Review: Dual XHD6425 4X50 Watt, Features galore with some..

Overall Rating3.333.333.333.333.33

Features galore with some minor issues

Like most other reviewers I have been extremely impressed with what I got for the money. I purchased the XHD6425 and the Bluetooth add-on. They were installed in my 2000 Ford Explorer about a month ago. I didn’t want to write a review until I had some time to work with the unit and see its positives and negatives.

The positives are well known, HD radio, inexpensive bluetooth option, available USB port and a 3.5mm aux jack. So lets go over the issues, both good and bad, for each.

HD Radio - Very nice. I won’t lie, I didn’t know what to expect. I normally get excellent reception here in NYC. So was I knocked out by the sound quality? No, not especially. But it *IS* better. It’s also nice to see the second and sometimes third HD feed in the same frequency. I wasn’t aware of that when I bought it. Any negatives? Not really. It’s a good feature nice feature. I also like that you can set it so that it only scans for HD stations.

Bluetooth - Now I was really looking forward to this for two reasons. One was obvious. I wanted to link my phone up to the head unit (HU) to make and receive calls. As far as this is concerned, it worked great. pairing was a cinch with my VZW Treo 700P. The second reason was that this unit is able to handle A2DP Bluetooth Stereo. It worked great. I was able to stream Bluetooth audio from my phone and also from my bluetooth enabled MP3 player. I can use either the device itself or the HU to control the playback. Very sweet. Any negatives here? Yeah, kind of. The BT features does not allow you to import your phonebook, so you either start the call on your phone or dial the number on the HU. Dialing on the HU is interesting, but not smart. You use the radio preset buttons as well as several other buttons on the HU. They’re too small and it’s too distracting. This is a minor problem honestly as I have my phone mounted on a ProClip on the AC vent. But others might have an issue here. Also, ending a call requires you to hold down the mute button on the HU for three seconds. This is dumb. You should be able to disconnect by pressing the phone icon on the BT module. But no. The BT receiver button is for accepting a call, not ending one. Again, not a deal breaker, but disappointing.

Available USB port - Genius. I can use this to charge any device that uses a USB charging cable. Including my work Blackberry. I can use a USB flash memory card and it works great. Negatives here? Yes. Navigating through music folders is a chore. Not fun at all. I don’t normally use this option as I simply control my MP3 player through either the BT or through the aux port, but again, it’s worth mentioning.

Aux port - Again, genius. Simple feature that should be on all radios. Does exactly what it’s supposed to. You just purchase a simple 3.5mm cable from Radio Shack or anywhere else and you can plug in any high-tech or low-tech audio feature you want. No negatives. It just works great.

Overall device… Nice. But there are some usability issues. The default sound is kind of weak in my opinion. I don’t listen to things too loud, but it was still softer than I preferred. Setting “Loudness” to “ON” in the settings fixed that, but almost too much. Again, it’s all about preferences. It’s subjective. I also wish the radio presets had better shapes. They can be hard to hit and they toggle from the sides. 1 and 2 share the same button, so you have to hit the edges and not the center. It’s annoying. As others have said, you can’t dim the display, but this never bothers me.

One last thing is car specific but still an issue. My car has controls on the steering wheel that I use to control volume, switch between radio bands, CD and cassette as well as switch between radio presets (or tracks). I tried to keep as much of this functionality intact by separately purchasing a IR steering wheel control kit from PAC. It worked, but not well. Volume works fine, but the radio doesn’t have a remote setting for switching between presets, so you’re forced to use the HU (or the remote control). Other than that, you’re just scanning between frequencies. That’s annoying. Switching bands is just that, radio only. If I want to switch between inputs, I have to use the HU or the remote. Some might think these are minor issue, but I use my steering wheel controls constantly. This became my biggest disappointment by far.

All in all, a very good deal for the dollar. No doubt. The device has issues. They all do, but as long as you go into the purchase knowing the compromises up front, I think you’ll be very impressed. I am.

Update (9/2/2010): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen. I also found some auctions for this item here.

The featured review for this product, Dual XHD6425 4X50 Watt Bluetooth-Ready HD Radio and MP3 Player Electronics, was written by Steve.

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Reviews (3)

Chad

January 11th, 2010 at 4:18 pm    


Overall Rating22222

Good features but needs to be factory reset often, unreliable!
I had this head unit for almost a year now, the first 6 months have been really good. The unit has exceptional characteristics and is a good price .. I was happy, then one day he would not tune in my radio stations FM favorites. All my presets simply would not tune in.. there was nothing but static. I was confused because it just happened .. without any apparent reason and other stations always come in fine. After playing with the unit and trying to find a friend suggested I try resetting the head unit (a small button located behind the front plate) and sure enough … he did, I could get my favorite channels again. I reset and all was good for about a month .. and then it happened again .. and again .. and again. I can not a week without the freezer unit and forget how to tune the stations in. I wish I would have bought one unit less sophisticated, and went with something more reliable.


Srini P

January 18th, 2010 at 6:16 pm    


Overall Rating44444

Excellent value and tons of features
Update after 3 months of use: The BT stopped pairing with any phone. Tried resetting the unit. Started pairing again disconnecting and connecting the car battery. Looks like some kind of software/firmware bug. Pain to disconnect the battery every time this happens.

Near power lines, the HD signal is lost. May not be specific to this unit.

Pros:
- Excellent value. You get HD radio, MP3/WMA CD player, USB input, 3.5mm input, remote control and bluetooth ready for less than what you would spend on a Sony unit.
- Bluetooth adapter works flawlessly. I installed this in a 99′accord which is a noisy car on the freeway and my friends could not tell I am calling from car BT. Infact, my handset picks up a lot more noise.
- BT works with voice dialing feature with my SE w810i.
- Good sound quality.

Cons:
- Hard to read display in bright daylight.
- No option to turn off BT when the ignition switch is off. My phone stays connected as the car is parked less than 50 feet away. A bit annoying.
- Radio is picking up some “alternator whine”. This could a grounding issue and nothing wrong with the unit itself.
- The “display” mode that shows song, title, artist info etc doesn’t stay in that mode when radio is turned off and on.
- No option to continuously scroll title, artist and station info all together. You can get this info separately by pressing “disp” button repeatedly.
- Cannot store any phone numbers on the unit although it remembers last 5 dialed, received and missed numbers. It would be nice to provide a phone book on the unit itself.
- Buttons are a bit tiny. Call hang-up requires pressing a tiny button for 3 secs. There should be a dedicated button for this.


Steve

January 20th, 2010 at 4:59 am    


Overall Rating44444

Features galore with some minor issues
Rated 4 stars.


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