Hi all,

I finally have the option to upgrade my stock HU in my car and I am going with one of the AVIC NEX HUs - but going crazy trying to decide which one.

Main sticking point is the nav capability.  I've never had a car with built-in Nav and usually depend on my iPhone + Maps but I like the idea of the built-in approach for safety/distraction concerns.

Are folks with the 5000-6000-7000-8000 models satisfied with the Nav systems?  It seems from reading the forums that there were some early concerns - are owners more satisfied now?

Appreciate the input as the price differential with the 4000 is substantial.

I have Pandora and iPhone integration questions, but will save those for when I pick a HU. 

Thanks - really looking forward to a NEX.

JT

Hi all,

 

I finally have the option to upgrade my stock HU in my car and I am going with one of the AVIC NEX HUs - but going crazy trying to decide which one.

 

Main sticking point is the nav capability. I've never had a car with built-in Nav and usually depend on my iPhone + Maps but I like the idea of the built-in approach for safety/distraction concerns.

 

Are folks with the 5000-6000-7000-8000 models satisfied with the Nav systems? It seems from reading the forums that there were some early concerns - are owners more satisfied now?

 

Appreciate the input as the price differential with the 4000 is substantial.

 

I have Pandora and iPhone integration questions, but will save those for when I pick a HU.

 

Thanks - really looking forward to a NEX.

 

JT

Pros

Screen is bright and I love it

Sound quality is awesome

Features are great, and with carplay will make me very happy

SD card video and audio is awesome

Pandora, aha work well

Cons

Nav is ok at best, probably about 4k miles used already and I don't like a lot of the routes it takes me and I've tried all the different route types.

USB connection is cool but needs some better options for both USB connections.

Apps for me I don't use em except waze but don't like the smaller screen

To sum it up though, I LOVE IT.

Feature rich, and promise too

Pros

Screen is bright and I love it

 

Cons

...

Apps for me I don't use em except waze but don't like the smaller screen

 

So, basically, you're paying a huge premium for the screen. I'm not saying that's wrong, if i cared about brightness, etc., I'd would have paid the premium too. I went with the 4000NEX because it offered all of the features of the 8000, sans the marginal navigation and great screen. The 8000 also has more memory, which, I guess speeds it up some (i don't find the 4000 slow at all). 

I love the navigation. Well I live in NY so all the 3D stuff is there. Plus im coming from a factory nav unit which wasnt touch screen, took forever to input an address. just plained sucked. But this is 10x better than anything.

So, basically, you're paying a huge premium for the screen. I'm not saying that's wrong, if i cared about brightness, etc., I'd would have paid the premium too. I went with the 4000NEX because it offered all of the features of the 8000, sans the marginal navigation and great screen. The 8000 also has more memory, which, I guess speeds it up some (i don't find the 4000 slow at all).

 

I don't pay full price for electronics, I get discounts because of the field I work in, and yes I would pay more for a better looking screen, I spend hours a day driving, so I want my comfort and enjoyment.

I paid for a nice piece of electronic for all the bells and whistles. And let me tell you its one hell of a bell and whistle.

Thanks guys - frankly, if they offered the 4000 with that screen, I would just forgo the Nav. A case of "you don't know what you're missing" given that I have never had a Nav in my car.

I drive at least an hour a day during the week and more on weekends, but more importantly, I really enjoy driving and have wanted a better HU in my car since I bought it (9 years ago)!   So there is a real sense of wanting to go for the gusto.  I do wish I had a better sense of the timing of the map/ real-time traffic updates.

Ha, drenyce311 -- I moved to the Southwest after 30 yrs in NYC just a couple of years ago.  Sounds like I should have done this upgrade sooner.

The physical upgrade will require some specialized parts that I had to order so I have a little time to decide.  But leaning towards the 8000.

I will post a separate threads to figure out exactly what cables I need to use my iPhone the way I want to...

for Iphone 4/4s you will the pioneers kit. plus apples 30 pin to digital av adapter. If using iphone 5/5s you will need Apples digital to lightning adapter.

