Eclipse AVN-5495

I did look briefly at this unit.  Sometimes they pop up in ebay.....  I know there is some information on the eclipse japanese website, just search that on google.  I also think there is no direct hook up for the Sirius Sattelite option (that is what turned me off to this unit).

Thats all I know...

I considered this unit before deciding on the AVN5435.  My dealer says it is available at  considerably higher price.   He told me the 5495 has following "features"

1) You do not need the DVD disc loaded to use the Nav. since it loads the Nav software to the hard drive upon insertion of the disc.  You can then remove the disc leaving the DVD drive available for other uses.

2) There is no capability to connect either Sirius or XM radio to the unit. I have seen rumors on other sites that there may be a software upgrade to correct this.  Hope springs eternal.

3) It uses the hard drive for a "Juke box" capability.  Whenever you load a CD, it automatically copies it to the hard drive.  The down side of this is that it does it in real time, therefore you must wait for the entire play duration of the disc to get it loaded.  There is no way to quick load or load tracks selectively.  You must first load the entire CD then you can remove tracks.

4) Audio features are the same as the 5435.

5) There is also some misinformation about titles and station info for AM, FM and CDs on the 5435.  The owners manual says the capability exists, but according to Eclipse support, this is a "Typo" and in fact titles are not supported for these modes.  I suspect this may be true for the 5495 also.

This is by no means a complete list, it is just what my dealer told me.  Based on this info I decided that the 5435 was a better choice for me.

Additional info for the AVN5435, 95.  Be advised, if you add the CD changer, it does NOT play MP3 discs, only standard audio CDs.  The CD drive in the head unit does play MP3s.