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.

I saw that another member took apart his F series and he basicaly explained that it's like a small computer...that being said, and how you brought up the RAM (i dont know what RAM is but i'll assume it has something to do with the processing speed), is it possible to add more RAM? it would seem that the sluggishness merely comes from the unit just being slow overall..

im sorry if this has been brought up already (i havent been reading up on the newest hacks since im not computer-savvy), and for posting it here out of topic, but it just crossed my mind when you mentioned it.

I doubt you could add more RAM. The F series is a computer, but it's more like an embedded device than a traditional computer. Meaning, the RAM is not likely to be on a SODIMM that you can replace with a visit to the computer store.

The unit seems to have a fairly good processor, I think it's about 500 or 600MHz. I believe the problems are mostly software related, i.e. what it's doing and the way it does it. It appears for instance, that the device performs a 'cold boot' every time you start your car, and a full shutdown every time you stop your car. Instead of just hibernating or sleeping, which would result in almost instant-on. For comparison, when I close my laptop lid it turns off the screen, spins-down the harddrive, and turns off power to all peripherals. The only thing that keeps power is RAM. This isn't 'hibernation', the ram isn't saved to the hard drive. It's just 'sleep' mode. When I open the lid, the screen comes back on and the peripherals come back on, and it's ready to use in about a second.

Why can't the F series do this? It probably could... unless they've configured the hardware such that you can't turn off one bit without turning off everything. In other words, if the screen or the audio amp, or the RF receivers can't be turned off independantly of the RAM and processor...then I guess we're stuck - maybe that is why it does the hard shut down and cold boot... I sure hope this isn't the case, though.

RE: Boot time

...It appears ...the device performs a 'cold boot' every time you start your car, and a full shutdown every time you stop your car. Instead of just hibernating or sleeping, which would result in almost instant-on.

 

Why can't the F series do this?...

Good Idea Stephanie. But IT guys I know often complain about hibernation or sleep modes. I think they think it creates instability over time. This may be a vestige of experience with older puters though. The Dell laptop I've had for the last two years sleeps just fine and is stable. I use it every day. Instead of shutting down, I just close the lid, then come back later and it starts quickly with a new logon.

Given the difficulty Pioneer's R&D dudes have had with the unit so far, I doubt such a huge reworking of the OS function is in the cards, but it's a good idea nonetheless.

Well I agree I would love to see us at least have the option of a sleep or hibernation mode. Anything is better then a full cold boot. However I have a feeling this comes down to your cars battery. They are basically playing it safe, saying oh well I would rather have customers complain about the boot up then complaining our stereo left them stranded somewhere because it drained their battery and they weren't able to start their car. Want to talk about pissed off customers? Oh boy that would not go over well.

Their bonehead mistake was havinga unit that is constantly powered on and off, given a full blown windows ce os without thinking the boot up time is going to boarder on being almost intolerable.

We are really spoiled with older stereo's being instant on, even the D3's start up is almost instant.

Owell, what can you do. Not much I guess either don't buy it or return it if you already bought it. I imagine they are getting a whole lot of flak for it though, alot.

the ideal setup IMO would be a sleep mode with the ACC hooked upto a killswitch...that way if you only have the car off for the night, or say a week, your battery wouldnt drain, and your unit would start right up.. but if you were to leave it for weeks at a time, the killswitch could be used to turn the unit off completely and prevent the it from draining the battery. it would cold start but at that rate it wont be so intolerable.

with a little bit of electronics pioneer could create a battery protection system in the design of the f series. a system what monitors the state of the battery. when enough volts hibernation and when to low shutdown, preventing deep discharge situations by automatically shutting down (using a built-in shutdown controller) until battery levels reach safe levels again.

agreed that they could, bitman....but will they? ...

at this point pioneer is not going to do anymore major changes like that. they did their first update which fixed major problems, now the second one will change minor ones..i doubt theyll do any more after this 2nd update to its upto the hackers here really..

i`m NOT writing that they will make a modification. i`m talking about the original design of the f series... that's why i`m gone create my own power supply what does this.

i`m NOT writing that they will make a modification. i`m talking about the original design of the f series... that's why i`m gone create my own power supply what does this.

i didnt mean to sound like i was attacking your post, i meant to say that i think thats a good idea, but unfortuantly, though pioneer could make that change, they probably wont. and that if theres any chance of defeating the boot time, its gonna hafta be amongst the members here.

