Alpine IDA-X305

I've had the head unit for a couple of months now and I love it. It keeps my iPod charged and it's very convenient to be able to navigate the iPod menu and the stereo level. I haven't had a single problem with it yet and use it everyday.There's only two downfalls I've noticed so far. The first one is the obvious one of no CD player. It doesn't bug me too much since my entire music library is on my iPod but you never know when a CD player may be wanted. The other problem is scrolling through the iPod menu. On the iPod, I can scroll through my library very quickly and efficiently. On this head unit, there's no scrolling through the alphabet to get to songs or artists faster. There's a certain technique of spinning the wheel that gets it to move faster through the list but it's difficult to do consistantly (I could be an uncoordinated idiot).But overall, a very good stereo.

Bought this like 2 years ago.I love this unit (coupled with the Alpine inline amp), they push my 4 Kappas very well. Definitely get the inline amp if you are using aftermarket speakers.The bad: The USB cord is flimsy. Not the big part that goes back to the unit, but the iDevice 6 inch piece that you connect to the end. my iPhone randomly disconnects (unit shows USB NOT CONNECTED) when i lift the phone out of the cup holder to look at anything (directions/emails/etc). The main reasons I bought this were:No moving parts to breakworks with iPhone*CHARGES* iPhoneCan navigate playlists and music on deckUnit should have an option to just work as an AUX in over the usb cable, so I can use Genius or whatever on the phone and have it come through the speakers, instead of having to navigate all the time on the unit. Sometimes it would be nice to have that control instead of my usual playlists - navigating a large library takes a while on the unit.

Alpine iDA-X305 - Radio / digital player - Full-DIN - in-dash - 50 Watts x 4The iDA-X305 is the worst car audio product I have ever purchased. It has a lovely display, but it is only usable if all you want to do is listen to the iPod. Sound quality was dreadful, but this may have been be a setting or installation problem. The manual and settings are in some sections largely incomprehensible. However, the main problem is that the user interface is impossible to use safely in a moving vehicle. Want to find a radio station? Select the menu. Scroll. Try to read the display. Every bump on the road means the scroll with the main jog wheel overshoots or undershoots. By this time your eyes have been off the road for too long. Even as a passenger I found the controls to be too difficult to use if the vehicle was moving. My car is a sports saloon, so this is possibly partly because of the stiff suspension, but the unit is in any event a road hazard. The jog dial is glacially slow - want to increase the volume? Be prepared to turn the wheel and turn it and turn it. Too bad if you need to drive at the same time. It also has a cute feature where the angled shape of the selector means it tends to slip into a dead spot between functions where it does nothing. Want to get there faster? Push the jog selector in all the way. This activates a fast forward function. Only problem is, the fast selection it is so slow you'll need time lapse photography to see it change. Since when are fast forward controls slower than the normal speed?The unit was clearly faulty - the iPhone generally did not connect unless one pulled to the side of the road and turned the ignition off and on several times, but Alpine had no intention of doing anything about that. It was suggested that the bluetooth unit may have needed a software upgrade, but no help was forthcoming in doing this. The Alpine rep told the installer the problem was that I was too old to understand the unit!!!. This has been a terribly expensive exercise in frustration. In addition to expense, there has been the loss of days while the problems were debated and the unit removed and replaced with something that actually works (not another x305).What I have learned from this is to be very careful to evaluate the performance of these items against your needs, and don't be swayed by the 'gee whiz' reviews, often by people who have only assessed them in a showroom. Technological progress is not inevitable. Oh - and stay away from Alpine. There are some marvellous units out there that do a great job without the expense, and whose manufacturers are pleased to help.

While I realize that this was designed with the iPod in mind, I bought this unitfor its ability to read music from a thumb drive (I don't have an iPod). If youlike to listen to your music in the order of your list of files, this thingworks great. However, if you're like me and wish to shuffle all of your music,this thing works horribly.When you use a thumb drive and activate the shuffle mode, it will only shufflethe first 100-or-so files on the drive, and ignore EVERYTHING else. I checked,and my file structure complies with what is specified in the manual (100files/folder, 100 folders max). Calls to Alpine support are frustrating, andthat's putting it nicely. Most calls result in a promise that it will be lookedinto and that I'll be called back the next day (calls are never returned). Inother calls, the rep claims that it's a known issue, "and that's just the way itis". UNACCEPTABLE!!!Firmware bugs happen. Frequently. However, with the unit's USB connectivity, Isee no reason that the engineers at Alpine wouldn't leave some ability to updateor flash the firmware. The fact that they don't want to fix this leads me tobelieve that they didn't design this capability into the unit. To me, this isjust crappy engineering (and yes, I'm an engineer).I gave this unit two stars because it does sound and look great. Unfortunatelyhowever, from this experience and seeing the technical expertise that Alpineexemplifies, I'm steering away from them going forward.