That is all understood but Pioneers tech support reps attitude has been far less then responsible or appropriate. It is just concerning that they may treat this situation as they have in the past. I do hope this time will be different or that by some good luck I dont have the same problems as others. As far as these units on paper, yes far superior then anything I have seen recently.
I really don't think that was it. I have 2 iPOD's that are MAC formatted and voice control works fine. Maybe it was the just the reformatting and recataloging that fixed some glitch in the iPOD. I mean, I'm glad it works for you, but that might not be the underlying problem. The unit is "iPOD ready" which means, more likely than not, it's meant to be mac formatted as opposed to PC.
After reformatting my second larger video ipod it wasn't working again. So I'm guessing it has something to do with what's on the ipod. Which isnt good either since there is about 70gigs of material to sort through and I dont know what I'm looking for.
I just spoke to my Al n Eds salesman and he told me that my 90BT will be in tomorrow. He also asked, with a bit of concern if I knew of all the issues these units were having. I told him I was aware and was expecting a firmware update to resolve. He mentioned that his rep said this was the case.
Take that with a grain of salt but I am sure Pioneer is working to resolve these issue quickly. Lets hang in there 
I for one cant wait to get mine.
Model: f900bt
Devices Connected: iPod
AV Source (if playing) during issue: ANYTHING
Action that caused the issue (pressed button, search, etc): No idea, used it?
Was GPS routing? Yes
Was BlueTooth active? Yes, Sanyo Katana phone
Anything else you would like to add:
This thing has SOOO many bugs and issues, I'm extremely upset and unhappy with my purchase. The bluetooth is literall UNUSABLE because of the distortion outgoing.
The ipod will stop playing for NO reason, making you re-connect it all the time... at which point it spends another 5-minutes cataloging for voice recognition, during which you can't change artist or ANYTHING!
Today my ipod stopped working on it, and nothing I do will make it come back. Re-plugging, re-powering... master reset... NOTHING WORKS.
I'm so mad, I could burst right now... 
Re-sync your ipod, turn off VR catalog on the head unit. It's not a permanent or ideal fix, but it will get you up and running again.
I have an F90BT. For the most part I'm not THAT dissatisfied except for one thing.
I have all the same issues as most of the posters.
Bluetooth sound quality is terrible on the receiving end (I've tried messing with the volume but it doesn't seem to help -- any more successful hints?). No ability to dial by name / voice (i.e. "Call John Smith Mobile"). Also, wasn't it supposed to announce street names (TTS?) like "Turn left at La Jolla Drive"?
BUT, my biggest beef. The one that might result in my returning the unit is the display. It is incredibly dim even at the highest (+10) setting. I've swtiched the display to Day Only and based on the Pioneer customer support call have removed and capped the orange and white dimmer wire. They thought that my daytime running lights were tricking the system into thinking it was always night. That caused no change. The display is basically unreadable on a sunny day. I can't read the map nor can I tell what channel I'm on.
Is it just my unit? I've heard some grumbling, but not much. Are most people satisfied with the brightness of the display?
Is this something curable via a firmware fix? It seems like a hardware issue that is unrepairable. But I'm not an engineer. If it's not curable I'm going to be struggling to justify keeping this.
I have an F90BT. For the most part I'm not THAT dissatisfied except for one thing.
I have all the same issues as most of the posters.
Bluetooth sound quality is terrible on the receiving end (I've tried messing with the volume but it doesn't seem to help -- any more successful hints?). No ability to dial by name / voice (i.e. "Call John Smith Mobile"). Also, wasn't it supposed to announce street names (TTS?) like "Turn left at La Jolla Drive"?
BUT, my biggest beef. The one that might result in my returning the unit is the display. It is incredibly dim even at the highest (+10) setting. I've swtiched the display to Day Only and based on the Pioneer customer support call have removed and capped the orange and white dimmer wire. They thought that my daytime running lights were tricking the system into thinking it was always night. That caused no change. The display is basically unreadable on a sunny day. I can't read the map nor can I tell what channel I'm on.
Is it just my unit? I've heard some grumbling, but not much. Are most people satisfied with the brightness of the display?
Is this something curable via a firmware fix? It seems like a hardware issue that is unrepairable. But I'm not an engineer. If it's not curable I'm going to be struggling to justify keeping this.
I don't have any problems with my display at all. I've actually not even touched the brightness. Of course, the car and unit location have a lot to do with that.
Also, on my unit, it seems the display only dims after it gets dark and not so much by the light switch input only. Does anyone know if the unit uses what time it is to decide when the display will change to night mode?
JasonH, how is the display in the Mustang?
I don't have an illumination output on my car, so my line is capped. The unit does seem to go by date/time when this is the case ... seems like after 9pm or so it switches to night view.
Mine isn't a problem unless it's late afternoon where the sun comes in low across my windows.
As far as TTS voice, you have to go back and change your navigation voice to Samantha ... Jason is a more normal sounding voice, but can't do text to speech. Samantha is computerized, but can read street names. However, she's european in origin so she reads 1.2 miles as one-comma-two miles.
