I am attempting to decide between a Z120BT and an X920BT. I am aware that the Z120BT has a larger and motorized screen and 4 volt preouts, but the software for the two models is identical. I prefer the hard buttons of the 920BT and don't mind the smaller screen. Do I lose out on any features / functionality by getting a 920BT? Is the processor slower? Are boot-up times longer? Other differences?

Thanks.

With the 920 you wont get 3D landmarks or buildings and a couple other small things I cant remember right now. Get the 120.

With the 920 you wont get 3D landmarks or buildings and a couple other small things I cant remember right now. Get the 120.

Such as dual zone

Yea yea, theres another one.

With the 920 you wont get 3D landmarks or buildings and a couple other small things I cant remember right now. Get the 120.

 

Such as dual zone

And chicks.

And chicks.

And thats all that matters.

You can get the 920BT a lot cheaper, I got mine for under $750 shipped from an authorized Pioneer dealer (Al-eds) and you can get it even cheaper than that now from dealers that are actually reputable. For the 120BT, even with discounts you are going to pay several hundred dollars more for what is really a small set of additional features, screen aside.

The obvious one is the screen, and 7 inches really isn't that much more than 6.1. Personal choice really but I doubt you would look at the 6.1 screen and say "that's too small".

Other differences:

4v preouts vs. 2.2 on the 920. Even 4v is kind of low for a serious audio system, and to be honest if you are looking at doing a serious audio system where preout voltage really matters you probably wouldn't buy either of these units anyway. Pioneers are not revered for their high-end sound quality.

Motorized screen - the tilt may be useful to you if the unit is mounted low in your vehicles dash, it really depends on what you are driving.

Extra A/V output. I don't know why anyone would care about this but it's there. If you're gonna run two or more video displays in the back, such as for headrest screens, you're better off getting ones with their own little DVD players in them since I've yet to see a pair of kids in the back seat who can agree on the same video

3D landmarks. Yawn. If you live around a city that has them mapped out maybe they'd be handy but honestly, what I've seen of this feature makes it a gimmick at best.

Split-screen nav. Now this one annoys me, because I own a 920bt and there is absolutely no reason they should have disabled this feature. It makes an already marginal Nav experience worse. Then again, if you are buying either one of these for the Nav you are buying it for the wrong reasons, get one of the newer Kenwoods instead. Or a dedicated unit.

Both of these units are good for one thing: Optimum experience playing music off an iPod or an iPhone, preferably an iPhone since you can use Pandora with it, and Pandora is one of the better features of this unit. If you don't own a music player made by Apple I don't know why you would buy either one of these, there are better options available. If you primarily listen to music and watch movies off your iPhone and you are in an area with decent coverage so Pandora works well than both of these are among the best I've seen, though they definitely have their quirks.

Looking at them in that light, they are both exactly the same in which case you should just buy the cheaper one.

Well put sir.

Both of these units are good for one thing: Optimum experience playing music off an iPod or an iPhone, preferably an iPhone since you can use Pandora with it, and Pandora is one of the better features of this unit. If you don't own a music player made by Apple I don't know why you would buy either one of these, there are better options available. If you primarily listen to music and watch movies off your iPhone and you are in an area with decent coverage so Pandora works well than both of these are among the best I've seen, though they definitely have their quirks.

 

Looking at them in that light, they are both exactly the same in which case you should just buy the cheaper one.

Terrific post, thank you.

What are the better options that are available in the $750-$1200 price range?

Thanks for the wrap-up on the z120bt vs x920bt. I'm having a hard time justifying the purchases anyway but the 920 might be an easier pill to swallow esp. considering the $100 rebate I just saw started yesterday. My questions are about the dual zone and 2.2 vs 4v pre outputs.

I will be running into a PAC TATO which allows a direct connection to the stock JBL Amplifier in some Toyota vehicles.

My question is whether I will need the 4v output to make this work correctly. Are there any Toyota users with the JBL amplifier who successfully used the x920bt with the PAC TATO?

My last thought is about dual zone. My goal would be to have nav on in the front, and using the 920bt to play video on a rear monitor at the same time. Is that dual zone, or would that be possible with the 920bt? I cannot anticipate watching movies on the front screen, this would be nav only.

