Alpine IVE-W535HD

Great Head Unit !!

Good Stuff•The head unit is REALLY nice. It has so many functions and capabilities. Actually seeing the crossover points on the screen while listening to the music during setup is so helpful. I just can't believe so many features can now be a part of the head unit itself!
•Bluetooth listening and functionality with my iPhone 4S works really well. I like how I can adjust the level of the bluetooth stream independently of the other functions....bluetooth volume was always so low on my other Alpine. Now all levels can be equal.
•The screen looks nice and its nice to have custom colors. However, I have always liked the Alpine blue and that is my primary color that I use.
•The interface is pretty good for the most part. I'm still making the transition to using touch screen vs buttons. I'm not sure I really like touchscreen better...but its six or one half dozen of the other. Hopefully the touchscreen will grow on me. It's neat...I do know that.
•Use the PAC TR7 to bypass the parking brake control lockout. All features are available when using the TR7.
Issues / Points for Improvement•Bluetooth calling works fine except that I get extra noise and distortion when listening to the other person (using my iPhone 4S). Now I will have to say that I got this same distortion using the same phone on my CDA-117....so it might be the phone. I need to try an Android phone with it and see if the same problem exists...but almost everyone I know has iPhones. I can still talk to the person and hear them but its not as clear as my factory GM Silverado bluetooth. I'm not blaming the Alpine yet...but just noting it.
•I used the PAC RP5-GM31 adapter which encompasses the SWC, Bluetooth, On Star, etc. Everything works great with this interface except the SWC. The SWC work decent as long as the engine isn't on or the vehicle is at low speeds. The higher the speed, the less the steering wheel controls work. This is not the head units fault! PAC noted that some of the newer head units work a bit different. They are aware of the issue and they have a firmware update for their interface box. I just want to everyone aware of that.
•The input selector bar at the top is great but I wish I could rearrange the inputs. Right now, I toggle from XM to Radio and then sometimes use the CD or Bluetooth streaming. Well, both the CD and radio are the first inputs....followed by USB, Pandora, etc which I don't use. So to go to XM, I have to tab through the inputs to the end or go to my favorites. It would be nice if I could arrange the inputs to the ones that I actually use and put them in the order than I want instead of having useless inputs in between that take up space and that I don't use.
•I wish I could set a favorites list of all of my XM and FM radio stations...all on one screen so I can easily toggle back and forth between XM and FM channels. My crappy GM head unit made this easy...but its not as easy on the Alpine. I have to select the input through favorites first...then go to the station I want. Unless I'm missing something.
•I wish the head unit booted up a bit faster but I do realize its a computer and it has to boot up. If you played the radio last when you clicked off the ignition, the radio does come on during boot up while you wait. That's a nice feature.
•It's very odd that the RCA jacks in the back are still in wire/cable form instead of just plugs in the back of the receiver. The cables take up a lot of space but luckily I had enough room. Many of the other Alpine's have plugs built into the unit back....not this one, for some reason...just a huge bundle of cables and a custom connector. And I'm not even using the camera options!
•I wish the clock and date were shown larger on the front screen. I tend to glance over to see what time it is...the time is very small in the lower right. That was by design but it would be nice to be able to customize it to be more apparent.
Are any of these points of improvement, deal breakers? Not really. One of the issues will be fixed by PAC when I get a new box. The Bluetooth calling audio is next on my list but I can work around it. The other's are wants but not really "must haves."

Great deck

Looks nice and functions great... It's an alpine enough said!!!

Ive-w535hd

This radio very good & works good with USB or Bluetooth on iPhone 5. I would recommend.