Trying to decide on a Head Unit

[coolw]

So I'm a bit torn as to which head unit I should get. My old Sony CDX-MP450X just died and is in need of replacement. My car is a '93 Camry Sedan. The two units I'm looking at are the Eclipse CD1000 (or CD2000, which is a little more than I want to spend at $200) and the Alpine CDE-9852. Now, I found the Alpine easier to use and it has a lot more features than the Eclipse, but the Eclipse seems to be a slightly better build. As the price difference between the two is about 10 dollars (with the Alpine being more expensive), I just wanted to know peoples' experience with these two brands at the 160-170 dollar price point in terms of reliability. I'm definitely leaning towards the Alpine, but if anyone has any information that might make the Eclipse the better of the two options, please bring it forth. Also, if anyone has any suggestions than either of these two brands at around the same price, I'm all ears. The only feature that is a must-have is the ability to read MP3 CDs, and ideally, ID3 tags. A front 1/8" aux input would be nice too. Thanks a lot.

- Ben

Edited to add car model.

[vinnym86]

no personal exp with either, but i hear more and more of how eclipse skips too much, especially during heavy bass hits. then again, some pple tell me its never happened and works beautifully. i think you'll get better sound quality out of the eclipse, but i'm pretty sure the difference will be negligable for your price range. worry about that when you're dropping a grand into a HU. if you're that torn, just go for whichever you feel will be easier to use, imo, you're the one driving.

yes, check out Clarion DXZ365MP. cheaper, just as good, better looking (less flashy, bling stuff. just simple and plain)

[dave92cherokee]

Out of the two you would be better off going with the alpine unit.

[PaulD]

Eclipse got a bad rep for skipping a while back ... I think they have fixed those problems though. We used to call them eskips.