I also had an original NEO35. Aside from the alternator whine which was fixed in later designs, I think it was pretty decent. I, however, bought my first empeg at $1,299 so it must not have been that good.

I think the remote display feature that now comes as standard equipment makes it a much better choice since almost no dash is deep enough to fit the actual unit. I think I would choose the Neo over PhatBox due to the Neo's more informative display and mount it in the trunk.