kafklatsch

They dont need to ask you at the time of purchase. They could simply have the single purchaser go to a link and enter the AVIC serial number. This would generate the serial key...... if they do it on the pioneer site and there is nothing on the card for this key generation formula then it may be tough to crack. If they were smart they would have anticipated this and have the serial/key confirmation check on a separate chip on the AVIC MB which would not be accessible by us. Microsoft, for instance cant do it this way because they dont build the computers...

+1 I have 2 cars with OEM NAVIs, and two with AVICs... The F500BT has been surpisingly as nice as any of them. One of my OEM's is four year old technology; the other is relatively current. neither is as nice as the AVIC's overall features. The F500BT value has also been a nice surprise - Lots of bang for the buck. With the coming heads up and traffic on route, it will be as good as my Z3 since the F500 is combined with my existing head unit for XM and the like. The bluetooth and the ability to talk at a normal level and be heard has also been a nice surprise - I whispered to myself the other

if you can revert back you have your bases covered. just make a bakeup of your current configuration and reinstall when you get it back....

WOW...... this thread is definitely a lesson in differing opinions.... I purchased the $60 update, cant wait to get it....my concerns are as follows will we still be able access WinCE will the bypass (software/hardware combination in particular) still work I hope that everyone can be made whole on this thread because there appears to be some serious issues with the upgrade cost. By the way, does anyone KNOW that the new firmware will work with the old maps....It may not and thus the combined upgrade (and cost). it seems we want to assume the the new firmware WILL work with the OL

my own experience with those m-f'n screws pasted from this thread (my full post on page 10 midway down) http://avic411.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=9446&start=135 "6) I did everything as described. All went well with the following exception. > I could not get the screws loose on my Z1HD Caddy. truly funny... I do major auto repair, and have rarely encountered this kind of difficulty. I used my dremel to cut them out. and replace them with new screws. The down side is that the cut-off screws remain in the original HD. hope I never need to reinstall that one."

another dead tread that left a little confusion. the GPS actual speed is very accurate. But the GPS cannot tell the future, i.e. your estimated time of arrival. ETA is a logical calculation based on average speeds over certain roads. Many variables change that estimate..... something as simple as a meal stop... to something more complex like "why everyone and their mother left the exact same time you did"... the navigation systems has some way of assigning these speeds based on the road traveled. The average speed setting you select with the avic is based on your own driving habit

Okay, I know this thread is a little stiff at present, but does anyone know if its possible to remove the entire front as a whole and then do some wiring extensions..... does the unit lend itself to such a mod? I would like to put the screen and controls (the front) in one place and the rest of the unit in another......

Okay, Okay !!!!........ can someone compress this 24+ pages of very useful information into a step-by-step "how-To". I usually read every comment on a thread, but this one is all over the place......all useful, but, all over..... HIFISI.....you out there? ohh...... and it seems like multiple topics here also...... do we want to split them up? If not, at least split up the step-by-step instructions... even if there is some redundancy..... sign, friggin frustrated

I wondering if the Z series is built in such a way that the screen could be relocated from the unit, also, the same for the keypad or keys. Has anyone looked at the unit to see if it is possible? I will buy and old unit and attempt it with guidance from the super intuitive members gathered here.

9 .................... HOLY BOLOGNE ! ! ! ...... I havent met 900 people in my entire life that I intend to keep in "contact" with...... HOLLLL - E............ u gotta be hose'n us.. ..???....

Does anyone out there in (or passing thru) New Orleans recieve anything traffic related on their Z series? I get nothing, but I do recieve all traffic data in Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami etc... and other cities I've visited as advertised by XM. ........ But New Orleans is "zilch" although added to the list on the Navtraffic website for over 6 months ago........ my patience has dissipated

Not sure of your sequence of events, but having done upgrades several times between Z1 and Z3, I have had a couple errant upgrades. Have you tried to format FAT32, and start over? It has worked for me.

Acronis disk director allows the "convert" command to be used to change partitions as logical or primary...... even after creation of the partition. Just select the partition and the "convert" option will show up. Follow the guidance to convert to primary.

