My experiences so far with the AVIC-F900BT

[bcgeorge]

I received my 900BT today from Crutchfield which I ordered yesterday (kudos to CF for the quick shipment which was free by the way). I went to Circuit City and had it installed by one of my friends who I used to work with at Circuit City back in the day (he's the only person at CC that I trust installing LOL).

 

Good news for those with the AT&T Tilt. I remember reading before that this phone has problems pairing with the Pioneer Bluetooth module (as with other PDAs). I had no problems at all pairing with the built in Bluetooth. The only knock I have on the Bluetooth thus far is that when importing my phone book, it lists each number per contact as "General" versus the actual type. So when trying to dial someone by voice command, you have to wait until both numbers appear on screen and tap the one you want to dial. I don't know if this is a issue with the AVIC, phone, or both. I'll have to download the manual to see if there is a fix to this issue.

 

As far as phone calls, I'm not experiencing the issues that others are having on here. I called my wife and she could hear me just fine. There was a lil echo on her end, but other than that the phone call went well. This was both with the car off and while driving. This was only one phone call so further testing will need to be done to confirm that my unit is clear from those problems that others are experiencing.

 

I took the micro SD card out of my phone, and using an SD card adapter, inserting it into the SD card slot. The unit separates the media type which I was happy about. When I inserted the card it defaulted to music files. There was a button to access the video files on the card. I thought it would just throw both music and video on there together leaving the user to cycle through. I have about 10 .wmv on this card and the unit played back 2 of them. I was unaware that the unit could even read .wmv files. It played back the .avi files just fine. I'm guessing the 2 .wmv files that did play are using a different codec or something than the ones that didn't play. I wasn't able to figure out how to change the aspect ratio of the videos though (user manual download needed)

 

I have no issues with the navigation thus far. I tested the accuracy by inputting addresses that I already knew and the unit did what it was suppose to do in getting me there. It does a good job and getting you within a few feet (less than 20) of the destination (I heard stories of previous AVIC units only getting you within 500 feet or so..yikes) I only tried 3 destinations, but so far so good.

 

I love the fact that you can search POIs by category and name. I also love the fact that when searching for gas stations that you can search by brand of gas first (I'm a Shell guy personally). So guys like me who like to stick with one brand will find this very useful.

 

There were some rumors that the unit doesn't mute the radio when a navigation voice prompt comes on, but I am not having this issue. It muted just find when the turn by turn voice directions came on.

 

Speaking of voice directions, I am also experiencing the "comma" like everyone else. But this only occurs when I use the female TTS voice. On the default male voice, he uses "point" (keep in mind that the male voice isn't TTS) Hopefully Pioneer can fix this with an firmware update. If they don't, it's no big deal to me personally. It's a minor annoyance that I can deal with.

 

After activating MSN Direct, I was disappointed at first that no information was coming in. I live in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area which is in the coverage area. The information eventually came through. I don't know if this was just a first time use issue or not. My wife and I are going riding later tonight (she wants to see the unit...no not that one....) so I'll check the MSN Direct again to see if the info pops up right away or not. BTW, I know some were having issues with the gas station info not showing up properly. I had no issue with the gas station names popping up, but not all of the gas prices popped up. I think others were experiencing the opposite. I can't say for sure if this is an AVIC issue or MSN issue though.

 

I don't have an Ipod or a USB device (although I was able to charge my cell phone through the USB cable but the AVIC didn't recognize it as a device) so I can't speak on those.

 

Overall, I'm happy with the unit. I try not to think about how much I spent on it (I'm a cheapskate) and just try to enjoy it as much as possible.

[cranbers]

Excellent, thanks for sharing.

 

I upgraded from the avic d3

 

I also received mu f900bt today and the install went without a hitch, I still have yet to try out some of the features. I have the HD adapter, ipod cable and signed up for msn direct.

 

I like what I see so far, yes improvements to start up times, and sluggishness would be appreciated on the list so far. But its nothing that makes the unit returnable, its INCREDIBLE difference from the D3

 

I still have yet to try out the bt phone and msn direct as soon as I get those tested I will share my experience as well.

