Most people agreed the pre-update units fell short of Pioneer's promises. But now that folks have had patched units installed for a while, what's the consensus?

Would you buy one again?

I believe I would buy the unit again. I was not one of the ones who received the pre-update units so perhaps my experience with the unit was not bad enough to warrant change. I am thankful for those who unknowingly became pioneers QA division when they received their units first. Their input saved Pioneer and prepped me well for the install. I see the F-Series improving as time goes on.

The big reason I switched from my D3 was voice commands...and the voice commands are pretty much unusable on my 900BT. And I know the screen on this one is supposed to look better, but when I hook my Zune up to it through the A/V inputs, and use TV out it looks like trash, where it looked great on my D3. Take that with the excrutiatingly slow start up time, and the bad Bluetooth interface, and I'm not sure if I'd do it again. I know right now, I'm a lil sad I sold my D3 on fleaBay befor I really tried out the 900BT.

I am a little bit disspointed with the boot up time and the errors in the bluetooth system but other then that it is a huge improvement over my D3 and my N2. No looking back and since i have heard that a second update is on its way i presume it will resolve most of my issues

Yes I would.

Absolutely not.

I would, bluetooth has been working fine for me, and I love using the phone in the car as I hate ear pieces. I also would take a high res nav over the low res nav of the kenwood any day.

I would not.

This is the worst piece of electronics I have ever bought. There are still many problems with the unit after the update, i.e. Ipod connectivity doesn't work very well, with constant connection errors. A new problem I encountered has been sound cutting out and needing a reboot. Too many issues to list... but I digress...

Sad to say, but this thing drives me bonkers. It should've never left the factory in this condition.

I will not put one in my own vehicle in the current state, even after the update there are still isssues. The basic idea of the unit is great but it needs some improvements and more so than what Pioneer is willing to admit to at this time.

I am still installing these in customers vehicles and have not heard any complaints.

Personnally I have found something else I like better but would use the Pioneer if some major improvements were made. I don't see that happening until maybe the second generation model, I say that because of the attitude that I have gotten from Pioneer dealer tech support when I talk to them about issues and operational charecteristics.

I'll give you my final verdict after the next supposed update.

no, i will not.

the high resolution screen is nice on the bench but absolutely unusable in a vehicle while driving in daylight. it even reflex's like a mirror blinding me. this cannot be fixed with software patches, it's how the screen is being designed. they should have used a transflective touch screen.

it's a pity since the specifications on paper of this hu are great, far better then other brands.

also some menu options are not logical but they can be changed by software patches. and then the very well known boot time...

I am very satisfied with this unit. This is my first navigation system I've ever bought with update installed. I'm happy that I have a phone that pairs nicely wit the unit (iPhone). Voice commands have worked almost flawlessly.

The only couple fixed would be:

- transitions from screen to screen more smoothly

- removal of green boxes when unit isn't in route

- iPod/iphone connectivity, catalogging, and video input

Other than that, I would get this unit again. I'll be interested and anticipating the next update.

in a heartbeat id buy it again. even before the update, the unit was still passable IMO. then after it, where all the functions work (only little annoyances still remain), the unit is alot better. the ipod voice commands are the main selling points to me, along with a working blueooth

I'd have to say no. After spending a month with the Kenwood DNX8120 that replaced the F900BT, I couldn't see any reason to even consider going back to the Pioneer. I have a system that works 100%, a bigger brighter screen, bluetooth that is crystal clear. I don't do the iPod thing so maybe that would matter if I did. My USB supports a hard drive. I currently have a 160gb Toshiba connected. The HD radio works great and the XM works great. DVD's are crystal clear and the supposedly lower resolution makes little or no difference while driving and I have better things to do than watch movies while parked. The 57" 1080P in my living room is for that. I thought I'd miss having a real knob for volume but have found I actually prefer the up/down buttons. The remote is a nice touch but I don't use it too much. I guess the bottom line is we all have our preferences when it comes to electronics but when I'm spending upwards of $1K I expect it to work and based on the posts I see, it still appears the F series doesn't fulfill that promise just yet. It's still entertaining and educational to read the posts even though I don't own a F series any longer. Some of the problems and solutions could apply to any unit.