Thanks so much in advance.

....

My last thought is about dual zone. My goal would be to have nav on in the front, and using the 920bt to play video on a rear monitor at the same time. Is that dual zone, or would that be possible with the 920bt? I cannot anticipate watching movies on the front screen, this would be nav only.

 

Thanks so much in advance.

That would require dual zone, which the 920 does not have. So you'd need the Z110/120 , or use a separate DVD player

Both of these units are good for one thing: Optimum experience playing music off an iPod or an iPhone, preferably an iPhone since you can use Pandora with it, and Pandora is one of the better features of this unit. If you don't own a music player made by Apple I don't know why you would buy either one of these, there are better options available. If you primarily listen to music and watch movies off your iPhone and you are in an area with decent coverage so Pandora works well than both of these are among the best I've seen, though they definitely have their quirks.

 

Looking at them in that light, they are both exactly the same in which case you should just buy the cheaper one.

What are the better options for non-apple devices? I realize that these units are optimized for apple stuff, but it seems like they have the best user interface for non-apple stuff too. That's the main reason I got it. UI on other devices looks like it's from about 10 years ago. These also seem to have the highest quality screens. All the other screens I saw looked much more pixelated...very blocky fonts...stuff like that.

There are no better alternatives to Apple devices when it comes to the amount of limitations you run into with other devices. There are no such limitations with Apple devices with these units. Regardless if you do want to use something else your choices are USB flash drives and SD cards.

Vblue I think he was asking what the better alternative aside from Apple devices is. While I agree there probably isn't a better ideal other than Apple devices (and I, for the most part, don't even like Steve Jobs or Apple in particular), I don't think that's what the question was entailing.

matwithonet, I seem to remember a chap on here got a USB hard drive working for music and movies. I can't find the thread but I remember seeing it about two weeks ago, search around for it. There IS a file number and file size limitation but as Vblue already covered, you are going to run into some annoying issues if you don't use an Apple product, so that's something you have to be ready to accept.

Yea, what you said.

no...what I was asking is "What other head unit on the market is better to use with non-apple devices than the Z120BT/920BT?" I played with these units in the car audio store with my Samsung cell phone and was able to use both the streaming bluetooth and USB interface to access my music. The USB interface gives a similar means of navigating music as the iPod interface, except you can only navigate by your file structure. In other words, you can't navigate by song unless your file structure is setup that way. My file structure is by artist...so that's the only way I can navigate, which is fine. I am about 1/2 way to the song limit currently, and that's about 10 years worth of music for me...so I'm not terribly concerned about that. I also don't get to see the album art which, honestly, is probably my biggest disappointment. It'd be great to see an update someday that would allow USB/SD/microSD interface to show album art.

What I'm saying is that I don't see any other device on the market the works as well for non-apple devices as do the Z120BT/920B. Even though the units aren't optimized for non-apple devices, they still seem to handle non-apple devices the best.

Is this true, or are there other units that come to mind that do a better job of integrating with non-Apple devices?

The better option would be not to buy any of these units at all, no matter what the brand I'm serious. First, get one of the newer, larger Android phones - The Sprint Evo, The Verizon Droid X, etc - one of the ones with the 4.3 inch hi-res screen. Or the new iPhone with it's slightly smaller screen, whatever, all that matters is you get something that has an interface you like and can work with.

Then get a nice car adapter dock for it - ProClips sells the best ones, I think, though they can run you $80 for the phone dock + attachment. They look really nice though, and the docks allow you to permanently hide the usb cable (for charging, or music) so you get a nice clean look and you just pop your phone in.

Once you've done that? Forgo a DVD/Nav/etc double din unit entirely. Buy a nice single-din Eclipse or Kenwood or Alpine or something, one that accepts USB/Bluetooth audio streaming. Focus on sound quality because it really doesn't matter about the display on it since you'll:

Use the display on the phone for everything. Seriously. The new Droid X, etc screens, are, when turned sideways (which the ProClip mount allows you do do, easily) not all that much smaller than the 6.1 inch screen of the 920bt. I mean, yeah, sure it's a almost a couple inches smaller, but the point is it's big enough to do what you need it to, which is control your music right from the phone, nicely. Or anything else you want, like Navigation - I don't know if you've seen the (free) Google turn by turn Navigation on these new phones, but it's miles above the Navteq crap the current crop of Pioneers use. Or you can get TomTom/Garmin for them if that's your thing.

