Well this is a forum and it is here for people to relay their thoughts. Many people feel that some of the features of this unit are lacking for the money they spent. Keep in mind the same problems carry over to the flagship unit Z120BT as well. And when the previous units had better navi at an even cheaper price there really is no excuse for the lack of features in these units.

 

Bingo. Pioneer has taken a HUGE step backwards in features and options while other manufacturers are adding more to their units at every price point. Why people are defending that I don't know. This is when other manufacturers already offered more features than previous models so Pioneer's idea of being more competitive is to remove features, remove functionality and lower the price? What's next, a cardboard box with a map of where you live taped to it for $250? Seems like if it's cheap enough someone will buy it and love it.

We're all sorry that Bluetooth didn't work out for YOU in YOUR car. Luckily, for ME, it works fine in MY car. It apparently works in ALOT of peoples' cars. I was a big doubter based on comments found here. However, actual use of the unit, in MY case, made me see that alot of comments here are eronious opinion.

Pioneer's interface for DVD, iPod and radio is far cleaner and easier to deal with, in MY opinion. Is it cheap? Beats me. Did Kenwood spend more on its plant in China than Pioneer did? Beats me. Can Kenwood justify at least double-the-price for a product that can be had for $120 from Garmin? Probably, since it would be bad public relations to have an inexpensive unit in a Lambo, or a McLaren. Is Garmin the best navigation? It certainly is the most user-friendly. If simplicity is what you're after, then the Garmin interface is the simplest.

Since I'm a bit of a tech-geek, simple isn't the most important feature. Personally, with all the changes going on in this "space", a cheaper unit is better for me, as I will likely change this out in the next 24 months, hopefully when Android is the operating system being used on my next car system.

At least it's good to see that you and VBLUE42 have made up and are now in harmony over your Kenwoods.

Of course, this is a Pioneer forum, so don't be surprised if Pioneer owners, who actually find their products good, chime in and defend them, regardless of your personal experience with Bluetooth and finding cheap products on Craigslist (which was extremely fortunate for you).

Lack of features? You must be kidding. "The point of the thread is to point out the lack of features"?

 

The title of this thread is "Quality of Navigation" and the quality is lacking compared to other units. Especially when we are talking about the 120 which this unit shares the same navi software with. And I have detailed the lack of features on another forum. No one is saying this unit has a lack of features over the whole unit. It in fact is fairly well designed on the AV side but the navi is poor compared to every other unit Pioneer has ever released. the navi in the AVIC D3 is more advanced then these newer units and that unit is nearly four years old.

NO WAY. I owned the D3 and the 920 is light years ahead of it. You may be the head honcho around here but you are dead wrong. The 920 is faster, cleaner maps, better poi support, supports routing preference "learning", easier to put in address in and the VR is a huge advancement. Like any VR not perfect but a big advance. This unit is also light years ahead of the D3 in terms of Blu tooth. It supports additional profiles(pc sync). One example being the whole phonebook transfers at once. You had to push each contact one at a time on the D3. Have you even used the 920? The only feature i can think the D3 had over the 920 is XM Nav traffic.

Your post seriously undermines your credibility. I am through on this. You can continue to talk smack, nonsense that is.

+1

Have you even used the 920? The only feature i can think the D3 had over the 920 is XM Nav traffic.

Your post seriously undermines your credibility. I am through on this. You can continue to talk smack, nonsense that is.

Then you clearly know not what the 110/120/920 lacks that the older units don't. And I guess thats the reason I am the "head honcho" around here. Because I know what I am talking about and have years of experience with these units. Not just a month or so like some of you. And you need to pay attention to what I write. I said the navi in the D3 was better and it is. Clearly Pioneer added some stuff to the navi that wasn't on previous units that does make it easier to use but they turn write around and took stuff off that people valued and now miss in what is suppose to be a newer unit.

the best part about the D# is that it was STABLE, it didnt have anywhere near the software glitches and issues that now have plagued the F/X/Z series, and thats what makes the D3 a better nav system, of course the half a decade newer system will have newer features that where not available back then, but you can put factory BT and heated seats in a brand new cavali...colbalt, but its still not going to be as nice of a ride or as quiet as a 5 year old cadillac.

again i would haven't to be so negative if there where not so many issues, but then again my opinion is just that, an opinion, you can listen or ignore it, its not going to hurt my feelings any.

I guess I just don't understand the intended usage of the X920BT nav functions... I've had many nav units, iWay, Garmin, Tomtom and Acura OEM. This Pioneer confounds me.

I have no idea how I am supposed to do simple things like 'Find the Hilton Hotel in San Francisco'.

Can someone tell me how this is supposed to work on the X920BT?

Searching by POI --> Hotel is useless. The only thing that I've found that works is to look up the address for where I want to go on my iPhone, then enter the address on the X920BT.

Really disappointed with this nav. Thoughts?

