Request for opinions: Z120BT vs. X920BT

[matwithonet]

no...what I was asking is "What other head unit on the market is better to use with non-apple devices than the Z120BT/920BT?" I played with these units in the car audio store with my Samsung cell phone and was able to use both the streaming bluetooth and USB interface to access my music. The USB interface gives a similar means of navigating music as the iPod interface, except you can only navigate by your file structure. In other words, you can't navigate by song unless your file structure is setup that way. My file structure is by artist...so that's the only way I can navigate, which is fine. I am about 1/2 way to the song limit currently, and that's about 10 years worth of music for me...so I'm not terribly concerned about that. I also don't get to see the album art which, honestly, is probably my biggest disappointment. It'd be great to see an update someday that would allow USB/SD/microSD interface to show album art.

 

What I'm saying is that I don't see any other device on the market the works as well for non-apple devices as do the Z120BT/920B. Even though the units aren't optimized for non-apple devices, they still seem to handle non-apple devices the best.

 

Is this true, or are there other units that come to mind that do a better job of integrating with non-Apple devices?

[Ixian]

The better option would be not to buy any of these units at all, no matter what the brand I'm serious. First, get one of the newer, larger Android phones - The Sprint Evo, The Verizon Droid X, etc - one of the ones with the 4.3 inch hi-res screen. Or the new iPhone with it's slightly smaller screen, whatever, all that matters is you get something that has an interface you like and can work with.

 

Then get a nice car adapter dock for it - ProClips sells the best ones, I think, though they can run you $80 for the phone dock + attachment. They look really nice though, and the docks allow you to permanently hide the usb cable (for charging, or music) so you get a nice clean look and you just pop your phone in.

 

Once you've done that? Forgo a DVD/Nav/etc double din unit entirely. Buy a nice single-din Eclipse or Kenwood or Alpine or something, one that accepts USB/Bluetooth audio streaming. Focus on sound quality because it really doesn't matter about the display on it since you'll:

 

Use the display on the phone for everything. Seriously. The new Droid X, etc screens, are, when turned sideways (which the ProClip mount allows you do do, easily) not all that much smaller than the 6.1 inch screen of the 920bt. I mean, yeah, sure it's a almost a couple inches smaller, but the point is it's big enough to do what you need it to, which is control your music right from the phone, nicely. Or anything else you want, like Navigation - I don't know if you've seen the (free) Google turn by turn Navigation on these new phones, but it's miles above the Navteq crap the current crop of Pioneers use. Or you can get TomTom/Garmin for them if that's your thing.

 

That's how I'd do it if I could go back and do it over. My wife just got a Droid X and when she's in the car we just use that and stream audio over bluetooth, it's a much nicer interface. Pandora support, Last.fm even, whatever you want.

 

I know it sounds crazy because the point of the Z120Bt/920Bt/etc is to "integrate" everything but I've come to realize that you give up a lot just to get a little bigger screen built in to your dash, one that every thief in your neighborhood is going to target at some point. These new phones with their app support and now the bigger, higher resolution screens are better in every way. If you worry about looks or having cables hanging around then just get a ProClips dock and call it done.

 

What does a bigger screen get you anyway with the in dash units like the x920bt? Easier to see the nav maps? Great, I get a nice large picture of a perfectly buggered Navigation system. I'd rather go down a step in size to get a better system that has awesome POI support, customizable voices and voice control, built in (free) traffic reports that are better than the crappy MSN Direct reports that you actually have to pay for, etc etc. What else is the larger screen good for, music playback? The Droid X player shows everything you need to see in nice large text and the controls are actually bigger on it's smaller screen than the ones on the Pioneer. DVD playback? Please. First, how much are you (or should you) going to watch movies in the front seat of your car, while driving, which by the way is against the law in the US? Enough that you really are going to say "you know, this 4.3 inch screen is too small, 7 inches is just the ticket?" No. You want DVD playback in the back, get a DVD player for back there, you don't want to control that crap from the front seat anyway. Your kids will figure out the play and pause buttons soon enough.

 

As you can probably guess I am not a fan of this, my first, and last, double-din in dash Nav/DVD/iPod unit, the x920bt. Last week I got so sick of MusicSphere - a truly terrible application considering what it is supposed to do - that I just switched control of my iPhone from the x920BT to the iPhone itself. It's mounted in my own ProClip dock and you know what? I prefer controlling it from the phone, smaller screen or not. And I get my Genius list support, which is what MusicSphere tried to be and failed at, *hard*. And I can use the actual Pandora app and not the crappy PandoraLink mess which bugs out on me at least a third of the time I try to use it.

 

That's my suggestion - get a good car stereo without all the frills and let the new generation of Smartphones be your controller. By a good car dock like Proclips, mount it to where you can easily reach it - chances are it'll end up closer to you than the in-dash unit - and enjoy. Smaller screen or not it's the better alternative.

 

There's also the iPad, which could be a truly awesome alternative (ProClips even makes a car dock for it!) but currently is a bit limited as far as it's dock and GPS capabilities. I expect as that device matures in terms of hardware and software it will become a *very* popular Car accessory.

[VBLUE42]

Is this true, or are there other units that come to mind that do a better job of integrating with non-Apple devices?

 

The Kenwood DNX9960 will allow album art and will allow you to search by any means you would like as well as use VR on USB devices but it has similar file limitations.