 

I LOVE the improvements to the navigation, and being able to select the voices. I really like how in 3d it zooms in as you get closer to your turn, also saying one quarter of a mile is a lot nicer to hear then 7/10s of a mile. I also really enjoy the fact it gives you all the information for your destination at once in a nice row, what time you will get there, how much time is left, right down to the seconds counting down.

 

Also the reaction time for telling you information during navigation is great. With the d3 it had a little to long of a delay between the attention sound and then telling you the information, its immediate now instead of the one or two second delay. I didn't realize how annoying it was before.

 

Also the menu system is a lot better, and it makes sense. The information of song/channel number while in navigation mode is great, if you want to get back to that screen as well, you simply push the icon, instead of having to push the knob or whatever.

 

So overall, so far anyway I really like this unit and it was an excellent worthy upgrade. I bought my d3 7 months ago, guess it will be going on ebay.

 

Excellent unit, also I noticed in the bluetooth menu, it actually says bluetooth update and current version. I guess this PROVES they will roll out firmware updates, at least for the bluetooth system, lets hope they will for the rest of the unit a well.

 

That is the beauty of the computer based products out there, updating the software for bug fixes after release. I HOPE they take advantage of this, I really do.

[jdmeyes]

Thanks for the review.

[bcgeorge]

Just to update, the MSNDirect data was on from the get go this time. I guess the unit was still syncing up the data the first time.

 

And to add to what the poster after me said in regards to firmware updates, I noticed that as well. I also think that Pioneer will be offering an update to the voice directions as well because they was an SD option when I was playing with the voice guidance settings. So maybe the "comma" will be fixed to say point. Crossing my fingers!

[nbdew002]

Got this email today and thought i would share it:

 

To Our AVICF90BT Customers:

 

 

 

We just got out of a meeting with Pioneer. They informed us that they are aware of some of the issues that have surfaced with the AVICF90BT and are working on a solution. Unfortunately, this happens sometimes when a whole new product platform is introduced. They will not ship the new units out until they are updated. We should get a new ship date from Pioneer by Friday. We will update you as soon as we here from Pioneer.

 

 

 

If you recently received an AVIC90BT from us we will either send you a software update to fix the issues or exchange the unit, depending on what Pioneer finds. If we need to do an exchange, it will need to be done within 30 days of the date of purchase. Since you have time before we get close to the 30 Day mark, keep using your unit until you here from us.

 

 

 

If you do not want to wait for an updated unit, keep in mind that any AVIC90BT's that you may see floating around out there are the original units, not the newer, updated units, so they will have issues. Some of the dealers out there with the AVIC90BT in stock are unauthorized dealers. If you purchase from an unauthorized Pioneer dealer, you will not be able to get the updated software or an exchange unit from Pioneer if that what it takes to fix the issues.

 

 

 

We will be contacting you again soon.

 

 

 

Thank you for your patience.

 

 

 

al-eds.com Customer Service

 

[/b]

[sirsilent]

Sounds good, glad that I waited and didn't buy one of the first units.

[cranbers]

Yeah I changed my voice to the chick today and heard that, it really is just weird, my guess is someone made the text to speech think the . was a , so instead of saying 1 point miles, its one comma.

 

Yeah no doubt, they rushed it to market a little too quick. But my guess is they were relying on the fact they can do firmware updates.

 

They do this a lot with games, its what they call day one patch. They release it to market unfinished to set the market and put out a patch to address the big issues asap.

 

The unit works overall, which is what I think they intended but yes definately a lot of fit and finish polishing needs to be done. These are definately NOT a finished product, kind of like what Microsoft did with Vista. As they say, its a work in progress which is sad for a 1100 dollar piece of equipment. But as long as they release a patch soon, I will just stick it out.

 

I still have my D3 so I can always put that back in if it takes too long, although I really don't want to go through all that pain again of ripping it out and putting it back in, it really is a pain in the rear.