Dears,

Needless to repeat the Avic F-series series have quite a few bugs and Pioneer is not really doing too much effort to solve them or at least that the pace at which patches and fixes are brought out is very slow.

After more than 80 mails and 20 phone calls to my dealership and Pioneer's customer service desk, of which the first were very polite and the last a bit less polite unfortunately, FINALLY, I'm having a Pioneer representative over on Dec 22nd of this year at the dealership where I had my Avic F900BT installed early September, to have a look at the bugs and to take note of them.

Just a note aside; What is striking, is that Pioneer acts as if they are not aware of any bugs and the Avic F-series are the best - and perfectly working according to specification - navigation systems and that I'm the first unhappy user that is calling and that all the other users are exquisitely happy. I'm sure the Avic F-series is a device with huge potential, but the fact that Pioneer states it is working perfectly worries me a bit... How much effort do they plan to put in future updates? The device is according to them working just fine anyway.

Anyway, I already have a list of the bugs that bother me, but I think for you fellow Avic-F-series-users out there this would also be a good opportunity to voice the bugs you are experiencing and that I might have missed. If we provide a list, why not make it more or less exhaustive one…?

In that respect, if you can post the bugs you are experiencing in this thread by Thursday evening. I’ll pass them on to the Pioneer representative, hoping that the fact that the list is not generated by just one person but rather a significant part of the Pioneer F-series user-community, they will feel a bit more inclined to solve them.

So, if you have any bugs you'd like me to report to Pioneer, feel free to post them here, along with an explanation, step by step, on how to reproduce the problems or bugs by Thursday (Dec 18th) evening.

P.S.

1) What do you think of asking pioneer to make to software open-source or at least disclose the hardware specs of the device, so that the user community can work on their version of the software to operate the device (including radio, cd, ...).

2) If anyone of you has a good idea on how to list out the problems in some on-line database or so. Feel free, must admit I'm not very web-programming literate.

Keep me post and I’ll keep you posted also of course!

To be continued...

if Pioneer wants a bug list, tell them to read this forum rather than everyone repeating everything thats already been mentioned dozens of times

How about instead of the pioneer rep reading the exhaustive postings (most of which do not have relevance to specific bugs) the avic F moderator create a separate forum index entitled Pioneer Avic bugs. With a description that this ONLY for listing bugs to be forwarded to pioneer, NOT troubleshooting, NOT mods, etc.. It can be further subfoldered by the particular models. This should also include our members across the pond and beyond....

At the least they should be aware of this forum.....

Although there is a wealth of information across these message boards, I think it would be unlikely that a pioneer executive with decision making authority would read through all these posts.

I think we have a better chance of being heard if we do the leg work and present back to pioneer in a concise manner.

How about a 1-2 punch:

(1) I would be willing to create a presentation based on the list of bugs that you can compile here. In the corporate world, all decisions are made through powerpoint. I can take the suggestions from you guys and create a business document. We can use this to send to the pioneer rep this week.

(2) Going forward, I love the idea of a subforum dedicated to bug reports, with the purpose of documenting the bug, as well as how to reproduce it, and with pictures (if possible). We can make reference to this new board in the powerpoint/email and it would show how serious we, as a community, take this product and hopefully pioneer would do the same.

The some phones wont ring through BT when placing a call if i usr the radio to place a call i have to guess when the people pick up by just saying hello over and over. I sent both htc the maker of my phone and pioneer an email about this. Htc responded saying that if the phone works and its passing commands back and forth its not there problem. I and agree because it works in my wifes SYNC just fine and my jawbone headset. Only factor is the pioneer radio.

Will post an example of how I have documented the bugs myself later today.

First I will mention the existing bugs I came across in my machine. (Happy to post it to a dedicated sub folder if there is one created). And then maybe we should put in a wishlist to accompany the main bug report.

Bugs:

1- When loaded 1.9 EU patch on my UK F900BT I can no longer access language settings. ıt gives a fatal error windows message and reboots the machine. there are other F900BT and F90BT users having this error in the forum.

2-Similarly for some strange reason my F900BT started to give blank screen during boot and hung which almost made me send the device back to Pioneer. Then after a reset and boot I realised the option for the back camera was set to neither off nor on which caused an unstable condition for the back camera option and the system failed to boot. I had to put it to OFF position to recover the machine into booting properly.

3-IN FM mode if the detail page is open and preset up down option is used the stored channels are not called one by one but jumps a few up or down as if multi key presses are made.

4-Although my language is set to UK, TTS option is not working even after loading the TTS file from Pioneer CD as instructed in the manual.

