semicycler

Yes I used it. It's a one time setup then you set the eq to "auto-eq" mode. The sound was definitely better afterwards compared to anything I could setup manually! It went from sounding good to sounding great. I didn't buy the eq mic, but reused an Onkyo one from my home receiver. The results were good enough for my ears that I never wanted to improve it with the Pioneer mic.

The mic that comes with the radio is for bluetooth hands free cell phone. The auto-eq mic sold separately is to setup the equalizer in "auto-eq" mode. Basically the unit will put varying white noise levels to each speaker and auto adjust the levels. You need to plug an microphone to start auto-eq setup mode. I used a mic from my Onkyo home stereo's similar function. It worked fine. And yes the auto-eq settings were much better than anything I could setup manually by ear!

Just set it up myself. I used a mic from my Onkyo home stereo. The manual is a little confusing when following the directions. Basically turn off the car, roll up windows, shut off ac/heat/fan, turn key to acc, set sound source to OFF, toggle the rear display to mirror (touch the iPod icon a couple of times), position the mic on the driver's headrest, go into AV setup and press the Auto EQ. A count down timer starts, get out of car and let it do its thing. I had trouble getting out and closing the door. The door closing messed up the countdown timer when the mic picked it up. Instead