So I have had the F90BT for 3 weeks now, but had the D1 before. and overall, im thinking about returning the F90BT and getting the D3, although I never had the D3.

I would like opinions and votes which one to get?

Keep the F90BT (and hope for a "POSSIBLE" future update that hopefully will fix the major problems)

or

Get the Avic-D3!

Please help in the decision making (and possibly state why)! Thanks!

ya know....the 90bt isnt all that bad...ive got the 900, same thing prety much.

make sure you have the update...if you dont have the update there is your problem, if you are updated, im not sure why you would want to get rid of it. What ever hype was all about the Loading times, it doesnt phase me at all, and im getting remote start hooked up soon so it will really be a thing of the past.

Plus the new F series looks amazing, software and hardware. And its HD basied, no more disk.

Plus, im sure your getting better pre outs with the 90, i dont know the specs on the D3 though.

thats all i got at the moment. I know there is more, but i honestly havnt used the D3 and ive been up all night

map disc? you cant play video's off an Ipod while its in your glovebox, VR and blurtooth built in... its not even a question for me

F-series FTW

map disc? you cant play video's off an Ipod while its in your glovebox, VR and blurtooth built in... its not even a question for me

F-series FTW

yeah, but the ipod won't play my videos right now either. i have the 60GB Video ipod, and everytime i go to videos, it will show the title of the video, but only a black screen.

plus the bluetooth is so bad, it gets caught up and freezes my unit every once in a while.

and the gps trackin is always late. everytime i make a turn, it takes 1-2 seconds for the unit to follow.

any ideas tho why my ipod doesn't play the videos but only shows a black screen, YET shows the title of the video on the bottom??

my Ipod works great, never have a bluetooth problem (except for not tranfering contacts, but thats been fixed). it always tell me to turn at the right time.

check the settings on the ipod itself, i think it might be the video out setting

have you udated the bluetooth software?

my Ipod works great, never have a bluetooth problem (except for not tranfering contacts, but thats been fixed). it always tell me to turn at the right time.

 

check the settings on the ipod itself, i think it might be the video out setting

 

have you udated the bluetooth software?

hm...regarding the video out...i will check on this, but i have no idea how. im assuming its in the ipod option somewhere, right?

regarding the gps, well it tells me when to turn in time, however, when i just cruise around w/o guidance, EVERY turn i make appears 1-3 seconds later on the map. it actually thinks i go straight, but then 3 seconds later corrects itself to the right road. can that be fixed??

regarding the bluetooth update...well, i just purchased the f90bt 3 weeks ago, and it came w/ update 2.0 so i assumed that it had the newest bluetooth update on it. am i wrong with that??

I imagine it should have come with the upgrade, but just know that I also thought mine had the update, and it didnt, once i updated it I had some BT problems and it kinda just fixed itself.

Acouple things to check out for the Ipod

1) AV1 is set to "Ipod"

....and well...thats all i got, I plug my Iphone in and it plays the movies that are on there, I plan on buying a 120gb Ipod Clasic to throw all the music videos and movies on when i get around to it, but again, I dont have that one so i dont know whats behind it....there is a TV Out selection, not sure how to get to it off the top of my head, but should be easy to find knowing its there, Just check out all the options settings and stuff.

Do you get all the music play back and stuff too? That should be your problem though, the TV out.

well i just double checked my version of bluetooth on the unit with pioneer's website, and i DO have the newest version. what bothers me is that sometimes when ppl hang up, it takes up to 2-3 minutes sometimes for the music to kick back in. that can't be normal.

regarding the ipod, yeah i have the AV1 set to ipod, and the music and art album plays perfect. i have the 5th generation ipod video, and according to specs, it should play videos. everytime i go to videos, it only shows the title of the video on the bottom of the screen, BUT no video. and even if i press the actual ipod pause/play button, that symbol appears in the black screen as well.

im gonna have to find that "tv out" option.

thanks for you help so far

One question... do your iPOD movies actually play on your ipod by itself? I know that when I first tried uploading movies to my ipod I thought they were in the right format, but wouldn't play. Once I re-encoded the videos in ipod format it worked perfectly.

