Accessories

Great Radio
Standard installation, standard radio controls, figured it out before I had a chance to read the owner's manual.
It'a amazing to hear the difference HD makes. With this radio you tune in your station, initially it picks it up in Standard Definition (SD), if it has High Definition (HD) content a little HD icon pops up. It then switches to HD. If the station has alternate programming pressing "Up" on the selector knob will go to the next channel that the station broadcasts, HD-1, HD-2, and so on. HD stations also broadcast their call letters so the radio will display the station as "KWMU - 90.7".
This really a revolution in radio, I'm late to join the revolution, but I'm sold on the technology.
Also, the CD player works great.
Please review your local stations and wikipedia before buying to see if the technology is right for your needs and location.

Many benefits besides HD Radio
My old car radio pooped out, and a local FM station kept hyping their "now broadcasting in digital HD sound." I looked the unit over very carefully. It has a bypass button in case the HD signal, which is very sensitive, goes out or if this turns out to be a dud. Remember AM Stereo of the 1980's? Quadraphonic of the 1970's? I'm afraid this will turn out to be the same. This receiver also receives HD2 and even HD3 stations, though HD3 stations right now are almost non-existant. Remember, anything digital comes in threes. All local broadcast tv stations now have three channels for example.
Frequently the HD signal does goes out, but it does have an excellent analog tuner as well. AM-HD sounds great as well, but it too is very sensitive. The CD player is great, and overall this unit has enough bells and whistles to keep any audiophile happy with or without HD Radio. When the HD signal works, you can hit another button to see the track playing, which saves a phone call to the station if you really want to know. The sound on HD-FM is much better, but HD2 is nothing but an internet feed that the station passes along, and therefore not in "real" stereo; it sounds tinny and weird. I have found this to be true of all the FM stations with this technology. But I love the unit itself and as I say, you won't be "stuck" with it if HD goes the way of analog tv.

Terrible AM reception
If you are a talk radio person like myself this radio's AM reception stinks so bad it's ridiculous.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure where a person can find an honest review of car radio AM reception capabilities.

Another issue with this radio is that it is terribly underpowered. Even when tuned in on a strong HD radio station I cannot turn up the volume high enough to get the sound adequately up and over the noise of the vehicle.

Turn the volume up much beyond the 30 level (the digital level goes from 1 to 50) and the sound becomes so distorted you cannot understand it.

I have some really awesome car radios, e.g., I have a 10 year old Sony CDX-4160 which blows this radio away on the AM stations, sitting in the same driveway.

Avoid this radio if you want AM reception.

I would have never bought it again for my second car if it was not so great!
It is very user friendly, sounds very well and is the less expensive one with HD radio built in (will tell you singer name and song title while you listen the radio + much better audio quality). Remote control is included and with some more money you can make it play all kind of mp3 player.+++

Great reciever.
I'm no sound system expert, but this receiver made the stock speakers in my car sound better.

I installed it myself. Very easy to use. It'll take you 1-2 hours to learn about the useful features; for me thats playing mp3 cds, switching to different sound modes, and listening to the HD radio(really does have mp3 quality sound) via the presets for different stations. I didn't have to do anything in particular to utilize the hd, it was a matter of whether or not a station is hd compatible, if it is then the receiver will automatically take several seconds to switch to hd mode.