealership or manufacturer has to prove that the modification actually caused the failure in question. So what exactly would fail on a car that should be covered by the warranty but was caused by having a sunroof?? Basically, I am not worried one iota about my warranty given the fact I had a sunroof installed. If my engine fails and the dealer tells me he won't fix it because I have a sunroof ... well, obviously, he has no leg to stand on and would never win in court if it even came to that. NOW, let's say the sunroof leaks and drips water on the radio and destroys the radio. OK, that's not going to be covered by the warranty. But the odds of that happening and so slim and a risk I'm willing to take. I also have confidence that my sunroof installer would make good on that particular repair. hope this helps. |
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Below is a repost from the Pricing msg boards. I put it here as we are really talking about accessories. Well, in a strange twist of fate, I wrenched out the wallet, and switched to the headrests. Why did I do that? Well, I just wasnt really jazzed about the prospect of cutting that headliner. Third row viewing wont be what it would have had I had the 10.4 inch or 9 inch monitor mounted on the ceiling. bconsi wanted to know about this. To answer your question, bconsi, no, I dont think you will be able to view the headrest screen comfortably from the 3rd row. They might have to lean up. The salesman, as a selling point of the ceiling mount, talked about the third row viewing and how good it would be with a 10.4" or 9" screen. He said the 7", which is what the headrest monitors come with, are too small. If you have the money, bconsi, the best....I mean THE BEST...way to go, would be headrest monitors in all seats. hahaha...I know, a lot of money. That's why I prefaced it with, "if you have the money". And ulitmately, in switching to the headrest monitors, I had to lose the tv tuner to keep the price the same. Read on. So headrests vs. ceiling mounts comes down to a judgement call on the buyers part. 2 children or less, and the headrests have the advantage of one child being able to watch a movie, while the other one plays videos. Or one can watch tv (if you have a tv tuner). And so on. As long as there is are separate video sorces, each can flip the screen to what they want to watch. So, more options for the multiple children scenario, as each can watch what they want. The other plus is that the headrests are a much cleaner installation on your new pilot (mine is now a month old), and for me, I wasnt really excited about cutting the headliner, for resale. Because with the headrests, you pop out the headrests monitor, send it back to the company (for a fee), and they send you a new headrest for the new car you have bought. You put the old headrest monitors back in your Pilot, and sell the car untouched and factory fresh. Pluses of the headrest sytem: -cleaner...more of a, "factory" look -easier and less invasive to your car to install and uninstall -better quality screen (the brand, "epic", that I am buying is a third generation screen. Much nicer than the audiovox one I was going to get.) -more video source switching options. Providing you have the multiple video sources. If you just have a dvd player, then you only will have one video source and one screen on the ceiling would be fine. And you would be able to have third row viewing (9 inch screen or larger). But if you are planning on gaming, or having a tv tuner, or both, resulting in multiple video sources, multiple screens will allow you to switch around on video sources so one kid can do one thing, and another another. Drawbacks of the headrest monitors -more money -third row seating viewing difficult -7 inch screen is the largest offered, although supposedly a 9 inch screen is going to be offered in the near future. -minor cutting will be required somewhere for the dvd player. If you buy the all in one audiovox one that I was going to do, then you wouldnt have to cut anywhere for the dvd player. But you would have to cut your headliner. I think the cutting for the dvd player is less invasive overall. The dealer was very sincerely pro headrest monitors. Sincere as in he wasnt trying to make more money (price ended up being the same, but now didnt have the tv tuner. Adding the tv tuner would have been an extra 300-400, hence, the higher price for the headrest systems, you have to pay for everything ala carte. They dont come as an all in one package), he really thought the headrests were a better monitor, a much much cleaner installation with a 100% factory look (the Epic brand, as Im sure the other ones do, send you headrests that match your car EXCTLY in style and color), and the possibility of video source switching. So, if you have the money, I think that the more headrest screens you put in, the better! That way, the kids arent fighting. The price, as I said, ended up being the same. The all - in - one audiovox unit that mounts on the ceiling with a 9" screen, installed and with tax (the out the door price), was $2050.00 And that came with EVERTHING. -two IR headsets -tv tuner -9 inch monitor -fm modulator (see my discussion on aux audio adapters with sysadmin1. I swapped this out for an aux audio adapter and will not be using the fm modulator) -dvd player And I added a gaming wire for future use (L/R audio and video cables to be stored under the seat). The Epic, as I said, is ala carte. So I have the same things above, less the tv tuner. So no tv capability. For $2050. It can be added in the future, for a price of course! And the headsets that I purchased with the Epic headrest monitors are much much better. They are not IR. They are RF. So you dont have to hold your head just so for the headset to pick up the IR signal. And it isnt necessary to have IR repeaters drilled throughout the car to receive the infrared signal. The RF is a radio frequency. So is not a line-of-sight thing. Go wherever and listen uninterrupted. Oh, btw, I am putting the dvd player at the bottom of the radio stack. I have a navi system, so no room to mount the dvd player in the radio stack. It is in that cubbyhole at the bottom. But that trim piece that they will be cutting into, is replaceable. So if you replace the trim piece, and re-install the original headrests, your car in now factory, again. If you dont replace that cubbyhole trim piece, the holes will be on the top of the cubbyhole, and nobody will see them anyway. DVD placement is a whole nother issue. And if anyone has any better suggestions, I am open. I have a navi system, as I said, so mounting it in the radio stack is not an option. And mounting it under the passenger seat isnt an option because of the navi computer under the seat. The drawback of putting it in that cubbyhole at the bottom of the radio stack is that my wife will lose most/all of that space, and, the cutting required for mounting and running the wires. Again, that piece is replaceable. So it comes down to the lost space. The wife wasnt real jazzed about that. But she did like the convience of putting the dvd disk in. Sysadmin1, you keep saying RES. What does RES mean? In the end, it is really a judgement call. Each system has its plus and minus. There is no clear cut. It comes down to 2 systems. Either the all in one on the ceiling, or the headrests. Hopefully, the windy explanation(s) offered above will highlight some of the issues to consider in the choices. |
