To DVD, or not to DVD?

I recently became the proud owner of a 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser, and I’ve loved every minute of driving it. It’s agile and nimble on the streets, has plenty of horsepower, fits easily into just about any parking space, and gets surprisingly decent gas mileage (I’m getting 18 to 20 MPG so far).  The seats are waterproof, and the flooring is all-weather rubber mats, so I don’t have to worry about mud or stains, and can literally use a water hose to clean out the inside of the car (no joke!).

My daily commute is less than four miles one way, so I’m not really in it for that long each day, but on weekends I like using it to run around town with my three sons.  The novelty of being in the new car is sufficient to keep them absorbed for in-town jaunts; we can crank up the stereo, roll the windows down, and let the wind blow through our (well, the kids, at least) hair.  Funny thing about kids and car stereos…don’t they have a saying along the lines of “if it’s too loud, you’re too old”?  My kids are always telling ME to turn down the stereo, which I do, but I’m anxious for the day when they are the ones that push the volume envelope.

In the interim, I’m wondering what we’ll do when (if) we take the FJ on one of our Arkansas trips. Taking the FJ to Arkansas will allow us to go 4×4ing in the river bottoms—something we could never consider with our other car, a Honda Odyssey (although my wife took the Odyssey in places it probably shouldn’t have gone on one our trips…thankfully it made it back out again, and in one piece). However, the Odyssey undoubtedly has several advantages over the FJ for long road trips. One, it has a great deal more room. Three rows of seating allow the boys to be seated far enough apart so that we are at least moderately sane by the time we’ve arrived.  Another mitigating factor is the presence of the Honda Rear Entertainment System (i.e. DVD player). Honda’s system is great—it’s a 9” drop-down LCD screen hooked up to a DVD player in the front console.  You can choose to play DVD audio over the car’s speaker system, or kids can use the two sets of wireless headphones to listen to their movie while the parents listen to the radio.  On super long trips (such as the 12 hour trips we make to Arkansas) a DVD system is a life saver. The younger kids get a chance to take a break from the monotony of staring out the window, while the older kid gets to read his books or listen to MP3s or, should he choose, plug his headphones into the audio out jack in the back of the car and also watch/listen to the movie.

Toyota didn’t offer any factory DVD system, but the dealer had an aftermarket DVD headrest solution that they wanted $2000 for. That’s a hefty chunk of change for a couple of LCD screens and a DVD player, so I passed. I knew I could find something just as good for far less money. Since on long trips the kids will all be crammed into one backseat for an extended duration, I want something that can divert their attention from one another, and am thinking that getting my own aftermarket DVD player is the way to go.

My first consideration was whether to go with a ceiling-mounted drop-down screen, or a headrest solution. Drop down screens tend to be larger, install fairly easily, and are competitively priced ($500 and up). However, the drop-down screen can easily interfere with your rear view mirror, and given the rather limited rear-window space in the FJ Cruiser (one notable “meh” spot in the FJs otherwise sweet portfolio of characteristics), I decided I’d rather pursue the headrest option.

Headrest LCD Screens/DVD players come with a variety of options. Some just strap right onto the headrests, but the downside of this is that you have lots of visible wires running everywhere, and you have to decide whether you’re going to pack the screens up each time you stop or leave the very obvious configuration sitting in plain view for the world (and potential thieves) to see. Some car stereo places will take LCD screens and actually cut out slots in your existing headrests, custom-fitting the screens into place. This also usually involves them reupholstering your headrests, and after labor and materials you are once again into multiple thousands of dollars. Add to that the fact that, unless ventilated properly, these custom setups can overheat, and you have a scenario I’d rather avoid.

Precisely because of these dilemmas, manufacturers have started offering replacement headrests with screens already built into them.  These seem to be a really sweet solution—you simply take out your existing headrests (everyone’s done that at least once , haven’t they? Or I bet your kids have) by pushing the button and lifting them all the way up, drop in the new ones, and you’re ready to go!  Well, perhaps there’s a bit more to it than that…you have to thread wires down the post holes, out the bottom of your seat, and connect them into your vehicle power system. But really, it’s not that difficult (or so it seems, from what I’m reading).

I’ve narrowed my choices down to the following setups. In the next couple of weeks I’ll choose one of these and give a review on it, and will also detail the steps I had to take to install it into my car.  Here are the units I’m considering: