can you use the navigation feature on the D3 while playing the ipod? Are both (Nav and Ipod) interfaces on one screen?
I know that there is only one disc slot, but i'd mainly be using my Ipod. I drive quite a bit, so using the ipod with the Nav simultaneously would be a key feature.
Yes, by using the ipod you leave the DVD drive open for the nav disk. However, both interfaces aren't on the screen at once. To navigate ipod menus you have to be at the ipod screen. That doesn't stop the nav from working, however, it's just not visible. The voice prompts from the nav still come though even when you're not viewing the map. And if enabled, an arrow will pop up over the ipod screen to inform you of upcoming turns. And the other way around, when viewing the nav map, you cannot navigate the ipod menus, but there are forward and backward buttons on the face of the unit that allow you to skip tracks while remaining in the map view. And when the song changes, song title and artist info is displayed at the bottom of the map display for a few seconds.
In short, you can't VIEW both at the same time, but you can USE both quite well at the same time.
Are there updated Nav discs that you can obtain each year? Are they through Pioneer, and do you pay for them?
Yes, there WILL be update disks (there are none yet for the D3) and you must either purchase them from Pioneer, or possibly from someone on ebay or something like that.
Are there generic AVIC-D3's? I found a ridiculously good price on one ($511 shipped NIB) and i'm just wondering if it's genuine.
There's no generic D3... some places offer them at really low prices which could be good or could be bad. Some places are just plain shady and should be avoided... but there is also a $200 refund going from Pioneer, and some places just get the refund themselves and roll the discount into the sale price. Just make sure you buy from somewhere reputable and you should be fine.
Any major Con's with the unit, that you don't car for?
There's an issue with it not playing video from the latest ipods, but that's really Apple's fault, not the D3's. And some peple have issues with the nav providing with iffy routes, such as plotting routes longer than they really should be or having the driver make unecessary U-turns... I have not really experienced it myself, but some have complained about it.
But you can't really expect everything to be the best it could possibly be given the price of the unit.
