Home > Consumer Reviews > Pioneer GEX-P10HD HD Radio Tuner for Pioneer HD Radio-Ready Head Units

I purchased this along with a Pioneer DEH-P4100UB head unit from Crutchfield. They had a great rebate program and I got the HD tuner for about $20. Installation was very easy. I ended up with a ton of extra cable, but that would be good if you had to mount the unit in the trunk or something. The interface between the external HD radio and the headunit is not very easy to use. I don't like it, but my wife HATES it. The worst part is, I blame my location, is that the signal fades in and out A LOT, so sound quality ranges from very good to very poor almost constantly. That is VERY annoying. I plan to disconnect the HD tuner but leave it installed because we plan to move before too long. Hopefully reception will be better when we move. I do like that I get song titles, artists, and radio station names, but I'm glad I only paid $20 for it.

First my background, I worked in a stereo shop from age 16 to 18 and I am an electrician. I have installed many stereos for friends and in my own vehicles over the years. I was excited about this whole HD radio thing so I bought two Pioneer F700BT head units along with two of these GEX-P10HD tuners and upon installation of the first unit into my truck, the tuner worked flawlessly with my head unit. Sound was crystal clear and and I pulled a strong signal. So I installed the second one into my wife's car and at first it worked well but then over a couple days the signal dropped out and the radio would stay on Analog and emit nothing but static. Upon switching the station to regular FM within the built-in tuner of the F700BT, the radio would pull a clear signal. So all evidence pointed toward the HD tuner. I opened my wife's car up and checked all connections and made sure there was an adequate ground and went step by step over everything that I had installed. To no avail, I got nothing but static from the HD tuner. So I ordered another one (they were only $50 at the time), thinking I just got a bunk unit. A few weeks later my HD tuner in my truck failed with the same symptoms. I checked all connections and retraced all steps. No matter what I tried, the result was that the tuner was junk. My wife's second one arrieved. Again, it pulled some good reception and then a few days later it died on us. Its kind of hard for me to believe I just got a "bad unit" when all three do not work. But I am curious if the unit might simply not be compatible with my head unit even though it is advertised as compatible. I have wondered if anyone has ever experienced this. Nevertheless, I must rate this unit as 1 star due to the simple fact that it does not seem to work correctly.

Bought this to go with a Pioneer DEH-P6000UB head unit.

The Good:
HD Radio! It's been nice to discover all the programing out there I never knew before. A few of the stations in the Nashville, TN market broadcast 2 and 3 stations on their HD freq.

Easy to install! Just 2 wires (positive and ground), the IP Bus cord, and the antenna. No problem! Would have been nice if they included a Y adapter for the antenna so you could use the built in tuner if you wanted (see below).

The Bad:
Only a few HD stations are taking full advantage of the media. Not many stations have the song or program titles listed while they play. This isn't the tuners fault of course. Hopefully radio stations will allow HD owners to take full advantage of the technology in the future.

The Ugly:
My head unit has a full OEL display capable of 3 lines of 18 characters each on the display (mode dependant), but the HD radio tuner only uses 1 line 8 charaters (EIGHT! BUMMER!) Such a WASTE of the display capabilities.

I never found a way to set presets with the P6000UB's multi-control knob, but if you use the head units remote control, it's as easy as pushing a button.

While the HD stations come in loud and clear, there are a couple of standard stations that came in better with the head units built in tuner.


Receiving the HD stations is great, but the pitiful display ported to the head unit and the poor reception on standard stations don't justify the cost of this unit (and I only paid $65).

I just purchased this unit for my Accord 07 with an Avic-f700bt and I have to say this is an incredible improvement over standard FM and AM. The sound quality is absolutely stunning for OTA (over the air).

I was on the fence for some time whether to get XM/Sirius or HD Radio originally I was going with satellite for the main reason of the overwhelming lineup they have. The problem is I love high fidelity audio and crisp audio which is what really gets me enjoying my music. Satellite radio is quite the opposite instead of quality they provide you over a hundred channels of low quality audio i.e. hissing, popping, and scratching sounds on most music stations and even worse for talk radio( average bit rate of music stations 24 - 36 kbps).

After doing extensive reading on the issue I decided to bite the bullet and purchase this unit. Installation took about 15 minutes total, and I did not use the FM extender cable for obvious reasons from other reviews.
I live in Houston so there's a good amount of options for radio. The first time I turned this on my jaw dropped absolutely stunning audio fidelity. Crisp mids and highs and smooth bass, I was skeptical at first but hearing is believing. Don't be fooled by other reviews that claim to get no reception or bad quality. If you live in a city with HD Stations and your within 60 miles of the stations your sure to get incredible quality. I live at most 40 miles from most transmission towers and the sound is undeniable.

My only gripe about this unit is the information read out. My Avic unit for some reason is only capable of displaying one line of text which you get to choose as either the station name, artist, song, or no text( haven't seen traffic or weather yet so not sure about that). Another issue is the presets when you pull up the list of presets all fields are blank except 1 - 5 numbering. Not a big deal but a small problem.

All in all this is a terrific unit and if your looking for a solid upgrade for radio go HD Radio which will be a better investment in the long term than satellite radio unless your content with satellite radio quality then HD Radio is the way to go!

I got this for my Avic D3, but you have to get the y-adapter for the antenna because I lost the AM/FM from the analog side.