$129.99 AIWA MP3 Car Head Unit...

[Hawk]

today's Fry's ad. They also had a 19.99 portable CD player (Panasonic). Don't know if anyone cares...

 

[Jugernot]

Sounds like a great deal to me, though I'm not within 2000 miles of a Fry's....

 

[wesbc]

Does anyone have a copy of the ad... good for AMEX PM. Also is this the first gen MP3, or the second gen MP32...

 

[Hawk]

It's the first gen one, too lazy to look up the model number when I posted.

 

[wesbc]

Still a good price none the less. Hmm... decisions decisions decisions... I really could use a cd/mp3 player in my car...

 

[dragonlord2112]

This is probably the one that I have. It's a good unit. I paid $100 more at BB a couple of months ago. The good: plays MP3s and ID tags. The Bad: skips a little, NO pause or stop(!), remote is a joke. It does have clean power and sound I will say and I was too cheap to get the JVC one which is supposed to rock. Still, for $130, who really can complain???

 

[Sensor]

May I trouble anyone to scan the ad? Those of us on the East Coast are unable to take advantage of Fry's specials directly.

 

[agro321]

I had the 1st gen aiwa mp3 and it was good (until it was stolen from my miata). It skipped only when I hit potholes which really can shake my small car. Sound was very good with good bass. Higher bitrate mp3's (>128) would mean more skips. Replaced it with the jvc sh99 using the msn+amex PM deal. If that wasn't available I would have gotten another aiwa especially for this price.

 

[virtuamike]

Just bought this for $159.99 a week ago, and I thought I actually got a good deal on it (was in the Sac Fry's ad, dunno about this week).

 

[spazntwich1]

I've got one of these too, and while they seem to have NO skip protection, they're pretty nice.

130$ is about what I paid from carstereoexpo.com during their holiday pricing. I'd buy another if I did it all over.

 

[J3anyus]

<< Sounds like a great deal to me, though I'm not within 2000 miles of a Fry's.... >>



Yeah, we always miss all the good deals up here. Oh well.

 

[Farbio]

haven't seen to much on the aiwa's, but i do have to say that i love my jvc-sh99 which absolutely rocks when compared to both the sony and kenwood mp3 players. gotta love mp3 players for the car, so go for this if you're in the market for a new cd player!

 

[OrlandoTiger]

For those with the JVC unit how is it with skips?any other bugs in it? Does anyone else want to submit another contender now that the JVC has been brought up?No Frys in FL either

 

[Croton]

the jvc kdsh99 is awesome.

never skipped for me so far.

unless u want to shell out $800 for the alpine mp3 HU, this is the best one u can get. check out the specs on it -- has the best decoding ability!

 

[agro321]

Got a jvc in late dec which skipped on mp3's after playing for about 20 min. Exchanged it and the new one does not skip at all on mp3's after a month of use. Funny but regular audio cd's will skip on big potholes which shake my rough riding miata. Same potholes would make my previous aiwa mp3 skip on mp3s. The jvc is better but for $130 the aiwa is hard to beat (especially if you have a smooth riding car). Lots of additional info/review links in a previous thread- search for sh99.

 

[kindest]

very tempting, mp3s rule.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

The Aiwa unit is skip sensitive, but only when installed incorrectly by morons that don't bother to read the manual. I picked mine up for $50 over a year ago from a guy that bought it, installed it wrong, hated the skipping and just wanted to dump it. Other than the overly gaudy laser light show front end, it's a great deck and it doesn't skip. It is also sensitive to poor quality media when playing .mp3 encoded CDs. When playing normal CDs or CDs burned as normal CDs it's fine, but it hates cheapo CD blanks on discs that are all .mp3 Kodak, TY, Mitsui and Verbatims all work fine, but if you have your music collection on those generic 100 blanks for $9 garbage they probably won't play.

 

[CyberCowboy]

i'm just curious, but how do you install a head unit wrong?
And how would you know?

 

[misterj]

sh99 ownz. ive had mine for 8 months and its flawless. ive convinced many people into getting one too. heres all you need to read http://www.highwaymp3.com

 

[FriedToast]

Have had my AIWA for almost a year now. Skips when hittin' a good bump, but otherwise plays good. I use the el cheapo CDRs and have good luck for the most part. The higher bitrate mp3s do have occasional problems. But, that price is definitely worth grabbing this unit for. Can't beat that. (well, not til the next Hot Deal comes along, anyway).

 

[Hawk]

I myself have the Jensen MP3510 (cheaper of the 2 offered) and I have not had one skip. But this is a great price, as people were jumping on the KOSS one for like $150 and this is a much better brand/player. Comes with a remote too, btw.

 

[Farbio]

my jvc sh99 is awesome....i have yet to have one single skip and i drive on some pretty crappy roads around town. i reccommend it highly to anyone....great power, has 3 rca preouts for adding amps and great customizable features, esp when you consider that you can get it for ~280 online.

 

[redblues]

<< i'm just curious, but how do you install a head unit wrong?
And how would you know? >>



By not using a back strap.

 

[OrlandoTiger]

Great info thanks to all who added their experiences which i weigh as worth more than some guys bench test for 3 hours.... Has anyone else had experience with the panasonic or kenwood mp3 unit? I still have (now reboxed) a high line kenwood cass unit that works great even after years of abuse.

 

[OrlandoTiger]

<< Higher bitrate mp3's (>128) would mean more skips.q
I put my entire mp3 collection at bitrates of 160 minimum for quality sound and this is the thanks i get...
<< i'm just curious, but how do you install a head unit wrong?
And how would you know? By not using a back strap. >>
Thats one area where cass units were superior...(probably the only one),you never had to mess with finding something to attach a backstrap to,and potholes werent an issue...