Customer Reviews

Pioneer AVIC-F700BT In-Dash Navigation Audio Receiver with CD Playback and Advanced Voice Controls

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Pioneer has acknowledged that the first release of this system had issues ... freezing up, parking break warning for no reason, lack of proper brightness, etc. But they issued an upgrade in July of 2008. THIS UPDATE FIXES EVERYTHING.
I have this unit, I used it before the update (lots of problems -- all clearly explained in multiple posts all over the internet). But I downloaded the firmware, installed it, and now it works AWESOME. I truly have to give it to Pioneer for acknowledging their error and spending time to listen to owners and fix it.
I love this unit. I hook up my Iphone 3G and watch podcasts, listen to music, and everything. I have SM radio for it and I use the GPS all the time. I use the bluetooth with my iphone and the call clarity is fantastic.
I'm serious when I say this is a great value and much better than the D3 unit it replaced, but you have to install the firmware. Do that and I'll love it.

Pioneer released version "2.0" of the firmware tonight and it addresses:
- Showing blank backgrounds on the map's upper left and right of the screen
- iPod connection dropping out
- better BlueTooth connectivity
and
- MUCH fast startup time (like 40% increase)

This update turns this unit from a "would not recommend" to a "would totally recommend"

I purchased this unit for my daughter's Honda Civic, and WOW she just loves it. I had it installed to work with the existing steering wheel functions and added the IPod adapter which is installed in the glove box. She just plug it in and used voice commands to access her music and podcasts (this uses the same software as the Ford/MS sync systems). As far as the bluetooth, I was amazed how quite it is when I called her I had to ask where she was because it was so quite and clear. The vice commands work real well and the sound is very good for a car audio system. This unit does not have the DVD the ft700 has the cd player. I guess I do not understand why someone needs a dvd player in the front seat angeled toward the driver.Anyway this does everything I need to make sure my daughter is watching the road and not messing with the, music,the phone or directions.

Update Pioneer Just released a free firmware update 7/21/08
http://pioneer-usa.rsys1.net/servlet/cc6?igjQSRBCQTVojOYRxJhuJHklQgLlVaVR

Re: Free Firmware Update for AVIC-F90BT, AVIC-F900BT & AVIC-F700BT

This firmware update applies only to models sold in the U.S.

Pioneer has become aware that users of the AVIC-F90BT, AVIC-F900BT and AVIC-F700BT may experience issues with one or more of the following: navigation voice guidance sound quality and reading of guidance information; brightness of display screen; Bluetooth sound quality and hands-free calling; parking brake warning; cataloguing time for voice recognition of iPod content; song order within an album for iPod content; playing of MP3 music files for USB content; volume control for USB and SD content; and, Spanish and French mode operation with an iPod and with navigation voice guidance.

The free firmware update is intended to address these issues and improve the overall performance of the AVIC-F Series systems. In addition, a separate CD-ROM containing a revised operation manual will be provided as part of the update process. The firmware update, however, does not address reported concerns regarding the length of boot up times. As is the case with other computers, the length of time to boot up an AVIC-F Series system is largely due to the numerous demands (navigation, entertainment, information, connectivity, compatibility, etc.) placed upon it.

10/29/08 ---New free firmware update

This firmware update (version 2.0) contains important performance improvements relating to, among other things:

Boot-up time
Bluetooth connectivity (including certain Blackberry models)
iPod Touch (v2.0) compatibility
Touch screen response
Display brightness
SD and USB media playback.


Please visit our website for more information on how to obtain this NEW free update, which can be accessed at the following link:

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/avicfseriesupdate2

UPDATE: The latest firmware helps greatly with the speed issues and makes the bluetooth usable. The system is still slower and buggier than it should be, but it is vastly improved. 3.5 stars.

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This unit seems to do it all, but once you have it installed, you will find out that it does have severe problems.

The BAD:

1) The bluetooth hands-free system does not work well. You can hear fine through the car speakers, but on the other end of the line, your voice is barely comprehensible. This is a huge problem for me, because bluetooth was a major factor in choosing this unit.

