Greetings,
For in-dash GPS headunits, as everybody here as reported, stay with the following brands: Kenwood, Alpine and Pioneer. These brands all use the Navteq maps and iPhone integration does well with the standard media apps either by cable or bluetooth. You are still locked into the existing software engine, were new features could very well not be updated in future firmware updates. In comes down to your budget.
Kenwood uses the Garmin GUI which has a very good routing logic. The different Kenwood models vary due to the built-in processors. I would stay within the Excelon line. My pick would be either the 890 or the 990. The DNN990HD is the closet thing to a tablet in a in-dash unit. The 990 is also based on Garmin's PND 3597 and the current app.
Alpine uses the IGO Primo software engine in all their units. Some folks with the forum found the routing to be decent to great. I have it on my iPhone as an app and IMO it does pretty well. The other nice thing that Alpine uses for sound quality is the Burr-Brown digital to analog converters if you are going directly into aftermarket amps.
Pioneer, finally in the 2013 model year has gotten their act together. They have improved their GPS software engine. I am not sure which version of IGO primo they use. The best place to read more about Pioneer is:
AVIC411.com
With Pioneer, you can go to ways: the dedicated in-dash units or the AVH series and use their external gps device which uses IGO primo as well. In your case, you can go with the z150 and still use the appradio advance mode to tie-in with iPhone integration. I am not sure about how the GPS works while app mode is on. The advantage if you go with the AVH-8500, you get an excellent SQ head unit and the power of the an external processor powering the GPS.
With regards to Pioneers Appradio decks, read the forum section in avic411. A lot of pros and cons with this. JVC (check their website) DVD multimedia decks have a similar function as well. This units do not operate in the traditional way as an in-dash unit. For example, listing to a music source and hearing the GPS voice instructions. You can have the GPS screen up and hear the voice instructions while the music is muted in background. The real advantage when comes to the GPS apps, they update software features a number of times per year as well as the maps. The other thing with Pioneer Appradio decks and GPS apps, check to see if they make use of the external antenna. Garmin and IGO Primo apps are top rated off line maps. TomTom and Sygic are also off-line maps and are due for a major release sometime later this year. I can not tell you about the use of online based maps such as Motion X, since I have never used them. Right now I am playing around with Sygic.
Best for now.
