Clarion sounds great, looks even better
Stereo banks on its looks: Clarion understands that looks count, and the company clearly had this topof-mind when designing the FZ150 Digital Media Receiver, which eschews the mechanical CD drive, thus qualifying as a “mechless” car stereo. This is an admittedly low-frills offering, but from a classy high-end manufacturer, and the device features a front-loading USB and SD Card slot, which makes for convenient playback of digitally-encoded music, while the front auxiliary port makes for easy plug-in of mobile phones or MP3 players.
It’s got four pre-set EQ modes and a simple graphic equalizer, which provides some audio options, albeit not audiophile capability. And with four speaker channels that output 40 watts per, it’s good for some roar but isn’t exactly all-powerful.
Truth be told, the FZ150 would be very generic if it weren’t for its atypical looks. The stereo features protruding rounded edges, which give it a very sleek and different look. Clarion was good enough to price this puppy very attractively. $100; visit clarion.com. A GPS loaded with value: It must be challenging to keep your head in the game when you work for a company that manufactures singlepurpose GPS devices, because the question that pervades your daily consciousness must be “why?”. Why bother building a single-purpose device when every smartphone, tablet and phablet arrives pre-loaded with some form of GPS, and offers apps and games to boot?
At Garmin, the raison d’être is found in its Nuvi 56, which has every feature that you could possibly want in a well built, low-priced navigation device. It includes a five-inch display, pre-loaded maps of North America, lane-assist mode, which displays upcoming junctions on the screen, audible alerts for upcoming school zones, and more. $140; visit garmin.com.