So I have the AVH (DVD) unit, and it is barely two years old, and I was wondering if NEX owners would chime in on their experience with the unit so far and, if possible, compare to the AVH units. I am considering selling my AVH unit for a NEX unit to be one step closer to CarPlay, and was really wondering if I would lose anything by upgrading to the newer unit.

When I bought my AVH-x5500bhs, I chose it over the AppRadio models mainly for the simple reason that if the appmode stuff fell on its face I would have a good unit to fall back on. Are people buying these just to be 'Carplay-ready' or can these units stand well on their own?

I am dissatisfied with Appradio. It has fallen flat IMO. However, my AVH-4000-NEX is a gem.

Did I buy it for carplay? Yes.

Has it exceeded many expectations? Yes.

Does it stand up on its own without issue? Yes

Is it perfect? No.

The good.

1. The best iPod interface you can have short of carplay. Maybe still better in some ways. The built in iPod app picks up right where I left off. It works over a simple USB connection like it always should. If I click on the artist while it's playing a song it takes me to all songs he's playing. If I click his album I come to all albums by him. Click the genre you get the picture. The interface remembers what the last thing I was doing after I pick a song, so if I miss with my fingers I don't have to start over. The metadata works well and the album art is great. Only wish it could access my iTunes Radio. Brings me to 2.

2. Nearly perfect Bluetooth Audio. It accesses my iTunes Radio stations so I can change stations without touching my phone. This is amazing. The only thing holding me over till carplay is this. I love this feature. It remembers what I was doing just like USB iPod control, however sadly it does not do the cool iPod artist matching quick search I listed above. Oh well. Maybe in the future.

3. Really great settings system. The setting are in every Main window. The settings are easy to understand where what setting would be hidden and the device gives me good control of my unit. I do hate that some settings are locked out unless m parked, but my bypass comes this Thursday, so it's soon a non issue.

4. Great parrot powered microphone that has fantastic audio quality. Fully supports Siri eyes free (or google now possibly. Don't have an android phone to test with). Nuff said. The quality is clear enough that a computer understands me while I'm driving in a miata. I'm pretty happy about that.

The bad. It's a short list.

Why is every Audio option on this radio segregated? If I listen to my iPhone over USB, Bluetooth locks out. If I use Appradio mode, usb iPod locks out. It has two USB ports but I can only plug in one thing at a time. What the hell?

That's it. Hopefully that is fixed in a future software update, and honestly it isn't even that bad of a problem.

I completely agree with everything DP3343 has stated.  I have a 4000NEX as well, and I was surprised by just how nice the built-in iPod interface is.  It's actually got me worried that the CarPlay interface will be rather meh in comparison.

Note: I never invested the money to get AppRadio working (ie: the digital A/V adapter), so I never tested it.  It sounds far to shoddy/limited/broken to be of any use for me.

Some other positives:

• You can use Siri and Apple maps to navigate over the speakers, without a GUI.  This works suprisingly well, if not perfectly.
• Bluetooth audio is shockingly good.  If you don't want to plug your phone in, you can get 90% of the iPod functionality, including artist info and the ability to select playlists or other tracks.  It is missing the ability to turn on or off shuffle (I believe), and no cover art.
• The phone interface is great.  Not only can you do quite a bit (and the button for it is always on-screen), but I really like the incoming call overlay.
• The little I've used the radio, I found it to be fairly nice.  I just don't listen to radio that much. 

Some (very minor) cons:

• This is an iPhone issue, but the delay between pressing the button and getting Siri up is annoyingly long.  I hope CarPlay or iOS 8 fixes this.
• I really, really hate the way plugging in an iPhone shuts off bluetooth audio.  At least with CarPlay, it should automatically switch.  Right now it's manual.
• I haven't figured out how to simply pick a playlist and have it start playing shuffled from the NEX interface.  This is very minor, since you can pick any song off a list and the rest of the list is shuffled.
• The Aux input is considered a video input.  I extended the Aux port (not the Video Aux, but the one that uses a 3.5mm mini plug) thinking it would be a nice backup for auxiliary sources.  However, it will only play if the parking brake is on or bypassed, as far as I can tell.
• My biggest complaints are about the interface design:
  • The interface looks good, but it's really busy.  There's swooshes, bevels, glassy effects, and angles on everything.  While you can tweak the colors of the interface (as well as the backgrounds), you can't change the look to something more modern and clean.  This is a shame, since it looks a bit juvenile to me.
  • If you look closely, at least on mine, the bottom of the screen isn't utilized much at all.  This is such a bizarre thing, there's like ~20 pixels that are just black.
  • However, when you adjust the volume—even if it's via steering wheel controls—a large volume overlay pops up, over the bottom of the screen.  It uses some of that empty space, but it causes a shadow to overlay the screen, and you lose the ability to press on-screen buttons (or at least lower ones, like play/pause) until the volume goes away.  The overlay also doesn't match the rest of the interface hardly at all.  It's an odd blue color (it doesn't pick up the theme), and isn't as polished looking.  It looks like an old UI piece from some late 90s era Linux interface.
    I really don't see why the volume bar isn't onscreen all the time, but minimized.  The 4000NEX, at least, has physical buttons for volume, as well as a physical button for mute.  There's no reason to clutter and hide the interface with the big buttons.  At the least, it shouldn't pop up if you press the steering wheel control.

