CXRabbit

I'd like to know about any update on new maps and AVICSYNC also, if anyone knows. I'm getting quite frustrated that I can't get good traffic data on this system. (5000NEX)

Would be nice to have. I don't know about anyone else, but really, I'd like them to focus on the whole thing being less buggy and delivering on previous promises first. It's annoying that something like traffic information doesn't seem to yet be available, but my system from over five years ago could provide it.

Mine works fine with WiFi on (iPhone 6).  However, if the phone is still close enough to my router to stay connected, but not close enough to get a decent enough signal to transfer data well, I cannot listen to anything streaming (and it will appear to hang).  Once I drive off and the phone drops the WiFi connection to my router, and switches to LTE, the music will start playing just fine.

Where I live there is a LOT of public WIFI available, so with it turned on it creates nothing but constant problems as it's trying to connect constantly. I've tried it multiple time in multiple places... if WIFI is turned on, I don't even get the CarPlay logo on the home screen... just the APPS logo. Once I turn WIFI off, all is fine.

Make sure WIFI is turned off on your phone too. I know I confirmed recently that at least with version 1.08 CarPlay will not run if WIFI is turned on with the iPhone 6.

Pandora and AHA seem to work differently. They show up as devices, which is a strange implementation, but they do work. 

I'm sure a lot of you have run into it... the messaging bug where Siri seem to read the last message you sent to someone, instead of reading the most recent message they sent to you. It can sometimes make any attempt at a hands-free conversation pointless.

It's NOT a language thing. I tried having her read messages to me in a variety of ways... "read texts" -- "read unread messages" -- "read unread text from so-and-so"... etc. NOTHING solves it except this cancel button thing I'll describe below. I do have firmware 1.08. Matter of fact I just updated last week and the whole messaging thing seemed worse after that update.

I played with this A LOT over the weekend because it was driving me crazy and I was determined to find a workaround (short of not using it). I was close to returning the whole friggin' unit if I couldn't find a work-around. I'm not going to spend hundreds of dollars on something that works worse than just using SIRI by herself, when not connected to my car.

Anyway, what I discovered is that SIRI seems to not understand that we've completed our task with her -- at least that's how it seems. This is a bit hard to explain... It has to do with a CANCEL button that sometimes appears. 

Often, when you message/text someone, or they message/text you, there's a little "CANCEL" button that appears in the top left corner of the screen. If it is still there after you've finished, if you don't press it, that seems to be when the bug will occur... and I say this because pressing it when you are done seems to solve the problem.

Watch the video, and it will become a bit more clear... 

... and what you see in the video, I was able to reliably reproduce time and time again... the bug itself and this work-around.

Sometimes the CANCEL button will not be there... in that case, if you run into the bug, just go and start to text someone by pressing their name... the CANCEL button will then appear and you can just press it from there.

Moral of the story is that pressing that CANCEL button when you can will keep the problem from occurring. Of course, the unit shouldn't require any touching to work correctly (defeats the whole purpose), but at least it's minimal in this case.

Try it for yourself... report back...

Have you tried setting the "Alerts" volume? It comes up on the right hand side of the volume bar whenever you raise or lower the music volume. It controls Siri too, but it should adjust the other notifications as well.

BTW, this worked. I updated the firmware tonight (to 1.08), and while I was doing so I checked on what you were saying... and was able to adjust Siri and all the CarPlay sounds down.

On another note... I played with AHA a bit and it was buggy for me. Anyone else?

And my 80gb iPod classic crashed and died today. Bad coincidence...

I hear what you're saying, but then I don't know why it was a manual addendum for the avic-5000 NEX. I assume it's because several models use the same user manual with certain sections only pertaining to one or the other model, but still, it's dumb for it to be listed as an addendum specifically to the 5000NEX model if it really doesn't apply to it.

Another interesting thing I noted ... in the latest firmware update (1.08) there's an addendum to the manual...

Now, I haven't tried this so I don't know what it does, but that would seem to make all CarPlay features unavailable if using the built-in navigation. That seems like a pretty poor design if you ask me, if it's indeed true. Can someone speak to this? Anyone know?

Have you tried setting the "Alerts" volume? It comes up on the right hand side of the volume bar whenever you raise or lower the music volume. It controls Siri too, but it should adjust the other notifications as well.

 I didn't notice that but I will check. I did go into the "settings" area and set the alerts volume there, with no effect, but I'm not sure it's for the same alerts you're talking about.

