Tried searching but a lot of opinions are embedded in many many long vague threads...

Which Avic will offer me ability to use the rear view camera feature within 5-10 seconds of turning the vehicle on?

-F700/900/90bt

or

-Z3

? thanks

The F series is the slowest to offer rearview but usually will display within 6-10 seconds. All the rest of the Avic line is pretty much instantaneous.

I have an avic z1 (upgraded to a z3) with an audiovox cmos1 backup camera. When I turn my car on, put the car in reverse, it's almost instant that the camera comes on. If i"m driving and getting ready to back in to a parking space, it's instant when i put the truck into reverse. it's pretty neat - although i usually turn myself around when i back up - but the camera does come in handy if i need to see what is behind me as i back up .. it's more of a conveniance ... the camera was on sale at the time for $50 but usually goes for $99 which isn't bad. A camera made by Pioneer costs way more but to me spending almost $200 on a camera was not justifiable ..

good luck

Jamie

thanks Jamie,

would you recommend the Z-series (on a side note) over the F-series ?

If you want to save some money, my Avic-D3 comes on right away in reverse. Just be sure the camera itself is powered by accessory power, not the reverse light.

I would highly recommend the Z over the F and i'll explain why.

I was in a situtation recently that gave me the option of doing away with my Z unit and going with th F series. The reason I didn't go that route were 2 things. the screen size and the hard drive on the Z.

When comparing both the F and the Z series, I wanted to continue to be able to have a larger screen size. When driving, I didnt want to have to focus too hard on the screen because the F screen size is much smaller. Also - the maps on the z stored on a hard drive, not in flash memory or anything of that nature.

To me - if i can glance at the screen while driving and see what i need to instantly, w/o having to focus hard on words on a smaller screen then thats good enough for me.

To truely compare, u can go to the pioneer website and pull up the F900 and the Z3 and look at each item that they both have and you'll see the differences ...

i hope i've helped you ... let me know if i can be of further assistance .. .

Jamie

Also - the maps on the z stored on a hard drive, not in flash memory or anything of that nature.

How is that better? HDD is more likely to fail than flash. And the screen is 1.2" larger which honestly is not that big of a difference. I used to have 7" LCD and I don't miss it that much. Buttons, icons and text is already big enough that it will not make any difference. You'll have tiny bit more real estate but that's about it.

Thanks guys, you've given me a lot to consider, and yes, it's been a big help.

I think I like the rotary volume control on the F series because it's more like my OEM volume knob. I've been used to a 4.3" TomTom, so ANY increase in real estate will be awesome -- i also like the higher resolution of the F-series, I think that's more important to me.

I do appreciate being able to have better and quicker visualization of the map with a bigger screen -- there is no dollar value you can place on safety.

Also Im not sure if its a Huge difference as i havnt seen tests on it (May exist though) is the Flash Drive is a no Moving part instant access storage. The HDD is a moving parts and has a spin up and spin down time.

Im curious if accessing a map on the Flash memory is faster then accessing it off a HDD.