Before I purchased my new AVIC I was thinking about buying a parrot system for blue tooth (I don't have the new phone yet) but I discovered the Pioneer GPS had the blue tooth interface so I spent the extra bucks. I am planning on buying my blue tooth phone in March but some of the treads on this web site sound like there may be problems with the phone system and at least one that I read showed a fellow had both the GPS and a Parrot system installed.. What's the story, does the pioneer have problems with the phone? Should I go ahead and also install a parrot system? I use Verizon mobile.. what is the best/most compatible phone to interface with the AVIC?

Can I dial phone numbers while I am driving or do I have to be in the park mode?

What works best for you? I use my cell phone a lot and am looking forward to the blue tooth upgrade but I want to make the best choices.

at the moment, the pioneer is not the best bluetooth I have ever tried. I had the Parrot installed before I put in the Z1 and the bluetooth was better with the parrot. But I wouldn't have both the bluetooth module from the Z1 and the parrot installed at the same time. I would pick one. I gave the parrot to my brother and installed the bluetooth module from pioneer. There is a pretty good echo for the callers if it's too loud. Pioneer is working on a fix and there is an software update cd that there are rumors about which fix this bluetooth problem. I'm hoping to see that fix come out soon.

The most compatible phones are non Verizon phones. Verizon deliberately cripples the bluetooth on their phones for fun and profit. So no phone book transferring with Verizon (for the most part). Cingular and T-Mobile don't do that so their phones tend to have better bluetooth implementation. But as phones with bluetooth speaker phone compatibility, Motorola seems to be real good. LG is good too. Smart phones have the most problems.

If you bypass the Z1 you can do anything you want. If you install it like the manual says, unless you are parked, you can dial your 5 favorite numbers, you can manually dial with a # pad on the screen, or you can pick up your phone and dial from it.

Verizon sells the LG phones, does your post mean that verizon cripples the blue tooth on all of verizon phones or that they do not mess with the LG models?

Verizon sells the LG phones, does your post mean that verizon cripples the blue tooth on all of verizon phones or that they do not mess with the LG models?

Verizon pretty much cripples all phones (as many as they can, LG as well). The smart phones tend to get away with less "interference" from Verizon, but their bluetooth implementation can be problematic. Some work, some don't. Some have slightly different versions of software on the smart phones where some of the same model work great some disconnect every 30 seconds.

For the most part, smart phones have poor compatibility with bluetooth speakerphones in cars (some work fine, but they are not the norm). Stand alone phones (not pda phones) seem to work better with bluetooth speakerphones (basically what the Z1 is), but Verizon cripples them so you can't send contacts (or other files) over bluetooth. That means you would need to enter your address book manually.

I have a Verizon account now and it sounds like the verizon phones are not the best option.

Your posts are very helpful!

Mark

Well, they do try to be a pain, but your account should not be based on your ability to transfer contacts to your Z1, but more on the network your provider has in your area. In my area in NJ, Cingular was awful, there were so many dead spots and I could not get service in my office or in my home. I initially tried them out for more bluetooth stuff, but after seeing how bad the service was in my area, I went with verizon.

I would rather enter my contacts in one at a time, once than have to deal with dead zones all over the place.

The only negative with Verizon is that you might not be able to transfer your contacts to the Z1, as speakerphones, the phones verizon puts out are fine.

OK, I understand what you are saying and I will be staying with Verizon. I guess I can take an afternoon, listen to some good music and punch in the phone numbers!

Mark

That was my choice. Not that I have any love for Verizon, but in my area, they are the service provider to go to so I just had to suck it up and deal entering the numbers manually. And for the ones that I didn't, if you make a call with the phone the Z1 will pick it up. So I can pick up the phone and hit the voice command button and tell it to dial a number I know doesn't exist in the Z1 and it will end up using speaker phone with the Z1.

It doesn't take too long to enter in a phone number. And it was easy for me cause I only have 4 friends and 2 are imaginary.

And remember, whatever you put into the address book is not available while moving unless you bypass the Z1.

I have Verizon, with the LG8100 phone. As ducatiboy states, you cannot transfer phone numbers; however, the phone itself, with the bluetooth connection works great (except for the echo which is not the phones fault).

It automatically connects each time I start the vehicle, transfers to the cell phone (flip open) when I exit the vehicle, and will reconnect to the AVIC if I get back in while still talking.