Want to do a flip-down monitor in my Avalanche, what do you suggest?

'02 Avalanche. My tow / long trips vehicle. Looks like keeping my 20 month old daugther quiet in it = watching videos. The iPad propped up on the center console wasn't ideal for this past 14 hour round trip.

'02 wasn't available with the rear monitor...I think it wasn't offered until '04 or '05. Looking at the factory GM units, they aren't all that nice looking and expensive.

I don't care about having a built-in DVD player as most of my collection is Blu-ray anyway. I'd rather just stream videos from my iPhone to the monitor...I'm actually planning to keep one of our 3GS's when we upgrade to 5's just for this purpose.

I'm not sure what unit and what size to get. I want something I can stream to easily, look factory, and be of a decent quality. A lot of them just look cheap. I'd like one that allows for wireless headphones AND built-in speakers if possible.

Any suggestions? Alpine sells a nice unit but seems a bit pricey for what it is.

what about something like this?

http://gripdaddymounts.com

or

http://www.scosche.com/consumer-tech/product/2212

i would just go to best buy and buy one and the warranty they sale, my buddy put one is his 2006 tahoe and that thing has broke a few times and they just keep replacing it for free. the last time he went in they didnt carry that model anymore so they upgraded him for free to the newer model.

Originally Posted by vr6mole

what about something like this?
http://gripdaddymounts.com
or
http://www.scosche.com/consumer-tech/product/2212

My daughter's car seat is in the middle, so that's not ideal for her. Easier for her to look up or straight ahead.

Originally Posted by detonate69

I would recommend head rest monitors. I have 9" monitors with built in DVD players and headphones in my silverado. Had them for a few years now, no problems and work great. The cool part is they replace the entire head rest so you can always go back to stock and take them with you to a new car. Cost is comparable to a good flip down. Go to a reputable stereo shop, not a big box store you'll get better more knowledgeable service.

Besides the above issue, this won't work for my Avalanche, as I have a North Face Edition. There is nothing out there that will even look like an okay match as the seats are very different from normal Avalanche seats, and no way I'm hacking up headrests that would be very difficult (or impossible) to replace.

Originally Posted by Elliottsx80

i would just go to best buy and buy one and the warranty they sale, my buddy put one is his 2006 tahoe and that thing has broke a few times and they just keep replacing it for free. the last time he went in they didnt carry that model anymore so they upgraded him for free to the newer model.

And the winner is...this, oddly enough. But not exactly what you suggested, as I don't like Best Buy's warranty program. Normally, they are overpriced, but out of morbid curiousity, I took a look at what they had for sale, and look what I found:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Soundstr...&skuId=5449511

$31 shipped = mine. A deal I just couldn't pass up...we will see how it goes. Soundstream is a name brand where most of the these LCD units are either some unknown brand or crap brand (Pyle, Boss, etc.). Hopefully it works out!

I would recommend head rest monitors. I have 9" monitors with built in DVD players and headphones in my silverado. Had them for a few years now, no problems and work great. The cool part is they replace the entire head rest so you can always go back to stock and take them with you to a new car. Cost is comparable to a good flip down. Go to a reputable stereo shop, not a big box store you'll get better more knowledgeable service.

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I went thru this last year. What I really wanted was a flip down tablet. Could not find any decent options at the time.

Toyed with headrest monitors, found a nice set up with Aux in but did not like the screen size (too small) and did not have a place for the external box. There are units with built in players, no external parts, but I still did not want to go that route. I'll often drive with the front passenger seat down or angled so that it would be useless for a headrest monitor to be used.

I ended up going a 13" flip down DVD player, seemed about the right screen size and the brightness was better than headrest monitors. There is an Aux in and USB port which I've run media from. I have the audio output wired to the Aux in on head unit and there are wireless (IR) headphones too. Mostly I find that fade to the rear speakers and let the little one listen without headphones. I can run my audio via the headunit and her video's soundtrack via the IR headphones at the same time which is handy off and on.

I also made a little stand for a Kindle Fire that run on my dash. I can run its audio via the Aux in too. I find what I really use this for GPS, but i can use it as a media source too which is cool.

Now that Kindle Fire HD is out and mini iPad and Surface tablets are coming, I might rethink things if the DVD player ever goes bad. Burning media to the device would be way better than dealing with DVDs. Challenge might be mounting, power and sound with a tablet though.

Few pics:

Well the soundstream brand isn't the soundstream of old (probably very similar to pyle or boss), but at $31.... why not.

FWIW I had a pyle rear view mirror with integrated backup cam and it worked great.

The monitor deal was too good to be true (I had a feeling that would be the case). They shipped me a cigarette holder with the same part number.

I sent an e-mail, and they claimed it was Best Buy's mistake (BS). But they are giving me a full refund and letting me keep the cigarette holder, which looks like I can sell that for about $15, so at least I'll make a couple of bucks. Too bad I now need to find monitor to purchase.