Overall, I find the whole experience just a bit buggy. Not terribly, but not terribly smooth either. Price for being an early adopter, surely. Just wish I could solve some of these problems.

Will definitely check out what you're pointing to tomorrow morning. Even today when I was using Apple Maps, the voice guidance was BLARING loud, to the point I had to turn it off. Luckily with the AVIC-5000NEX, it has it's own navigation I can use instead.

Could use some help / advice / guidance...

I had the AVIC-5000NEX installed today. It was installed to use both an iPhone 6 and iPod Classic. I'm having some issues. 

I assume it has the latest firmware since they updated it there in the shop (and he told me that's what they were doing).

I don't have iOS 8.1 yet. 

Here's the issues I've run into...

Most annoying one:

If I'm listening to music via iPod2 (my iPod Classic), and a text message comes in, the minute I try to interact with CarPlay it switches over to iPod1. It never goes back to iPod2 even when I'm done listening, replying, etc. It doesn't do what I'd expect... mute/attenuate the music while I'm texting or making a call, but then return to playing the music on iPod2 when complete. Is there something wrong with my setup or is this just how it works?

Most baffling one:

Siri seems to like to not read messages correctly when they come in. If I text someone via Siri and a little while later they reply, she won't read their message... she'll read the last message I sent to them and ask me if I want to send it. Apparently this is an Apple bug, but it isn't something I've run into outside of CarPlay. She seems to do it randomly, but it also seems she's more likely to do it when the message is very short / one word. My husband for example likes to answer with one word -- "LOL" -- or even one letter -- "K" -- and those seemed to be more likely to cause the problem to occur. Anyone else have this experience and a work-around / fix?

Least important one:

I can't connect the iPhone via bluetooth at all. If I do, it won't "remember" that USB1 and USB2 are being used. What happens is this. If I connect my iPhone via bluetooth while everything else is working, all seems to continue to work fine. However, if I turn the car off, go into a store, come back and turn the car on, neither "iPod 1" or "iPod 2" show up or work. I have to disconnect bluetooth completely, delete it from the 5000NEX, and then plug in my iPhone and iPod Classic. Obviously, way too inconvenient to go through that constantly. My audio shop even called Pioneer to get some answers on this and apparently their answer was "just turn bluetooth off" when using both USB1 and USB2. 

My only other issue, which maybe me being stupid... how the heck do you turn down the volume of sounds coming through from the iPhone -- like text notifications? Siri, her volume is okay, but all the notification sounds are WAY too loud. I can't seem to access volume on the phone in the apps themselves (like messages) to adjust it while connected. Where it is? Where am I missing it?

Thanks all...

It IS slow, and if you have a big library it will take you several minutes to find the song or album you want. 5 minutes doesn't sound like a lot, but it's torture when you're driving along trying to find a song.

However, with your own custom playlists (favorite songs, favorite albums, genres, etc.), learning to enjoy the shuffle feature, and patience, it can be just fine. I've got songs in playlists for favorites by genre, decades, and some smart lists for my favorites bands. Most of the time it serves me just fine. The only time I get frustrated is when my 15-year-old requests a specific song and want to find it. LOL

It's unfortunately, but Alpine really has the better iPod connector. However, I don't regret installing the Z2 one bit. You just have to accept and work your way around it's iPod limitations.

Hey All,

Yes, I'm taking the car back to the shop that did the install, but so far, in two brief trips, they haven't figured out what's wrong.

I have a Mazda CX-7 with smart-key (keyless), using the Mazda OEM remote start.

Remote start worked fine for a year. Current unknown malfunction only started recently. No other electronic work has been done. Last service was normal oil change. Prior service was replacing all tires.

If I'm sitting in the car with the smart-key, the remote start works. If I'm outside the car the remote start tries to start the car going through 5 cycles of attempts before aborting. It goes through all steps EXCEPT actually starting the car (horn honks, lights flash, hum sound/fuel pump?, click click - no start).

Installer thought the system might have lost programming so we went through the steps to reprogram. Didn't fix.

They check the steering wheel ring. That was fine.

Research myself, I made sure it wasn't in valet mode. It's not.

Anyone have thoughts on things to check? Again, this is OEM Mazda system with DNA card, so there is no key "buried" in the car, nor is there supposed to be.

Any input could be helpful... Thanks!

This is really the biggest complaint I have with the Z2... the iPod interface is just way too slow, expecially if you have a large library of music. I really wish they'd come up with a new interface that speeds up the process, and ya know, ability to jump to specific letters in the alphabet would be helpful too!

