Guiding Angel
More, smaller and better. All electronics products seem to be headed for the same goal of giving the consumer more capacity and features while taking up less space. Products like the wildly successful iPod embody this trend. An electronic gizmo that is the size of a deck of cards, slips into your shirt pocket and holds more music than a 100 CDs shows how amazing the scale of electronic miniaturization is. Single-DIN car audio units aren't going to change in size, but they still benefit from miniaturization by being able to pack more technology and features into the same box. The new Eclipse AVN7000 in-dash monitor/multi-source receiver with navigation is definitely one of (if not the most) feature-packed single-DIN units on the market.
Navigation Plus...
For starters, the AVN7000 features a 7-inch touchscreen monitor with an in-dash DVD/CD/MP3 player, Mosfet 50 watt x 4 internal amplifier and AM/FM tuner. Anyone familiar with in-dash units may not be overly impressed by the basic stats, but the list continues. The AVN7000 also has HDD (hard disk drive) navigation, direct Memory Stick Duo input, three RCA audio outputs, coaxial digital audio output, an A/V input and output and a back-up camera input. Even a die-hard skeptic with any installation experience will have to give credit to the engineers at Eclipse for pulling off this technical challenge because the AVN7000 does it all without the use of a secondary black box. As if the AVN7000 doesn't do enough, it also has the capacity of interfacing with (requiring additional hardware) an iPod, Sirius Satellite Radio, HD Radio, two CD changers, a TV tuner and a 5.1 multichannel processor.
Ease-of-Use
All the features in the world don't amount to much if the product is difficult to use and operate. The AVN7000 does a good job of keeping things simple with an intuitive user interface that makes it quick and easy to change sources and settings. The rotary knob and buttons, in conjunction with the touchscreen menus, make it simple to navigate. Speaking of navigation, the HDD navigation system makes the AVN7000 an impressive piece independent of all its other capabilities. Rather than storing the map and point-of-interest database on a DVD-ROM, the AVN7000 stores the data on a tiny hard disk drive, similar to the one found in an iPod. The advantage of this data storage method is how quickly the navigation system can access the data, and the benefits were very apparent. There was very little to no delay when scrolling around on the map, GPS positioning was quick and searching through the POI database was snappy. I was able to scroll the map (which includes Canada and Hawaii) from Los Angeles to Atlanta smoothly without the any delays or hiccups. One of the first things I noticed after firing up the navigation system was the visual quality and smoothness of the map. In fact, it is the best-looking and most detailed map screen I have seen on the market. You might even say it's beautiful. Eclipse credits the AVN7000's "Ultima Engine" processor and over 32,000 map colors for this. The roads are very smooth looking and the street names are very clear and easy to read, lacking any of the jaggedness common to most navigation maps. Freeway on- and off-ramps and major surface streets are highlighted with different colors than smaller side streets so they can be easily differentiated. Many landmarks and icons such as parks, hospitals and schools are labeled for easy identification.
Guidance Angel
A beautiful map doesn't do much good if the route guidance is second rate, but the AVN7000 does not disappoint. The AVN7000 allows destinations to be entered 11 different ways, including longitude/latitude coordinates and freeway entrances and exits. The AVN7000 has a very convenient feature that allows the user to store five frequented addresses and the home address for quick access. Over 4 million "Points-of-Interest" are stored in the database and can be searched by name or category. Once a destination is selected, three routing options are presented in the form of "Quick 1," "Quick 2" and "Shortest," giving the user a choice of paths. The AVN7000 features "route preview" that lets you "play" the navigation route before you actually commit to it and a "route overview" that shows you the route path on the map. A direction list can be displayed before and anytime during the route. After a route is selected, the route is plotted on the beautiful map and a natural-sounding female voice begins guiding you on your way. The video screen automatically switches to split-screen mode when approaching a turn to provide visual guidance. Another nice feature that the AVN7000 offers is adaptive volume control for the navigation prompts so that it can automatically compensate volume for road noise at higher speeds. A "3D" representation is provided for freeway interchanges and exits, which is helpful for navigating tricky Los Angeles freeways.
Eclipsing the Competition
We've yet to see all of the other new navigation products due out later this year, but it's very easy to say that the AVN7000 will be one of the top choices in regard to navigation and overall as a source unit. A Bluetooth cell phone interface and voice-activated commands are the only features that come to mind that aren't available for this all-in-one wonder. I'm sure that those features are on their way. One negative point related to the navigation system is that the supplied owner's manual is far too simple and does not cover enough features and details of this system. Although the user interface is quite intuitive, I found myself asking some, "How do I do that?" questions that were not explained in the manual. The only other thing that I found lacking about the AVN7000 was that the voltage of the audio RCA outputs is only 2 volts. Adding the DCU105 processor bumps the audio outputs to a healthy 5 volts and adds 5.1 processing and a host of audio processing, which is a definite must-have for any audiophile considering this awesome unit. I have always known Eclipse as a company that prides itself with the quality of its audio products. It's nice to see that they have taken huge steps so they can have the same pride with their navigation systems.