Woven into the bug reports users have been posting is the repeated comment about not being able to turn off "the beep". A couple days ago I received an F900BT, but haven't installed it yet.

I just watched AVIC411's (Jason's) comprehensive video as he walks you through the functionality of the F90BT. If the "beep" is the sound that occurs at every button press, and if it's true you can't turn it off, my unit is going back...end of story. If the beep is the annoying sound when the Nav's on, well that would drive me crazy too.

Anyone know if you can turn either the button beeps or Nav beeps off?

Yes to nav beeps, and yes to button beeps with a caveat. The only way to do that is to turn the main volume (not the audio volume, but the system volume) all of the way down, which means you won't get the beeps, but you also don't get any other notifications (including voice prompts while navigating).

Like you I hate the beeps, but to be honest, that is the least infuriating thing with this head unit. I have a feeling there are quite a few other things that are going to drive you crazy before the beeping.

Thanks ski

But that's a big caveat, and a huge shortcoming of this unit.

I've been designing sophisticated interactives for museums across the country for over 10 years. Much of our work is designing touch screen interfaces. Won some prestigious awards too. Provided a button touch does what you are requesting, NO ONE needs to hear a sound. (Remember all those stupid Hollywood movies which for years insisted on making little beeps as people typed into computers. I guess the producers thought it made the scenes more active.)

The first thing I do when I get a new electronic gadget is turn off the button sounds. This is especially true for an AV device. You'd think Pioneer's design team would know by now, it's what happens on the screen that counts. And you know when you just touched the bloomin screen! It's like the unit yells "touched!" with every button press.

Pioneer, let users turn off the BEEPS!

It's interface design 101!

Trust me, you're preaching to the choir here! But given the dozens of other problems the F-Series currently claim as their own, many of which make the system actually unusable, the beep is just too low down on my task list.

It's not that I don't want it changed tomorrow, it's just that there are many other reasons I'm not going to keep my F700, so this is pretty low.

I design UI's too (but for a much different commercial application), so the number of glaring over-sights that Pioneer continues to release (from the AVIC-Z1 on) is just appalling. I just wish they would open things up for me to do one design for them. I'm pretty sure our team could do a better job in two weeks than the failed attempt they released with the F-series.

After having the D3 and then this unit... I don't even really notice the beep anymore.

I'm having a hard time noticing it through the other glaring problems. Half the time the beep isn't even audible because the system is so far behind touches of the screen.

Ouch! This doesn't bode well. While Jensen often gets derided, the unit I had was feature-packed, rock solid, and blessedly quiet.

Rock solid definitely does not describe the F-Series, I would say it's more than antithesis of that.

Pioneer, let users turn off the BEEPS!

It's interface design 101!

Look at it this way. Since the interface can take several seconds to recognize a keypress, the beep can help you keep your sanity.

Haha, but something tells me Pioneer wasn't smart enough to think of that.

Pioneer, let users turn off the BEEPS!

It's interface design 101!

 

Look at it this way. Since the interface can take several seconds to recognize a keypress, the beep can help you keep your sanity.

Maybe instead of a beep, the female voice should say: touch "sorry" -- touch "sorry" -- touch "sorry" -- touch "sorry" ... and so on....

Pioneer, let users turn off the BEEPS!

It's interface design 101!

 

Look at it this way. Since the interface can take several seconds to recognize a keypress, the beep can help you keep your sanity.

i agree. without the beep you wouldnt know if it is just taking its sweet ass time or if it didnt register the entry.

and just like HiFiSi, im used to it already and IMO, i prefer. after having the Z with the volume buttons (torture) you kinda listen past it

OK so what your saying is, "at least I get to hear a cool electronic beep each time the unit doesn't do what I ask it to"

nonono! in no way did i say the beep was cool. it sux and can quite possibly be used for some method of torture. wat i meant was sometimes the unit gets really slow and wont register your inputs. it wont beep when that happens. when it does beep you know it got the message and its working.

its jus a reassurance that the unit isnt frozen really.

its jus a reassurance that the unit isnt frozen really.

What an excellent design on Pioneer's part.

nonono! in no way did i say the beep was cool. it sux and can quite possibly be used for some method of torture. wat i meant was sometimes the unit gets really slow and wont register your inputs. it wont beep when that happens. when it does beep you know it got the message and its working.

 

its jus a reassurance that the unit isnt frozen really.

CatchMeIfYouCan631 made a good point! You should have the beep turned on to alert you that the system hasn't frozen up.I have an Eclipse and I have my beeps turned on and it doesn't bother me.

If this is windows CE and it give you access to it when updating, why wouldn't you be able to find that sound file and delete it.... better yet just rename or move it to a different folder...

If this is windows CE and it give you access to it when updating, why wouldn't you be able to find that sound file and delete it.... better yet just rename or move it to a different folder...

Now that's the kind of suggestion I was looking for!

Thanks thegeck!

(Though, like my last head unit, Pioneer should just let you turn the damn thing off)

Also, I thank everyone for weighing in but am finding it interesting that some people don't mind the unit beeping every friggin time you touch it, where others do. I'm obviously in the latter category. And I admit it annoys the crap out of me.

As I mentioned before, I've been designing touch screen interfaces for over 10 years. Button sounds were all the rage when people first started designing them "wouldn't it be cool if the computer made a sound when you touched a button?...Yeah!" Well after years of development it turns out people (usually) weary of them quickly. Took me only a month or two of debugging early prototypes...beep...beep...beep...and so on. Properly designed and coded touch screen programs should respond by doing what they're asked to do.

I ask everyone to consider, do we expect the other controls in our car to beep? Or the levers buttons and knobs on our home stereo? Or the "Back" button on your browser? I could go on but you get the point. We've been conditioned to think beeps on a touch screen are normal when actually they're a vestige of a failed experiment.

Obviously you can see I care about this

But to each his own. Again, I appreciate hearing from everyone.

Beep

and just like HiFiSi, im used to it already and IMO, i prefer. after having the Z with the volume buttons (torture) you kinda listen past it

you could've turned them off (down) on the Z, at least that's how mine was set

and just like HiFiSi, im used to it already and IMO, i prefer. after having the Z with the volume buttons (torture) you kinda listen past it

 

you could've turned them off (down) on the Z, at least that's how mine was set

i couldve, but i didnt, and now the beeps dont bother me.

I hate the beep. It drives me nuts.

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oh sorry

^ The patch doesn't effect whether or not you can turn the beeps off.

No, but I've got the new clearer voice at normal sound level with the beeps at an almost imperceptible level. I mean I can barely hear them at idle. Just adjust them.

You could do that before the patch as well.