My thoughts on the Z1

[edrock200]

Well,

Now that I've had the units for several months and have really had a chance to put it through it's paces I thought I would post my thoughts on it (not that anyone cares.)

 

This is my favorite HU hands down. I almost immediately get crap from "hard-core" car-audiophiles for having a Pioneer but once they play with it for a few they get into it as well.

 

I have two other standalone units, a Magellan 860t and a Garmin 2820. I was concerned when I first bought the Pioneer as many were posting about incorrect map data, flakey routing, etc. After using the other two NAV's for a while I realize this is not something unique to the pioneer, it happens across all units from time to time. That doesn't make it right, but it doesn't make the Pioneer "worse" than any other NAV unit.

 

The unit is really bad on travel time estimates. I tried changing my "normal driving speeds" but this made the times way to short. The unit doesn't seem to have a happy medium. I'm curious if the firmware update corrects this at all.

 

Voice recognition - good for major functions like changing sources, garbage for trying to say a point of interest.

 

NAV - Great screen options, nice pics for lane changes/exits, even tells you what lane to be in on certain highways...pretty slick. Detailed maps of DC are great. Routing can be funky at times. I've found that using "shortest route" instead of "fastest route" on trips under 15 miles generally works better (not always though.) I've gotten into the habit of actually checking the distance on the multiple routes it suggests, some are much better than others. I never seem to get to my route either, I mean physically I reach it but the unit never seems to realize that I've arrived and I always have to cancel the route.

 

NAV Learning - I dont know if this feature is working on my unit but if it is I can't tell. Every morning I take the same road from my house to get to the highway and every morning the unit fights me on which way to go. This might be due in part to me never "reaching" my destination.

 

Bluetooth - I love it, works great. I've never had the echo problem but it might be my cars design, front speakers are very far from the MIC and I don't have to keep the volume high. I did however recently see the NUVI 360 and was impressed at how it could pull your call history and phone book from the phone on the fly. Would be nice to see in an update.

 

iPod - Yes, it's slow, but I use shuffle so I don't notice it but I can see how it can be annoying for people who like to navigate their music a lot. I did notice that shuffle feature doesn't seem to be very random, it seems to favor certain artists on my iPod for each trip. I.E. I can take a 200 mile trip and every 3rd song will be STP, then on the trip back every 3rd song will be Beatles, could be coicidence but I find it odd. Many times it will play 2-3 songs from the same artist back to back.

 

Nav Traffic - Love the NAV Traffic, updates often in my area (DC) and updates the screen. I don't like how it won't alert you with the upper right hand icons or voice to upcoming traffic on the road you are driving on if you are not on a route. I think this should be a configurable option. I also find it odd that when I go to the information screen to view traffic event it doesn't "sort by distance" by default...

 

XM Radio - Works well enough, I do miss my time-shifting XM unit but the integration is nice. I would like the NAV screen to display station/artist/song on the bottom instead of just XM and the station.

 

Interface - Works well, I wish it had different skins or skin options. I also wish there was a way to permantly leave up the song and artist on the bottom of the NAV screen or have the right "column" in "3d" mode be AV data instead of a 2d map. Lag on the NAV screen for song display is annoying but rumors say the new firmware fixes this. I will probably try the new firmware this weekend and report back. Still has a few nag screens that are annoying but easy to deal with.

 

Remote - Love the steering wheel remote, full remote is ok, second zone remote is minimal but does the job. The full remote has buttons that the unit doesn't like ATT and display which will display song and artist info onto the NAV screen.

 

Second Zone - LOVE this feature. I have a rear "Directed" screen in the back that I had prior to getting my Z1. I wired the monitor up to the second zone and I can send DVD, AUX in or mirror the front display to the rear display. On DVD and AUX sound is also sent to the rear display which has infrared blasters to wireless headphones. The second zone remote independantly controls the DVD player which is great. I only use the rear screen for my kids on long trips but its nice to listen to music while my kids watch a movie.

 

Rear Camera - Another great feature. The pioneer-branded camera is garbage IMO but I'm too lazy to switch it out. Though the camera quality is poor the viewing angle is great and the Z1 does a good job of utilizing the camera. For example when the unit is booting and at the Pioneer splash screen the view will still change to the reverse cam if you put the car in reverse.

 

POI Data - POI Data is good but not great. Much of the data is out of date. It was very helpful through Canada though. I really like the reverse phone look up.

 

CD's/Hard Drive - This feature is cool but I rarely use it since I have the iPod hooked up. I like how it rips cd's to the HD but hate how it won't let you copy MP3's from a data disc to the HD. Because of this fact I rarely dump anything to the HD. I also think the idea of caching CDDB is an interesting concept but can't help but feel its a huge chunk of space that can be better utilized elsewhere.

 

MP3's on Disk: Great feature, but I'm upset that the unit won't allow MP3's on DVD. The workaround is to use a program like Roxio 8 to create a "Video DVD" with audio tracks but it's not perfect.

[navigator05]

very nice review!! i am new to the z1, had it a short time. i am so amazed by this unit that sometimes i just go into the garage and sit in my car and look at it, and listen to music. i was so damn sick of fm radio(the stupid contests/the dj's/the commercials/the repetition of songs) i feel free having my ipod and shuffling songs. i am SO impressed with sirius radio. i took the free 3-day listening for xm and sirius. just my opinion, but i thought sirius kicked mega ass, and xm bored me to death. i love the WHO channel and the metal channels and the classic rock. i love sirus radio!! the bluetooth is awesome also. i think it is so cool being able to change functions with the touch of the screen, it is so futuristic and modern. i am in awe of this thing. i always loved my navigator, now i am obsessed with it, all because of this avic z1.

[EdinAthens]

I've had the Z1 for 4 months. I'd like to have more control over what info is shown on the navigation screen. I'd like to have the minor roads show at a higher map scale. I also have the Garmin 2820 and I like the various location, direction, heading, time, etc blocks that can be shown on its screen, with the Z1 had more control over that.

 

I have saved about 80 CDs to the hard drive. I find I use it more than my ipod.

 

I'd like to have the ability to turn off the bluetooth. There are times when I don't want to it to connect to my phone because I also use a bluetooth earpiece. It would be nice to have the ability to delete the phone in the Z1 rather than having to do a medium reset.

 

I have the Pioneer backup camera - I've been impressed with it thus far.

It has a suprisingly bright image at night, but I've got 15% window tint, so anything is better than looking through the glass.

 

All in all, the Z1 is a nice unit.