Dual XDVD8181 - to buy or not?

[K2]

As many of you know, my wife, son and I will be heading to Florida soon. Hopefully we'll be going for X-Fest Micro and not for my wife's grandmother's funeral... but regardless, a 10 hour trip (to Gainesville) will be a lot easier with a DVD unit.

I can't afford $1,000 for a head unit; and honestly it doesn't it have to be Alpine. My truck likely won't ever see a car/truck show. Then again, I don't want to buy a piece either.

With that said, I'm looking at the Dual XDVD8181 - which goes for $350-$450 depending on where you buy. Anyone have any feedback on Dual brand or on this particular unit?

 

[XRobber]

We all know Dual is a generic brand, BUT...
BEFORE you go and knock it....
K2 is asking about opinions on THIS particular unit. If you can chime in with actual facts, please do.

Klint,
My opinion - This unit is very easy to use, and seems to hold up well. We see them a lot at my work, and they usually dont have any problems other then user installation error.
The price range is MUCH better then what I spent on mine, and the specs are VERY similar.

 

[CorruptedDemon]

I haven't heard anything about that model but Dual is a great brand for the cost. I have seen tons of people using them including my friend and he loves it.

 

[bartkwan]

this may not be helpful info about the unit, but audio overall, as in headunits, i would go only with alpine and clarion

 

[bartkwan]

one more thing, i know its hard to buy a systerm on a budget, but if u were to try to limit urself, the headunit is the worst place to budget . . . . .the head unit is what reads ur music, so clarity and sound comes from there, you will be better off with the best head unit with the worst speakers than to have the worst head unit and have the best speakers, ur music is only as good as the audio player itself

 

[morcheez]

i dont really know anything about the dual ...but my friend just purchased a jensen one similar to that from crutchfield for 400 shipped with alll the mounting kit included...might want to check them out

 

[K2]

i dont really know anything about the dual ...but my friend just purchased a jensen one similar to that from crutchfield for 400 shipped with alll the mounting kit included...might want to check them out

Yeah, I looked at Crutchfield since they're headquarters is only about an hour away from me. They were selling it for $450. I could get it for $100 cheaper elsewere... but if the $450 includes the mounting kit then it may be worth it.

Also will the single DIN look weird? I know most people are going double DIN with flat screens (no fold out).

 

[morcheez]

Yeah, I looked at Crutchfield since they're headquarters is only about an hour away from me. They were selling it for $450. I could get it for $100 cheaper elsewere... but if the $450 includes the mounting kit then it may be worth it.

Also will the single DIN look weird? I know most people are going double DIN with flat screens (no fold out).

that was my issue with the flip out ...i didnt want the screen coming up higher than the dash ...they do have the double din ones on ebay for like 400 also

 

[NITRAM-X]

I dont know about head units but I had 2 12" Dual subs in a bandpass box that i bought from Best Buy in my old ranger, they sounded good for awhile but after 2-3 months of light use they began to sound terrible, i ended up trading that box in like 4 times (2 year warranty) for a new one each time. I vowed never to buy Dual products ever again.