J.

I guess I just don't understand the intended usage of the X920BT nav functions... I've had many nav units, iWay, Garmin, Tomtom and Acura OEM. This Pioneer confounds me.

 

I have no idea how I am supposed to do simple things like 'Find the Hilton Hotel in San Francisco'.

 

Can someone tell me how this is supposed to work on the X920BT?

 

Searching by POI --> Hotel is useless. The only thing that I've found that works is to look up the address for where I want to go on my iPhone, then enter the address on the X920BT.

 

Really disappointed with this nav. Thoughts?

J.

While most nav units have POIs that number in the millions the Pioneer seems to have a list that numbers into the dozens, maybe. I didn't have any luck finding anything unless I looked up the address and just types it in manually. Even then half the time it said that address didn't exist. It's funny how people who own Pioneer decks w/o the ability to get something else want to argue about it but the simple fact is that it's just awful and that's being polite. If you want my thought on the topic (which you requested) it would be to cut your losses and get something else if a usable nav is something that's important to you. There will be others who post here shortly saying your nuts for wanting a nav with features & functionality so you'll get plenty of input that spans the subject.

I have no idea how I am supposed to do simple things like 'Find the Hilton Hotel in San Francisco'.

Try to look it up by just spelling "Hilton" and see what happens.

this is exactly the type of st!t that i am talking about, i always have to use my blackberry to find the places i want to go to and then i input the address, and half the time it tells me that it is an invalid address, aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh this is so stupid, god i wish blackberry made radios

i like how the phone book or google will show one address and the damn pioneer will have it in either a different city(neighboring city) or the road changes and pioneer has it all wrong.

My opinoin is that the D3's nav was so much better than the X920BT. But I still think it could be worse. My biggest gripe is EVERY EXIT NUMBER it mentions is WRONG. I'm in Pittsburgh and yes, they do change exit numbers occaisionally, but it's getting exits wrong that have been different for years if changed at all, it's not as if this was a 2009 2010 issue. It's really really aggrivating because I would never trust this nav on an actual trip. I've only played with it for 1 hour trips around my city. The Navigon app on my iphone is at least 10 times better than the pioneer and I always find myself relying on it rather than my head unit, which is a shame. On a 1-10 scale i'd give the pioneer nav about a 6 and had I purchased it for the navigation alone it would have gone back.

Can anyone confirm if there is still an option to find a location by telephone number in the X920BT? I loved this feature of the D3 and used it 90% of the time when trying to locate a place.

None of the 2010 Pioneer units have phone number search.

One thing you can do is using the AViC feeds software and Google maps is enter locations on google map and send them to the avic feeds software. The software then saves the locations as contacts ( phone numbers). Once transferred to the Avic920 you can simply select the contact from the phone book and it will route you to that location.

Not exactly searching by phone number but a quick way to navigate to a location using the phonebook / contacts.

Of course this will only work if you have one of the only two phones that AVIC FEEDS supports so this is hardly a solution for everyone.

I have used several Garmin units over the years, and when I started using this X910BT, I was amazed at how inferior is it. It's not that it doesn't work or give accurate directions. It's just too un-intuitive to use. I never had to read a Garmin manual. With this Pioneer, even after I read the directions, I'm in the dark. For any serious traveling, I put the Garmin in its bracket on the dash.

Jerry

I tried the AVIC feeds for the first time a little while ago, also gave the ECO graph a try, seemed interesting to me but not all that practical on both. The phone number search was a really great idea and was a quick way to navigate on my old unit. The AVIC feeds has an option to take a picture and then add a geo location tag...but that would mean i've already been to the spot, just a way to get back. It's really not practical IMO. I find myself using the navigon app on my phone more and more instead of the X920BT. The ECO graph was a fun distraction as all the little animals started popping up, but when you come to a stop, you are apparently not being very ECO friendly. My full time 4 wheel drive FJ is not exactly a "green" vehicle to begin with, again, this funciton is a fun thing to look at, but just doesnt seem to truly be doing all that much.

I took a Vegas trip last weekend and the GPS kept trying to take me on unpaved and unmarked roads. I could not fin the option to avoid these roads anywhere. All in all Garmin GPS is more user friendly and accurate. I wish some buttons, i.e. the OK buttons for route planning were much larger (at least 4x).

I took a Vegas trip last weekend and the GPS kept trying to take me on unpaved and unmarked roads. I could not fin the option to avoid these roads anywhere. All in all Garmin GPS is more user friendly and accurate. I wish some buttons, i.e. the OK buttons for route planning were much larger (at least 4x).

That's the kind of thing I would likely complain to Pioneer about, both by telephone and in print (email).

That's the only way these things will ever get rectified.

and you never know when it will be too late:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101006/od_afp/canadatransportpoliceoffbeat_20101006163413

That's the kind of thing I would likely complain to Pioneer about, both by telephone and in print (email).