OK - went ahead and ordered the NEX 8000!

I just got the NEX 8000.  The screen is great and the touchscreen is very responsive.  They are charging a premium for this, and for me personally I was willing to pay extra for that.

The nav is, well, somewhat underwhelming.  It works, and I daresay it's better than any OEM nav I've ever seen.  However, it's not as good as my Garmin 3790 by a long shot, and the 3790 is not as good as Google Maps on my iPhone by a long shot.  The traffic reporting on the 8000 has been weak.  I live in NYC and commute to NJ a couple of times a week.  Yesterday there was a 3 mile backup on i78 east near Watchung, NJ - this showed up on Google Maps & Waze on my iPhone (of course!) and it even showed up on the Garmin 3790.  I'd say about 33% of the time, Google Maps & Waze will show traffic backups that I don't see on the 3790.  Anyhow, this traffic jam did NOT show up on the 8000 Nav.  I think it did show me a small backup on the GWB, but then nothing on the FDR.  

To get around the traffic issue, I have my phone mounted above the NEX and I run Waze while I'm driving.  So I'll use the 8000 for navigation, since the screen is so big, but I keep Waze open so that I'm not surprised by traffic problems.

I love love love the Nav on my 8000. So much better than my old Z3 and much more detail than Waze. I was so dependent on my Waze traffic I didn't think the NEX could rival it, but so far so good. Admittedly I live in a major metro (L.A.) and YMMV. It's kinda cool, there's an option for it to suggest route alternates whenever you're stopped. Each suggestion tells you how much longer/shorter the alternate will be. I also love the trip statistics screen. It even times how many minutes of the total trip were spent stopped in traffic. I love that it even has lane information for streets. You can set what percentage over the speed limit you want to receive a warning. Every little option was customizable and disable-able. The touch screen is worth the $200. So pretty and very responsive. I love being able to pinch the maps to zoom out. I like how instead of trying to draw or randomly select which street names are shown they sort of pop up as you drive down the road. I also love how as you are driving the street number on BOTH sides of you can be constantly displayed. So you never have to guess which side of the street are the "even" numbers. 

To get around the traffic issue, I have my phone mounted above the NEX and I run Waze while I'm driving.  So I'll use the 8000 for navigation, since the screen is so big, but I keep Waze open so that I'm not surprised by traffic problems.

@feinberj    You know you do not have to mount your iPhone over your NEX. Using AppRadio you can see and control the Waze screen ON your NEX! If you don't want to go the app radio route you can just as easily display Waze via the HDMI input (however, in this mode you will not be able to use the NEX touch screen.) 

Carplay is a huge selling point for the 8000. If you don't like the NAV then iPhone users can use iOS Maps for NAV. 

My only real beef with the unit right now is the cluttered interface. It just looks like Pioneer wanted to go for flashy instead of practical. Big Fonts, big album art at the expense of information on the screen. An example is showing half a song title or artist name because there are preset buttons and album art on the sides. Again, Carplay will get around that if I use the Apple interface for Music and Spotify apps. Pandora looks pretty good on the 8000 as well. 

I will most likely move from Kenwood to an 8000 in the next few months so I am going to miss Garmin, but Carplay is the bigger advantage. 

$530 for the 4000 and $325 for the U250 which is $855 and you get the best of all of them IMO

Carplay is a huge selling point for the 8000. If you don't like the NAV then iPhone users can use iOS Maps for NAV. 

 

My only real beef with the unit right now is the cluttered interface. It just looks like Pioneer wanted to go for flashy instead of practical. Big Fonts, big album art at the expense of information on the screen. An example is showing half a song title or artist name because there are preset buttons and album art on the sides. Again, Carplay will get around that if I use the Apple interface for Music and Spotify apps. Pandora looks pretty good on the 8000 as well. 

 

I will most likely move from Kenwood to an 8000 in the next few months so I am going to miss Garmin, but Carplay is the bigger advantage. 

You know you can turn on forever scroll for the information. Thats what I did. Now the text just scrolls on by.