[RevuRunner]

I will be running into a PAC TATO which allows a direct connection to the stock JBL Amplifier in some Toyota vehicles.

My question is whether I will need the 4v output to make this work correctly. Are there any Toyota users with the JBL amplifier who successfully used the x920bt with the PAC TATO?

 

 

I'll be doing the install for my z120bt on my 4runner this weekend. I'm also using the PAC TATO for my JBL system. From what I understand, the V out doesn't really matter since the JBL amp will be handling the signal so the 920 or 120 should be equivalent in that respect.

[matwithonet]

The better option would be not to buy any of these units at all, no matter what the brand I'm serious. First, get one of the newer, larger Android phones - The Sprint Evo, The Verizon Droid X, etc - one of the ones with the 4.3 inch hi-res screen. Or the new iPhone with it's slightly smaller screen, whatever, all that matters is you get something that has an interface you like and can work with.

 

Then get a nice car adapter dock for it - ProClips sells the best ones, I think, though they can run you $80 for the phone dock + attachment. They look really nice though, and the docks allow you to permanently hide the usb cable (for charging, or music) so you get a nice clean look and you just pop your phone in.

 

Once you've done that? Forgo a DVD/Nav/etc double din unit entirely. Buy a nice single-din Eclipse or Kenwood or Alpine or something, one that accepts USB/Bluetooth audio streaming. Focus on sound quality because it really doesn't matter about the display on it since you'll:

 

Use the display on the phone for everything. Seriously. The new Droid X, etc screens, are, when turned sideways (which the ProClip mount allows you do do, easily) not all that much smaller than the 6.1 inch screen of the 920bt. I mean, yeah, sure it's a almost a couple inches smaller, but the point is it's big enough to do what you need it to, which is control your music right from the phone, nicely. Or anything else you want, like Navigation - I don't know if you've seen the (free) Google turn by turn Navigation on these new phones, but it's miles above the Navteq crap the current crop of Pioneers use. Or you can get TomTom/Garmin for them if that's your thing.

 

That's how I'd do it if I could go back and do it over. My wife just got a Droid X and when she's in the car we just use that and stream audio over bluetooth, it's a much nicer interface. Pandora support, Last.fm even, whatever you want.

 

I know it sounds crazy because the point of the Z120Bt/920Bt/etc is to "integrate" everything but I've come to realize that you give up a lot just to get a little bigger screen built in to your dash, one that every thief in your neighborhood is going to target at some point. These new phones with their app support and now the bigger, higher resolution screens are better in every way. If you worry about looks or having cables hanging around then just get a ProClips dock and call it done.

 

What does a bigger screen get you anyway with the in dash units like the x920bt? Easier to see the nav maps? Great, I get a nice large picture of a perfectly buggered Navigation system. I'd rather go down a step in size to get a better system that has awesome POI support, customizable voices and voice control, built in (free) traffic reports that are better than the crappy MSN Direct reports that you actually have to pay for, etc etc. What else is the larger screen good for, music playback? The Droid X player shows everything you need to see in nice large text and the controls are actually bigger on it's smaller screen than the ones on the Pioneer. DVD playback? Please. First, how much are you (or should you) going to watch movies in the front seat of your car, while driving, which by the way is against the law in the US? Enough that you really are going to say "you know, this 4.3 inch screen is too small, 7 inches is just the ticket?" No. You want DVD playback in the back, get a DVD player for back there, you don't want to control that crap from the front seat anyway. Your kids will figure out the play and pause buttons soon enough.

 

As you can probably guess I am not a fan of this, my first, and last, double-din in dash Nav/DVD/iPod unit, the x920bt. Last week I got so sick of MusicSphere - a truly terrible application considering what it is supposed to do - that I just switched control of my iPhone from the x920BT to the iPhone itself. It's mounted in my own ProClip dock and you know what? I prefer controlling it from the phone, smaller screen or not. And I get my Genius list support, which is what MusicSphere tried to be and failed at, *hard*. And I can use the actual Pandora app and not the crappy PandoraLink mess which bugs out on me at least a third of the time I try to use it.

 

That's my suggestion - get a good car stereo without all the frills and let the new generation of Smartphones be your controller. By a good car dock like Proclips, mount it to where you can easily reach it - chances are it'll end up closer to you than the in-dash unit - and enjoy. Smaller screen or not it's the better alternative.

 

There's also the iPad, which could be a truly awesome alternative (ProClips even makes a car dock for it!) but currently is a bit limited as far as it's dock and GPS capabilities. I expect as that device matures in terms of hardware and software it will become a *very* popular Car accessory.

 

I agree that's a viable option. It's actually similar to what I started with. Even my Samsung 3.7" screen was big enough to navigate through everything I needed to. It's easier to do on the Pioneer screen, though. I think I find the larger screen to be a bigger benefit than you do. There's also something nice about having it integrated. So, for me, it goes beyond the functionality. We'll see how I feel after some time using the navigation...see if it meets my requirements of finding crap and getting me to it! I also wanted to get bluetooth phone/audio, and I also wanted to play with Pioneer's latest interface to see how user friendly they've been able to make an integrated touch-screen. That was actually one of the key things I bought it for. I realize that smartphone touch-screens are still better in their logic, but I wanted to see what was new in the headunit world. I think they did a great job. Hopefully there will be future updates to make it even better!