Just got my SDs in the mail today and performed the upgrade. Everything went great aside from the error at 98% of the 2nd SD that required a retry. The following are significantly faster now:

1. Touch screen response

2. iPod VR catalog activation

3. Bluetooth phone connect

4. Navigating/playing media off of SD cards

Unit seems to take just as long to start up, but it's a lot more responsive while still booting than it used to be. Have not had a chance to make any calls or drive around with it.

Very sad that it took 2 years and $68 to get it to this level of performance, but yeah... Anyway, so far so good!

And oh yeah, going to just hang on to my SD cards as well. Considering past history with my F900BT, I'm assuming I will need them for a reinstall in the future...

I know this has been asked, and yes I did search but didn't find a solid answer.

I purchased the upgrade for the F700BT. I have 2 radios, I upgraded one and didn't realize you had to purchase 2 sets for two radios. Does anyone know if there's a work-around for this? Is there a multi-unit discound, or is there a hack for finding the password for the second unit? Any info or links would really be appreciated.

Thanks.

I just finished upgrading and everything went as smooth as silk. This is exactly what this unit needed. Just like everyone else, I'm finding the boot time the same, but the touch screen response is fantastic now. I'll find out how the BT works very soon. My current phone plan is expiring next week and I'm going to upgrade to a BT phone. The time it takes to read my 16GB SD card is also still about the same too, but before the EQ button was very sluggish at best. Now it's like my finger gets close to it and it changes to a different EQ setting. I still have to go for a cruise to see how the navi is working, but I had to post how impressed I am with the touch screen. I don't mean to rub it in to any of you guys who bought this unit when it first came out, but I paid $450 for mine in January of this year. Add the $68 upgrade and it is now a very good sub $500 system. I have to thank you early buyers though... Because of you, us AVIC-F series noobies are a lot better off.

Just got back from a short cruise and the navi is way better now too. The addition of the 2D directional setting is great. Road signs are cool too. I don't see any street names in 3D now unless I zoom in. Looks like I may be in for a little modding.

I have to rate this upgrade as A+. This includes the install also, with the exception of the time it takes. It took about 50 minutes start to finish.

the upgrade was great. Yes, it did take a while and i did leave my car engine on so i would not drain my battery, which was a waste of some gas. I only had to hit the retry button once during the install when it reached 98%, but other than that, the install was very great. I agree that entering in the product key was obnoxious in that they hid the text. That was not swift. Also, i always assumed that a 0 was zero, and not an O. That seemed to help w/ the product key.

The avic f700bt is so much faster now in every way. The screen is much more responsive. The best part is that playing movies off the SD card is significantly better. The unit was basically frozen if you tried to play a movie off the SD card. Now you can scan thru other movies/etc while playing them off the SD card. It almost makes it not necessary to play movies off the itouch. The POI is also improved, i can now find a few new stores that i could not find. Also, i really like the highway signs that pop up when you approach an exit. The beeping is less annoying. Also, all my settings for my phone were still there, but i did lose my GPS favorite locations. I think you can back those up to the SD card, which would have been a good suggestion for pioneer to write in their install manual, instead of just telling you that you are going to lose the info. So overall i think it was worth $60.

BTW, has anyone tried any of the hacks w/ this updated version?

I'd have to agree with the last few posts on here. The upgrade on my F90 was super easy!! I have not noticed any better boot up time, but the unit is much faster with the buttons and screen clicks. One interesting thing was that it kept all of my settings! So no issues there.

So far I'd have to say that I'm REALLY impressed with the MSN DIRECT upgrade. I live in the northeast in an area where MSN has always said I have really good coverage, however I've always had horrible reception. After talking with Pioneer initially about it, we blamed it on the fact that I have an etched antenna built into my rear window. I figured what the hell, I get 3 free months...whateva.

But now with the MSN firmware update, I get a strong signal EVERYWHERE! Looks like it really did have to do with the firmware. I think one of the major issues with the previous firmware was that the MSN tuner would not change channel freq's early enough when it was getting bad signal to noise. When looking at the diag screen for the MSN I can see it looking for the best feq to tune into constantly as I'm moving around.

The new traffic flow features on the new maps is also awesome! It already saved me from a traffic jam today! Now only if they can offer the doppler radar!

I know the MSN thing is not a big deal to most people, but coming from Garmin land where I used to use their traffic features, this is a big upgrade to me.

Cheers Pioneer!! This was totally worth 65bucks!

I actually threw caution to the wind and did not leave my engine running when I performed this. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what alternators are for? Won't it just recharge? I had no problems at all starting my car after letting the update run for an hour or so.

I actually threw caution to the wind and did not leave my engine running when I performed this. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what alternators are for? Won't it just recharge? I had no problems at all starting my car after letting the update run for an hour or so.

It'll work, if you have a good battery, but if you would draw down the battery voltage below AVIC's cutoff while upgrading, it would leave AVIC in a very messed up state...

I actually threw caution to the wind and did not leave my engine running when I performed this. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what alternators are for? Won't it just recharge? I had no problems at all starting my car after letting the update run for an hour or so.

 

It'll work, if you have a good battery, but if you would draw down the battery voltage below AVIC's cutoff while upgrading, it would leave AVIC in a very messed up state...