I have to post some pics etc, but I was inspired by CX Rabbit and got the Z2 for my CX7. There is no harness for the CX7 with the BOSE, but I did get the dash kit. Looks great.

 

Terry

My installered rewired the whole car to keep the Bose speakers in and it sounds great. I may eventually go for amp and speakers, but didn't want to do that at the time, and I've been pretty darn happy with how it sounds.

The map view it looks awsome. I guess those are the new Z2 maps?

The instalation looks beautiful, very original

Thanks... that map is what it looks like when you're in a major city... You get a 3D type map for metropolitan areas like NYC, Washington DC, Tampa... I've seen them all work and it's awesome. I wish ALL the maps were like that

If I'm not mistakened, that is an OEM dash with the OEM Nav removed and replaced with the Avic?

 

The aftermarket dash kit only has an opening for the hazard button in top center.

You are correct. My installer took apart the NAV radio to do this... he took the whole face plate off and detached it from the HU to make the custom dash kit. I could not be more pleased become it looks much closer to OEM. He did an AWESOME job.

BTW, I've gone at least a few hundred miles now and still have no issue since the installer rechecked everything. Bypass works great!

Well, I do usually let the car warm up at least 60 seconds before I throw it into reverse, BUT whether I have or not, the reverse camera always works. I've never had the bootup screen prevent it from working.

I also hear audio almost immediately, while the Z2 is still booting up.

Thanks for your compliments on the install! I'm very happy with how it looks and the fact it looks OEM... that was the goal.

Just thought I'd share photos of my install. The installer/shop did an AWESOME job. It was done by Tim at Jazz Audio in Selden, NY.

It seems to me, what it really comes down to, is which way you're going to use it most often... more for iPod or more for navigation. If you travel a lot and are going to use it more for navigation, go with the Z2. If you're going to use it to listen to your iPod, stay with what you've got.

I fall inbetween and that's what made it difficult... but I wanted a great nav system without having to switch disks all the time... so I ended up with the Z2. I also have an 80 gig iPod for ALL my music, so yes, it's a bit frustrating at times in that arena since it's slow to find artists in big libraries... but I've figured out ways to make it quicker and get around some of Pioneer's stupidness by taking advantage of smart playlists in iTunes and on the iPod.

My stepson is considering an aftermarket radio for himself and I've pointed him more towards the D3 because of the iPod thing... he RARELY travels and will mostly use it for music and video. The nav to him would be secondary.

Wht: Yeah... uh... clipping the little blue wire... well, I really don't want to be fooling with the iPod while driving, though it WOULD be good for when there's more than just me in the car. I'll be going back to my installer for the steering wheel controls, so maybe I'll ask him to do that.

Matt: Yeah there really should be a way to select a letter range... that's how Alpine does it. It's not perfect, but it's definitely faster. That's sort of what I've done with creating Smart Playlists, and it does help. Make a playlist folder in your iTunes (so it doesn't clutter up the left side list) and in that folder build smart playlists. Each one should be set to "Artists starting with A" -- then I NAME the playlist somehting like Z-A... named that way, all starting with Z, so they're all together in my playlist menu on the iPod. I have Z-A, Z-B, etc. and then some of the less common ones get combined... like Z-XYZ. Like I said, the biggest downside with that is when you go into the playlist itself you don't get artist names... you'll have to know what songs go with who. But it does work better than scroll³ scroll³ scroll³ LOL. I was able to find a song by Outcast yesterday in about 20 seconds.

Also, I find when you go into one of your playlists, or anywhere songs are playing, it's MUCH faster to go through each track just using the hardware track forward button. You can hit it very fast and get through the songs... much faster than scrolling.

It irks me that the plist button doesn't work at all. That would be a great way for Pioneer to solve some of this. They could make the plist button jump to the next letter in the alphabet when you're doing a search by artist or song. They could make the plist button jump to the next playlist when you're already listening to a defined playlist, or the next artist when you're listening to a particular artist. Could work the same with Album too.

Making some of these mistakes they've made tells me not only did they not dedicate enough resources to it in development, but the people who designed it has little experience with an actual iPod! LOL

Love the Z2 - and love it even more now that it's bypassed

Anyway, my only "gripe" with it so far has been with iPod control. While the interface is easy enough to use, it is slow compared to Alpine's (though Alpine's isn't perfect either) or compared to using the iPod natively. I have almost 8,000 songs on my iPod, so yes, it can take quite a bit of time to find the artists in the middle of the alphabet.

