Silly question: US F-500BT in Europe?

[JTVD]

Before you all shout, I have searched the forum and not come across a clear answer.

I would like to install a US F-500BT in my Landrover Defender in England and get the 3.0 firmwaee and map update for Europe.

Can I run a US model in Europe?

I asked Pioneer and they said that the internals are differently configured for different Sat signals, which I found dubious, as for example the GPS in my iPhone picks up all GPS signals.

 

I could of course just make my life easy and buy one over here, but the price difference is just insane: $175 in the US, compared to £437 in the UK ($723).

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks (also, if the above is possible, do I need to hack into the system to change to the European Firmware?)

 

I am sure someone else must have done the exact same thing...

 

Tx

[miotoo]

Don't know about update 3 yet, but you can easily upload EU maps available in many places and run them with the hacked ezrider 2.007 and worldwide license. I did it while traveling practically anywhere we have maps for...even used it in Thailand and the Middle East. This will give you igo 8.0 with the latest maps but I'm guessing that ezrider 3.01 will soon be patched and you could update all your maps to igo 8.3.X.

 

Do bear in mind that the big pitfall is TMC. The US version is bundled with MSN Direct receiver and it is useless in Europe. A TMC receiver purchased separately in EU might land you with a 70% price increase on your original spending and to make it work will require complete wiping of your unit and flashing to EU spec. I don't know if anyone did that here and whether they got TMC functionality to work as such. Be warned that 6ave is advertising in a misleading way as if what they sell is TMC but in fact its not.

 

Also, in EU you get 2 year warranty and in the US only 1. Pioneer EU will respect the 1st year for your unit but will make face and will challenge you for proof of purchase from official US retailer invoice and warranty registration stamped which not sure you will get if you buy in the US online.

 

I'd go for it initially with map support which is known to work, as that's the best value in this case. You should probably also get the ND-G500 which is at ridiculous prices now if your existing systems support it. Then keep monitoring these forums...

 

edit: of course the GPS signal issue is B*.

[JTVD]

Thanks for the heads up. Yes, I was going to go for all the other bits as well.

TMC is not too important for me (Landrover Defender in deepest Dorset), iPod , iPhone/BT support, reversing camera and maps much more of an issue...

 

Thanks

 

Tim

[Korayem]

Finally someone with eh same question.

 

I have iGo 8.3 running on my HTC Kaiser and i easily copy maps for places i travel to (Egypt, Qatar, Dubai and USA).

 

Knowing that all AVICs run on iGO too made me wonder how easy it was to drop maps. I will be installing the unit in my 2009 Subaru Impreza in Egypt.

 

Knowing that it is possible, i might get me an AVIC-X910BT!!

 

Thanks again..

[miotoo]

Updated to firmware 3.x brings your avic to igo 8.3.x. If your reseller has recent stock, its probably already runnig 3.x. If not, its an update available for free from the Pioneer site. Once thats done, replacing the ezrider.exe with a patched one and adding the world wide license (both available on other posts) will enable any map you drop in the map folder using testmode.

[JTVD]

Hi, got my US F500BT and got FW 3 as well as the iGo 8.3 maps working via testmode, no problem.

This thanks to various posts in this forum, which is fantastic.

Re TMC issue, apparently the cradle is the issue and I need to get myself a EU cradle, which has the TMC circuits inside. Re FW, how would I 'wipe the unit and flash to EU spec'?

I am game fore it!

Which files would I need to replace?

 

I also only have US voices to choose from..., how can I add UK English?

 

many thanks

 

Tim