Looking to go on a road trip to Cali this march, and looking to install DVD headrest monitors in the 2nd row for my girls. I was looking at the Vizualogic ones w/ 9" screens w/ dual DVD and was quoted around $2300 incl. install. Have any of you found cheaper alternatives?
One cheaper alternative would be on of those unites in the ceiling. Give away some rear view and can of course only play one DVD at the time. But the 3rd row would be able to see..
We have them in the '03, but it was a modification done by the PO. They work very well and are very bright, even in sunny conditions. We just drove 3,000 miles with a 4-yr old and a 2-yr old and I owe my sanity to those monitors!
Go by the advice of my family members. They've got older kids while I've got younger kids. They told me they found their DVD player useless when kids hits about 6 - 8 years old. They'll prefer something else.
So I bought portable ones you find at walmart. $100 for each. The kind they can hold on their laps or hang behind the seats. Anyway... I bought two, a couple of years ago. One for each kids. Put to good use for 2 or 3 summers.
Then, last summer on a 2500 miles trip. These players sat in the trailer the entire trip. Not even once they asked to use it. They prefer books and Nintendo DS.
I spoke with few of my friends whom got kids my age. They said the same. Their dvd player in their vehicle are useless.
Save your money buy something you want for your truck. Give them a $100 player and call it quits.
I had them in my 2005 Mercedes ML500, not a LC, but I will tell you, it was a waste. I am not sure more than 5 movies/tv shows were ever watched on the things, and I now would actually prefer a vehicle not to have them.
I agree and disagree with some of the advice above. We have them on our 2000 LX, on long trips, they are a Godsend. The problem is, when you head two minutes away to the store, the kids are in the back begging for you to put a movie in. Then, there are the fights of over which movie. If you have them installed, get a 2" or 4 " monitor put somewhere in the front so you can operate the on screen function and control the thing; very dangerous to be walking a 4 year old through the steps of getting a DVD to play.
I got a set of two from Target, think they're made by Coby. They strap to the headrest, so we can move them to other vehicles, they're each a player, so the kids can watch different movies if they want, or they can link together for the same movie. The kids love them, but I'm one of those parents that doesn't want their mind melted by 8 hours of movies. So, we try to find other things for them to do, but the movies sure help.
Oh, and they were a HELL of a lot cheaper than 2 grand.
Thanks for all the input. 2 grand is a bit ridiculous for something like this that my kids will outgrow. I am starting to like the idea of the portable units that you can take out of the car since my girls love to watch Wizard of Oz to go to sleep. But I'm also still interested in dedicated units for the car. AFAIK I don't think I can have another monitor up front to control headrest monitor's functionality in the back unless I get a whole new double-din unit (got factory NAV) to do that, but then I'll lose vehicle temp. controls (correct me if i'm wrong).
So right now, I'm looking at this much cheaper alternative. Amazon.com: 2 (Pair) Grey 9" LCD Car Headrest Video Monitors with Built-in DVD Players: Automotive
I too don't like the idea of turning my kids' brains to mush, unless they are educational type movies.
My local car audio shop offered to install two monitors in the headrests and integrate them with my factory 6 Disc DVD changer for $700. Of course this means that you have to change the movies in the center console but they could listen to the DVD through the headphone jacks in the seconds row and you can listen to the radio through the speakers.
IMHO - the only way to go is get 2 iPod touches - about $600 at costco for both.... They will hold several movies each as well as music for them...
My wife has an iPhone and it has 2 movies on it now (limited due to size) - but only one kid can watch so we are getting another iPod touch for road trips. A 16GB iPod touch can hold about 10-14 movies - WAY cheaper than the headrest idea and much more portable then the mobile machines. Yes, the screen is small, but for ONE person watching it works better than you'd think. Plus, you just get the Apple composite cable and it plug into any TV (like the one in the hotel room or at home). Not to mention the iPod touch has WiFi as well...
As for movies - get a tool at www.handbrake.fr Its freeware and it ROCKS - I burned on my Mac every movie in our collection (let it burn overnight) and now I have 60 movies on my Mac that I can download at anytime to synch with the iPhone (and soon to be iPod touch). Also, if you want to be in a little licensing violation you can do this with Netflix movies as well (although I have yet to do this..
Oh- and if you use the right settings when you burn them the quality is GREAT on your HD TV at home.... I never even use my DVD player any more
Oh - and don't forget all the games you can get for them that work on the iPod touch as well...
I recommend the ipod touch too. We have one that we used for a recent month long vacation to south america. It was a nice card up the sleeve when the little guy was restless. Another advantage of the ipod is that you can use it when its not being used by the kids.
Go with the cheapo DVD players. We got a 10.5 inch Minatek (?) for $120 at Costco and it's been great.
Kids did what they wanted, I listed to a book on CD (awesome for long trips as the driver). Everyone happy.
As far as the built in's go, I got to agree with several others. I drive my bro-in laws Yukon Denali every once in a while with their 6 kids and it's a freakin nightmare because they never want to go anywhere without a movie on. Nothing like 10 minutes of Spongebob here, 5 minutes of Toy Story there.
I got the kind that strap onto the headrest at Target. Looks cheap but they are removeable and versatile. Also you kid isn't holding a 5 pound plastic missile in his lap when you get rearended by a minivan.
Sorry I was forced to mention strap on and rearended in the same post.
