F500BT new buyer questions

[JP_Seattle]

Hello everyone,

I have kept my eye on these Pioneer products for a couple years since they have been around but only now have found myself in a position where I am in the market for one. I know they are almost outdated but the price is right and the features seem to still be comparable with other navigation units.

 

My questions are:

 

1. Is there any way to bypass the parking brake on the F500BT. I have read through many pages of this issue for the F series and most of the posts talk about the bypass for the F700BT or F900BT but I never found any information about successfully accomplishing this on the F500BT.... so is this possible and what method (software or ground parking wire) is the correct way to do it?

 

2. Do I need to buy the ND-G500? All I want to do is be able to control my iPhone 3G with the F500BT onscreen controls through the CD-IU200VM cable and wire the audio out from the F500BT to the rear aux in on my factory Mitsubishi Endeavor stereo. Is there any reason why this would not work or why I would need the amp? My stock stereo is great (made by Infinity) and is 4 channels + subwoofer so I do not know what the ND-G500 would do for me or if it would work anyways.

 

3. I see that the software update for the F500BT includes the following new features listed below (taken from Pioneer's website). If I buy this unit right now will it come with these updates or not? Also, are they available as a free download or are they only available as a purchasable SD card? (Maybe torrent?)

 

* Easier junction navigation:

See immediately which lane you need to be in at a junction: signposts immediately appear on-screen, with the lane of your route highlighted for easy and safe guidance.

* Even better visibility:

All our NavGate screens are anti-glare, but our new software includes an additional feature which improves the on-screen contrast – particularly useful when driving in bright daylight.

* New ‘Heading up’ feature in 2D:

This new feature allows you to be guided on-screen with your car’s direction always proceeding to the top of the screen. An alternative view would be to have your screen selected at ‘North up’. This gives you greater flexibility in how you prefer to be guided.

* Faster touch panel response:

With each successive year, our engineers strike to make features better and faster. This software will make the on-screen reaction to your commands even quicker.

 

The main things I want out of this are the parking brake bypass, lane assist, and Text-to-speech.... and of course the ability to run the audio through my stock car stereo. Do you think these features I am going to get from the unit out of the box, with factory updates, or with heavy hardware/software modifications?

 

Thank you in advance for your expertise, advice, and help.

 

-JP

[1loudls]

(1) not sure

(2) yes you would be able to use the aux in with out using the ndg-500, since you have a factory sub i would not reccomend using the ndg-500 anyway, however with out using it, the unit will not interupt a CD or the radio for nav instructions, only the internal sources (ipod or SD)

(3) they probably wont come with the newer software. if your talking about the 3.0 (the 2D heading up makes me think that you are) then you will have to purchase it

[JP_Seattle]

OK thank you for the information.

 

Anyone have a F500BT that can tell me whether or not they ever got a parking brake bypass working and what exactly you cannot do without bypassing it? If it is just that you cannot watch video while driving, that is not so big of a dealbreaker for me... but if it locks you out of all menus so you cannot change music or nav settings while driving.. that is annoying.

 

Does it come with TTS and lane guidance or is that a part of the 2.06 update?

 

Can anyone tell me how well the routing works (with or without MSN live traffic plug-in) compared to a Garmin Nuvi or TomTom Go?

 

Thanks again!

[Scotto]

F500BT bypass, works fine, two steps required:

step 1: attach parking brake lead to ground

step 2: read through this thread to learn how to do software part of bypass- http://www.avic411.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=17715

[Sgthawker]

If you hardwire the cradle with the cradle connector, it requires the parking brake input. With this you cannot access menu features while in motion (as this is unsafe). You need to stop and apply the parking brake to access the menu.

 

If you use the car power adapter and plug it right into the power connector on the F500BT itself, there is no need to worry about connecting the cable or menu access.

[stereoinstaller1]

Text to speech? ANNOYING as it works so poorly.

 

The voltage fro the audio out is incredibly low (I say under .5mV, who knows?) so you may end up using a line voltage booster (look at the JL CL-RLC IMO)

 

http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_clea ... rod_id=446

 

Why do I need more voltage when going from a Pioneer product to another Pioneer?

 

I still haven't done my bypass, but all it locks out are nav menus and vid...I would never use vid in my car anyway, never do in any of my other cars, all of which are unlocked. The unlock is no biggie to me, YMMV. I do have the ebrake wire grounded, BTW.

 

I use an external mic and an external antenna: nav is basically piss poor IMO. My phone (Samsung Instinct on Sprint) runs rings around it in 2.? Honestly enough, the thing is so poor as a device I keep it for cool factor only.

 

BT is 80%, can't change calls, can't voice dial, memory is crap, on and on. Only 60% of the people I call complain about the voice quality, but no one likes it. Assuming I am moving, that is.

 

Music is pathetic: SQ is adequate, but negotiating the menus on a 16GB SD card (on USB) is a miserable experience. I hope iPod is better, but I am not gonna buy one of those evil things that are trying to take over the universe.

 

Nav....navigation, the main reason I bought this thing. Just over useless, completely in the "miserable" range.

 

Why does it take 10 minutes to find the damn satellite? Why doesn't Pioneer sell an antenna, why do I have to buy something from someone else? WHO thought up these menus? Why is this SO slow? Constantly 2 turns behind, no matter how good the antenna shows reception to be.

 

Sometimes I wanna find the head of development and do something really really crappy to him/her...like shove a screwdriver through their eye or rub stinging nettles on their butthole...or worse yet: make them use this damn thing.

 

in traffic.

 

In Seattle.

 

Luke