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New AVIC impressions (good and bad)

By rrolff · Apr 24, 2010in General💬 2 posts👁️ 882 views
Posted Apr 24, 2010 · 01:35 UTC#1

Background - I do many posts at priuschat.com - and previously had one of the first 'foreign (Chinese knock off)' installs on a 2010 Prius (you had to buy a special $120 surround from the UK and out in a 200 x 100mm HU). Loved the HU for the most part, fully hacked, WinCE5.0, great navs (your choice) - and it plugged into a Toyota - meaning *no* wire cuts or mods. Programming steering meant you pressed a button on the HU, pressed the steering button, and assigned it. No PAC SWI, came with a remote (no PAC WRI) 800x480 display, and generally a good product - all for around $550. Totaled my car, and got a new one, so had a new choice (at the time, there wasn't even a 2DIN adapter - you had to use the 200x100).

 

Bought the Z110 with XM. So it's only been in a few days - but a few impressions (i've read a bit here)...

 

Positives:

Still trying to figure how to use some functions - but in general, this is far more solid than the Chinese thing (no duhhh) for Bluetooth (sound and connection). General sound is better (and it was good before). Moving around through menus is also better. The Dolby surround is really very good (despite missing a center channel).

 

Negatives (??) not sure if they are accurate as I have little time on it...

* way bright in sound for FM - this may just be due to everything coming through

* The FM tuner section is not nearly as good at bringing in stations (I'm in So Cal - Orange Co).

 

I was expecting some weird issues with XM - but all the presets show up (many have mentioned they don't).

 

Thinking about HD just to get rid of the FM issues.

Posted Apr 24, 2010 · 10:51 UTC#2

FM reception is typically the least of your worries with a Pioneer so you may have an install issue. And if you do decide to do HD radio, that and sirius will not label your presets, XM has always done that properly