Z130BT vs. Z140BH, what's the consensus?

[transistor]

I'm looking to buy one of these in the next week. I'm amazed at all the negative reviews on the Z140BH...

 

Does it make sense to pay more for the older model?

[NCHornet]

That's up to you. I just switched from JVC to the Z140BH and so far happy I did. Still learning a few things. I didn't consider the Z130 because I didn't want to be locked into a IPhone because of my HU. That in itself is enough reason for me to switch. My JVC use to also show on the screen when I received a text message. I haven't been able to figure out how to do this with the Z140BH, if it is possible at all. I have a 1 ton diesel truck, the JVC was worthless to use the hands free bluetooth. Nobody could hear me clearly and I would have to shout. The Pioneer is so much better. People say they can't tell that I am not on the phone. Like I said still learning a lot. My biggest complaint is not having a remote control. This really cuts down on wear on the unit itself. I haven't been able to verify if the PAC unit will work with the Z140BH.

[stargate125645]

That's up to you. I just switched from JVC to the Z140BH and so far happy I did. Still learning a few things. I didn't consider the Z130 because I didn't want to be locked into a IPhone because of my HU. That in itself is enough reason for me to switch. My JVC use to also show on the screen when I received a text message. I haven't been able to figure out how to do this with the Z140BH, if it is possible at all. I have a 1 ton diesel truck, the JVC was worthless to use the hands free bluetooth. Nobody could hear me clearly and I would have to shout. The Pioneer is so much better. People say they can't tell that I am not on the phone. Like I said still learning a lot. My biggest complaint is not having a remote control. This really cuts down on wear on the unit itself. I haven't been able to verify if the PAC unit will work with the Z140BH.

I assume you are referring to application modes for the Z130BT locking you into an iPhone? I thought the head units still do not do voice activation or album art of music with non-Apple products (which is total bull, but it's what Apple will do as long as sheeple allow them to get away with it).

[VBLUE42]

I thought the head units still do not do voice activation or album art of music with non-Apple products (which is total bull, but it's what Apple will do as long as sheeple allow them to get away with it).

 

Totally idiotic statement sense the absence of album art for non Apple devices or voice control has nothing to do with Apple, thats Pioneer's decision. Clearly you just want to blindly bitch about Apple for no reason but this isn't the place for it.

[stargate125645]

Totally idiotic statement sense the absence of album art for non Apple devices or voice control has nothing to do with Apple, thats Pioneer's decision. Clearly you just want to blindly bitch about Apple for no reason but this isn't the place for it.

Your attitude is very unbecoming, but I'll try to keep things civil in explaining. Voice recognition is based upon meta deta, which is similar to the album art in terms of it being wrapped around the file itself in tags. The head unit can already read that information since it is displayed elsewhere, so it has to be explicitly ignored by the OS. To those who are not ignorant, there are endless reasons to whine about Apple. It's naive to believe that Apple has nothing to do with integration, even if indirectly, given their anti-competitive corporate behavior. Still, there's more than enough reason to doubt it's simply a manufacturer decision. It's obvious now, that in addition the framework, the resources to make the features exist now that Android support has been added. It makes no sense to limit capabilities without financial incentive to do so when the framework for those capabilities are already implemented! If you can show me otherwise, I'd be more than happy to learn I'm wrong.

 

Edit: And I was asking for clarification in his post in terms of what he meant by being locked into an iProduct, and pointing out that it wouldn't help to upgrade in some instances anyway. There was a definite point to the post, but anytime anything anti-Apple is pointed out you get bent out of shape (though, in fairness, you get bent out of shape on pretty much anything from what I've seen). Your apparent pro-Apple opinion doesn't negate the substance in my post, whether you like it or not.

[VBLUE42]

I am certainly Pro-Apple but I have no problem with others opinions on the company. I do however have a problem when people spout nonsense about something when they don't know what the hell they are talking about just for the purpose of saying something negative weather its true or not. So, once again, the absence of voice control and album art for non Apple devices is solely a Pioneer decision in the programing of the software and has nothing to do with Apple being involved. A perfect example of this is the fact that all Kenwood units display album art for all sources and at least up until they eliminated voice control from their units altogether worked for all sources as well. Keep in mind this is not a "I hate Apple" forum. Now, back on topic please.

[stargate125645]

I am certainly Pro-Apple but I have no problem with others opinions on the company.

That's simply not true. You've shown otherwise before. But I'm not going to bother arguing with you or comment on the rest of your post as I've made my point. And for what it's worth, I do a lot of programming for my job, so I do know what I'm talking about.

 

I'll be more than happy to return to the topic we were on... Since Pioneer apparently still does not support those features for non-Apple devices, why would Kenwood get rid of their voice recognition (they obviously didn't have it when I was searching for new head units or we wouldn't be having this conversation, and their album art is discussed in detail only in their Apple section for the navigation head unit)? I'd have a hard time thinking its performance was any less than what Pioneer employs, and it would be a feature to tout that the other brands do not have. I hope Pioneer will improve, but from comments on previous systems, it doesn't look like it has changed much since at least the Z120 so I don't have much faith. And now they have no reason to improve with no other companies using voice recognition...