I am confused as to why Pioneer would not give us the MOST data available. This actually is a little irritating. Its not like they have to send a bunch of guys out to survey the data - though a small amount of this is required of the map data companies. Every State, city and town has survey maps of ALL roads as part of state and municipal obligations - and its public information. The map data we all use comes from the State and municipal maps for the most part and it is converted by tha map data companies i.e. Teleatlas. I am not saying that they dont have a few surveys that may be slow in d

I am posting this in hopes that someone has a shorter method of resolution when "disk director" will NOT expand the size of the music partition nor allow changes to the unallocated space. THE FOLLOWING IS NOT AS DIFFICULT AS THE DESCRIPTION, BUT I AM ADDING ALL STEPS I CAN RECALL - THE SOFTWARE GUIDES YOU THRU FOR THE MOST PART. .......... I used Acronis Disk Director Suite. The only issue was that it would not use the UNALLOCATED space of my HDD to expand the MSV partition. I tried to create a new partition from the unallocated space first, but it would not do that either. Apparently, Th

With my unlocked drives, I have noticed that the songs (files) appear to be located in pieces throughout the drive. I have noticed at least 2 folders containing music. There has to be something to it. Has anyone done some basic research - i.e. check the drive, then record one song, then check for any changes to files and/or folders......................

My wifes parents live in a small town (cairo Georgia). We only saw the major state roads intersecting the town on the Z1/Z2. It was useless whenever we visited it made showing the AVIC qualities a little tough. After I updated to Z3 I panned over to Cairo just for grins and WHOA !! THE ENTIRE TOWN IS THERE..... AT LEAST ONE HUNDRED+ ROADS. I would guess with confidence that there must be many dozens of such updates...

funny.......... Sniff sniff... The best part is I was mentioned twice

ftp z3 upgrade success. Tested it for several hours today. I used as many features as I could. Voice recognition seems improved. I increased my music partition from 9.8 GB to exactly 30 GB. My capacity went from 52+ % down to 16+%. Okay math majors.... how many gigs of music do I have ? My drive is a 60GB toshiba MK6034GAX Thanks to everyone. AVIC411.com rocks

BIG FLOPPY.......... this looks like an opportunity, not a problem... lets fix it ...........

See Big Floppies recent post. Everyone needs to offer feedback on their experience with the upgraded avic Z1/Z2. We may have a problem to solve.

I have 3 cars - two with oem bluetooth, one the avic z2. They all work the same. They and the avic will search for both phones but seem to always pair with the last paired phone. If I simply turn off that phone (turn bluetooth off) the systems (avic included) will then connect to the second phone (in a minute or two). I then turn the first phone back on. The avic does seem to get hung up (but not locked-up) when you manually try to switch between bluetooth pairings. It will do it; but, seems to act finicky before it all happens.... so if want to switch, I just turn the unwanted phone off a

Hello All, I have been using the GPS for travel to the tune of about 2,000 mi/wk. I have learned that I can use it as a guide with the following realizations. 1) I set my highway speed to 75 mph average(your avg speed setting may vary), 2) the secondary road average speed and the residential street average speed are not very accurate (how can they be - depending on time of day, traffic patterns and general population density which very greatly between Des Moine and say Manhattan - the estimates could be very close or very far off), 3) the accuracy goes up if you have a medium to long trip

which files are these? In the partition (LDATA) there are 2 files in DIRECTORY :BG\COPYRIGHT. They are named CPYCUSTOM.BMP and CPYDEFAULT.BMP They are the bitmap files that show on any splash screen - default or custom . I renamed the files CPYCUSTOM.BMP.old and CPYDEFAULT.BMP.old, Leaving them in place incase the system accounts for them in some way. The disclaimers do not show up and my custom splash screen displays alone, and with no system side affects .

My experience with Z1 to Z2 Upgrade; 1) My Z1 was professionally installed. I took it in to get the latest bypass done, right after I installed the latest bypass upgrade software. This install is so well done, you can't even get to the rear of the unit to access any wires. They did the 2-wire for free (actually a couple of pizza's). I wanted to verify that this functioned before moving on to the Z1-Z2 upgrade. 2) .RAR download was fine using XP Pro. I did interrupt my downloads several times with no problems when restarting the downloads – no corruptions. 3) I downloaded all the softwar