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Congratulations on your new DVD system. It sounds wonderful. Why do you say that you need a 9" or larger overhead monitor in the pilot. Your dealer might be misguiding you. Honda's factory system comes with only a 7" monitor and the third row occupants can watch a movie without a problem. I sat in a third row just to see how a 7" looks like and it seemed fine. I agree the larger the screen the better, to an extent. Too large of a screen in a midsize SUV can give the kids a headache. I also purchased a Pilot with Navigation so I also debated as to which system to install - headrests or overhead unit. I finally decided on the overhead unit. I looked at the Audiovox 9" PROV 916 and the 8" VOD 808. I decided on the VOD 808 because I don't care for the 16:9 ratio. Actually the surface area on the 8" 4:3 ration is not much less than the surface area on a 9" 16:9 ratio. The total installed price was $1325.00 plus 6% sales tax. The system has an FM modulator, TV tuner and antenna, and two premium IR wireless headseats. The dealer did a fantastic job with the installation and the picture is absolutely beautiful. The installer was also able to take the auxilory video output and hook it up to my Navigation monitor via an A/B swith so that my wife can watch the movie when we go on a long trip. This last part is illegal but the A/B switch is hidden. |
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The salesman did directly say that the 7" screen was too small for 3rd row viewing. I believed him on it, not having viewed any of the screens from the actual car seats. So my posting was based on what he had advised me. And I think for us that that became the hardest thing; trying to project what would look good and what wouldnt and what would our needs be in the future. Funny, when my wife went to look at the dvd screens, she felt the 10.4" was too big. Personally, as far as the audiovox, I liked the PROV 916. I never saw the VOD 808. It sounds like the same thing, with a lot less of a price tag. The PROV 916, installed, with the aux audio adapter cable that I am using instead of the fm modulator, including tax, was $2050. So I am impressed with your $1500 price tag out the door price. How much was it to install that A/B switch? I was initially not interested, but now as I have become, "screen guy", with these multiple headrest screens, I'm thinking, hey, the more the merrier! <G> |
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just did the math on the 6% sales tax. More likely a $1400 out the door price for you. Out of curiosity, what was your final deciding factor in chosing the overhead vs the headrest monitors? Do you have more than one child? If so, did that weigh into your decision at all? Our installation will occur after xmas. I'm not sure if it is possible to change back (again) to the all in one system from the ceiling. The headrest monitors have to special ordered. But I am really enough on the fence that maybe someone has found a reason that I have missed. I am on the fence only because I really don't like the dvd player being in that cubbyhole at the bottom. The trim piece is replaceable. True. Which will bring the complete car back to factory for any resale. But it is the loss of the space that keeps nagging at me. I think my wife wont like that loss of space that the dvd player will occupy. But on the other hand, I don't like the idea of cutting the headliner. So I have been going back and forth on this. As my multiple posts on just this dvd issue probably demonstrates. There is no clear cut choice. Each has its plus and minus. Finally what price do you think your dealer would have posted for that PROV 916? Just curious. Thanks! |
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| I think as long as the DVD player will mount in that space without sticking way out and looking foolish, the space issue wont bother me. I'll still have that whole cubby between the seats, which is another reason I liked the Pilot. Having the shifter on the wheel takes some getting used to but since you hardly ever touch it, I like the extra spae gained. As long as it fits in that cubby, even if they have to cut, and doesnt look tacky or crummy, I'll be ok. I plan on keeping this for 4-5 years anyway. I am just worried the Best Buy techs don't have the required skills. They guy at the counter said they are all certified and stuff, but who knows. | |
| Well, at least at Best Buy, they have a lot of money backing them. If there is any problems, you will be compensated with little hassle. | |
| Let's hope so. Equiptment comes in the 23'rd, shoul dbe installed mid-jan. I'll post some pics once it's done. As long as the dvd fits in the stack without protruding or looking stupid, I'll give up the space there. | |
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Thanks for the info regarding the ceiling mount vs the headrest. Was wondering if you had a picture of it to post so we can all see how it cam out? thanks. |
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Sorry, I forgot to tell you what the price would have been for the 9" PROV 916. I would have only paid $100 more than the 9", however as I said I don't personally care for the 16:9 ratio so I went for the 8". According to the Audiovox sales person there is no difference between the VOD and PROV designations as far as quality. The VOD designation is used for the units they sell to dealers where the PROV is marketed directly to consumers. I do have two kids and we are thinking about having one more. I felt that a centrally located system would be better. As far as my wife goes, she can watch movies on the NAV screen. Also there is the safety factor. I just don't feel that the headrest system is as safe. After seeing how my dealer installed the overhead system I believe that in case of a roll over the only thing that would not come apart would be the DVD. I don't have my receipt in front of me but I believe the A/B switch was around $60.00. I will check and let you know if I am wrong. Have a good Holiday. |
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