KCA-420i, Just not worth it.

[aws6000]

I was ecstatic with my KCA-420i the first day I had it, but it's quickly turning into more of a nuisance than a benefit. If Crutchfield will take it back, I think I'll return it. Here are a few of my problems.

(a) I have a 40gig iPod with 620 or so artists. If I want to listen to the Posies, Marillion, Kristin Hersh... well, I just don't have that kind of time to scroll to them. Not to mention that I need to take my eyes off the road entirely too much.

(b) When using the mix mode, the head unit will exit the mix mode if it is powered down and back up. I have noticed that MIX mode will continue as long as you don't skip to the next song. The MIX mode indicator light will be off, but it will still playback random songs. Skip a tune though and you're back to square one.

(c) If I'm listening to the Pogues (and it took me 5 minutes to navigate there) and then I want to listen to Sugar, I can't navigate from the Pogues directly to Sugar. No, I have to start at the beginning (artist A) and either work my forward or backward.

Well, you see my point. Navigation is completely worthless for those of us with iPods larger than 10 gigs. This thing is great for storing away the iPod and listening to songs at random, but browsing is another matter. I'm very disappointed. I think I'll look for a mount and line level input so I can use the controls on the iPod and feed the line inputs into the head unit.

[kpne1home]

one way to listen to all of your songs randomly is to put them on a playlist and set it to random. That is pretty much all that people with this can do for now it seems like, use playlists.

[aws6000]

Originally posted by kpne1home
one way to listen to all of your songs randomly is to put them on a playlist and set it to random. That is pretty much all that people with this can do for now it seems like, use playlists.

I have no complaint with the random song play, that's really the only thing that works well.

Cartoon/Review (http://www.mywarwithculture.com/comic.php?cid=74)

[code777]

No complaints at all here - just had one installed yesterday and I've been burning gas for no reason because I love it so much...

I know next year they will have the better interface or what not but I just couldn't wait. Return it and wait for the new version to come out soon. Not sure if it will be more "user friendly" but within time it will be, its just a matter of do you want to wait?

[Post Op]

I, too was a little disappointed with how hard it is to navigate the artist and album lists. Overall , though the advantages still outweigh the cumbersome navigation. If you bought a new Alpine unit plus the interface just to play your iPod, it's a bad deal. I already had a CDA9815 so it cost me just 100 bucks (which is still a little steep). I'm just going to have to get a little more creative with playlists in iTunes and navigate that way. I like not having to try and find songs on the iPod while driving and I don't have the extra step of having to put it away out of sight every time I leave the car. It's much easier changing tracks and pausing, etc using the head unit controls and everything turns off when I shut off the car. If next year's head units become more iPod-like I would consider upgrading as long as I did not have to get a new interface as well. My son is very much interested in taking my 9815 off my hands.

[code777]

What other companies will be offering "interfaces". Alpine yes and I thought I heard Kenwood also.

Some dum dum at Best Buy (car audio) told me Sony will have one but I hope not. Not a fan of Sony car audio. TV's yes but not for car audio. I say dum dum because the sales guy told me, "Yeah we have those Alpines in stock..." dear me... no wonder I go to local outfits for car audio...

[IDSmoker]

The latest Pioneer HUs are being advertised as supporting the "Pioneer iPod Adapter", so I would expect to see something from them in the near future.

[code777]

I saw that. So Pioneer is the next one to offer an iPod interface. Not a fan of Pioneer stuff but i'm sure this will boost their sales.

A saleskid at Circuit City told me to be on the look out for another iPod update as it might fix the Alpine issues (making it more user friendly) but you know these sales kids, i don't know where they get this info - although CC is an alpine dealer...hmmmm.

[IDSmoker]

So, would that be a firmware update for the iPod to better support the Alpine HU, or a firmware update for the Alpine HU to better support the iPod?

I almost think that an upgrade to the KCA-420i would be more logical... but then, that's part of the reason I'm still holding off on my purchase.

[code777]

I really have no idea if there is such a thing as firmware for the 420i or even the iPod. total rumor coming from various people at Best Buy, Circuit City, and small car audio shops. RUMOR ONLY so I'm not holding my breath...

[aws6000]

Originally posted by code777
I really have no idea if there is such a thing as firmware for the 420i or even the iPod. total rumor coming from various people at Best Buy, Circuit City, and small car audio shops. RUMOR ONLY so I'm not holding my breath...

If you can't believe a sales person at BB or CC, who can you believe? I'm bringing my plasma TV into BB for servicing tomorrow. They're going to recharge my screen with gas!

Never, ever, listen to a BB or CC salesperson.

[timrandall]

I also agree that the search for artists in the middle of the alphabet is disappointing. As a quick fix, I created a new playlist of all artists in the middle of the alphabet, and copied all the artists and tracks to that playlist. Searching the list of playlists is easy. This shortens the time it takes to find Pink Floyd. I then created more playlists for other middle sections of the alphabet, so I now have about 10 new playlists for different parts of the alphabet.
I'm still happy with this as it is by far the best cure for connecting ipod to car.
Any other ideas?

[mongooSSe]

i did the same thing when i first got it. but with playlists, you can't search for albums or artist within it; only songs. that wasn't too much better. is that the case, or did i miss something?

[Post Op]

Another thing you could do is cheat and change Your favorite artists' names to as an example aPink Floyd. That way they would appear at the beginning of the artist list.

[locopod]

Yes, this unit has lots of limitations, but there are lots of great utilities out there that really help lighten the blow (itunes' smart playlists, tag and rename, ephpod, etc.). It takes a little time, but if you're a geek, you probably will enjoy the challenge and feel like a big man when you've made the unit work a little better for you. Before I bought mine, I looked on the forums, downloaded the manuals, I even called Alpine's customer service to verify all the claims/rumors/complaints I encountered, and THEN I bought it because I felt that I could workaround all the issues, and that it was better than anything else out there. Guess what? I'm pleased because I knew what I was getting - despite having the IVA-D300, which is pretty much the most de-featured head unit that works with this thing.