That's the only way these things will ever get rectified.

 

and you never know when it will be too late:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101006/od_afp/canadatransportpoliceoffbeat_20101006163413

..lol, I wouldn't rely on GPS alone. Do you think these engineers are using their own products?

and you never know when it will be too late:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101006/od_afp/canadatransportpoliceoffbeat_20101006163413

I sincerely hope your comment was made in jest, otherwise... yikes. I'm actually continually stunned at people's inability to function without GPS in their vehicle, but that's a whole other rant all together...

Moving along though, as I install for a living, I thought I'd chime in here. In regards to oochr1soo's original question, I know everyone's answers have been straying to different tangents, but I think the point most people are trying to make is that they're not going to endorse one particular brand based solely on its GPS. And personally, if I'm buying an aftermarket head unit, GPS is not the determining factor in which one I buy. So without getting too far off-topic...

Pioneer - I had a D3 for about 3 years, and as a few others have been saying, it was hands down the best and most reliable head unit I've ever owned, and if I could have upgraded the GPS and Bluetooth functionality, I would have kept it in a heartbeat. I'm not a huge fan of Pioneer's Nav in their newer units, and basically for all of the reasons people have stated. I'm also not a fan of the cost to upgrade the maps. And in general, I find that a lot of the functions like Pandora and Music Sphere is just a lot of fluff that I'll never use and just slows the unit down.

Alpine - Alpine's GPS is pretty simple and straight forward, and based on customer feedback, I don't really hear many complaints about it. The major issue I've seen with Alpine, a lot of their double din and Sirius units seem to have a hiccup that causes the unit to freeze every now and then, which causes you to have to disconnect and re-connect power, or do a hard reset to get everything working correctly. Personally, I find the all-in-one Alpine units very clunky and obtrusive looking, and the user interface just seems very dated compared to what else is out there.

Kenwood - Yes I know he didn't ask, but I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents. I do agree that in terms of performance and features, Kenwood is currently one of the best out there, but yes, their retail prices are high. I must say though, the 9960 is pretty bad ass if you're willing to spend the money. However, I see 6160's go regularily on ebay for $700 and under, brand new, and not re-furbs. And while they're not "authorized" sellers, many of them do offer a warranty either through the seller or a third party company (just don't deal with Square Trade, they suck balls).

Of course this will only work if you have one of the only two phones that AVIC FEEDS supports so this is hardly a solution for everyone.

My phone is a Nokia E71. Is this one of the two phones you claim it would only work on? Also the Avic Feeds software for PC is what I used not the Avic feeds software for iphone or android or symbian. You sure do talk a lot of smack vblue.

Here is the avic feeds software for PC - no idea why you could not use this with any cell phone

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/CarAudioVideo/In-Dash/GPS-Navigation-Systems/Download+AVIC+FEEDS

I should also mention I took a 1200 mile round trip recently (FL to NC )and the 920 did pretty well. One real nice thing I noticed is where I was staying to the highway had two possible routes. For the sake of simplicity lets say the 920 wanted me to go left out the driveway and I preferred to go right. After going right the first two times it never suggested left again.

For complaints inputting a destination takes getting used to and two times it had me a few feet off the road on the map. In fairness these were winding back roads. Overall I was pleased with it.

Ok how is what I wrote talking smack? if you look at what you wrote you state, "The software then saves the locations as contacts ( phone numbers). Once transferred to the Avic920 you can simply select the contact from the phone book and it will route you to that location." That is not how the PC software stores POI data. That only works with the iPhone app so I assumed you were referring to the iPhone app. So next time you offer a solution to people that may not know better, be sure you know what you are talking about. And I usually only talk smack in response to stupidity. Kinda like right now.

Here is the avic feeds software for PC - no idea why you could not use this with any cell phone

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/CarAudioVideo/In-Dash/GPS-Navigation-Systems/Download+AVIC+FEEDS

Well, because it doesn't work with cell phones. It works with your PC.

Well, because it doesn't work with cell phones. It works with your PC.

you obviously have no idea how the software works. I shouldn't even enlighten you since you were so quick to nay say my initial post.

The Avic feeds for the PC allows you to use google maps ( the web site ) http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl Type in whatever address or place "yankee stadium" when the result comes up you can select more form the place marker and "Send" you then have a number of choices one of which is Pioneer navigation ( See image below )

This file will get imported into the running avic feeds program which will allow you to save the location as a contact that you can output to the sd card and transfer to your deck.

Ok have you even used the PC software yourself? It does not save as a file that can be read by the phonebook app on the unit. I saves as a KML file that is read as a custom POI from the POI menu of the unit. That has nothing to do with the phonebook function of the unit or the iPhone app. Seriously sir, before you ever try and challenge my knowledge on these unit, you should really do your home work. You have just been seriously owned here. And I certainly know how the software works. I have only been using it sense it was first released for the F series.