Guys, I've been trying to determine the best Ipod interface for our '07 Nav radios and at every turn, a new vendor seems to pop up. So far I've counted 5 vendors of Ipod interfaces with insufficient detail from any of the vendors as to how they differ from each other. Here's the sum of my research so far in case others have been confused by this as well.

Product (1) - Peripheral Electronics, model: PXDPGMT
http://www.peripheralelectronics.com...amp;strSearch=

Product (2) - Schosche, model: AXIPGMLAN (This one has a useful video on the site)
http://www.scosche.com/scosche_bluet...emID=AXIPGMLAN

Product (3) - Nucleus, model: NC-X2iLAN
http://www.logjamelectronics.com/neucncx2ilan.html

Product (4) - Coastal Electronics, Ipod Lockpick (plenty of info here)
http://www.coastaletech.com/GM_IPOD_LOCKPICK.htm

Product (5) - Smart Park, model: Iconnect (distributed to dealers only?)
http://www.smartpark.net/iPod_iConnect.html

Note that all units have a very similar mechanical interface: DIN plug from the box to the Ipod, stereo RCA aux input, XM interface, etc. Likely all the same internal hardware. Best as I can tell, (product owners please comment) products 1, 2, and 3 have the same/similar XM screen interface: Ipod advanced mode, Ipod manual mode, and here's the important part, a limit of 30 artists, playlists, albums, genres, etc. in the classification menus. A number of rants I've read have suggested that this limitation is aggravating at best. Can users of the Scosche, Nucleus, and Peripheral describe how they scroll through the songs in the main window? Does the turn **** work to scroll through songs quickly? How does it differ from the Lockpick/Iconnect?

Products 4 and 5 are pretty clear that they're related since Smart Park claims that development was done in collaboration with Coastal. I have a (defective) Coastal Ipod lockpick and the unit operates somewhat differently than the ones above. It does NOT have a "manual" mode and no "XM categories" which show multiple artists, albums, etc. on a single screen (like the adapters above). It does however allow (relatively) quick scrolling through artists, albums, etc. through the main XM screen by rotating the selector ****. It takes a while to get from A to Z if you have a 30GB Ipod. Additionally, as I understand it, NONE of the Ipod adapters have a shuffle mode (Why on earth not??). Seems like that's been a glaring oversight by all the vendors. I guess you can create a "shuffle" playlist if you're desperate.

For those who have experience with multiple units, could you describe the other differences you've seen and what your preferences are?

- Axis

 

the pxdpgmt part is for the 2003-2006 gm. 07 gm would be the pxdp3. I dont have the nav so the limitation part I cant post on but its due to the HU format. Most customers we install these for dont really seem to mind too much. They're happy that they have their ipods intergrated. They understand the limitation and take it for what it is.

 

I just installed the Nucleus a week ago and took it on a road trip last weekend. I am very pleased with the sound, considering it's pumping compressed music through the stock speakers. The limitation of 31 categories I can live with for now until there is a better solution . . . if you put together a few good playlists, it's not a big deal. I have not tried scrolling through the songs with the ****.

My main beef is each time the iPod is reconnected, the Playlist, Artist, etc menu items are not available in the Main Menu. I have to Return to XM, then hold the <Seek button and wait for the iPod info to re-load (30-60 seconds).

 

Right. Thanks for the correction e. Which units do you install? Coferk, have you had a chance to use the scroll wheel in the main menu? Curious if you can fast scroll through songs/artists from the main menu and if you still only see the first 31 entries.

 

I tried out the **** for scrolling through the songs/artists this morning and appeared to have no real effect. Upon turning the ****, the first line of the display (on Nav screen) scrolled through the Main Menu Options (Select iPod, View Artists, View Playlists, etc) but i could not figure out how to make selections from there.

 

Read some of my posts on this subject. Go with the iPodLockPick and call it a day.

 

I have the Coastal and the expereince is very mediocre.

Interface is very limited and it only dispalys a short list of artist.
It takes long to display the content of the iPod.
It crashed my NAVunit several times and I had to remove it and reinstal it to get everything to work again.

Usable, but don't have expectations.

 

Hmmm. Not sure why Yarom has those problems. It's the first of that I've heard between this and the Cadillac forums. I'm thinkin' it might be problem with your particular unit. I've been having a few bugs with mine as well. It's still the best out there though when it comes to being able to access ALL of the music on your iPod.