The best thing the F series has going for it is the VR and hackability (which I don't think is a word LOL). Other than that, I think it is a failure on Pioneer's part. The concept is great and if everything was faster, less buggy, and the BT was better then it would be a winner. I think the new Kenwood coming out this summer is going to take everything the F series should have been and it is going to deliver as they are going to learn from Pioneer's mistakes and cash in on it. Just my .02

For the record, I owned the D3 before selling it and going with the F90BT.

The best thing the F series has going for it is the VR and hackability (which I don't think is a word LOL). Other than that, I think it is a failure on Pioneer's part. The concept is great and if everything was faster, less buggy, and the BT was better then it would be a winner. I think the new Kenwood coming out this summer is going to take everything the F series should have been and it is going to deliver as they are going to learn from Pioneer's mistakes and cash in on it. Just my .02

 

For the record, I owned the D3 before selling it and going with the F90BT.

so your honest truth, do you regret moving to the f90bt from the d3? or would you much rather still have the d3 if you had an option?

i think im gonna return my f90bt, and put my avic-d1 back in until the summer. cuz i hear from rumors thats when pioneer is going to release a new update and a possible new model of the f-series.

so bascially, im gonna drive around with my d1 for now, not sure if im gonna get the d3 meanwhile, and then in the summer, get the new version of the f-series, or the kenwood one. lets see whats better.

but overall, im very disappointed with the f90bt. even the gps is like 100-200 feet off. whenever i pass an intersection, i would pass it, and the gps would still be behind.

but regarding the ipod, yeah the videos work on the ipod itself.

As far as a new F series, there will be no hardware improvements, just a software update and possibly new maps and a change of the model number. You will be able to get the same update and upgrade with your current unit so it doesn't make sense to get rid of it only to buy it again at full pop price in a couple of months. The D3, in my opinion, is a good unit but doesn't compare to the F series, even with all of its quirks. Make sure TV OUT on the ipod is turned on and make sure the yellow RCA cable is plugged in on the video input and video should be viewable from the unit. I say keep what you have at least until the update is released and then make your decision.

Well I actually do have both the F90 and the D3 (in two cars obviously)

The rundown is this:

If you want your Ipod to play videos, F Series. The D3 doesn't play video off an ipod but the F does and mine works perfectly with a 4 year old ipod 20gb whatever that is.

The D3 does not have ANY glitchs. I have XM and Bluetooth and both work perfectly with many phones and ipods. The F does. My F is very glitchy when it comes to bluetooth with a Blackberry Curve but I have heard that the iphone as well as meany other phones work perfectly. I think its the Blackberry causing this one.

The F is cheaper and definitly looks WAY better both exterior and graphics. I love the graphics on the F. They are very DOS looking on the D3

The D3 has a very easy to use GUI on the NAV side. But that too is a tough call. The graphics on the F are far superior to the D3 but the D3 seems a little more responsive to zooming and just plain quickness. This one is a close 50/50 to me.

Just my 2 cents. Hope it helps.

hey thomaskohl,

THANK YOU SOOOOO much for your input. i really appreciate the very detailed comparison between the f90bt and the d3 you made. thats exactly what i needed.

however, my f90bt also started to randomly reboot itself as im driving, (for no reason), and the number 1 problem that bothers me is the inaccuracy of the map. im actually about 100-200 feet ahead of the unit and i can tell on that based on driving by intersecting roads or under/over bridges. i would pass them, and 2 seconds later, the unit would follow. also, the turning bothers me, same thing, 1-2 seconds delay.

regarding what i should do. well i just bought the f90bt for about $600 off ebay brand new w/ 2.0 update, and the seller said i could return it for a full refund, so basically, i would make my money back, stay with the D1 that i originally had, and wait til the summer.

if the update fixes everything, im assuming the f90bt will be cheaper in 5 months than now, and if the update doesn't fix what i need to be fixed, then im going with the D3 or the new kenwood coming out.

because i can always buy the f90bt again, i just can't keep it now, and if i don't like it, sell it for less cuz its used...

what do you think?

Sorry, I really haven't had much time to use the F90's nav system, but I know that on my Magellan GPS that I used to have in my car that it wasn't dead on either. It would register a turn about a second after I had actually made it. Not sure if that is just typical of most nav systems?