That's how I'd do it if I could go back and do it over. My wife just got a Droid X and when she's in the car we just use that and stream audio over bluetooth, it's a much nicer interface. Pandora support, Last.fm even, whatever you want.

I know it sounds crazy because the point of the Z120Bt/920Bt/etc is to "integrate" everything but I've come to realize that you give up a lot just to get a little bigger screen built in to your dash, one that every thief in your neighborhood is going to target at some point. These new phones with their app support and now the bigger, higher resolution screens are better in every way. If you worry about looks or having cables hanging around then just get a ProClips dock and call it done.

What does a bigger screen get you anyway with the in dash units like the x920bt? Easier to see the nav maps? Great, I get a nice large picture of a perfectly buggered Navigation system. I'd rather go down a step in size to get a better system that has awesome POI support, customizable voices and voice control, built in (free) traffic reports that are better than the crappy MSN Direct reports that you actually have to pay for, etc etc. What else is the larger screen good for, music playback? The Droid X player shows everything you need to see in nice large text and the controls are actually bigger on it's smaller screen than the ones on the Pioneer. DVD playback? Please. First, how much are you (or should you) going to watch movies in the front seat of your car, while driving, which by the way is against the law in the US? Enough that you really are going to say "you know, this 4.3 inch screen is too small, 7 inches is just the ticket?" No. You want DVD playback in the back, get a DVD player for back there, you don't want to control that crap from the front seat anyway. Your kids will figure out the play and pause buttons soon enough.

As you can probably guess I am not a fan of this, my first, and last, double-din in dash Nav/DVD/iPod unit, the x920bt. Last week I got so sick of MusicSphere - a truly terrible application considering what it is supposed to do - that I just switched control of my iPhone from the x920BT to the iPhone itself. It's mounted in my own ProClip dock and you know what? I prefer controlling it from the phone, smaller screen or not. And I get my Genius list support, which is what MusicSphere tried to be and failed at, *hard*. And I can use the actual Pandora app and not the crappy PandoraLink mess which bugs out on me at least a third of the time I try to use it.

That's my suggestion - get a good car stereo without all the frills and let the new generation of Smartphones be your controller. By a good car dock like Proclips, mount it to where you can easily reach it - chances are it'll end up closer to you than the in-dash unit - and enjoy. Smaller screen or not it's the better alternative.

There's also the iPad, which could be a truly awesome alternative (ProClips even makes a car dock for it!) but currently is a bit limited as far as it's dock and GPS capabilities. I expect as that device matures in terms of hardware and software it will become a *very* popular Car accessory.

Is this true, or are there other units that come to mind that do a better job of integrating with non-Apple devices?

The Kenwood DNX9960 will allow album art and will allow you to search by any means you would like as well as use VR on USB devices but it has similar file limitations.

I will be running into a PAC TATO which allows a direct connection to the stock JBL Amplifier in some Toyota vehicles.

My question is whether I will need the 4v output to make this work correctly. Are there any Toyota users with the JBL amplifier who successfully used the x920bt with the PAC TATO?

 

I'll be doing the install for my z120bt on my 4runner this weekend. I'm also using the PAC TATO for my JBL system. From what I understand, the V out doesn't really matter since the JBL amp will be handling the signal so the 920 or 120 should be equivalent in that respect.

The better option would be not to buy any of these units at all, no matter what the brand I'm serious. First, get one of the newer, larger Android phones - The Sprint Evo, The Verizon Droid X, etc - one of the ones with the 4.3 inch hi-res screen. Or the new iPhone with it's slightly smaller screen, whatever, all that matters is you get something that has an interface you like and can work with.

 

Then get a nice car adapter dock for it - ProClips sells the best ones, I think, though they can run you $80 for the phone dock + attachment. They look really nice though, and the docks allow you to permanently hide the usb cable (for charging, or music) so you get a nice clean look and you just pop your phone in.

