Alpine 9884 vs. Pioneer 500UB
 

Hi,

The factory HU on my Mazda Tribute has just about given up the ghost. I am looking at replacing it with either a Alpine 9884 or Pioneer 500UB (I have also kinda looked at the 400UB, and would get one if I could find a good deal). I am not planing to change the speakers till if or when they go south. Now I am wondering what everyones experance is with either of these units? I have read reviews on the internet about the Alpine and seemed mostly positive beside some people do not like the display (if that is the only problem you can find with the unit than you are lucky!). I can not find any reviews on the Pioneer. I am going toward the Alpine at this point. My main concern is which one will last longer, I live in Sk and find that our winters really beat these things up. Also I do alot of highway driving and know that pioneers usally have a strong radio, but how about the Alpine? How are the CD players in both units? How is SQ on the pioneer? Every review I have read on the Alpine says SQ is top noch even with factory speakers.

Thank-You,

Mike

Sq powering off the head units will go to the pioneer ultimately because it is much more tunable. Reliability 3 years ago I'd alpine hands down, as of late though we've getting some returns. Reliability wise between Kenwood, Pioneer and Alpine I would definately throw to Kenwood, they did alot of work in recent history to really make sure everything they have is top knotch. Whereas alpine has been cuting features.

If those are your 2 only options, FInd an authorized pioneer premiere dealer and get the 500UB it has a better warranty so durability becomes less of an issue when you get it repaired/replaced free.

Pionneer HU will have more features built into it
Alpines dont have much built into them, but allow for some MAJOR expansion later down the road. I love my CDA9886 but if i had to do it all again, i would go with a pioneer deck

Hi,

Thanks for the help. In the past I have used Kenwood, and had great luck with them. The only reason I am not looking at one, is because Visions does not sell Kenwood. I have a buddy that works at Visions and he will give me a discount on a new unit, and I would rather give him a sale than a stranger. A few years ago I had a Pioneer Premiere (forgot the modle) in my old truck, and it started to screw up majorly witin a year or two (it seemed as soon as the warrenty was up) is this normal or did I just get a lemon?

Mike

Lemon.. unless it was an Pioneer Premniere 840MP which had the dua faceplates.. that was just a bad design

I forget what unit it was, but it is from about 2004 or 2005 and had a motorized faceplate, and alot of cool graphics. Even thou it looked nice, it was not a good unit at all. That was my only experance with Pioneer, and that is why I am not sure of buying one this time around.