Wife just picked up a new to us 2010 Town and Country touring. The only option it didn't come with is the DVD screens for the back.
What can the hive tell me about after market units? We don't need to control from the front and wireless headphones would be ideal.
For kids in the back? IMHO you're better off with cheap tablets than a DVD system.
Just go for cheap tablets, preferably with micro SD expansion slots.
I'll third the cheap tablet recommendation. Load them with books, games and movies.
That's what we've been doing. the 3 year old is the exception.
Tread lightly or you'll be sure to be accused of being a sh!tty parent.
Grtechguy wrote: That's what we've been doing. the 3 year old is the exception.
We experimented with a couple of "strap it to the back of the front seat" aftermarket DVD players for our Odyssey. In the $100-200 range I found that they're fragile, prone to skipping when hitting bumps, have poor seat attachment mechanisms, poor battery life, and stupid 12v power that's either not long enough or falls out. Basically they suck.
I've seen a couple aftermarket perma-install models, but at the thousand+ bucks they charge, the 3-year-old can destroy a lot of tablets before you break even. :)
As for the parenting questions, we use the tablet/DVD things on road trips.
Tablet + this + digital copies of movies = solution.
JohnRW1621 wrote: Tread lightly or you'll be sure to be accused of being a sh!tty parent.
I'm a firm believer of "Go Play Outside!". Electronics are for multihour car rides and E36 M3ty weather days.
Grtechguy wrote:JohnRW1621 wrote: Tread lightly or you'll be sure to be accused of being a sh!tty parent.I'm a firm believer of "Go Play Outside!". Electronics are for multihour car rides and E36 M3ty weather days.
yep.
it took my 4 year old several months before realizing there is a dvd player in the snaab. and only because his moron uncle told him to look at the roof and ask what the box was, since his little monsters get it turned on every time they get in the car no matter if a 10 hour trip or 5 minute ride to the store. his kids want the idiot box on all the time, mine understands that it's for vacation only, and not the whole ride. we've yet to even see if it works, don't care either way.
can you ebay up an oem player from something? i remember not all that long ago the warner bros edition ventures had a pretty decent unit that were selling on ebay in the $100 range. i know now that's old tech, but there has to be a modernish equivalent.
We did the portable DVD player bungee corded to the head rest for a little while. Frankly, that sucked and only works for one child. Cheap tablet with microSD slots would work if you have the tech savvy to load them up with stuff.
I'd grab two of these: http://www.microcenter.com/product/443487/A1023_Tablet_-Black%28Refurbished%29
Then pick up two USB car chargers with cords long enough to reach the back seats. Two pairs of kid sized headphones and you are set. You should be able to set the maximum audio level on the tablet. Then get a few two-player LAN games for them to play over wi-fi: http://www.androidauthority.com/best-local-multiplayer-games-for-android-581373/
And no, you are not a crappy parent letting your kids zone out on a road trip. Our oldest son has a kid-friendly MP3 player that he loves to listen to on long trips. It is loaded with music his aunt picked out for him (hearing my 5yo sing Ramones is awesome) and a bunch of kid friendly radio dramas (Adventures in Odyssey mainly). We bring the iPad along and watch videos that I rip through VLC.
We have had goodish luck with Philips strap to the headrest DVD players. The ones we currently have the kids can watch one movie on both screens or two separate ones. With that being said now that the kids are older, the youngest is 5, we will be going the tablet route soon.
I'd say tablet route..
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