2) The system is SLOW. It takes about 2 minutes to fully boot up before you can access any on-screen controls. Music starts up after a few seconds and the volume nob works while the system is booting up. A 2-minute boot up likely makes a rear view camera useless (though I haven't tried one yet).

Also, there is noticeable interface freezes, where the interface will either not recognize a press, or be delayed several seconds.

3) I have had issues with my phone. The AVIC will not initiate outgoing calls, but this may be related to my phone (Samsung T519).

4) The screen washes out in sunlight. You might have to shield the screen with your hand in order to read the map.

5) The map does not rotate with your car direction in 2D mode. In 3D mode, it is often slow to draw and it leaves translucent boxes on screen where the nav directions will appear, even when you are not navigating. Neither is that big of a deal to me.

6)GPS Nav voice gives too much guidance. This is minor, but annoying. It basically gives you preparation messages too often (something like 1 mile ahead of time, .5 mile ahead of time, 1000 feet ahead of time, and when you are at your turn). It also tells you to "prepare to enter the highway in 400 feet" when you are on an on-ramp or have already entered the highway. Where else could you go?

The GOOD:

1) GPS reception is good and routing seems fine.
2) The screen has high resolution and is clear. Washes out in sunlight, though.
3) The music quality is good.
4) When entering an address, it will automatically filter the possible street names as you type. When it has the list down to a few choices, it will present the options to select.
5) SD card slot supports SDHC.
6) Plays XVID videos at certain bitrates.

Things I didn't try: iPod support, Satellite Radio, Rear View Camera.

So I got one of these to go in my 2005 Subaru WRX STi. The fit and finish is pretty good. Overall I am pretty happy with it, but it is somewhat buggy. (I have the 2.0 firmware update on it.)

I use this with a 3G iPhone

Here are the bugs that drive me crazy
- Often it can't find my iPhone (for iPod usage), reseting the iPhone fixes this, but you may have to reset it every 2 or 3 trips :/, which takes about 5 minutes
- Sometimes it gets into weird states when making blue tooth calls, and either I can't hang them up, or I can't get it to see them. So I pretty much might receive call that makes the system unusable for a while after the call.

What I like about it
- Integrates iPhone / Bluetooth / GPS / SD Card
- Screen is pretty good
- GPS is OK, not great


What I wish was better
- iPhone integration
- Touchscreen, could make it easier to press

I recently purchased this in-dash Nav for my wife's GMC Envoy. The installation was pretty simple, but I have a lot of experience with installing mobile electronics. Most people will want to take it to a shop and have it installed professionally.

There are a few issues so far, but they are pretty minor. I have not tried all of the features (there are too many to list...especially with Bluetooth connectivity and iPod connectivity), but I have used the basic Nav and CD functions.

The main issue with this unit is the boot-up time. It takes about a minute and a half to boot-up completely. This does not sound like much, but when you have to go through it every time you start the vehicle, it is a pain in the butt. There is a free update offered from Pioneer for this unit to resolve the issue, but I have not installed it yet. You must have an SD Card and an SD Card reader if you want to install the update, as it cannot be updated through CD.

The Nav works pretty well, although there are some issues on a few of the newly renovated/expanded roads around our area. I think a Map Update is in order, but there are no updates that I have found for this unit yet. The voice prompts are decent, albeit a little too frequent. You definitely cannot say that it doesn't keep you informed. Just keep an eye on the road signs as the voiceprompts wanted my wife and I to drive into oncoming traffic of divided highways a few times (like I said...needs map update). The color scheme is decent, and the night scheme is easy on the eyes. The maps are stored on internal flash memory, so you do not have to keep up with NAV DVD's or CD's, and you can listen to music while the NAV Screen is up and running. The voice prompts lower the volume of the music so you can hear it (it does this for bluetooth enabled calls as well).

The sound is as awesome as any Pioneer head unit. The EQ is flexible and easy to manipulate. It also has pre-outs for amps and sub control. The EQ has the built in High-Pass Crossover, so you can take the low-lows out of your small door speakers to avoid distortion at higher levels. Sound is crisp and clear. MP3s are equally clear. Radio tuner is good as well.

