Customer Reviews

Pioneer DEH-P5000UB In-Dash CD/MP3/WMA/iTunes AAC/WAV Receiver

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I purchased this to replace the stock radio in my 2006 F150 4x4. I read the reviews here and elsewhere and was a little bit concerned about the interface in regards to it being non-intuitive and the knob flimsy. I disagree on both counts. The interface is very intuitive once you learn it, and the knob is by no means flimsy. Also, there were comments regarding the lack of presets - this is not a problem at all - when the radio is in tuner mode one only needs to push up or down on the knob to advance to the next preset. There was another complaint regarding the clock - all I can say to that is, read the manual!

My stock radio had very good AM reception but poor FM reception. I was afraid I would lose good AM reception with the new radio, but the AM reception is just as good if not better.

I use this radio with my iPod Touch 2nd generation and again, no complaints. I am a mild audiophile and the output sounds very clean to me in all modes.

I do agree that there should be a mute or pause button on the radio itself in case the remote is not handy. Other than that, this is a great product for the price.

I really like this stereo and the price I got on it here from the Amazon merchant Globazar. It works great with my iPod Touch, keeps it charged and pauses the song when the ignition is turned off. The best part for me is the option to give control over to the iPod and making selections from there. Because, you see, the multi-wheel on this thing is more than a little difficult for me.

In an effort to make a sleeker product without a multitude of buttons lining the edges Pioneer gave more control to the multi-wheel (the big grey dial on the left side). The wheel can be turned, pushed on AND pushed on along the edges (top, bottom, left, right) sort of like a joy stick. It is very difficult (while driving) to make that middle push to navigate (for instance) to the EQ section and I constantly accidently hit too far to the edge selecting something I didn't mean to and have to start over. It's a frustrating experience that makes me sorry I bought it.

If you try this thing out at a big box store, be sure and stand a little to the left of it and reach out to try to simulate making selections while driving.

Great value for a receiver, mine has worked well.
Don't worry about not being able to use it while driving, like that other review says. There is one control that you can't use properly while driving, but it only controls the audio settings like balance and EQ, which you shouldn't be messing with while you're driving anyway. Everything else is actually easier to change while you're driving than on most other radios because there's only one big knob you have to find.
It worked really well with my iPod touch, until I updated the iPod to the 2.0 software, and now it still works, but you have to turn on your iPod before you connect it. Before it would turn it on for you and work fine, but now if you plug it in while the ipod is still turned off it will give you an error message. Not a show stopper, but it had me confused for a while. Sometimes it will give you an error message anyway, you have to unplug the ipod, start playing music on it, then plug it back in. This is an issue with Apple's software and not this receiver, but it's something you need to be aware of if you have a new ipod or iphone that you want to use with this.
I have never had a problem with this receiver itself, it's a great buy.

My 5 year old Clarion CD/MP3 unit's cd player finally kicked the bucket so I set out to look for a successor. I couldn't believe this lower-mid level Pioneer unit upsets my then state of the art Clarion unit for half the price! The face is uncluttered and has a very clean, sleek look that will be at home in most car interiors. No gimmicky logos and animations here. The multifunction wheel takes some getting use to but after a little bit of practice, it becomes intuitive.

My highest praise for this unit is the sound. Don't let the low price of this unit fool you. It comes with powerful 4-volt rca outputs to connect to amplifiers. It has a powerful 3-band parametric equalizer. While this is more difficult to adjust than a graphic equalizer, if you're serious about fine tuning the sound of your system, it is indispensable. The learning curve is well worth it.

The USB input function, while cumbersome to navigate, is well worth the trouble, since it replaces dozens of my MP3-CD's.

In conclusion, unless you're a die hard audiophile entering car stereo competitions, there is absolutely no need to spend more money on a costlier unit. This unit is more than capable of satisfying all but the most discerning car audio enthusiasts.

My Wife purchased this radio for me for my Birthday. I have not had anything other than factory stereo in my cars for a long time now. I have to say I was very skeptical at first, especially when I couldn't figure out how to even set the clock. All I can say is sit down with the owners manual and the stereo and spend about 1 hour and you will fall in love with this deck. I love all the freedom I have to listen to different sources of music. I have a Sirius Sportster 4 I have that set in Aux. 1, I purchased the ip/bus connector I use for aux 2 I can plug an mp3 player or whatever into that, It also has the usb input for your ipod or even a flash drive.
The sound quality is far superior than the stock radio that came in my 2006 Honda Civic. It has several pre-programed eq settings. you can also program in 2 or 3 custom eq settings. you can adjust the source volume so if your mp3 player is a little low you can bring up the volume or if your ipod is a little too high you can bring down the volume that way when you switch between sources one is not blasting loud and then the next you can barely hear.
The multi function knob is a little hard to get used to at first but after some time with it you will learn to like it. it is like a joystick. It swivels up, down, left and right and can be pushed in as well. then rotates clock wise and counter clock wise for volume adjust and selecting different menu items.
I would recommend this to anybody looking for a nice replacement to their stock stereo.

