Panasonic CQ-DPG570

Price Paid:  $300.00

Strengths:
Faceplate is indestructible. Clean output. Simple/straightforward control. Does not know the meaning of ''skip''. It looks cool.

Weaknesses:
A victim of age - it won''t play MP3 CD''s.

Summary:
I''ve had this deck forever and I keep moving it everytime I get another car. Output is clean and powerful enough for most but if not it''s got a tonne of pre-outs on it for additional amplififcation. I''ve slammed the faceplate in my door - accidentally of course - and it survived with only a scratch to show for it - I pryed the mashed in buttons up and it continued to invite further abuse! This thing is ridiculously bullet-proof and I have no doubt it will find its way into my next car as well.

Price Paid:  $500.00 from crutchfield

Year / Model Reviewed:
 2001 kicker zr 360

Strengths:
Well built , strong looks and tons of power.

Weaknesses:
draws alot of juice, may need cap.

Summary:
This is rocks, i have it pushing two 12" Kicker comp vr subs in a ported box and it pounds the heck out of them. Amp was benched marked at 547 rms at 4 ohm load. Gonoing to upgrade the subs to Jl w3 becasue the comp vr cannot handle the zr360. Great sounds quality and bass.

Similar Products Used:
i had the kenwood excelon 201t powering the subs then i upgrading and now i get loudwer and deeper bass.

Price Paid:  $300.00

Year / Model Reviewed:
 Bought in Apr. 2000

Strengths:
Looks damn cool, trips people out when a cd is on. CAN NOT SKIP THIS DAMN THING! Well, you can when the antishock is off. But even then i had to get
that car off the ground. Its got some damn good power behind it. It's clear and sweet.

Weaknesses:
It doesn't put out a lot in the way of low bass sound. My stock GM head put out more. Thought this unit had remote. But that was DPG-590.
Would like to be able to have different time display for playing cd's.
Time remaining instead of elapsed. Im just used to it from winamp.
The tuner is sh*tty, not as good as stock GM. Wish i could get the backlighting to go off, I dont always want to be blinded by Green Light.

Summary:
This head unit is sweet. Im happy with it, and would tell others to get the same one with a remote.

Similar Products Used:
Cheap pioneers, they suck!

Price Paid:  $315.00

Strengths:
doesn't skip, direct track access, pretty good sound quality

Weaknesses:
its all good

Summary:
This cd player does NOT skip. I have an '87 shortbed chevy with extra leaf springs, and this truck rides STIFF. I've hit drop-offs, ditches, hills, more or less everything to see how far this cd player can go, but I've found no limits yet. I paid $315 for this cd player and a pair of Kicker ST 103 truck wedges with a ten and 2 tweeters in each box. I would definitely recommend this cd player for anyone who has a 4 wheel drive or any rough-riding vehicle. It does a great job on and off the road.

Similar Products Used:
low-dollar sony, Blaupunkt Honolulu; the Panasonic blew the Sony away, but the Blaupunkt has better sound quality and more available watts.

Strengths:
-The anti-shock works!
-Reasonably priced

Weaknesses:
-Lacks features
-Plain display

Summary:
I paid $230 Cndn. I find that it's missing a few features that I didn't realize I used so much on my other cd/receiver. For one, I don't like having to turn on the player to eject disks, the other is lack of a pause/play option. It does have a mute, but doesn't stop play unless switched to radio mode or shut off. Otherwise,this player seems to work well. The anti-shock is infallable so far, and it rides in a weekend offroader. I've hit deep ruts, which would have skipped my Alpine, as well as washboard, never missed a beat. This is what I bought it for, so I'd recommend it as a reasonably priced cd/receiver that provides decent sound, with the anti-shock technology. For audiophiles, well, it won't have all of the features you may want, but you get what you pay for. I rated the value higher than the overall because the anti-shock really works.

Similar Products Used:
Alpine CDE-7828