This seems to be a real bug up people's asses. Personally I could care less whether she says "comma" or "point". I know what she's saying regardless. If she says "one corndog two miles" I'd still know how far I am from the turn. Honestly I don't know why a few people here are going ape-balls over this simple thing ... I'd much rather have voice-dial-by-name than a stupid computer voice read "one-point-two miles". I say lets have a little common sense.
I couldn't stand Samantha.... had to change back to Jason.
I would rather have a voice that was bearable, over that half-retarded sounding computer voice.
Plus, it warns you a RIDICULOUS amount of times before a turn... so it's hard to miss even if you don't hear the actual name. You can glance over and read it.
2. My 2d map is upside down.
And the number one reason why I probably won't buy the f series until they fix this feature.
Hurry, Pioneer! Release a patch already! The longer you wait, the more you damage your reputation and destroy the launch of these units, which should've been a great one.
I'm a newb to your community here, but I think I have some helpful advice for those experiencing slow start ups and painful iPod connections.
I spoke with a rep from Pioneer and he told me to turn off the VR cataloging. This feature only needs to be on if you have new items on your iPod. Once your iPod has been cataloged, the names TTS will be stored inside the unit. If the VR catalog is turned on, the AVIC reads the iPod every time you turn on the unit.
The rep told me this would create drags in the viewing maps and switching from source to source.
If someone has already posted this info and I am just repeating it....that's why I'm the newb, but it also is indicative of my Adult ADD.
Oh yeah... the bypass worked perfectly on the 700. Nice work. Now if I could only get a better dash kit for an 08 Ridgline! 
Model: F900BT (European version)
Devices Connected (XM, iPod, etc) : USB stick
AV Source (if playing) during issue: USB
Was BlueTooth active? If yes, what device?: Sometimes, HTC TyTn II
Anything else you would like to add:
I have a UK spec F900BT and it's not too bad, but there are some issues that are really annoying me -
1) When you are playing music from a USB stick and you switch to the map screen the audio stutters, and only stops when you quit the map screen. This makes USB audio unusable when navigating. Playback from SD and CD/DVD is fine - it's as if the Nav is "stealing" bandwidth from the USB bus.
2) When using certain USB sticks, music doesn't resume when you power up the unit, and you have to unplug and plug the stick back in to make the unit "see" it. Other USB sticks work fine.
3) Movie playback from USB/SD. I've created an mp4 file as per the instructions (640*480 resolution, <480kbps bitrate) but I can't get it to play back smoothly - the video is a bit slow, as if the unit can't decode it fast enough. Lowering the bitrate doesn't seem to make any difference. Divx playback from USB/SD would be nice too, but I think that might be asking a bit much!
4) When making/answering a phone call, the unit always jumps to the map screen. Why?
5) There's no way to choose which number to dial for a contact (home, work, mobile etc), the unit just picks the first one.
6) Fan noise. I'm not using the internal amp for anything; only the preouts. When the volume goes above about 40 the internal fan starts to get noisy, but it shouldn't need to if the amp isn't doing any work! The fan "hunts" a lot too, and the constant change in pitch/volume is annoying.
Here is my 2cents after two full days with the unit.
Bluetooth
1. Blackberry 8830 connects maybe 50 percent of the time when the unit is turned on.
2. Won't transfer address book for some reason.
3. Sound quality is terrible. I have tried the mic on the steering column and the visor and it doesn't make much difference.
4. Four times today the audio didn't mute when a call was placed. I could hear the music from the ipod and the phone ringing on the other end.
5. I got the unit to transfer some of the contacts but they were gone once the unit was shut down and restarted (after a trip for lunch).
Sirius
1. Unable to get audio to work. I have redone the installation twice now hoping something was wrong with no sucess.
2. The single line SUCKS and should not be acceptable for a 1200.00 unit
ipod
1. On numberous occasions the unit would just stop talking to the ipod and not respond. once it caused a reboot of the tuner.
2. The splash screen for when the VC is done stays on the screen FAR TOO LONG
GPS
1. Routed me a funky way today that was neither faster of a shorter route.
2. Several times it lost the location I was traveling to while switching between the FM tuner and ipod. Not sure about this one.
3. Numerous times today the unit switched from 3D to 2D without any interaction.
4. It appears the GPS has a hard time while on the freeway as it constantly re-routed itself when going around a bend. The GPS would jump from the freeway to a side road running along side the highway. I have never had this problem with any GPS solution.
General Usage
1. I want to be able to change the color of the backround!!!!
2. Boot time with an ipod connect is rediculous
3. Boot time with no ipod is 10-15 second before audio is working
4. Unit has rebooted four times in the past two days for no reason. Interesting enough it did it once today as the car was being turned off and contued the reboot even after the ACC was off.
i've had my 90BT installed for a couple of days so far...only 2 issues i've run into are the whole voice recognition not picking up my commands...and it froze up on me when i tried to end a call...but i made another call and hung up...and it unhung itself...music and other functions carried on as normal...