 

Once you've done that? Forgo a DVD/Nav/etc double din unit entirely. Buy a nice single-din Eclipse or Kenwood or Alpine or something, one that accepts USB/Bluetooth audio streaming. Focus on sound quality because it really doesn't matter about the display on it since you'll:

 

Use the display on the phone for everything. Seriously. The new Droid X, etc screens, are, when turned sideways (which the ProClip mount allows you do do, easily) not all that much smaller than the 6.1 inch screen of the 920bt. I mean, yeah, sure it's a almost a couple inches smaller, but the point is it's big enough to do what you need it to, which is control your music right from the phone, nicely. Or anything else you want, like Navigation - I don't know if you've seen the (free) Google turn by turn Navigation on these new phones, but it's miles above the Navteq crap the current crop of Pioneers use. Or you can get TomTom/Garmin for them if that's your thing.

 

That's how I'd do it if I could go back and do it over. My wife just got a Droid X and when she's in the car we just use that and stream audio over bluetooth, it's a much nicer interface. Pandora support, Last.fm even, whatever you want.

 

I know it sounds crazy because the point of the Z120Bt/920Bt/etc is to "integrate" everything but I've come to realize that you give up a lot just to get a little bigger screen built in to your dash, one that every thief in your neighborhood is going to target at some point. These new phones with their app support and now the bigger, higher resolution screens are better in every way. If you worry about looks or having cables hanging around then just get a ProClips dock and call it done.

 

What does a bigger screen get you anyway with the in dash units like the x920bt? Easier to see the nav maps? Great, I get a nice large picture of a perfectly buggered Navigation system. I'd rather go down a step in size to get a better system that has awesome POI support, customizable voices and voice control, built in (free) traffic reports that are better than the crappy MSN Direct reports that you actually have to pay for, etc etc. What else is the larger screen good for, music playback? The Droid X player shows everything you need to see in nice large text and the controls are actually bigger on it's smaller screen than the ones on the Pioneer. DVD playback? Please. First, how much are you (or should you) going to watch movies in the front seat of your car, while driving, which by the way is against the law in the US? Enough that you really are going to say "you know, this 4.3 inch screen is too small, 7 inches is just the ticket?" No. You want DVD playback in the back, get a DVD player for back there, you don't want to control that crap from the front seat anyway. Your kids will figure out the play and pause buttons soon enough.

 

As you can probably guess I am not a fan of this, my first, and last, double-din in dash Nav/DVD/iPod unit, the x920bt. Last week I got so sick of MusicSphere - a truly terrible application considering what it is supposed to do - that I just switched control of my iPhone from the x920BT to the iPhone itself. It's mounted in my own ProClip dock and you know what? I prefer controlling it from the phone, smaller screen or not. And I get my Genius list support, which is what MusicSphere tried to be and failed at, *hard*. And I can use the actual Pandora app and not the crappy PandoraLink mess which bugs out on me at least a third of the time I try to use it.

 

That's my suggestion - get a good car stereo without all the frills and let the new generation of Smartphones be your controller. By a good car dock like Proclips, mount it to where you can easily reach it - chances are it'll end up closer to you than the in-dash unit - and enjoy. Smaller screen or not it's the better alternative.

 

There's also the iPad, which could be a truly awesome alternative (ProClips even makes a car dock for it!) but currently is a bit limited as far as it's dock and GPS capabilities. I expect as that device matures in terms of hardware and software it will become a *very* popular Car accessory.

I agree that's a viable option. It's actually similar to what I started with. Even my Samsung 3.7" screen was big enough to navigate through everything I needed to. It's easier to do on the Pioneer screen, though. I think I find the larger screen to be a bigger benefit than you do. There's also something nice about having it integrated. So, for me, it goes beyond the functionality. We'll see how I feel after some time using the navigation...see if it meets my requirements of finding crap and getting me to it! I also wanted to get bluetooth phone/audio, and I also wanted to play with Pioneer's latest interface to see how user friendly they've been able to make an integrated touch-screen. That was actually one of the key things I bought it for. I realize that smartphone touch-screens are still better in their logic, but I wanted to see what was new in the headunit world. I think they did a great job. Hopefully there will be future updates to make it even better!