Sive,Thank you for your contribution! That unit was most definitely worth a look. You are correct that this unit does most of what I am looking to do (sans navigation, no GPS). The screen does goes down which is much better from a convenience perspective but it also has a motorized fold out movement mechanism that I am very wary of from both a stability and longevity perspective.

See the lower portion of the description in your link and the bottom of this pic:


The one I mentioned up top has a simple removable display. From what I can gather it also seems like the display of the unit I linked above can be used separately (like a tablet) when removed from the car. (The documentation leads you on to this but is not very clear)

Anyway as mentioned, The single best device to do everything I would want is a simple Android tablet with a built in GPS. Windows 8 adds a higher cost and complexity that is simply unnecessary and unwanted for my needs. I purchased a Dell Venue 8 with everything I could want, android and a built in GPS for for just about $120 on a black Friday deal. It was a score. Connected to the 4g LTE hotspot from my phone it would be music, maps, search and video accessibility bliss.

Also as mentioned, The best place to mount this simply directly in front of the single din factory radio opening, just a little bit lower than dead center single din, still leaving room to access both the heater controls and the lower portion of the switches. Additional this location is also convenient for my fingers to flick in-between rowing my own gears. I have had other accessories like tablets and phones mounted offset to the right of the stack before and while others may like it, that location simply does not work for me. It is a compromise at best.

Mounting the something as large as tablet to the right of the stack makes the dash look busy and cluttered in an already confined Crossfire cockpit space. It also encroaches into the passenger space pushing the limit of a convenient reach and always seems to be in the way of something I would want to do like access the glove box or adjust a vent.

Now if I could only find the proper mount and a way to "Power amp" the preamp levels of Pandora and other media playing apps.......

Breakdown, that pioneer looks great but opens up.

-J