Pioneer DEH-P6900UB AM/FM CD and iPod Ready Car Stereo Receiver Head Unit

Amazon Customer Reviews

(5 out of 5)

Actually i bought the premiern one, but might be usefull to read

This review aplies to DEH-690UB and DEH-P6900UB since they are the same. the only diference, is a 2 year warranty and that the premier one, includes the ipod cable and extension, that, as far as i know is optional in the pioneer version.

I bought this unit, because i had an deh-p4800mp with an ipod adapter, and i wanted something easier to manage my 30 gb ipod photo. i new that i had to stay with the ipod adapter, since this unit can only manage an ipod nano or video (5th gen) using the integrated usb. I wanted to use some usb memory also. I installed the unit, and put my ipod to work. It's a lot faster than the previous one, and you can use it the same way you use your ipod (like the click wheel). is not as fast as i wanted, but is fast enough. The sound is excellent and you have a lot of options to tweak the sound the way you want. Then i had an idea, why not try my 40 Gb 2.5 usb hard drive with it? so, i formated it (Fat32) and put some music in it, and VOILA!! IT WORKS! it takes more than 30 seconds to read the entire disk, but then, it's really fast to search, and i mean fast. I will end selling the ipod adapter, and i think even the ipod. So, here are the pros an cons:

PROS:
- Can manage ipods, and the controls are similar to the click wheel.
- Can read USB devices
- Can even read USB hard drives
- Can read MP3, WMA, and even AAC
- Excellent sound and a lot of options for adjusting.
- Built in customizable 2 way crossover (Sub woofer and high pass)
- Can handle a small sub woofer without external amplifier
- Can read the entire ID3 Tags on ipods and usb.
- Scrolling with 3 lines of text.
- Has a Dimer (and for the ones that says that the 6800 doesn't dim the controls, this one does) it also have a brightness control.
- You can put a bluetooth Module , for mobile phones as a hands free
- Excelent Display, Easy to read in every condition.
- Prize / Funcionality


Cons:
- Can only read Ipod Nanos an video. if you have an older one, you need the ipod adapter.
- It says it controls about 250 Gb Maximum, 15000 Songs Maximum, but in the real world, i have about 16 Gb, and it takes a long time to load the library, so i don't want to see it with 250Gb
- Doesn't remember the last position in the list. every time you press the list button, it will start in the beginning.
- This radio, IS NOT for people that are looking for an easy to use unit. I mean, it's easy, but everything is in a menu. I wouldn't put it in my mother's car. This is for Geeks
- The Multi-Control it's a little hard (not much, but there are softer ones) but i think it will get a little softer on the future.
- Lack of Memory buttons on front pannel
- Aux input is located on the rear part of the unit.

(5 out of 5)

USB function is great.

I have only had this stereo for about a day but because there are no other reviews yet...I thought I would tell you what I know. The unit performs exactly as expected based on the details and description. Unit sounds excellent. The 7 band EQ provides very distinct tones. You can store 2 custom EQs in addition to the ones provided. The USB cable comes out the back and I have it hidden in my glove compartment. The USB port will also work the IPOD so there is no reason to get an separate IPOD cable as long as you have the USB cable that came with you IPOD. Navigating through the Artists, Songs, playlists, etc. is very straight-forward and the response time is very fast. I also tried it with a 200 MB thumb-drive and it worked fine. If you ripped or download your digital songs using the higher quality settings, then the sound will be great - as good (if not better) than the CD version. The remote works great as long as you are pointing it toward the unit. It does take a little time and reading of the manual to understand fully how to navigate through the unit's menus (like changing the EQ settings) so be patient with yourself (and the unit). For the price, this unit is nearly perfect in features and performance. You would have to step up to a DVD touch-screen unit to improve on the functionality that you get with the DEH-P6900UB

(4 out of 5)

solid choice..

I moved from a pricey Alpine unit to this for the connection possibilities. The Alpine unit worked well but the only aux out failed for reasons I haven't figured out. I had it for six years so instead of having it repaired, this Pioneer head unit looked like a cost effective way to go. The connection possibilities are what sold me. USB, iPod and an third aux out you can use for anything with a mini jack or rca connections. I love the usb connection. I use several flash drives including a recently purchased 16GB Corsair flash drive. All work perfectly and with sound quality as good as from the cd drive. The downside for me is a slightly degraded sound quality compared to the Alpine unit. Sound quality seems somewhat two dimensional compared to the Alpine. The Alpine unit delivered cleaner playback especially in the high range. The difference is noticeable but not to the extreme. I had the Alpine and now the Pioneer connected to external Alpine amplification so the sound quality difference must be in the DACs. Secondly, the Pioneer has menus on top of menus. It can be annoying to navigate. The upside is the price. This Pioneer was about a third the price of the Alpine (inflation not factored). At about two hundred I consider this a really good buy, most for the connection possibilities.

(5 out of 5)

Great look and performance

First and foremost, the package came just as described by amazon.con and as described on the Pioneer website. The package was delivered right on time. I had the unit installed today, I've tried checking everything out but I haven't had enough time. So far I can say it's great, sound is amazing (CD, Tuner and iPod) and looks very sharp, fancy on the dash. It loads my iPod very quickly and keeps it charged. I keep it in the glove-box now Navigating through the menu isn't really hard, you just gotta get an initial feel for it, really straight forward. I already had some Rockford-Fosgate high end speakers installed so that helped out with the sound quality. But I noticed the huge difference between the factory stereo sound quility and the Pioneer DEH-P6900UB sound quility. So no matter what speakers you havew, you should notice a favourable difference. The control is easy to use as long as you point it at the head unit. The price is great. Overall I can say I am very satisfied with it and I hope to get a better feel for it as the days go by.

(4 out of 5)

I love it, except for one flaw

This is a great unit overall. It allows me to seamlessly control my iPod through the deck while I'm driving, and the iPod can remain hidden when I'm not in the car. It sounds great, and works like a charm.

BUT

The iPod interface can be very annoying. Unless you make playlists on your iPod, it is a HUGE pain to find a particular song. Rather than have the song/artist/genre etc lists in simple order of 26 letters (a,b,c, etc) they have EVERY song and EVERY artist on the list. so if you have 2,000 songs, you have to scroll through up to 1,999 songs to find it! Who's the idiot who let that slide?

Basically, just make playlists, and you'll be set. Other than that flaw, it's a great deck.