All in all...a decent entry level system for the price. It does not play DVDs, but it will play DIVX from CD or other attached device. You can also play MP3s, WMAs and video files from a thumb drive. I have not hooked an iPod up to it yet to check the voice-activated interface (yes there is a voice-activated interface). The unit comes with the cables to hook an iPod up to it, but there is a better all-in-one cable available.

Bottom line - If you are looking for a decent in-dash NAV unit for the price, look no further...this is the one.

I have not found other in-car product as annoying to use as this one. The GPS features are much inferior to other products such as Magellan. The audio sound quality is bad. You can't turn off the radio with a single click anywhere. This is especially annoying during the period when the system is slowly starting up. The bluetooth annoys your listener even more than it does to you. The GPS navigation is way too chatty, speaking 5 phrases every single turn. It pronounces "156th Ave" as "one fifty six tee ay-ch avenue" (what an idiot!). The iPod player cannot display non-alphnumeric characters for song titles and I was told Pioneer would never support such feature. You cannot select a routing algorithm by trip. You cannot mute or change the volume of the GPS sound without parking your car first. Even when you are not using the GPS, you will get a loud "GPS signal lost" warning occasionally. The UI (user interface) is obviously designed by programmers who have no clue about what a basic tolerable user experience should be. I wished I had tried the product before paying for the installation. I thought all such in-car products should have passed some basic usability check and boy was I wrong.

I already upgraded to the latest firmware, hoping for improvements but had seen none. I would not buy another Pioneer product even if they pay me.

First, understand this is not a car stereo/GPS unit. It's a computer with audio and GPS capabilities, meaning that it has to boot before it works. With the latest firmware upgrade, mine boots in 45-60 seconds.

Highs

Awesome sound.
Excellent GPS (if antenna installed properly).
- I've been especially pleased with the "you need to be in one of these lanes" feature at freeway interchanges.
Excellent Bluetooth Phone Operation.
Media Flexibility - CD, SD, USB, Radio including SAT or HD if you buy the add on module.
Extensive controls over sound, with some shortcomings (see Lows).

Lows

Glacial boot time, albeit evidently not as glacial as with the previous firmware.
- Note that the CD or radio (AM/FM/XM that I know of) begins playing immediately, though you can't control volume or change the station/track until well into the boot process.
Nearly all controls require use of the touchscreen.
Inexplicably, no BT audio (you can use your BT phone to talk - if you thought you were going to use it to play music, think again).
Inexplicably, no DVD capability, audio or video.
Ridiculously excessive GPS voice instructions.
- you can kind of rid of them by turning the voice command volume all the way down and making some other adjustments, but honestly, whoever programmed the voice instructions on this thing belongs in a mental hospital.
Complicated, multi-layer menus.
Voice controls are useless.
- among other things, voice commands don't work with the GPS functions.
3 band parametric equalizer, rather than a real equalizer.
No remote control.

Re the subject of remote controls, this unit requires you to use the touchscreen for most functions, and it's simple - use of a touchscreen requires that you devote a level of attention to the screen that is simply not safe when you're driving. If you're buying one of these, get the steering wheel interface for your car (installation was $50), or one of the wired remotes available.

I've been reasonably satisfied, but if I knew then what I know now, there's no way I would have bought this unit. For a lot less money, you can buy a very good car stereo and a portable GPS. Still, it's a good unit. If you are insistent on buying one (or any other AVIC series unit), make sure you visit the AVIC forum (Google it) for lots of good advice, hacks, and rescue procedures (I've had to reinstall the operating system on mine once).