I upgraded from an Alpine CDE-9843, just so I could hook up a USB drive, and I expected this unit to operate similarly to the Alpine. I was wrong! It has lots of little quirks that become highly annoying the more you have to put up with them. I wish I would have tested this unit in a store before buying it, because then I definitely would have gone with another Alpine!

PROS

- Looks sleek, especially at night.

- Two-line display is great.

- Sound quality is great. The 'sound retriever' feature really does make compressed audio sound significantly better.

- Being able to control my iPhone from the unit or the phone itself is a nice touch... too bad I never use this. I use a USB stick instead.

CONS

- NO PAUSE BUTTON. I can't imagine who made the decision to leave the pause button on the REMOTE ONLY but whoever that was should be fired. Scrambling for the remote to pause my music, especially at night, is very difficult and dangerous and I just can't fathom why Pioneer did this. They could have ditched ANY of the other buttons for a pause button and it would have been better.

- The knob isn't easy to use. Left/right/up/down buttons are far easier to manage while driving than this cumbersome all-in-one knob.

- Think you'll be able to just copy new songs to your USB stick and this head unit will organize them alphabetically? WRONG. For some insane reason, MP3s are organized by DATE CREATED first, and alphabetically second. So, whenever you add a new song, it becomes the first song the head unit plays! In other words, to add just one new song and maintain their order, you have to copy the entire contents of the USB drive to your computer, erase the USB drive, and then copy all of the songs back to the USB drive so their date created timestamps are in order. FUN!

- When using USB, you will frequently need to browse your files using the big List button. But this is difficult because pressing the List button takes you all the way back to the root folder! You cannot quickly see the other songs in your current folder. If you are listening to something that is not in the root folder (i.e. 99% of the time), you will need to navigate there manually from the root to find the file you're currently listening to! This is not natural - the List button should take you to the files in the current folder, not the root folder. Pioneer - why not have a single click take you to your current folder, and a double click return you to root? That would have been such a simple solution to a very frustrating problem.

- Yes, it has a resume feature, meaning when you switch inputs or turn the car off, your song will resume playing from where it left off. But it's poorly implemented. It only takes note of your position every minute or so. So quite frequently you will be in the middle of a song on USB and switch to the radio, for instance, and then switch right back to your USB and now you're listening to the beginning of the song again. My Alpine unit always resumed from EXACTLY where I left off, not an entire minute behind.

- Pressing up/down to switch folders is backwards. Up takes you to the next folder, down to the previous. No big deal perhaps, but... WHY? It can confuse you if you forget and accidentally skip back a few folders rather than forward.

- Each source is supposed to have its own independent sound level adjustment. And they all do... except the radio. Again I just have to ask... WHY?

- When Random is turned on, pressing next should take you to a new RANDOM song. But no, it takes you to the next song. So you can't skip through random songs. You have to listen to a song all the way through and then, only then, will it pick a random song. WHY?

- If you have your music paused when you turn your car off, it will come blaring back on when you start the car again. WHY?

- It does work with my iPhone, however, I could not get it to work at all with my friend's iPod video. I thought this unit was supposed to support that iPod... but it didn't work. Tried multiple cables, and it just wouldn't recognize it period. We hooked it up to the auxiliary input, but it sounded awful. No bass, hollow sound... what gives?


CONCLUSION

If this unit would just operate like my old Alpine - i.e. more intuitively, I would be much happier. As it is, though, operating this device is a minor struggle every time I want to switch songs... or PAUSE a song. I recommend trying this out in a store before buying - I think you'll agree that there are much better options out there!

For the features and price of this head unit, it was the no brainer best buy. However after getting it fully professionally installed, there is small amount of static in the backround present from all inputs, and is very noticeable in a more laid back song. It is also noticable when changing tracks. So I got it RMA'd and the second head unit has the exact same problem. So 2 of these units produce backround static, and I tried it on 2 different cars. Maybe there was setting that would have fixed this, but I could not find it. Avoid this product as it is no longer manufactured.

not going to lie, when i first got this deck i was nervous due to the reviews claiming that its good but the knob is a draw back and bad navigation and blah blah blah.... i quickly found out that none of it is true!! yes the knob takes about 1 car trip to get used to it, and by trip i mean 20 minutes TOPS, i personally love the knob because it makes it look more modern and their are essentially only 3 buttons that you notice because of it! this deck is great, once i installed this deck i noticed an immediate improvement in sound quality (its so clean and their is a setting that helps improve sound quality even further), the first person i took for a ride thought i had gotten new speakers as well! the usb interface is good, and its better at navigating mp3 players ,including ipods, than a good amount of other mid priced decks i have used

Great HU! It had all the features I needed, Aux, USB, and was easy to install.

Pros:
Looks are amazing
Really easy to navigate
Sound is awesome

Cons:
I would say it is a little bit slow navigating through an Ipod
Aux input doesn't sound as good as the USB input (but this is probably normal for all aux inputs)

This is a very good In-Dash unit for the money. Good sound quality on stock speakers and looks OEM. The multifunction knob takes a little getting used to but not finding it a headache.