Customer Reviews

Pioneer DEH-P4900IB in Dash CD/MP3 Player

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been a loyal Sony headunit fan for years until my many problems with the SIR-SNY1. The SIRIUS works great with the new Pioneer headunit and the Ipod connection is better than I thought it would be. My only complaint all though be it minor is that when playing SIRIUS the two line display does not allow to show two lines of info from the SIRIUS tuner. The top line always says SIRIUS. I highly recommend this headunit. The blue color looks great at night and is easy on the eyes.

If you can live with a very simple 2 line OEL [organic electro lux] display then this is the stereo for you. It's got all the specs of it's larger followers but doesn't have all that fancy motion graphics stuff which is really a drain on your battery. All components are great with a variable EQ curve and dual rear subs with plenty of bass.

I have loved this stereo. I pulled out my factory stereo and manually installed this one in its place for ipod control. I have the cable adapter for my ipod, and I have absolutely loved this system. I do hate the slow scrolling through artists/albums, as I have an 80gb ipod and it is very full. It's very inconvenient if I want to listen to a band in the Ms or Ns, but it's doable. The mere fact I can control everything from the stereo face is so great that I overlook that problem.

I love that the cable also charges my ipod. I have routed the cable to go into my glove compartment so everything is out of sight. Detachment of the face is easy, and makes me feel a little more secure. Changing features is not too complex for an advanced user. Sound is great once the features were tweaked, and I expect it will be much better when I install new speakers. I love the double line display, and the changing options of what exactly to display on those lines, artist & song, album & song... etc. I don't use the remote control much, so I don't have comments for that.

Good price, along with the Pioneer CD-i200 iPod Adapter Cable DEH-P4900iB and DEH-P5900iB Car Stereo and good speakers make a killer system.

I have just replaced my 4 years old stock unit with this one, so far it produced sounds a lot better than the stock.
I do not use iPod interface (it used up my iPod-battery charging life by one every time I started my car), I use aux connection through the back to headphone jack; it still sound better than radio connection w/o interference with any station.
I have problem at first with the scrolling song display, even when I set the scrolling display to "on" upon setup step; then, I figured out by hitting the clock display button (after button 6), now it display the song title, play list, album as I intended it to be - song after songs.
I am still trying to connect the wired connection. I read some review said that after you use wired connect to your existing steering wheel interface, your wireless remote will lose function for that button, should I spend another $50-100 to find out?
So far, I am very happy with playing MP3 disc, quick navigation through songs and albums, and it sound great with information scrolling on the display.

i have had this unit for about 2 years now and have never had a complaint about it. all the settings are easy to use. my system sounds great with it

Let me preface this by saying that I am not an audiophile per se. Nor am I anything close to an expert in car audio. If I were, I would have bought some $800 head unit. So, here goes.

The main reason I replaced my last iPod-ready head unit was because it scrolled so slowly. I have several thousand songs on my iPod, and about 600 artists. I was very specific with the sales guy on this point (scrolling), and he said he had the same unit in his car and it scrolled quickly and easily.

Unfortunately, no one beyond Bright Eyes gets any play in my car because this thing is soooo s-l-o-w to scroll. I have to press the scroll button to pass each artist (or album or genre or playlist -- however you're sorting your iPod contents), and it doesn't quickly go to the next one. It hangs at an artist before it will scroll to the next one -- it can take a few seconds to get it from one to the next (I think the furthest I've ever gone before giving up in frustration is the Clash). Using the included remote control doesn't improve the speed.

The other thing I strongly dislike about this unit is another type of scrolling, namely the song title or artist or album name moving across the display. When I attempt to set it to scroll long names across the display (which it claims to be able to do), it scrolls the text that is currently on the display but then will not continue to do this for subsequent songs. Also, you can choose only one type of text to display -- e.g., you can't display artist AND song, just one or the other.

The function menus on this unit are far from intuitive. Why is the setting for random/repeat/shuffle on the same function menu as display type? Once you are able to find the correct function menu, the toggles are inconsistent: for some you have to use the up/down buttons around the volume knob while others use the left/right buttons.

The equalizer presets are kind of sloppy. "Bass boost" is not much different from "Powerful." The only preset that is worth using is "Vocal" -- it does a reasonable job of popping the vocals above the mix.

I've had this unit for about six months now, and I'm looking for a new one. Watch this space for a deeply discounted used unit of this model.

Pros: Plays many different cd formats (WMA, MP3, WAV, etc.).

Cons: Extremely slow scrolling through artists/playlists/albums, etc. Doesn't provide text scroll across display. Non-intuitive controls.