Installing a DVD player into your vehicle

[sncbird]

Hi,

We're currently looking at buying a Toyota Highlander or Mitsubishi Endeavor. We're having trouble finding a Highlander with a DVD installed and it won't be offered on the Endeavor until late 2003. We're considering having one installed by Best Buy after we make purchase. Has anyone done this? Any other suggestions? Thanks

 

[janette]

I thought I'd want a DVD player in my next car until I recently purchased a personal DVD player. It is tiny, no trouble at all in the car and for the price of an installed one I could get one for each kid.

I also use it around the house and it was great when we were at camp for my little neices and nephews to watch. There were no TV's and sometimes the little ones just needed some down time. It has a battery so there really is almost nowhere that it can't be used.

 

[Princess_Aurora]

We have one installed, but I would say don't get it done at Best Buy. They tend to over charge for their installations. What we did is we shopped around for the unit until we found one that was on sale ($99 at Fry's, although we did have to send in a mail in rebate) and then we called a few different places to see how much they charged for installations. We ended up having it installed at Tweeters (don't know if you have one where you are) and it cost $75 for them to install. So we ended up having the whole thing done for under $200

We really enjoy it...well, I can't technically say "we" enjoy since it's really the kids that enjoy it since they are the only ones to sit in the back seat.

 

[LarryE]

I did my own... bought a audiovox flip down monitor, then used my playstation 2 for the dvd source..

that way I can watch movies or play games at the car shows I go to

 

[Princess_Aurora]

LarryE, we have our PS2 connected through our GPS which is in the front seat...that way the front seat passenger can play it. Also, if we wanted to watch something different than the kids we could do that too as long as the kids have their headphones on. PS2s are great additions to cars aren't they

 

[Tiger Fan]

We had one installed in our van, but also have the personal one and I would say the personal one is the way to go. They are less than $300, are very small, can go anywhere, and you could get more than one for cheaper than an installed one. Good luck.
Lisa

 

[jfulcer]

Do you have a Sams? Sams was selling a portable DVD player for the car, and it had a bag to hang it off the seats like all the others. The cool thing is that it came with an extra screen to put elsewhere in your car. It was really cool. I think it was around $380.

While it's not installed in the car, it was a cool thing.

 

[sncbird]

Hi everyone!!

Thank you so much for all the great ideas!! We ended up buying the Endeavor yesterday. I think I'm liking the portable DVD idea. The price tag is alot less than if we were to get one installed.

 

[4greatboys]

We wanted the installed one also but ended up getting 2 portable ones. They are 7" screens and we paid less than $300 each for them. There is also a a holder you can buy for your car to put the player in so the kids dont have to hold it.
I think I do like this better than the installer ones because we can use them in the car, the house, on a plane and at Disney when we go there.