omniphonix

I'm starting to think I should look into upgrading to VW's new RNS-510 unit they'll be using in the 2009 models. At least then I can keep my MFI functionality.

 

the prices that I've seen for the RNS-510 are quite a bit higher than the F series. Plus the 510 doesn't have voice recognition or USB input (not without an adapter)....and I'd like to compare the sound quality...

 

Rumor has it a retrofit kit is in the works with a target price ~$2,000. Plan is to add the MDI for iPod/USB as well, but will likely use SD most of the time. Voice input is not that big a deal for me and the F-series can't voice-input nav destinations anyway which is what I would want it to do most. Trick will be to find the proper Bluetooth module and not try to jerry-rig that Skoda thingy.

I'm starting to think I should look into upgrading to VW's new RNS-510 unit they'll be using in the 2009 models. At least then I can keep my MFI functionality.

I am new here and don't want to offend anyone, but this is directed at the skepticism of omniphoenix...

 

I have used Edge Audio here in Az and love their honesty and input. The fact that he put himself in a position to help you out with good advice does not warrant the blah, blah, blah response from you.

 

I am really excited about the f90 and was a little upset when he told me the same thing, but looking at some of the early responses from some of the people who have f series decks. Can you really say he was wrong?

 

His message to you was probably similar to what he has been telling everyone... Wait for the glitches in this deck to be worked out and then pull the trigger. Even if the voice command was perfect for the new models listen to the other issues that are coming up.

 

I just want to be clear in that I am standing up for a good honest shop here in Phoenix and not trying to knock anyone here, just be patient and see if there are indeed problems with this deck.

 

I see one guy in this thread saying he has bugs in his 700BT, so where are you seeing these "early responses"? I haven't really heard about these probelms from Jason with his F90BT and his unit is pre-prod. Just seemed a bit shady a guy from a store I'd never heard of, that is supposedly the beta test team for Pioneer Premier (which is in itself kinda hard to believe), telling me they're not even going to carry this new deck everyone is psyched about, then try to upsell me on 2 other older and higher priced decks sitting in his inventory. This is even more difficult to believe after watching Jason's videos demonstrating a pre-prod unit.

 

You may have had a good experience with these guys (hell, you may even be these guys posing on the net), but to anyone who's not a mouth-breather you have to admit it sounds kinda fishy. It has caused me to wait and hear more about these units before I jump on one, but I still have yet to hear anyone else backup his claims.

Audio Express in the Phoenix area says they have 4 F90BTs on order that should have been there today. Expecting in the next week or so.

So I called up Edge Audio here in the Phoenix area, and the manager there tells me his team is basically part of Pioneer Premier. They do all the new product testing and also travel around doing training on their new units. He says his shop is not even going to sell the F-series. He was suggesting I go for the AVIC-Z3 or the Kenwood DNX-8120. He said the voice command doesn't work nearly as well as they say (something about asking for Metallica and getting AC/DC). Blah blah... new technology, will take months to get stable, blah blah... only him and like 9 other people in the country have had their hands on it... blah blah just an inferior deck all around.

 

It sounds like a bunch of crap to try and unload some of their older decks on me to make room for the new ones. My question to Jason is, I have actual evidence of you having used the F90BT, can you honestly say its a better experience than the Z series or other nav decks you've used? The SD card slot and MSN Direct are big selling points for me (especially since I want Sirius and everyone seems to use XM for NavTraffic). I also like the front Aux input and the iPod control looks really sweet. Do you guys think this guy is just blowing smoke? Maybe he tried an early unit that didn't do as well?

I am doing some of the pre-planning for putting an F90BT in my 2008 VW Eos w/ Nav & Dynaudio. It looks like I can get VSS and reverse right off the harness. So far, I'm prety sure I will need a PAC C2R-VW, PAC SWI-CAN, and PAC SWI-PS plus a european amplified antenna adapter.

My question is, can I get preamp outs to the factory Dynaudio amp? I want to keep the Dyn system and just add subs. Since its supposed to be a 600W amp with 10 discrete channels (one for each speaker), it sounds like it might be even better than my Alpine PDX-4.150. So what kind of signal is sent from the deck to the Dyn amp? Anybody have experience with any other factory Dynaudio systems like maybe from the Passats or a Volvo?

I agree, technically there's no reason they couldn't do it, if anything it would be easier because the database of words it has to match two isn't changing constantly (like on an iPod or mobile phone).

 

The Z Series has voice command for destination entry (although it doesn't really work very well).

 

Maybe they are saving it for that successor to the Z-series that's supposed to have the higher res 7" screen and the OS from the F-series.

No, sorry. There is no voice command for GPS.

That seems really strange with all the other voice features it has. Do any of the AVIC decks do voice-entry GPS? I wonder if they might do it in a later firmware upgrade...

Jason, I was curious if you can input your destination with voice commands. I noticed in your demo video you would input with the touch screen and in all the videos on Pioneer's site I also don't see voice destination entry. It would be pretty sad with all these advanced voice features if you can't input an address with voice.

Regarding the SD card slot ... does anyone know whether it's limited to basic SD (max 4GB) or is there a chance that it supports SDHC (max 16GB)?

 

Thank you,

pat----

 

SDHC is not max 16GB, they have 32GB cards right now.

ok. I found a local dealer, but he said that Pioneer is famous for releasing things and not shipping them out for a month or two. Now I'm worried I won't get it in time for my cross country drive in July.

Considering Jason got a preview unit to review, all the hype on their website, and that the European units are already available, I have a pretty good feeling they will meet their ship date in mid to late June.

Thanks for all the info Jason, I registered just so I could see the pics in this thread. My question is about playing digital music files from iPod or SD card. When you want to seek through an MP3, can you just touch and drag that blue progress bar on the screen? I listen to a lot of 60+ minute MP3 DJ mixes in the car, and a quick and easy fast forward through them would be a life saver.

 

-Bill