NO, I would not. Not happy with it at all.

No freakin way - I wish I had never bought the thing.

This is the first ever AVIC or decent (higher end, to a degree) head unit I've ever bought. And honestly, I'd totally do it again. I've had it installed less than a week, but for what I've done with it so far and that experience, I have no major complaints. I sort of knew what to expect after reading here a bit... but I have had no big issues or problems with it yet.

Absolutely. This is a my first nav unit and I would buy this F700BT again. After the firmware update, everything is perfect, except for the screen still too bright in night mode.

All the features still amaze me for such a nice-priced unit ($600-700). It's not 100% perfect or has all the features of $1000-$1500 units but it is a lot of value for the money. I had to get used to the navigation unit (also have a TomTom 910) but now I like it much better than the TT. iPod controls are great and sound quality is awesome.

Boot up time is pretty quick after the update, usually only about 10 - 20 seconds before music starts playing. No more VR loading everytime it is started.

No, I would not. See my sig.

I just wanted to bump this thread so all these newbies that keep asking questions can decide to get one based off our hands-on experience. Don't say we didn't warn you!!!

I just wanted to bump this thread so all these newbies that keep asking questions can decide to get one based off our hands-on experience. Don't say we didn't warn you!!!

So why this thread? These posts are strictly opinion-based and was meant for current F series owners, not "newbies" looking for information. They would have to read up on the original review, then the resolved and unresolved issues.....then pass through the hacks and make their own, unbiased decision.

For the deal I got in it and hoping Pioneer fixes the embarassingly bluetooth, I would purchase the unit again.

Defintely buggy, but alot for the money and price point. All in one unit. I'd do it again.

Time

id do it again, AND recommend it to people.

id do it again, AND recommend it to people.

no offense but if my friend recommended this to me, and I paid 850 or whatever for it, we would not be friends long. At the very least I would never ask for his recommendation again.

Even if you are ok with the bugs, how can you recommend it?

id do it again, AND recommend it to people.

 

no offense but if my friend recommended this to me, and I paid 850 or whatever for it, we would not be friends long. At the very least I would never ask for his recommendation again.

 

Even if you are ok with the bugs, how can you recommend it?

Personally the only bug that still remains for me is the boot up time. everything else has either been fixed by Pioneer or members of this forum. So I would recommend it any day.

Also there is no other unit on the market that's as customizable as this unit. As I'm typing this I'm creating a custom skin for the voice commands menu which I'll be posting when its done.

id do it again, AND recommend it to people.

 

no offense but if my friend recommended this to me, and I paid 850 or whatever for it, we would not be friends long. At the very least I would never ask for his recommendation again.

 

Even if you are ok with the bugs, how can you recommend it?

 

Personally the only bug that still remains for me is the boot up time. everything else has either been fixed by Pioneer or members of this forum. So I would recommend it any day.

 

Also there is no other unit on the market that's as customizable as this unit. As I'm typing this I'm creating a custom skin for the voice commands menu which I'll be posting when its done.

Then you are clearly having more luck with it then me. People have done a great job fixing things like the blue boxes, etc. But for me those were way low on the priority list. I have crashes, and bluetooth problems, general sluggishness, etc.

you want a copy of my files and everything? maybe itll solve your problem if you have the same stuff as mine

Asking if you'd "do it again" with the AVICs is the wrong question. What you should be asking is:

"How do the AVIC Series compare with every other cutting-edge in-dash nav system in its class?"

The answer: A resounding "INFERIOR IN MOST EVERY RESPECT!!!"

Come on...just go buy a Kenwood DX8120 (or whatever the model number is now...). Everything works right, no stupid prototype bugs, etc. No comical mistakes with the Bluetooth...

The fact that this thread even EXISTS -- not to mention the ENTIRE SITE -- tells you something...how many other products require massive numbers of online support communities to resolve the seemingly endless issues and problems? It's like an online support group for alcoholics anonymous.

And don't give me that "every new product has bugs" crap. Most Apple products work like a charm right out of the box...and have nowhere NEAR the silly, low-grade prototype qualities that Pioneer puts out.

The fact that this thread even EXISTS -- not to mention the ENTIRE SITE -- tells you something...how many other products require massive numbers of online support communities to resolve the seemingly endless issues and problems? It's like an online support group for alcoholics anonymous.

Then why are you still here? You don't even own an Avic.

And name another "cutting edge" unit that is as hackable and customizable as the F series.