Are there any little "tricks" I'm missing? The manual didn't cover much as far as operation. Is there a way to jump to a specific letter without scrolling scrolling scrolling?

I have used some work-arounds that have helped... I've made smart playlists for each letter of the alphabet (artist begins with "A" for example). Problem with that is that it lists the SONGS, not the artists so you have to KNOW what song belongs with who. I usually find it faster to go to that particular playlist, begining playing the first song, and then just hit the track forward button until I find the artist I want. Track forward is actually faster than scrolling.

I also made smart playlists with some of my favorites artists and genres.

I'd love to hear any other tips, if there are any, that I haven't thought of... for those of you with large iPod libraries, what do ya do?

BTW, ultimately, with a little patience it really isn't a HUGE deal. I went looking for an artist in the middle of the alphabet (Matt Nathanson) and even with my big library it took me about 2 minutes (yes, I timed myself)... 2 minutes isn't really a huge chunck of my life... it just FEELS like a long time when you're scrolling scrolling scrolling while driving.

Thanks!

Update

I didn't get a chance to take my car over to the installer until today... I'm not exactly sure what the problem was (don't know the details) but there was indeed something that was not wired exactly right. The picture posted here was extremely helpful, and he got it resolved.

I've now driven about 40 miles and so far so good... bypass seems to be working great.

Thanks for all the help ducatiboy... I haven't had a chance to bring the car back to the installer yet, but I am definitely going to do so this week... probably Wednesday.

I'll keep ya posted...

Oh, it's not flaky, it just has your position at a different location? Just park at a known intersection and go in at edit your location to exactly where you are, that should fix that. After a software update, it probably "lost" or recalibrated your position on the planet. You can set that and you should be dead nuts on.

 

And the brake warning being new? Was your parking brake grounded during this update and bypass? If so, that's the second wire in connector 2. That's not grounded.

Okay, here's what I mean.

Prior to the update I was always getting the brake warning when the system first booted up... and obviously, the Z2 wasn't bypassed.

After the update I reset the unit (by pressing the pin-hole button) ... when it booted up there was no more brake warning. I took a test drive around the block (a mile) and the bypass worked fine.

The next day, driving to pick my daughter up from camp, about two miles into the trip while I was driving on the highway, the brake warning suddenly came on and the bypass no longer worked. Once at her camp, I parked and reset the unit again. No more brake warning, bypass worked fine.

Drove all the way home (about 20 miles) and just before getting home the brake warning came on again and bypass ceased to work. This is also when the GPS location went a little nutty.

Reset the unit AGAIN and while the bypass seemed fine, the GPS location was still off. I turned off the car and let it sit for the night.

This morning I drove to an appointment (about a mile away) and the bypass worked fine and GPS location were fine. Drove home -- all remained good.

Then this afternoon, on the way to get my daughter for camp about 4 miles into the trip I got the brake warning again and bypass stopped working. GPS location is now fine.

I haven't reset again. I have talked to my installer and he's concerned the bypass software might be "buggy" -- but he's going to look at the wiring again also... hopefully tomorrow.

Was the wiring for the bypass done prior to me doing the software update? Yes, as far as what I understand the installer told me. If I remember correctly he talked about two wires, and he is completely familiar with bypassing the Z1, which I understand to be the same.

Hope that clears up any confusion about what I'm experiencing.

Would that also explain why the GPS location is all flakey?

 

I guess that would depend on what you meant by that. Do you mean that when you start the car it's not always dead on? Or when you are moving sometimes it shows you stopped or when you are stopped it shows you moving?

 

If you have weird issues like that I would make sure your GPS antenna is on the top of the car and is stuck to something metallic, not just thrown on the dashboard. Having the antenna magnetically stuck to a large piece of metal helps reception. And then I would check the VSS wire to make sure that's right, it's not loose or not compatible. If that is not the correct wire or not compatible with the unit, it could be feeding motion into the avic when there is none or vice versa.

I kinda explained it in the original post -- yesterday, after resetting, the GPS was way off. This wasn't a problem prior to the update... and I know this because it was off when I was parked in my driveway! LOL!

This morning, starting the car up and driving about 2 miles, all is fine. The bypass is working (I reset yesterday). Everything was working great prior to the update, and these problems -- the brake warning reappearing and the GPS being off -- are brand new...