U310BT Opinion

[droid13]

My goal in buying the U310BT was to buy the most cost effective in-dash audio system that had GPS, BT, and USB features. My factory audio system sounded fine to me, but without MP3 disk or USB functionality it was getting to be a pain to add music (tired of burning compilation CDs). Also, with new laws in my area about requiring hands free phones, and getting a bit tired of hauling out my ancient portable GPS I decided to get something built in to handle it all without spending too much. This was actually the 2nd cheapest "all in one unit" I could find. The cheapest, an Eclipse unit, had so many poor reviews and comments about various firmware problems I couldn't pull the trigger with that model. Most of the common complaints I read about this unit prior to purchase I've now personally experienced, but fortunately I haven't found too much else to complain about, which is good, I got what I was expecting... I will add my own experiences hopefully in a not fruitless hope that one day a new update will address them...

 

I'm generally pleased with sound system. The biggest drawback from the factory system is that the U310BT relies heavily on fewer buttons to run the system, which means more button pressing and eyes off road to get the job done. Fortunately I sprung for a SWI-PS to keep my steering wheels controls which, while not quite as useful as they were with the factory system, still help quite a bit, especially with volume. The U310BT's knob kind of sucks for volume, especially in winter with gloves. I love having the USB functionality to access a huge library of music all for the price of a $20 memory stick. I didn't bother going iPod control route because the only place I listen to music is while driving or running (which I have an old Shuffle for), and it both cases just listen most often instead of hunting around for particular music. The dashing listing is simple, but effective in the rare cases I do.

 

The Bluetooth functionality seems ok so far. I'm not a big driver-yakker so I just need it for occasional use. Others complained about the mic quality, yeah it's not great, but it'll do me.

 

The GPS unit is fairly basic, which was fine because that was all I was looking for. My old unit was basic and worked fine, but I like no longer having to stick it up to the glass. Out of the box the unit has fairly useless POIs and you have to pay $99 to get decent ones. I understand Pioneer wanting to position their product within the product line as a basic entry level unit, so be it.

 

So, in general I would rate myself the perfect target for a unit such as this, a not too demanding user who is looking for a wide range of features in a basic package that won't cost a lot. However, even for an entry level unit, there are a couple of things I take issue with.

 

OK, so no decent POIs, plus they limit you to adding custom POIs to 100 per group. Ok, I'll let that one pass to in the name of "entry level". Pioneer, you've convinced me that POIs are going to be tough love on this unit. However, not letting me search my "limited" custom POIs is like a kick in the face while I'm down. That's a little bit too much scheming "how can we make this feature as painful as possible for our customer".

 

The second issue is the habit of the GPS map to always refuse to catch up. It always, always puts me about 20 meters behind where I really am. At first I thought it was simply screen update intervals as the screen seems to update about once a second. But even coming to a red light and waiting, the unit consistently shows me 20 m behind the intersection. Zooming the screen to max setting really shows this off, same as the guidance turn arrow. Next I tried several times using the location setting to recenter the arrow to my exact position at an intersection, but as soon as I head out it quickly returns me to 20m behind again. Plus, at decent speed with the once a second update the map can show me significantly behind where I am. Next, I used the location feature to skew my location right off the road (ie I was driving on the road but the arrow showed me driving thru a field some distance away). I noticed in this mode that the map updates quickly and seems to track me well (hard to tell when I'm driving thru an imaginary field). But as soon as it locks me onto a road, it seems to lag again. I can only assume that the software, which must make calculations to lock you onto a road when the GPS seems to think you are reasonably close enough to it, is very poorly optimized. Generally though, I still found the GPS to be quite functional, once I adapt and expect this behavior. We have a new highway intersection in the area that half of it was completed late 2008 and the remaining half mid 2009. The current map shows the 2008 section, which is pretty good I think. But the tendency to put me slightly behind where I really am is like a bad patch of paint on a brand new car. It doesn't affect the usefulness, but sure is cheesy!

 

Overall though I'm still satisfied with my purchase. I stared down both the U310 and X710 in the store before deciding on the U310. Even if the X710 had been a perfect experience, I'll still glad I saved the difference in price.

[ndy4eva]

Personally, I gave up on U310BT and purchased X710BT (refurbished) for extra ~$50ish. The POI and GPS features were the main reason. I thought about purchasing additional poi, but it was cheaper to purchase x710bt that will give me much more features and nice big screen. I have f500bt on my car and I couldn't get use to small u310bt's screen and gps features. Also, the routing was really bad in my area.

 

Now, I have to wait for one more week and drive down to pick it up. But, I think it's worth it at the end.

[chinna_n]

OK, so no decent POIs, plus they limit you to adding custom POIs to 100 per group. Ok, I'll let that one pass to in the name of "entry level". Pioneer, you've convinced me that POIs are going to be tough love on this unit. However, not letting me search my "limited" custom POIs is like a kick in the face while I'm down. That's a little bit too much scheming "how can we make this feature as painful as possible for our customer".

 

I was driving on the road but the arrow showed me driving thru a field some distance away). I noticed in this mode that the map updates quickly and seems to track me well (hard to tell when I'm driving thru an imaginary field). But as soon as it locks me onto a road, it seems to lag again. I can only assume that the software, which must make calculations to lock you onto a road when the GPS seems to think you are reasonably close enough to it, is very poorly optimized.

 

I think you see same issue, which I see as issues. As mentioned in several posts, What were they thinking screwing with POIs? What's up with removing Restaurants, and Gas stations which is most widely used and minimum required? Some brain dead move by Pioneer.

 

And then Customer POI!!, exactly what were they thinking? just 100? that too not searchable?

 

And another blunder, the Screen is already small, and they could not use even screen area effectively, like using it to List the songs(just 3 lines?), and selecting contacts while driving!!! Can we even do that?

 

And another bone-head move, the Knob, how do they think it would be usable while driving?

[AVIC-U310BT]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I really like my U310. I think we all know that there are plenty of things that could be improved or fixed, but as far as I'm concerned, there's really no competition (in-dash GPS HUs) for the U310 in it's price range except for the afore mentioned Eclipse unit, which comes with its own problems.

 

I do think the failure to provide useful POIs, or a way to usefully import POIs, is a real problem for someone looking for anything beyond basic GPS functionality. But personally, even when I used to have a portable GPS with more POIs, I would look up all of my POIs on my iPhone and feed addresses in manually -- that's what I do with the U310. This also has the benefit of keeping them up to date, but requires a smart phone plan and being in a place with data coverage.