If you are looking for a serious MP3 SD card car audio system, I would not recommend this.
1) It is the first car audio system I have owned that takes 2 minutes to start playing. I am typically a mile or two from home before it starts up. This is the (fast) Version 2 software!
2) Sometimes it starts playing. Other times it shows a disclaimer and switches to map view and starts playing when prompted.
3) Sometimes it restarts at the same song it was playing when you had turned off the engine. Sometimes.
4) Although it advertizes iPod compatibility, it does not have iTunes compatibility. The ID3 tags generated by iTunes do not work in the player, so no song details.
5) The Bluetooth will let me dial out, but my Motorola phone will not be answered properly by it. Instead the person calling me hears the music I am listening to, nothing else.
6) The voice recognition system does not. I state a telephone number; it misses the last digit, consistently. Even if you speak another phrase, like `please', it does not get them all.
7) My address book would not transfer from my phone?
8) Basically it does not operate with my flip phone.
9) It says it will work with 8GB SD cards - eventually. One time I left work (silently - no tunes yet), was about three miles down the highway when it eventually presented me with my Password screen. It would not let me enter anything until I had pulled into a parking lot and put on the foot brake. Then I was able to start the machine again. I was about five miles down the road before a first tune started. I stopped off to pick up something from the store. Big mistake. It never recovered. I have gone back to using 1GB SD cards; that it can manage.
10) The map lost its view a couple of times, the cursor just walks off a static screen. None too helpful.
11) It entertains me by behaving differently every time I power it up.
12) I tried the help desk. Six menus later, it tells me that there is a training session and should call back. I did, and waded through the same six menus before speaking to a person.
13) I found out they cannot upgrade the system with ID3, said it was a hardware shortfall, and oh yes, let me know it is one of the slower models to start up. I know ID3 is not hardware, it maybe is firmware, and they probably cannot access it from the USB port.
14) It sounds OK, except when you run it hard for a while. Then it is distorted until the unit cools down again.
15) You cannot turn off the `beep' every time you press a button on the steering column control.
16) It lags badly at times. You end up touching a button multiple times and toggling it (a few seconds later.....)
This proved hard work for me. Too hard.

I've had the unit for about a month and it came with v2.0 firmware. As stated, it fixed many reported issues, as I have yet to experience them. It does everything I want without problems, XM, bluetooth, Mp3 via USB and SD cards, AUX in video for SlingPlayer Mobile, and a solid GPS. I currently have a Garmin 360, and was looking to upgrade to the 765 as it has bluetooth and visible "lane assist". But given that the AVIC 700 is an "all-in-one" for ~$100 less, it was a no-brainer.

Bluetooth calls, from the people I regularly speak with via a Motorola Q 9h, report that it has the clearest call quality for any system I've used (phone's internal mic/speaker, Garmin 360's bluetooth, Moto wired microUSB headset). Pairing with the phone and contact synch worked fine, though I've read of other phones/firmware/OS versions having issues. GPS works better than the Garmin as it recalculates and acquires satellites faster, and the higher res screen, with lane assist, makes navigating complex intersections much easier. Auto Day/night modes and "auto-dim" features are nice as well.

My 700 has no "problems" but there are a few things I'd like to see done differently/better. The Mp3 player interface is very basic and doesn't allow for Artist/Album search. Instead, Pioneer went with a file/folder level view. The good thing however is that USB flash drive support is stated to be a 2G max, however I have an 8GB SanDisk class 4 microSD card, with USB adapter, which works fine. Though a 16GB SanDisk Micro Cruzer USB drive does not work, some people say that other 16GB USB drives do. I've also read that 32GB SD cards (Trancend) work in the SD slot, even though the limit is rated at 8GB. I think it's pretty much hit or miss with storage media compatibility.

When making BT calls, the call window only has call/hang-up/volume up and down buttons, and no number pad. If making a call to an automated system, or entering a conference call pin #, it will have to be made on the phone. Regarding the GPS, there could be a few shortcuts added on the map screen itself, rather than diving a few levels into the "Menu", such as stop routing and searching Points of Interest, etc. Luckily I found a mod on www.avic411.com which provided the functionality.

Again, if navigating certain menus were a little easier, I would say that the unit would be perfect (for me). A more robust Mp3 player interface would be icing on the cake. For the price, the 700 is really hard to beat.