I dont know haha. I think you can set a password, but other than that, there really arent any. Like you cant detach it, cant cover it unless you make something. Is that what you meant by security options?

 

Nice! What factory harness did you use?

 

I used the GMOS-01 Its basically the same kit as the one you need for onstar, but isnt for onstar. It only maintains your door chimes, which at the time I wanted and now I no longer need cuz they dont work anyways due to my aftermarket amp and speakers... Oh well, it was annoying as hell anyways. Its awesome though, I have had it for almost a month now and I have nothing bad to say. Everyone loves it, even my girlfriend, who hated it when I bought i cuz she liked my old one and hates when I spend money, likes it now. Its nothing shy of awesome! I go to the car shows and when people there have the regular pioneer model and not the premier model, it just makes me that much happier knowing I have the best one! lol

 

I think i'm gonna use the GM09SR, that way the chimes will be retained via left front speaker and I won't have to worry about installing an external speaker specifically for them. These shops around here suck donkey *****, they all want to sell me a $120 or better harness when I can get the GM09SR for $55 bucks and sonicelectronix. I hate stereo shops! That's why I do my own installs

 

I hear ya! I actually worked at Circuit City so got the harness for 35 but never would have paid the 99 for it haha. I do all my installs myself too. I just started doing them myself, researching and teaching myself and then I just accumulated a lot of knowledge about it. Working at CC helped a lot with getting to know the equipment though.

 

Whats the margin on head units these days, back when CC was commission it was at least 30% on car audio most of the time they were 40%+.

 

I swear man, I didn't get a single quote below $120 for that harness locally, I can't believe people pay that much for stuff at these shops man, it's insane. I can only imagine what they charge for installs and what not.

I've been doing my own installs for 17yrs now. I did go to a shop once to get a head unit swapped out and components installed. I bought the deck from a friend online and had the components already, I was living in an apartment at the time and didn't want to advertise my stuff to the complex so I went to Mike's Sound Solutions in Elk Grove, CA.

The first thing the installer did was install the components. He was prolly a high schooler so I was very worried about his abilities but decided to give him a chance instead of rushing to judgement. Big mistake! He removed both front door panels and marked where he was going to drill the hole for the tweeter on both of them but his mistake was trying to put the tweets in the same exact location on both by measure from the front of each. The problem with that was that they weren't identical, one was a bit longer than the other. He drilled the holes, put the tweets in and then when he went to reinstall the panels he was having an issue with one side, the switch panel on one panel was hitting the tweeter because he drilled the hole too close to the opening of the switch panel. I ended up using my dremel to remove enough material off the tweeter to get it to sit flush, boy was I pissed.

Then the *** goes to swap out my deck, wires up the new harness, plugs it in, doesn't work. Swaps a couple wires or something, plugs it in, releases the magic smoke. So I tell him to leave my **** alone and get somebody else to put my old deck back in and I go inside to pick out what new deck I wanted, thinking they would replace it with one of the same value as mine. Wrong! They said they could not warranty any item not sold by them, that they had no idea if the deck worked or not. I argued with them about dude smoking my deck but the owner wouldn't budge.

Now i'm ready to whoop some *** and the owner senses that so he pulls me aside and brokers a deal...he'd buy me lunch while I waited for his other installer to put my deck back in and button things up, would give me enough money to replace my door panel and wouldn't charge me for any of the shoddy work his guys did for me that day. The tards spent a good 2-3hrs to install components/smoke my deck/reinstall old deck. So I called the Honda dealership and got a quote of $175 for the door panel, so he gave me the cash right there.

When I got in my car to go home I noticed my system wasn't sounding like it should so I got the owner and he checked it out, didn't find anything wrong, but I swear the bass wasn't hitting as hard as it did when i pulled in. But him and the installer couldn't figure it out, I was already pissed, so I told them to **** off and I bailed. The whole trip home I'm trying to figure out if i'm trippin' out or what, but it just didn't sound right. So I get home and check things out and come to find out, the ****ers had crossed my speaker wires so they were out of phase, I fixed it and all was well.

I had paid $120 for the deck, dremeled the tweeter to sit flush, didn't replace the door panel, so I got my money back plus $55 and lunch, and got my components installed on top of that. Ever since then I vowed I'd never let another shop touch my cars.

 

Wow 04MonteLS,

What a story. I am surprised you didn't whoop *** there on the spot. Glad to hear it worked out for ya.

 

Ayyyyyyyyyyyyye srbecker58, Thats right on point. I didn't go for the double din in mines, I went for the single with the flip out touch screen (which those jerks stole it right from under my nose). Maybe lata on in life (with a GARAGE, LOL), I will buy a double din. But yours is right on point man!

 

Thanks! Yeah I hear ya on that one rgant. My stuff got stolen out of my trunk at one point. 1600 worth, then I put a better system in with my insurance money and now I have a better alarm along with that head unit, which will not come out without the whole dash taken off because of the way it mounts in. I love it!