F900BT - I am disappoint

[neosolipsism]

Well I just went from a DEH-P6900UB (older motorized OEL CD/USB 1DIN) to a F900BT and all I have to say is I am not impressed. Haven't spent a whole lot of time screwing with it, but so far I'm contemplating putting my old one back in. Nav is great and all, but this deck is missing a bunch of features for its price range and has plenty of annoyances.

 

First off, a DVD receiver with no 5.1? I don't particularly care for watching movies, but I can definitely see the advantage of DVD capability simply to take advantage of true surround sound. Nothing sounds better than a good 5.1 or SACD recording with a dedicated center channel, yet this unit has no center pre-out. Even the cheap off-brand POS touchscreen decks at the flea market for $200 have a center channel.

 

I also find the shelved 3-band EQ harder to fine-tune than a true independent 7-band like the ones found on most of Pioneer's CD decks. I don't want wide or narrow Q's, I want independent control of each band. It seems all of Pio's DVD decks use the 12-to-3 EQ. Gimme all 12, one at a time. One the upside thank you Pio for giving multiple frequency choices in the HPF and LPF. Many simply have an on/off option set ~80hz. Also, an animated shelf would have been nice to move with the music.

 

Also, no IR? You can't make a touchscreen with no remote, it makes people angry, especially when the screen doesn't always cooperate. Not coming with the remote is one thing (seems every Pio DVD deck requires you buy the remote separate, yet the CD decks come with them in the box), but not even having IR to add a remote is assinine.

 

Then there's the annoyances. Finicky touchscreen. Loud beeps every time I hit a button. Slow bootup. Slow USB/SD read times. Working on the no beep hack right now, and from what I've read the 3.0 upgrade fixes some of the annoyances, but quite frankly I think Pio should be giving the "upgrade" out for free. Get your software straight before pushing the product out the doors.

 

I've worked with hundreds of stereos in my time, from the cheapies to the high-dollar ones and I've always respected Pio's products. But when it comes down to the music, this thing falls short.

 

tl;dr This is definitely a nav deck, not an audiophile deck.

 

That is all.

[recce93]

I put mine (f90bt) in my car not in my home theater. When I am listening to the radio/dvd/or music I have no idea what side the music is supposed to come from. If I reversed the left and right I don't think most people would ever know. I think it sounds great and never got the the volume up over about 35 so it prolly has plenty of power for most people. If you are an audiophile I think you aren't even looking at this line to begin with.

[neosolipsism]

Power is not an issue. Pretty much every car stereo puts out about 20W onboard per channel. Not that it matters, as I have the highs on an amp anyway.

 

I'm just annoyed that what Pio considers a $1200 deck is really just a small Windows computer with a radio, GPS, and DVD playback. I could put a standalone GPS and a non-nav deck in for half that and have a whole lot more features.

 

Don't get me wrong, I've been a huge fan of the AVICs since they were first released. Have sold and installed dozens of them, but never put one in my own car as I didn't really have a need for nav. But now I BEEP realize that this is BEEP not a deck for driving BEEP around jamming out.