Can anyone who has the unit comment on the quality (responsiveness, speed) of the voice control? Particularly, I am interested in controlling my iPod without hitting buttons while I'm driving. I'm considering switching from a Kenwood to the Z140BH. (I was hoping Kenwood would improve voice control for their units this year, and instead they did away with it completely.)

Thanks

and instead they did away with it completely.)

So did Pioneer. The 130 is your unit if you want VC.

The Z140BH still has voice control for iPod and other functions (it's in the manual). You press the voice button and say "play playlist..." and such; this is what I was asking about. It does look like Pioneer did away with voice control for navigation.

As I understand it you can only use voice control for hands free calling but I could be wrong.

Nope, looks like you are right. My mistake.

I know when I had my 120 it worked very well. So I would assume it still works at least that well.

It definitely has voice control, but it is useless in my Z06. I am guessing the exhaust is too loud or something. It never understands any commands I give it.

It definitely has voice control, but it is useless in my Z06. I am guessing the exhaust is too loud or something. It never understands any commands I give it.

This is why I never tried the VC on my GTO either and why the loss of Nav VC on the 140 which I have in the Corvette didn't bother me. I don't think either would work well with my loud exhausts. When I make phone calls I have to close my windows and people still say they hear the car in the background.

This is why I never tried the VC on my GTO either and why the loss of Nav VC on the 140 which I have in the Corvette didn't bother me. I don't think either would work well with my loud exhausts. When I make phone calls I have to close my windows and people still say they hear the car in the background.

It only lost VC of POI searches and entering addresses I believe. So even if it did work in my car I don't think that the difference would be a big deal. The new maps would be more important. I can't imagine ever needing to do a VC POI search. I haven't done a single POI on my Z140 yet to begin with!

either way the VC seems to suck - the manual says you can still use VC for NAV but it does not seem to work, the VC in general seems like 1st generation stuff.

I agree. I used to have a Z2 with Z3 firmware in my car, and it was better in every way.

The Avic Z140BH is probably the worst consumer electronics product I have ever purchased. Pioneer obviously does not care about its customers if it releases half-finished garbage like this. Other than slighly better visuals, it is a downgrade in every possible way. I'm actually seriously considering getting my Z2 reinstalled, and just selling the Z140BH - at a loss. What a waste of money.

I agree. I used to have a Z2 with Z3 firmware in my car, and it was better in every way.

 

The Avic Z140BH is probably the worst consumer electronics product I have ever purchased. Pioneer obviously does not care about its customers if it releases half-finished garbage like this. Other than slighly better visuals, it is a downgrade in every possible way. I'm actually seriously considering getting my Z2 reinstalled, and just selling the Z140BH - at a loss. What a waste of money.

If you are that unhappy, I don't know why you would want to keep the Z140. Personally I love mine, but I never owned an earlier version. And I honestly could care less about the loss of voice commands. It seemed like a silly gimmick to me. I would much rather have the better Nav that supposedly the Z140 has. But once again, I don't own an earlier model to compare it to. I hear the new Kenwood Navs are nice too, so maybe try them if you are that unhappy.

Why did you even upgrade if you were happy with the Z2?

Personally I love mine, but I never owned an earlier version.

Then you truly have no clue as to the garbage level of navi in this unit and quite frankly you are lucky you don't know. If you love it then you are the better off.

I hear the new Kenwood Navs are nice too, so maybe try them if you are that unhappy.

Like night and day difference. The Kenwood navi is far superior.

Why did you even upgrade if you were happy with the Z2?

Because it is natural to assume it would be a substantial upgrade. And when it comes to the AV side it is. But on the navi side, the new units are complete dogs.

This is why I never tried the VC on my GTO either and why the loss of Nav VC on the 140 which I have in the Corvette didn't bother me. I don't think either would work well with my loud exhausts. When I make phone calls I have to close my windows and people still say they hear the car in the background.

The instructions indicate that Voice Navigation should work. However, I get nothing. Voice Command works on the other things?

Then you truly have no clue as to the garbage level of navi in this unit and quite frankly you are lucky you don't know. If you love it then you are the better off.

 

 

 

Like night and day difference. The Kenwood navi is far superior.

 

 

 

Because it is natural to assume it would be a substantial upgrade. And when it comes to the AV side it is. But on the navi side, the new units are complete dogs.

Kenwood uses Garmin right? They make the best navigation so that's not a surprise. However the AV on the Kenwoods isn't as good as Pioneer.

Second, the Navteq maps are quite good on the Z140BH. I can think of only Garmin systems being better, either stand alone or OEM. In regards to OEM solutions the Z140 is way better (With the exception as mentioned of OEM's using Garmin).

I take it if you think the Z140 Nav is bad then 95% of OEM navigation must be atrocious to you.

Kenwood uses Garmin right? They make the best navigation so that's not a surprise. However the AV on the Kenwoods isn't as good as Pioneer.

Agreed.

I take it if you think the Z140 Nav is bad then 95% of OEM navigation must be atrocious to you.

Agreed.

I live in Phoenix Arizona and do not find their nav software lacking. It seems to have all the most current buildings in AZ. and has been darn accurate. Aside from not having voice commands in the nav it is a great product IMHO.

I have compared it to my handheld garmin nav unit and it isnt any better.

Once I had the unit in place for a bit I just had to learn all the in and outs of the software. Alot of people i see complaining are those that had older units and are comparing them to the 140. I only had a stock RNS-E Audi Symphony system in my car prior to and this unit is light years better.

As for voice control in other areas, people need to remember that when you get into the car you have to allow the HU to build the VR command list once connected to your phone. THEN, it will work fine.I had issues for awhile where I thought the voice control wasnt working for either phone calls nor browsing through music.

Once it goes through and finished the VR command list, for me 3 minutes or so, then all commands work. Save for nav that is. If I could have nav commands this would take this unit form an 8.5 to a 9 in my grade of 1-10 with 10 being the best. If you don't wait it will have a hard time finding your music or making a call.

I had a slight issue with the IPOD cable from pioneer but once I figured that issue out, it works flawlessly.

So this thing creates a VR catalog of your music. Does it do this EVERYtime it goes on? Even if you leave the same device plugged into it (Ipod)

I have almost 6000 songs, I dont think i want to wait for that to catalog everytime. I know i can turn the option off, just wondering if it is a one time affair.

So this thing creates a VR catalog of your music. Does it do this EVERYtime it goes on? Even if you leave the same device plugged into it (Ipod)

I have almost 6000 songs, I dont think i want to wait for that to catalog everytime. I know i can turn the option off, just wondering if it is a one time affair.

The ipod player is only partially functional while the rebuild is happening. Whatever tune/album/playlist you were on when you shut-off will resume after you boot-up. And Next/Previous track buttons will work. But no search/browse options (even non-VR) will work until the catalog is built/verified.

BTW, it doesn't start building (or rebuilding) the VR catalog until you respond to the "warning" by hitting "OK". If you were already in iPod mode when you shut down, it will resume in iPod mode on power-up/reboot. However, the nagging "warning" isn't visible until you interactively do something - like pressing "Mode". So, that will delay the catalog rebuild if you just startup and drive off. That is a big design flaw IMO. It should automatically rebuild/verify on start-up or whenever an ipod is detected after a reboot.

Again, this is w/Z130. I don't know whether they fixed this on the Z140.