couple questions (looked on the first page, nobody asked).

 

What are the benefits of the Z3 over Z1?

 

Have they implemented Sirius Traffic yet?

 

Is the Ipod add-on quicker?

 

Are the graphic interfaces any different/quicker?

 

Any new nav voices?

 

Thanks in advance, I hate when people ask questions that have already been answered so I apologize if I did.

Maps and slightly modified interface

Dunno

No

Slightly

No

I will be getting the 80 GB HD from Garret for sure. He has answered alot of my questions so far but have 1 more. The Z2 I'm getting already has the DVD playback bypassed will the HD I get need to be bypassed again. Also since it is bypassed does this mean that the Nav has been bypassed too?

i just bought a new hard drive with z3 update from garret and it works flawlessly, i highly recomend his product!

Finally installed Garrett's HD today.

Let me say, this man is a saint. Hes a pleasure to do business with. Fast shipping, great communication...answered all of my questions, and above all, his hard drive works flawlessly. Definately the way to go rather than buying a brand new z3. Purchased a z2 for half the cost, and his HD...a great combination!

Another satisfied customer! It didn't take longer than 15 minutes. It's rare that a "quick" project actually goes quickley for me. After doing this mod, I think I probably should have asked about sending mine to him to copy everything over with the mod. I don't have that much on it, but I forgot how lazy I am. It would be nice to have everything I had plus the mod. I guess I'm a "cake and eat it too" kind of person.

I wish I could get outstanding service like this everywhere. Heck I'd settle for 50% of the time.

Thanks Garret!!

Garret, thanks for sharing your time and talents on this forum. New to the group with a couple of questions for you and the rest of the group....

I have just bought and installed a Z3. Love the unit. Unfortunately, I have all my prerecorded songs on a USB SATA drive and was wondering if there is any way to connect the drive to the Z3 and/or change the format of the songs from their current .mp3 or .wma with editing software to make the encoding onto the internal drive a less manual process and save wear on the CD slot? (i.e. is Pioneer just using some obscure format to encode music on the drive or is it truly proprietary?)

Garret, considering your offering, of course I would like the extra drive space, faster boot speed, more current maps and having a backup drive if the head crashes would be nice. My question is, with your drive can I swap back to the factory drive some time in the future and is your replacement at least as shock resistant and durable as the factory unit?

Thanks all. -Christopher

Christopher,

Welcome to the group!

There is no way to transfer your music directly from the USB drive to the Z's HDD. You can swap back and forth between drives (ie use one as a backup). The maps on my drives is exactly the same as the maps on your new Z3. Don't use the maps as a reason to upgrade. You would only be gaining:

1. an unlocked drive for future easy upgrades (able to save music)

2. slightly faster

3. larger music parition

No one has reported any heat/cold/shock issues with the MK6034GAX that we are all using.

I could not be more pleased with Garret's work. He received my package late one day and make an all out effort to get the drive back to me the next day - which he did in fact accomplish! Drive is great and he was nice enough to load some custom backgrounds of mine on the drive for me as well. Can't say enough about this gentleman - I plan on using him for all future upgrades!!!!

Sent Garret my old HD and tried his upgrade service. I can't say enough about how well everything went. Garret kept me informed through email and sent it out as quick as he could of. I just installed it and it works perfectly!! If you are questioning whether to try his offers, don't, he is the real deal!

Thanks again Garret.

-Ron

Hard drive was a piece of cake to install......except for the factory screws they stripped on me......but not a problem for a dremel and a flat head screw driver! HD worked as soon as it was installed! NICE JOB!

Add me to the list of satisfied customers!

I was about ready to deep six my Z2, now it works great!

I joined this site because I saw Garret did the upgrades!

For my first post,I must say for living in Toronto, I got the Z3 upgrade fairly quick, shipped out Mon Sept 29 and got it within the week by Friday!

Heck I got it b4 I got my Z1!

Very pleased will have more to say once I get it installed!

Thanks Garret

BW.

What an awesome experience I had with Garret!! Ordered at 10am yesterday and I just put it in my Tahoe at 10:30am, just a little over 24 hrs. Everything works outstanding and Garret answered my emails very quickly. I would definitely recommend purchasing from him!!!!

Thanks Garret!!!!

Garret is awesome! I ordered the drive yesterday, got it today, and installed in about 20 minutes. I had to dremmel 1 screw. The tool Garret includes is awesome...now I have a torx driver for the screws in my Treo too!

Thanks Garret!

I was amazed at how fast it showed up to my door. The install was a piece of cake. Very satisfied. Thanks again Garrett.

I got the hard drive within 2 days and all works well. It is very easy to swap out. Thank you Garret!

i have a z2 and am having problems with it. when it boots up it just stays on the pioneer screen and will play a cd if i put it in there and i have volume control but beyond that nothing. i wanted to know if i purchased one of your and put it in would it solve my problem. thanks

I can't say for sure. I have not heard of those symptoms. Anyone else?

finally got around to installing the drive I received, everything worked perfectly! 100% satisfied with the purchase!

I HAVE SEEN THEM CHEAPER ON EBAY. I GOT MINE FROM A GUY NAMED DEALSONELECTRONICS AND HE SOLD THEM FOR $120 SHIPPED. HE ALSO INCLUDED THE TOOLS THAT YOU NEEDED FOR THE INSTALL. HOSE CAN GET EXPENSIVE.

THOUGHT I WOULD DROP IN AND LET YOU ALL KNOW.

I have had more than 1 person get a bad drive from Ebay, and they have sent them to me to repair.

Your "guy" on Ebay is selling 40gb drives for $120 shipped and his 60gb drives are $130, same as mine. I also include the tools with my drives...

Why would someone want to buy from a stranger, when they have a friend here in the forum with a great reputation that stands behind his product AND provides technical assistance to anyone, regardless if they use my services.

It was thanks to me providing the Z3 image to the forum so that anyone could do their own upgrades for free using the instructions on the forum. I even published a walk through that shows people how to upgrade their own drive while saving their music and address book

Learn proper forum etiquette, and don't try to hijack a thread.

Go back to Ebay and get your tehcnical assistance and questions answered when you have troubles...

BTW, STOP YELLING AT US!

I bought a drive from Garret after reading all the great reviews in this thread. The drive arrived quickly and was a snap to install. Everything works great just as it should.

Thanks Garret!

I bought a drive from Garrett and had it the next day with the tools as well. It took me just about 5 mins to change out the drive and I have been extremely happy. And it is great to know that if I have any questions I can just come right to this site and not have to search through non sense on ebay.

I just wanted to share that I contacted Garret today regarding a Z3 HD and he responded quickly, answered all of my questions as such I too ordered one of his HDs.

My situation was different than most because I purchased the Pioneer Z2 update disk a year ago for my Z1 however never used it because I did create the the time to convert to the later by-pass system however with the advent of Z3's further updated maps this process made the most sense to me.

Thank you Garret

Shadowman

So how do I get hold of this guy to purchase his drive?