5- Voice recognition option does not function at all in the European version of F900BT devices. This is an essential safety feature and our devices are capable of this since it is used in the US versions.

6- IGo pointer arrow goes into the centre of the map occasionally and gets stuck there until manual zoom is used.

7- Bluetooth microphone level is dramatically low and there is a static hiss on my Nokia 6110N even after the 3.30 Update.

8- Contacts list appears correctly as First Name, Surname order on the phone but when transferred to F900Bt they all look backwards. (Surname & Name). It may be a regional setting but there is no way to change this.

9- System hangs if a call is received during phonebook synchronisation.

10- System slowdown if playing music via USB drive (it's a 2GB Sandisk Cruiser Hi Speed drive by the way)

11- Nokia s60 phone not ringing over bluetooth while listening to radio.

12- I-Go Maps are very slow to draw. This is mainly due to so many maps being cached on memory although they are not used frequently. An option to load one country at a time would speed up the system.

13- I-Go navigation error occasionally moves up, left or right and disapperas from screen. It can only restore if clicked menu and back to map.

14- Album Art not displayed in USB play mode

15- Album art blurry in IPOD mode

And for the wishlist if we decide to include there is a topic in the forum for this:

http://www.avic411.com/forum/viewtopic. ... t=wishlist

But the most essential one should be to have included IGO 8.3 since less and less attempts are made to update 8.0 maps anymore. We are still using 2007.07 data which is quite old, especially with POI's. After a while it may even be obsolete.

And finally thanks to you my friend for taking the initiative to have our voices heard. It is worth mentioning this forum so that they could be aware of many Pioneer customers having difficulties with their machines.

This is what I would like.

1. Fix the issues with copying the address book from a cell phone to the AVIC F700BT where you get multiple listings under the same name, but no indication as to whether the number is for home, mobile, or work.

2. A version of the AVIC Feeds program that runs on a Mac.

Wishlist:

1. Ability to store station name/callsign with HD Preset. I'm in no rush to put the HD tuner back in my car until then.

2. Increase the height of the soft buttons for presets, etc by at least 2x so it provides a better target for fingers. I can't take my eyes off the road to hit the touchscreen just right, so often times the wrong button gets selected.

3. Add RDS to the standard FM tuner screen if possible

4. Add preset up/down support for the remote

5. Add the iGo 8 Timezone fix for auto time setting, so my HU doesn't think it's in Idaho instead of Oregon when using the GPS to set timezone.

My number one request:

- Add preset up/down support for the remote

1. Fix the POI visibility issue introduced in 2.0 where if several POI's are close together on the map you get a single POI icon consisting of three blue square box's.

2. Allow me to hear my iPhone 3G ring through the system when I am making a call so I can tell if the person I am calling answered the phone.

Hell, just tell him to put one in his wife's car for a month. I guarantee she will make sure he gets the damned thing working right!

Just for the record; here is a first set of problem I'm experiencing. I'll come back later with more... Feel free to validate and let me know your findings.

1) Navigation - Navigation volume

Navigation volume is linked to music volume when playing MP3 via SD-card. --> When listening to music at background volume levels, the navigation volume has to be set very high. When turning up the music volume, navigation instructions play louder with that same factor. (= way too loud and with distorted voice). Moreover if you then switch to radio, the volume sound very loud too, while not being linked to the general volume.

Navigation volume needs to be adjusted too often in one of the sub -sub -sub menu's of the device. But worse, this to me causes a safety hazard. The driver's attention is distracted from traffic each time!

2) Navigation - Entering destination

When entering a destination one has to tocuh "Route" and then "go here now". Which to me is one step too much.

Not that problematic, but still making the device sluggish to use.

3) Bluetooth - Muting when traffic information is played

When traffic information is played over TP while calling, the phone call is muted. Moreover, the phonecall is not unmuted when the traffic info message is over.

4) Bluetooth - Muting when news is played

When news is played via pty News when calling, the phone call is muted. Moreover, the phonecall is not unmuted when the newsflash is over.

5) Bluetooth - Contact synchonization

Once synchronized contacts cannot be deleted, changed or singe contacts added individually. If you want to enter a new contact, you have to redo the complete synchronization.

6) Bluetooth - volume buttons not appearing

Sometime the volume and 'hang up" buttons do not appear on the screen. As a result the volume cannot be changed while calling nor can the phone call be hung up via the navigation device.

7) Bluetooth - volume buttons way to small

The volume buttons of the carkit communications are way too small, these shoud be at least twice the size they are todat

Bluetooth - call sometimes get muted at random

Sometimes calls get muted with out any reason. Only solution. Hang up and call back

9) Safety camera sound

When speeding, music is muted and a ridiculous 'dog-barking' sound is played.

