Home > Consumer Reviews > Pioneer AVIC-F900BT In-Dash Navigation Audio/Video Receiver with DVD Playback and Advance Voice Controls

This is a great product on paper, but think twice before you become an early adopter. The unit is plague with bugs. Some are so bad it make the unit unusable. Here are a few examples:

Bluetooth

1. Blackberry connects 50 percent of the time
2. Won't transfer address book
3. Sound quality is terrible.
4. The audio didn't mute when a call was placed

Sirius

1. Unable to get audio to work.

ipod

1. Continuous lock up with communication to iPod


GPS

1. Routing is not consistent
2. Several times it lost the location I was traveling to while switching between the FM tuner and ipod.
3. GPS voice guidance will say turn left in 2 comma 3 miles, instead of 2 point 3 miles.

Backup Camera

1. Take 1 - 2 min before the camera turns on when you put the car in reverse

General Usage

1. Boot time with an ipod connect is 2 - 3min
2. Boot time with no ipod is 10-15 second before audio is working
3. Unit has rebooted four times in the past two days for no reason
4. Touch screen is dim, you can't see the readout in sunlight
5. Touch screen response is about 2 - 3 sec. between switching screens

These are just several initial observations. The unit will eventuality be a fantastic device once Pioneer fixes all the bugs. For now I would wait.

The bottom line is the bottom line---if I had it to do again I would not get the Pioneer AVIC-F900BT. It has some great features but is missing on some important points:
A) Can only download contacts through Bluetooth-my Treo won't
B) Voice commands are like trying to talk to a wild puppy-only hears some of the commands & does't understand what it does hear
C) Navigation is NOT "turn right on main street" but rather "turn right ahead"
D) Glare, glare, glare on the screen
E) Manual is a pdf. CD for that kind of money they can't even give you a printed manual!!??
F) Not very intuitive to operate, requires several steps to do about anything
G) S-L-O-W start-up
H) Like I said-some features are nice but in the long run save your maoney & go elsewhere

VERY DISAPPOINTED IN THIS PRODUCT; IT CAME IN MY 2009 SCION XB; THE SCREEN IS HARD TO READ IN DAYLIGHT; THE TOUCH SCREEN DOES NOT RESPOND WELL; SLOW START UP TIME; DOES NOT PERMIT PHONE CONTACT INFORMATION TO BE LOADED MANUALLY OR VIA SD MEMORY CHIP; LINKS UP WITH LG FUSIC PHONE BUT WILL NOT UPLOAD PHONE BOOK CONTACTS FROM PHONE THEREBY MAKING THE VOICE RECOGNITION USELESS. CANNOT TURN OFF THE VERY IRRITATING BEEPING NOISE HEARD WHEN MAKING STATION CHANGES, VOLUME CHANGES, ETC.

THIS IS NOT A PRODUCT TO PURCHASE!!!!

This thing is great, fun and keeps getting better, being it's OS is Microsoft, i get to play with everything, changing the the font, adding buttons on the touch screen, etc etc. Oh and watching movies while driving is always exciting.

Props to pioneer

So far I am satisfied with the product, it is worth the money, the audio quality is very good, the video is great, and the synchronization with mobile is smooth. You have to get used to the touch screen there is little delay... Make sure you read the entire manual, to take advantage of the options in this device.

The software updates for this device are available on Pioneer website. Make sure that your device has the latest updates. You can find these updates under the section "Firmware Update for AVIC F-Series"

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Support/Navigation/Free+Firmware+Update+2+for+AVIC+F-Series

Regards