Sorry, I really haven't had much time to use the F90's nav system, but I know that on my Magellan GPS that I used to have in my car that it wasn't dead on either. It would register a turn about a second after I had actually made it. Not sure if that is just typical of most nav systems?

hey, its not typical because i had the avic-d1 before this, and it would ALWAYS register the turn as you make the turn because it had a "gyro-sensor". however, the f90bt should have one too, but for some reason it doesn't seem to work as well.

also, the f90bt doesn't have a "fly-mode", where the d1 would continue on the map even off road if there was no road available

hey, its not typical because i had the avic-d1 before this, and it would ALWAYS register the turn as you make the turn because it had a "gyro-sensor". however, the f90bt should have one too, but for some reason it doesn't seem to work as well.

 

also, the f90bt doesn't have a "fly-mode", where the d1 would continue on the map even off road if there was no road available

It seems that F90 will only use gyro/VSS if it senses the loss of GPS signal...

It does, however, have off-road mode, just by default it is set to snap to roads.

hey, its not typical because i had the avic-d1 before this, and it would ALWAYS register the turn as you make the turn because it had a "gyro-sensor". however, the f90bt should have one too, but for some reason it doesn't seem to work as well.

 

also, the f90bt doesn't have a "fly-mode", where the d1 would continue on the map even off road if there was no road available

 

It seems that F90 will only use gyro/VSS if it senses the loss of GPS signal...

 

It does, however, have off-road mode, just by default it is set to snap to roads.

wait...are you serious??? would u mind telling me how to set it to off-road mode???? i didn't know u could do that!

wait...are you serious??? would u mind telling me how to set it to off-road mode???? i didn't know u could do that!

For F500 this is enabled by default. For built-in models, you'd need to either edit variable definitions, or you could use my Setting.UI files -- then you will have a button in Route Settings screen to turn it on or off (progress Report thread, Hacks forum).

so would that basically enable the gps into a "fly-mode" meaning that no matter how i drive, even off road into a parking lot, the gps won't try to connect me to a road but actually will show that im off map? just like the d1 does?

cuz i hate pulling into a parking lot, n the unit always tries to put me on a road close by.

...but overall, im very disappointed with the f90bt. even the gps is like 100-200 feet off. whenever i pass an intersection, i would pass it, and the gps would still be behind.

...

If you don't have the Vss hooked up, hooking it up should improve the response in tracking a lot....

so would that basically enable the gps into a "fly-mode" meaning that no matter how i drive, even off road into a parking lot, the gps won't try to connect me to a road but actually will show that im off map? just like the d1 does?

 

cuz i hate pulling into a parking lot, n the unit always tries to put me on a road close by.

Yes, there's a "snap to road" setting for iGO that can be turned off.

I have had my F90 since Dec 08 and I haven't had the issues you are having with the video or with the Navigation. Quick question... are you trying to watch a video while your parked and if so do you have the parking wire connected correctly or do you have the by-pass setup? You should be able to watch videos, movies without trouble using F90. Also where do you have your antenna installed are you receive a strong signal? Don't get me wrong, the F90 has more than it's fair share of issues but everything you are describing sounds like installation issues and not hardware or software issue, I could be wrong but that is what it sound like to me as far as the Navigation goes. As for the Bluetooth... have you tried re-installing the Bluetooth update again? I have a BlackBerry Curve 8310 and it works perfectly. I used to get long hanging but then I lowered the master volume and for whatever reason it doesn't do that any more. Now when I hang up the phone it plays the music 10-15 seconds later. Hope that helps

Regarding the inaccuracies with the GPS on the f90bt....Did you hook up the VSS wire and the reverse gear wire? It states in the manual that this will cause inaccuracies if you do not hook up these wires.

Hey guys,

to answer all the questions, yes the VSS signal is perfectly hooked up and so is the reverse signal. I had them connected and working perfectly with my Avic-D1, and when I took out the unit, i simply reconnected the VSS and reverse wire to the new unit.

regarding the gps antenna, it is in the SAME exact place it used to be for the d1 where everything worked perfect, it is in my far left corner of my dashboard right under the windshield.

in regards to the bluetooth, to gruvncbn, waiting 10-15 seconds for the music to kick in is a LONG time, my music usually kicks in 1-2 seconds after the call, BUT sometimes gets stuck and waits 30-60 seconds.

also, my unit is not bypassed, and watching movies of SD works perfect while parked, but the ipod won't play them and i double checked the rca wires, they are connected right.