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Shipping was excellent, it arrived early and there were no problems. I installed the unit on a motorcycle and use the romote on the handle bars. Everything works great. I would like to have fade and balance control on the remote also the CD player is a little more sensitive than I would have thought for marine use but works well enough. Overall I give the experince high marks from start to finish. I will use Amazon again.
Our boat has an acc switch to enable the radio. If you totally kill power to this thing it loses all its presets and audio settings. It can be wired to a trickle output to preserve the settings, but our boat doesn't provide that. If you wire it to the battery using the main power wire, your battery will be dead in a day.
I rated this stereo with 4 stars because it was exactly what I needed for my 24 foot Bayliner 2452. I mounted the remote at the helm station and it has a full menu necessary to control all functions. I mounted the main unit in the cabin over the table. The main unit has pig tails which I use to connect my DVD player and mp3 device. The mp3 play back on DVD's is limited and will not playback a full DVD. It does however playback mp3 DVD's with less recorded space. The sound quality is fine and powers my 4, 5" speakers with ease.
The unit was relatively easy to install, although instructions were minimal. The radio works well, but AM stations are difficult to receive, even with an optional antenna. Just after installation, the CD quit working and would not eject the CD. Afer discussion with technical service, and trying suggested remidies, I shipped the unit to St. Louis for replacement. I am awaiting the new unit. If it works properly, I will increase its rating.
A new unit was returned to me about two weeks after shipping the defective unit back. The new unit seems to function properly and I am therefore giving it a higher rating of four stars.
We have a relatively small boat (a ShuttleCraft powered by a 2 person jetski - about 16' and max 5 passengers when the two are connected), and this system seems to be a good match for what we were looking for. Quality seems to be as expected so far. Decent sound and performance for the price. I bought an FM antenna (about $10 from a boater's-catalog type place) to go along with the stereo and speakers.
Cutting the holes for the speakers and radio was the largest part of the install. I was a little concerned about what was behind the panels where I wanted to mount the speakers as I couldn't see into the area until I drilled a hole to get started. The instructions were minimal, but I guess the install is pretty straight forward - power to the radio and a wire to each speaker. Some recommendations on best method of cutting the holes in the fiberglass would have been helpful.
CD player seems to work well so far. We normally only listen while at anchor so don't know how it would be with rougher waves, etc. If you are looking for this type of system, you may not be looking to listen over the sound of the engine anyway.
The stereo has a seperate switch input wire that can connect to a master switch or key switch. This allows the system to function similar to your car - if you are halfway through a cd when you shut the master off, you restart at the same place when you turn the master back on.
With my installation location, I was a little concerned about possibly losing the removable faceplate in the lake, but was glad to learn that you can add a screw to make the faceplate a more permanent install.
Really enjoy the system so far.
This unit was purchased to replace the orginal stereo in my boat. Not only did it sound great, but it blows away my original unit.
I have had three different boats and Clarion was my choice for all. The one I have now is installed with the M455 and like the others, it rocks. I had it installed the beginning of summer and live on a saltwater canal. No problems at all. All the functions you need as well power. I would recommend this stereo to any boat owner looking for the best.
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