If you have any specific questions, you should ask them!

I completely agree with everything DP3343 has stated. I have a 4000NEX as well, and I was surprised by just how nice the built-in iPod interface is. It's actually got me worried that the CarPlay interface will be rather meh in comparison.

 

Note: I never invested the money to get AppRadio working (ie: the digital A/V adapter), so I never tested it. It sounds far to shoddy/limited/broken to be of any use for me.

 

Some other positives:

• You can use Siri and Apple maps to navigate over the speakers, without a GUI. This works suprisingly well, if not perfectly.
• Bluetooth audio is shockingly good. If you don't want to plug your phone in, you can get 90% of the iPod functionality, including artist info and the ability to select playlists or other tracks. It is missing the ability to turn on or off shuffle (I believe), and no cover art.
• The phone interface is great. Not only can you do quite a bit (and the button for it is always on-screen), but I really like the incoming call overlay.
• The little I've used the radio, I found it to be fairly nice. I just don't listen to radio that much.

Some (very minor) cons:

• This is an iPhone issue, but the delay between pressing the button and getting Siri up is annoyingly long. I hope CarPlay or iOS 8 fixes this.
• I really, really hate the way plugging in an iPhone shuts off bluetooth audio. At least with CarPlay, it should automatically switch. Right now it's manual.
• I haven't figured out how to simply pick a playlist and have it start playing shuffled from the NEX interface. This is very minor, since you can pick any song off a list and the rest of the list is shuffled.
• The Aux input is considered a video input. I extended the Aux port (not the Video Aux, but the one that uses a 3.5mm mini plug) thinking it would be a nice backup for auxiliary sources. However, it will only play if the parking brake is on or bypassed, as far as I can tell.
• My biggest complaints are about the interface design:
• The interface looks good, but it's really busy. There's swooshes, bevels, glassy effects, and angles on everything. While you can tweak the colors of the interface (as well as the backgrounds), you can't change the look to something more modern and clean. This is a shame, since it looks a bit juvenile to me.
• If you look closely, at least on mine, the bottom of the screen isn't utilized much at all. This is such a bizarre thing, there's like ~20 pixels that are just black.
• However, when you adjust the volume—even if it's via steering wheel controls—a large volume overlay pops up, over the bottom of the screen. It uses some of that empty space, but it causes a shadow to overlay the screen, and you lose the ability to press on-screen buttons (or at least lower ones, like play/pause) until the volume goes away. The overlay also doesn't match the rest of the interface hardly at all. It's an odd blue color (it doesn't pick up the theme), and isn't as polished looking. It looks like an old UI piece from some late 90s era Linux interface.

  I really don't see why the volume bar isn't onscreen all the time, but minimized. The 4000NEX, at least, has physical buttons for volume, as well as a physical button for mute. There's no reason to clutter and hide the interface with the big buttons. At the least, it shouldn't pop up if you press the steering wheel control.

If you have any specific questions, you should ask them!

If you can't live without some of the niceties of the USB interface, the bluetooth audio interface can be left to work normally even when your phone plugs in by switching to iPhone bluetooth mode.

Yes the interface design is noisy as hell. It's quintessential pioneer design. All their AppRadio apps are the same way.

I Love my AVH-4000NEX, It is not perfect, but the time i have to spend in my vehicle is now soooo enjoyable. Two months ago, i had a stock system with a cd player that ate cd's, the two left speakers front and back were non functioning, No bluetooth, no sub. Now I have an almost complete media center, carplay with be the awaited icing on the cake. Capacitive touchscreen would be awesome, but I don't miss something i have never actually laid my eyes on.