I went with a Clarion. Its ok. Works well enough. Its the iphone that is glitchy. Depends on the software update that Apple puts out whether or not the bluetooth will sync seemlessly. Very hit or miss. I still like it better than screaming into the phone or looking like a db with a bluetooth headset. One thing I can recommend is putting a switch that will cut all power to the head unit. This will reboot the thing if it gets stuck. You don't have to pull a fuse and you can do it while you are driving. I put the switch under the steering wheel area far enough back that you can't see it. I love being able to plug in the phone, charge it, talk on the phone, play music or videos/movies all from the phone. You should make sure you get the adapter for the steering wheel controls and parking brake overide for the video on the head unit. By law you cannot play videos while driving. So you have to have the ebrake engaged, and you cant just ground it anymore, it is a cycling circuit, so you have to have a unit that overrides when it cycles. That is a must, if your front seat passenger wants to watch a movie while you are driving.

Found all the installation hardware and dash/radio cover on ebay. It was kind of expensive for the condition it was in. The finish on the dash cover was not done well and the hardware for the radio was full of rust. It all came out ok, but it took a bit of extra elbow grease and attention to detail to try and get the dash to look like a similar finish to the rest of the interior.

Also if it is sunny, the angle of the dash is not monitor friendly. Not much you can do about it, unless the head unit monitor has a tilt on it. Mine does, but it only tilts up, which is oppisite of what it needs. But its still better than the business cd player that it came with.

I don't even know what brand the headrest monitors are. I found them online referbished for under $200 for the pair. They came with the headrest and all the wiring and components. They look just like the stock headrests and it was such a bargain I couldn't pass it up. They were loose in the headrest from them refurbishing them, but I just epoxied them and they are not going anywhere. I am very happy with this system and my 5 year old daughter loves it.

I put the back up camera on the handle of the tailgate (right side from the rear). I had to dremel things pretty extreme to get it to fit. The camera is tiny and there was still barely any room. It looks ok from a distance and it is weatherproof, but I am pretty anal and I don't like looking at it up close.

My wife has a system in her 2007 328i that works flawlessly. Im pretty jealous of it actually. But I have an X5 and she doesn't, so there.

Good luck with your project. Post some pics when you do it, I would love to see how it turns out. Sorry to ramble on.

Attached Images

    

__________________
2001 X5 3.0
2001 1150gs
2007 328i

The Black ones go faster!