any suggestions on features I should be looking to include?
Thanks
Thanks
Replacing factory head unit and speakers in 97 80 series
- Thread starter Decruzer
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
rusty_tlc
Dain Bramaged Member
First suggestion is to post this in the 80 forum. No being mean just trying to help you get good advice faster.
- Thread starter
- #3
Thanks. I was trying to get more expedition advice. Do you guys run cb radios through the head unit, Do you use navigation including offline nav through phones or would you recommend having that in head unit. Not sure if there is other things I should consider for expedition type vehicle?
Definitely get something Bluetooth compatible and I personally prefer the double DIN. DVD player will be nice for the wife or kids or even you if you get bored hanging out in a parking lot for any period of time. The apple carplay is pretty sweet allowing you to run multiple DVD's and navigation from your smart device. Expect to pay about $500 for a unit that has it unless they've changed in the last few months.
Speakers, you can get into 6.5's in all four doors for less than $100 and have a pretty nice sounding system. If your an audiophile you will probably want more.
Not very many people are running CB anymore. The federal 4w regulation makes them fairly handicapped. Not to mention even a 1/4 wave antenna for 11m is pretty tall and ungainly looking. 2m is a much more attractive option. You can get into a good 2m setup for around $200 with some careful shopping. If you start on page 9 of this thread MOBY DICK gets a turn ! that will show you the stereo, speakers, and 2m setup that I installed back in September.
Speakers, you can get into 6.5's in all four doors for less than $100 and have a pretty nice sounding system. If your an audiophile you will probably want more.
Not very many people are running CB anymore. The federal 4w regulation makes them fairly handicapped. Not to mention even a 1/4 wave antenna for 11m is pretty tall and ungainly looking. 2m is a much more attractive option. You can get into a good 2m setup for around $200 with some careful shopping. If you start on page 9 of this thread MOBY DICK gets a turn ! that will show you the stereo, speakers, and 2m setup that I installed back in September.
- Thread starter
- #5
Thanks for the info and the great write up
rusty_tlc
Dain Bramaged Member
Oh I see.
- offline nav with topo maps
- blue tooth as mentioned above
As mentioned CB is kind of a waste of time for overland travel where the group gets spread out either on the highway or on the dirt. I've been in situations where we were leaving a good three miles or more between rigs to avoid eating dust all day. In a group of six to eight rigs the distance between the lead and tail gun can get considerable, way beyond CB range.
I see no advantage to running the comms audio through the head unit. I have my radios set up to operate independently of any other system, even when the ignition is off. There is a slight danger of battery drain if I forget to turn the radio off but most radios draw very little current in standby mode. The up side is I can monitor the radio without running the truck in ACC mode, handy if you are waiting for help and need to give directions.
Also running my 2m off of the secondary battery for exactly the reason @rusty_tlc mentioned. That way you don't have to have the vehicle running for comms. Especially useful if you were sitting in camp and need to talk to someone.
I had a double din with navigation for a short time and hated it. Plugging in the coordinates was a pain, it had to be done in the 80. When the nav. spoke it turned the radio off ( which is great ) except the nav voice was a lot lower tone, so was very hard to hear.
rusty_tlc
Dain Bramaged Member
Really nice if late arrivals need directions to your camp.
