Hello everyone,

I bought my F700bt on Sunday, then came across this website yesterday while searching for tips on the install. Great site, I got my F700 installed last night with few problems (forgot the antenna lead so I'll be back in there tonight...)

I have a question regarding the dash trim... the Toyota radio had an oversized faceplate so there are gaps to either side of the Pioneer. The top and bottom are fairly close though. Can anyone direct me to where I could get some trim or something to fill those in? I've seen radio dash trim kits for the Rav but they are all geared for single-DIN radios, nothing for double-DIN.

Like others, I've been disappointed by the boot-time... my regular commute is only a 10 minute drive, so a significant percentage of that drive is spent with the 700 in an 'inoperable state'. I was surprised to learn that it's basically a computer running WinCE... hopefully there will be some way to fix the boot time - I've read the suggestions / ideas of hibernate mode, or some kind of sleep mode... it seems insane that the thing needs to do a cold-reboot every time you turn the car on.

One other question - I put some music on an SD card but when I tried it this morning, the SD card was not an option. Do you have to put the music in the 'root' folder? I had /Music/Album1 then /Music/Album2 and so on - basically all the muscic was in a /Music folder. I did that because i had a /Pictures folder set up so I could load my own splash screen.

Anyhow, after one short trip and some playing around with it, I'm mostly happy - it's sure a huge leap forward from the $50 radio and the 'antique' Garmin GPS V that I had wedged in there before.

Cheers!

not too shabby, was this your first install?

you can go on ebay and get a universal double din trim ring, you basically cut off the excess that you dont needand it covers the gaps very nicely. also ive seenthem at walmart best buy and circuit city. local audio shops should have it too

i feel your pain about the boot time, my commute is no more than 7 minutes.

that happens alot with me for the usb input, ill have to reach into the glove compartment and unplug-plug in the iPod for it to register so more than likely its the same for the SD

glad you like the unit, it really is nice, if you can overlook the boot time and other lil' annoyances.

This is what you need. They fill the gaps on the sides of the opening:

http://retailer.installationexcellence.com/productfeatures.aspx?retailerid=1944&productid=8563&sid=42FF7757-BE82-4735-850F-D47E2DAB4950&vehicleid=125130

Just go on google or yahoo and type in "metra 95-8202" and it should come up with a bunch of different places you can get them.

Wow, thanks for the quick replies! I'll see if I can find that Metra part locally, we have a few automotive specialy places in the neighborhood.

This isn't my first radio installation, but it was one of the more complicated. I'm an amateur radio operator, and I've been stringing and fishing wires through cars for a few years now, installing ham radios and antennas.

That white connector with all the RCA lines hanging off the back, I am tempted to remove as I don't currently use anything from it, other than the bypass ground. The only iPod I have at the moment is a shuffle, which I could plug into the AV2 input on the front I think. I suppose I could find a new connector that fits the white one, and just wire up what I need rather than having a pound of unused cables hanging off the back.

Thanks also for the idea of what to do with the USB plug, CatchMeIfYouCan631! I'd been wondering where would be a good spot to terminate it and the glovebox sounds perfect.

Edited to add: I've just thought of one more question -- In lieu of the AVIC-FEEDS program (grumble grumble Pioneer) is there any other way to load landmarks, or is it just a matter of sitting in the car poking at the screen to save a bunch of locations? I have 30 or 40 landmarks in my old GPS-V that I'd like to put in the AVIC but it'd be so much easier doing that with a real keyboard...

Thanks again!

hi, you need those plates from http://scosche.com/products/productID/169

you see here an old picture of my rav4 to show you those side plates i bought in the states for a couple $.

...That white connector with all the RCA lines hanging off the back, I am tempted to remove as I don't currently use anything from it, other than the bypass ground...

Go right ahead. I removed all those RCA connectors since I have no immediate plans to add an amp. Just pop out the wires by lifting the tab for each pin (like you did to move the mute wire for bypass). I did, however, make a drawing of where they go, should I ever decide to buy an amp...

-Eric

Thanks for the info! I've got a set of the trim side panels on order, hopefully they won't take too long. In the meantime I went ahead with changing out the white connector so it only has the bypass and the line-in connections, sure clears up a lot of space behind the unit. I ran the USB cable into the glovebox and the line-in connections to a storage area under the dash. I also remembered to connect the antenna line this time!

Aside from a few very strange quirks, I am liking this gear quite a lot already. Some of the UI or behavior choices though, really make me wonder what they're smoking at Pioneer.

I'll probably get used to the boot-up, but I think I'll wire an override switch for the red power line, so I can opt to leave it on even when the car is off... When I'm on a long trip, the last thing I want is to have the thing going through a minute-long reboot cycle every time I stop for gas or something.

i was just thinking, what if you use a 2.5" hard drive jumper to connect between that pin 4 and the next one what is ground? i'm not sure if you need the ground of the vehicle or can use the next to it ground from those audio cables...

Thanks again for the info! Crutchfields got me the trim parts next-day, and I reinstalled it all this morning. The side trim bits aren't 100% perfect, but it's a heck of a lot better than the empty gaps from before.

Cheers!