... the voice commands are pretty much unusable ...but when I hook my Zune...

You say the voice commands are unusable. Is this with your Zune?

i think the navigation aspect is better to.

Yes I Would

I can't emphasize enough....HELL NO!! This a a sub par beta unit that should have waited a few months before it was released to fix all these problems. Also, the Pioneer customer service is a joke, especially when they say some of the bugs were intentional.

Excuse me, but did you say that Pioneer stated that some of the bugs were intentional?

Yes, namely the infamous green squares. According to the Pioneer rep I spoke with on the phone, they meant to leave them on there all the time. But when I asked him why would you want to leave those on the map when all they do is block information, he couldn't answer me. He just said they were intentionally left on the map.

That makes absolutly no sense.I would like to hear a rational explaination concerning the green boxes.

That makes absolutly no sense.I would like to hear a rational explaination concerning the green boxes.

Here you go. Explains not only the reason for the boxes, but for the north up only orientation in 2D mode. Both are not the fault of Pioneer, but the iGo software used for the NAV portion of the unit.

http://www.avic411.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=112471#112471

Thanks HiFiSi,if this is true wouldn't igo have to set down with Pioneer and show a working example as to how the nav will look and why wouldn't Pioneer question the boxes and tell them to fix it or no contract.Seems to me it would be a simple fix for igo.I know they may be pushing 3D over 2 but don't infringe on the look or use to force you to use the other.

I would not... I have two sitting on the shelve in the garage... F90BT and I put the Z3 and the D3 back in my cars... I think Pioneer could have had a great item here but failed to really test the unit or $$$ rushed them to production... Sad... Pioneer has taken a really big hit for this. The sad part is most people will be more carefull not to rush out and buy Pioneer on a new release item. I mean come on guys and girls.. if you bought a car and it had problems like this would you be like Oh ok Mr. Car Company I will wait for a update to make it work better... Hell No...

Yeah I think the pioneer reps fly the seat of their pants, they are probably told to improvise when people ask weird questions, their main purpose is damage control aka, tell people anything to get them quiet and off their backs.

I know when the unit first came out they tried to tell me the crackling in the nav voice was a bad install and the wiring harness was bad. That the comma voice was not present in existing units that went to factory and the long boot up time was because of the decompression of nav data loading. That thanks to it being in ram, its a lot slower vs the cd rom. Also, the sluggishness of the screens were, well who knows.

So yeah no surprises there the green boxes are a feature and not a bug, the least they could do is say yeah I admit that is an oddity, guess the engineers don't find it as a problem.

No admittion that units are messed up, or a fix is coming or anything of that nature. In fact I called them recently to voice the compalints currently, just another voice was my reason for calling I guess. It was the same dude, I am going to assume there is really only a few support guys for the nav units. So hearing me rattle on for 5 mins about all the issues, then to forget my main question, when is the second update comign and is there one in the works? I always feel really awkward calling them up complaining, so Ijust wanted to get off the phone.

I am sure they are very used to hearing phone calls like that, and pretty much tune out and let it go in one ear out the other.

Overall though i am happy now with the new unit, just work out these last few bugs with navigation, try to make the boot up time at least a little quicker or give us some options for it.

By far the MOST infuriating issue right now is the system volume controls with voice and master under the navigation settings, sound settings menu. I swear these things barely respond and when they do half the time they don't even work right. And if you turn down the master volume, the feedback for the voice recognition is gone as well, and in order to get the nav voice to stop bothering you every 30 seconds, that is what you have to do.

Anyway, would I do it again? I guess so, but the Kenwood 8120 for a few hundred more certainly does look more appealing everyday I deal with these bugs.

Just my two cents.