So I'm a week away from receiving my 900BT and I'm a little nervous. I've been anxiously awaiting this unit and to hear all of these issues is pretty disappointing. I returned my D3 in order to get this one and I almost feel like it was a mistake, even before receiving the 900.
There were a few things I didn't like about the D3, and the navi sort of sucked but it still got me where I had to go. But with the new F Series, if everyone is saying that things like the Voice Controlled Calling by name isn't a feature, wouldn't that be considered false advertising? Isn't there anything we can do to make sure Pioneer sends out a fix and quickly? How about spreading the word about all of the issues this unit currently has across the Internet?
Listen, I might sound like an idiot but for all of you and soon to be me who did spend over 1k or got rid of their previous head unit for this one, we have a right to get even semi good quality "AS ADVERTISED" equipment. Even for Pioneer, bad reviews aren't good.
So I can't decide who is a bigger d-bag. Me or the guy from Pioneer? Please hold the cliche "Since you asked..." comeback.
Yesterday I posted:
I spoke with a rep from Pioneer and he told me to turn off the VR cataloging. This feature only needs to be on if you have new items on your iPod. Once your iPod has been cataloged, the names TTS will be stored inside the unit. If the VR catalog is turned on, the AVIC reads the iPod every time you turn on the unit.
The rep told me this would create drags in the viewing maps and switching from source to source.
Being a Pioneer customer since I was 14, I really wanted to believe. I was a silly pathetic loyalist. There was just one problem. He told me all lies. Every problem mentioned in this thread began to surface and my hopes for this unit began to fade. I was right back on the phone griping to the next unfortunate soul to pick up at Pioneer customer service. This time the dept was aware of the many issue people are having. They are generating quite a list and whatever you all post here will definitely help Pioneer locate their bugs.
This new rep said that providing my Ser# was a big help as they try to locate what is going on. (All though the probs seem to be across the board with all units.) By taking my info he has also put me on a list to be contacted as soon as a firmware upgrade arrives. There was no time frame for a fw upgrade but he did say they were actively and diligently working on it.
If this guy lied to me all of my loyal ties to Pioneer will be permanently severed. 
Sorry my first post reeked of a Summer's Eve!
Hey Guys,
For those of you that own F Series units and are having repetitive issues, please post the following so I can send an organized list to Pioneer to see if they can help us out.
Model:
Devices Connected (XM, iPod, etc) :
AV Source (if playing) during issue:
Action that caused the issue (pressed button, search, etc):
Was GPS routing? (yes/no)
Was BlueTooth active? If yes, what device?
Anything else you would like to add:
Thanks,
Jason
1. No voice dialing
2. direction arrow pointing to rear of vehicle
3. Ipod will not connect if voice activation is set. Ipod Classic 80
4.No auto dim when headlights are turned on.
5.Unit freezes.
6. Multiple contact icons same names but number is not displayed.
7. Sub-woofer pop upon startup.
8.Changes from 3d icons to 2d icons by itself.
9.Gives false directions
10.Uses the phrase drive to comma
11. People you call can hear a clicking and their voices from vehicles speakers.
I wanted to add to my post that back in High School Pioneer was the radio you bought when you could not afford a real Stereo for your car. I had heard they had really come a long way since then.
I guess you can't believe everything you hear.
Laggy screen, when a new screen appears you have to wait 3-5 seconds before buttons become responsive. Even then you have to really press firmly to make it work in a lot of cases.
Scratchy Bluetooth electronic sounding, muffled can’t hear anything your saying. This is hit or miss, seems to be mainly when the car is running, fi car is turned off it works descent, but still a bit scratchy
Comma in navigation voice instead of point, turn by turn with female, if the voice volume is low you can really hear a lot of static in the signal, sounds like someone on a bad phone line or something with really bad reception, this static is not evident in any other area of the device, only during navigation voice information and it goes away immediately after.
Ipod losing connectivity when car turned off then back in, you have to physically disconnect then reconnect it, this is when VR catalog is enabled, if the VR is not enabled, voice command won’t respond if you ask to play artist etc. But ti does stay connected upon restart of the vehicle.
Mpeg 4 video doesn’t play from sd card even though ti says it is supported, only sound no video is shown, video does work though with a dvd in the drive.
HD radio module doesn't display song information, it just says "NO text"
Was bought from crutchfield a few days ago.
devices I am using, HD radio module, the supported one. XM Radio module, Ipod nano second generation, latest firmware from itunes loaded.
Things that works ok. MSN Direct, Voice recognition for songs and calling people. Although sometimes it gets confused and i have to repeat. Press the knob to activate voice doesn't always work, you have to press it twice.
The start up time is significant, but im getting used to it. Also you have to be patient after a new screen loads, becuase if you push anything on it too early it won't respond.
The more I use it the more I notice the little features. But yeah, overall its a very nice unit. I just iwsh they would of held off until it was ready to be released, I hate beta testing when you pay 1100 dollars for a stereo system.
Also I have noticed that as well, the color scheme doesn't change from night to day and day to night, it is enabled and I know the dimmer wire is properly connected, it worked fine in the D3.
7. Sub-woofer pop upon startup.
Ford with factory sub?
yes
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