Yep, happened to me, was messing with it so much while the password site was down I drained my battery, it died in the middle of a file transfer bricking my unit. Was able to get everything working again after jumping my truck by using the complete reformat & reinstall of 2.0 but what a pain!!

Just keep the motor running to be safe.

While I was updating mine I put a 2 amp battery charger on it and left the engine off. All went great.

Good idea!

99 time out of 100 it should be fine but I won't take that chance again.

thats really cool the MSN traffic works better. makes me wish i got the 900 version, but it was already a push to get the 700.

I got my 3.0 installed last night and spent some time using it today. My biggest concerns are the missing road names in 3D mode (when zoomed out above 500ft) and I also can't get my hard buttons to stay one color. Every time I turn the unit off and restart the car, it defaults back to the changing multicolor scheme. Is there a certain way to save a custom color?

Yea, my install (on an un-modded unit) went perfect!

I'm quite sure those with big problems either can't read directions, too impatient, or modded the unit so as to prevent correct updating.

Thanks Pioneer for making my unit much better.

Carcass

Great update. Install went well with one problem. When I inputted the activation code I did it three times with a popup window saying an incorrect code was entered,before I realized that the calibration was off just a little on my screen. As you enter the code it only shows as ********* rather that the actual entry. Major pain in the southern regions. So before upgrading make sure your screen calibration is exactly on. If it's not and you push a letter or number key sometimes the key just below will be selected. I realized this during the entry as I watched the button as I pushed it, the selected key briefly lights up. At any rate after completing the install, I calibrated my screen using the calibration stylus. The upgrade absolutely made the keys easier to select, and the new 2D heads up is outstanding. The comments in this forum were invaluable. Read through all of them. Leave your motor running. The songs on my USB memory stick played with any trouble and came up fast. Boot time is still about the same. The new map display is great, with a good readable clock.

The 3.0 upgrade was a breeze. I did experience the error at 99%, but a single retry corrected the problem and the upgrade finished successfully. So far, the unit is much, much more responsive. The MSN Direct feature works flawlessly, receiving the updates much faster and getting a much stronger signal.

All in all, I'm very happy with the purchase.

I got two retry notices, one at about 48% and then at 99%, but it went through. The unit is definitely more responsive and the annoying key beeps have a better sound. Not so annoying anymore. Still wish you could turn them off completely. New MSN works great too. Good experience here.

Great upgrade! Process went through without any errors at all. I backed up my battery with a battery changer instead of leaving my car running for an hour. I accessed Pioneers website to get my unlock code through my iphone.

So far everything looks great with excellent response. MSN Direct works so much better signal is SO MUCH STRONGER!!! At home where I would barely get any bars at all now bars are FULL and receive the updates instantly. There is a lot more that can be improved but compared to 2.0 firmware this is HUGE.

Cheers !

MSN should give us another month for free. I didn't renew my subscription because the signal strength was always weak and I needed to reset the unit every couple days for it to work. If it's been corrected, it might be worth the price.

Did my install this morning of 3.0. I had no hack on my unit except that the shop who installed it put one of the bypass on it more than likely it was hardware. Anyway, I live in an apartment building so I had to take my laptop outside and use my iphone hack to get internet. Installation was pretty much straight forward except that at 99% I had an error and I pressed retry and it went though. I also had it change the splash screen as the one I had was just a cloudy picture.

I checked my connection, backup camera works, Blutooth works, Iphone 3g works music and video, my msn direct updated also, my xm works and I also got the station icons. The 2d looks good also and the button noise is better than before. I didn't drive the car around the block so not sure how that works yet.. all in all it was an ok experience and will check back when I update.

Glad I did the official update than the hack as I know I would have screwed my system up if I had did the hack. Oh, and the update took about 1 hour. Had my V8 running for an hour drinking up gas

Just finished 3.0 upgrade - not a single problem. My unit is [edit] F900BT unhacked, no mods. I upgraded to 2.006 first because it says it improves future updates. No hangs on the updates at all. Went from Map 01.000800, firmware 2.000000 to Map 02.000400, firmware 3.020100. The password site was a breeze.

Played around a bit, boot time similar, starts playing iPod quicker. iPod catalogue was still there, contacts intact, phone (XV6800 SmartPhone) connected quicker. Didn't make a call or test maps. The thing I noticed that seemed unchanged was in the iPod screen, touching the back/forward areas to replay a song. I always have trouble with that screen not responding well - takes several touches to get the track replayed. Otherwise, the touch response is greatly improved.

Good luck....

F700BT, no hacks or mods,

It was a flawless upgrade experience, no retry issues.

The new map screen graphics are great, I can see the time and speed indicators!

The unit itself has much faster responses to screen presses, the ipod interface seems to be about the same, I haven't seen any differences yet.

I only use the GPS a few times a month, so it may take a few before I get some better feedback on routing and navigation.

My install went without a hitch and response is faster as has been said here.

The one thing I have noticed that still needs major improvement is the bluetooth. It sometimes still takes some time for the screen to show the call. This is a problem because if I accidently dial the wrong number I can;t quickly disconnect.

MSN should give us another month for free. I didn't renew my subscription because the signal strength was always weak and I needed to reset the unit every couple days for it to work. If it's been corrected, it might be worth the price.

I want to put a 64 gig flash drive on mine.... have they solved the flash drive issues? If not, I will not spend money on this upgrade.