10) Power consumtion

Sometimes I have the impression this navigation drains the car battery

11) When starting the car, the navigation sytems always starts playing the first song on the SD card. It should remember the last song an resume playing there.

Just for the record; here is a first set of problem I'm experiencing. I'll come back later with more... Feel free to validate and let me know your findings.

 

6) Bluetooth - volume buttons not appearing

Sometime the volume and 'hang up" buttons do not appear on the screen. As a result the volume cannot be changed while calling nor can the phone call be hung up via the navigation device.

Item #1, they're pretty clear about volume for navigation commands volume and SD cards, they mention it multiple times in the manual, I'd say "known limitation" not bug.

Item #6, What happens if you press the knob to drop the call? that should let you hang up.

Item #7 isn't this just a personal preference?

In all honesty, that really isn't that big a list of "showstoppers" compared to a lot of the V1.x issues.

Diane

Dear Diane,

1) Then please tell me on what page they explicitly mention the volume of SD-card and navigations is linked and is barely hearable and sounds distorted when you put the music to background volume levels. Moreover, when discussing this with experienced programmers, they informed me that it is perfectly possible to solve this limitation

2) on #6 I can perfectly end the call on my phone. But that is not the worst part of this bug. The worst part is me not being able to lower or - especially - increase volume. That is what bothers me.

3) on #7 if you read the first lines; I'm not only referring to bugs, but also to what I experience as problems. Having to keep your eyes off the road for a few second to change the volume of a phone call is just not the best thing.

Points 1, 3, 6 and 8 clearly are bugs, the others can be interpreted, depending on how intensively you use the device.

And btw this thread is created to report bugs and problems that will be communicated to Pioneer - in a very professional way - and not to minimize the comments that have been posted.

You are perhaps a "recreational" user of this device and I'm happy for you that you like the products as it is. But the bugs and problems really get annoying when you start using the device more intensively.

Please be honest with yourself and be constructive instead. Pioneer will counter us with more than enough arguments why the device according to them is working ok. Help us to help Pioneer to make this product better and - with all due respect - unless you have very little sense for detail and perfection, you must admit this device is not bug free, as do many other users of this device.

Thanks!!

1. Ipod/CD are not paused when using phone. Some people say that's the way it is supposed to be, but i think it is terrible.

2. Someone above me mentioned the end call box not showing up. Then someone mentioned the middle volume wheel button will end the call. This is not always the case. Sometimes I have to manually end the call on my phone.

3. Maps screen is displayed every time a call is made or received instead of it staying on whatever screen you are on.

Dear Diane,

 

You are perhaps a "recreational" user of this device and I'm happy for you that you like the products as it is. But the bugs and problems really get annoying when you start using the device more intensively.

nice put down.. I fail to see how one opinion is "better" than another, or one user is more "serious" vs "recreational" isn't it enough that we all just want this to be the best it can be?

I'm out of the thread, g'luck with Pioneer

Its interesting to see how many of these issues..arent issues at all on the D3. Ex:

Bluetooth volume is controlled via the knob on the D3.

All navigation functions are available on the D3 when using the bluetooth phone.

When a call comes in on the D3, the Ipod or CD pauses..then resumes at that exact same spot when the call ends.

9) Safety camera sound

When speeding, music is muted and a ridiculous 'dog-barking' sound is played..

Cross this one out completely as this feature requires a hack to work in the first place. Thats all we need is for Pioneer to disregard this effort completely because they see the problems were having is do to us hacking our units which is exactly what they will say if you indicate that we are hacking our units. Incidentally, if you wont to PM me, I can provide to you a solution to the problem of the barking dog.

1. Fix the TTS.

2. Fix the slow key response.

3. Shorten the start up time to navi screen.

Hi Vblue24,

The speedcam functionality is a standard feature in Europe. We even get a free annual subcription to the speedcam update-service via internet.

But I agree with you that if there is a hack, we can just report it, but should not make too much fuzz about it, so that they can concentrate on the real bugs and problems rather for which no hack/mod is available.

Will pm you for the solution.

Thanks for your input!

I've been adding items on my post on the 1st page so please make sure you copy them to your list before you hand them over.

Many thanks.

Support for Asian fonts

Ive noticed that if I place a call to someone from my contacts..and their name/number appears on the screen (as it should), then their name/number appears on all subsequently placed calls to other contacts, until I turn the car off/back on.

Guys,

This is not inspiring from Pioneer?

From their warranty card:

AND THIS PRODUCT IS SOLD STRICTLY “AS IS†AND “WITH ALL FAULTS".

Am I negative or I see futur fix to be a dream?

Charles