I am pretty happy with the AVN2454 in my RAV4. I also looked into the Kennwood option, but not only was it twice as expensive, it would have also come at the price of more cluttered boxes (navigation separate). The Toyota navigation system was a closer contender in price, but not only does it not support DVD movies nor MP3, but you can not buy it officially for the RAV4 (just from the Internet -
www.oemvalue.com). So i thought - if Toyota does not really want to sell a navigation in the RAV4, i should not force them. Especially given that the AVN2454 seems to be equal or better at a similar price than the Toyota navigation.
Mechanically, the AVN2454 is 2DIN size, whereas the radio slot in the 4.2 toyota is a bit wider, so the installer had to put some black frame around it, but it does look pretty ok. I also got the SWIX steering wheel control, a 3.5" connector into the audio aux port (to plug a walkman into it for audio books or the like) as well as a rear view camera. I did not get the eclipse original, but an in-keyhole camera for the rear door, recommended by the installer.
The original Toyota NAV system would have fitted ideally into the slot of course, and it would not have required the SWIX infrared steering wheel adapter because it has a wired connection to the steering wheel buttons. The SWIX does work pretty well, except if i have got something hanging within line of sight between the AVN and the emitter LED (in the center console).
The mode button on my steering wheel now cycles through the inputs - MP3, radio, and also the rear-view camera, but it takes a couple of seconds to see the camera video in full. I would have liked if it was possible for the camera video to show up without pressing any buttons as soon as i go into reverse, but eclipse told me that that was not possible (not even with their original accessory camera).
I am not a big audio freak, but i think the audio is pretty nice, (4 x 50W), especially the the sound field that allows to configure the system for the driver or rear seat passengers to have the best stereo effect. The toyota OEM navigation does not have the amplifiers built in, but does instead need an external amplifier, so the AVN2454 is really uncontested as far as integration is concerned.
The navigation itself grows on me. Pretty soon i will have reached the expert mode like i know from colleages - where i will not find my way around my home town anymore without using the navigation. I definitely would not want to have a smaller navigation screen like in some of the more mobile navigation systems available for substantially less money.
I know that i would have hated flip-screen solutions in 1DIN size navigation systems (like the pioneer one), due to the mechanical tear. I also need my cold air from the vents which would have been blocked by the flip screens. On top of this, the all-in-one flip screen units only have one CD/DVD slot there are some limits on how much navigation data you have access to while the navigation DVD is not inserted but instead a CD.
The qaulity of the map material is in general pretty good. I have so far found only about 4 locations where it was inaccurate. Two of them where due to larger road constructions which unfortunately where as old as 2 years - so i guess the map data may be as old as 2002. The PoI data is somewhat limited and incomplete (could not find a couple of bank locations for example).
As already noted, the AVN2454 navigation DVD says "DENSO", which is also the manufacturer of the Toyota navigation system. I do not know whether this implies that the material is identical though, but i would assume it is quite similar. It would be great if there was a more ongoing method to update map and PoI data than waiting for 12? 24 ? or more months and then buy an expensive new DVD. Something like a SD or memory stick slot through which one could have additions or updates.
Like all car navigation systems, the AVN2454 limits what can be done when not being parked (hand brake on). For example you can not enter new navigation locations via the on-screen keyboard and you can only listen to the music of a movie DVD, but only watch it via the auxiliary video out port (for rear seat passengers via an additional video display). That is all pretty standard and to be expected.
Unfortunately, the AVN2454 does also limit quite randomnly the MP3 user interface functions available. For example if you have a CD with more than 12 titles you can not get to title 13 or further because only the first nine will have their direct select buttons, but the scroll down button is grayed out. And there is no "skip to next title" button like on standard CD radios. Well, that is of course all for my own protection. I do feel sooo much safer now than with my old $100 mp3 CD radio (not!).
The navigation voice output mutes only the driver side speaker, which makes it sometimes hard to understand it, especially when listening to voice and not music. Other times it is pretty good. I wish it could be switched to navigation guidance on all speakers as an option.
The AVN2454 does not unfortunately not have any security system. Given that it is an all-in-one unit i fear that makes it something of an attractive target for thieves.
I have not really used the DVD movie function all that much. The little i have used looked very nice, except when using mode 4 (some widescreen aspect ratio mode), which did generate white horizontal stripes. It is a bit tricky to navigate through DVD menus too because there's no on-screen DVD navigation support, instead one has to use DVD cursor keys. Of course it's not region free, but it did even play region 0 PAL DVDs.
Supposedly you can connect eclipse CD changers. Unfortunately, last i looked, Eclipse does not have any external hard disc changer.
For a pretty good review and comparison (against pioneer AVIC-N1 and Alpine NAV-200) check out "Car Audio and Electronics" November 2004 magazine (
www.caraudiomag.com).
Last but not least: If you check out the japanese web page of Eclipse you will see that the AVN2454 is a first generation model and that the japanese models are some generations ahead. Eclipse has shown the second generation for the USA at CES. I probably would now go for the AVN5495 with the built in HD (as long as it would allow me somehow to put my MP3 CD files onto it, which is not quite clear to me yet whether that would work).
Check out:
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2005/Jan/1105362.htm
http://www.cesweb.org/shared_files/innovations/innovations_2004/3239/mainphoto3239.jpg