Customer Reviews

Pioneer DEH2100IB SCD Receiver with iPod Control

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a pretty legit stereo, it's not amazing but it's good for the price range. I've had some stereos before that feature an iPod interface, but usually it turns out to suck really bad. Like it will default to listing all tracks, rather than by artist or album first. I was very pleased with the way this one works - it leaves all settings on the iPod the same, and gives you the ability to control the music via the iPod directly, instead of using the controls on the head unit. My only complaint is that the display is extremely difficult to see on sunny days. Overall, I would recommend this unit for its price range - I would buy it again.

I really like this radio. No need for CDs or listening to radio stations. I am presently driving around with 2911 songs that I like and dont have to listen to twice. The fact that its connected to the Ipod is alot of help, providing the variety, it plays everything in your ipod, including PodCasts... I heard people complain about the screen in previous versions, but i have a sunroof, and i can still CLEARLY see the song title on the radio. Sound quality is really good, and there is barely a delay when switching songs. Overall, like the product.

My only complaint is the following... i wish it was easier to browse through the ipod. Once connected, the ipod is disable, and all operation is from radio, which is clearly a plus. But if i want to listen to an artist whose name starts with a W, Im going to have to sit and scroll for a very long time. I wish you could scroll through the first letter, than slower if you want to find someone within that category.

Overall good radio, and since it includes the connection cable, it is also a really good deal!! I have my ipod hidden in the drawer and noone can see any cables in my car...

Also, since all the controls are on the headunit itself, no need to use the remote, if you dont want to.

I got this stereo to replace the stock cassette player in my 98 Mystique. The difference is far beyond night and day! Paired with my new Pioneer 6x8 speakers, the sound quality and volume is very impressive. Installation was pretty straight forward and the included wiring diagram is sufficient.

The only complaint I have about this stereo is the inability to scroll through the ipod menus quickly. If you're browsing your songs, and you have 1000 of them on your ipod, you literally have to scroll 1000 times. Yes, you can browse by playlist, genre, etc. but the slow scroll speed gets annoying sometimes.

The menus take some getting used to, but they make sense once you get the hang of them. The included remote is useful for quick audio adjustments and tuning. Radio reception is much better than before, and the volume and SQ is excellent. Highly recommended!

I wanted to replace perfectly-working factory stereo in my 2003 Camry LE with something that would play MP3s. My additional criteria were:
1. Established brand name (for perceived quality and reliability)
2. Good reviews
3. Understated appearance with green illumination to match Camry's interior.
4. Preset buttons on the face plate.

I searched Amazon and Crutchfield and Pioneer DEH-1100 (yes 1100 not 2100) was the perfect match; however, because of the way Crutchfield markets and prices car stereos I could get a more feature-rich DEH-2100 for the same price as DEH-1100.

Installation, using the double-DIN to single-DIM kit and wire harness adapter, was very easy once I figured out how to put the kit together. I did not replace factory speakers, so all of the improvements I see come purely from Pioneer DEH-2100.

Pros:

- CD, MP3, and FM sound great. AM is about the same as it was on the factory stereo.

- Setup is very intuitive (clock, balance, fader, preset stations). I set up this stereo to my liking in 5 minutes without ever looking at the manual. I did look at the manual afterwards to understand advanced features.

- Sufficient selection of audio adjustments. There are few preset equalizer curves (voice, flat, dynamic, etc.) plus an option to set a custom one (adjustable low, mid, treble)

- Preset radio buttons eliminate the need to look for and use the included remote control. In my opinion, the remote control in the car is distractive.

- DEH-2100 has an understated appearance compared to some other units that use lots of chrome, exotic button layouts, and silly dancing colors or bars on the display. DEH-2100 matches 2003 Camry LE's interior well (see picture).


Cons:

- Buttons are small and labels are not clearly visible; however, once you memorize the 6 preset buttons, volume control and SRC button, you can easily operate the receiver even in the dark.

- Four navigation buttons around the volume control are raised and located too close to the volume control, and my fingers get caught on them sometimes.

- No attenuator or mute button. This is an oversight on Pioneer's part. There is no way to quickly mute the sound if you need to make or answer a call while driving. The receiver can be turned off by pushing and holding SRC button.

- Mirror trim on the face plate. I dislike the mirror trim and would prefer the faceplate to be plain black - it would have matched my car's console better.


>> This is not really a con, but I think it is worth mentioning that there is no dimmer. The brightness of illumination is the same during the day and at night, but, since the buttons are small, the stereo is not too bright at night.


Overall, the features of this receiver and the pros outweigh all of the cons, and I am glad I have purchased Pioneer DEH-2100.

With the nice sound quality,I think I no longer need good speakers. Just had 1 problem, I couldn't tune in to some programs in AM because if you will search for stations using the AM frequency,the stereo will search in intervals of 10. Let's say you want to tune in to 594, you cannot do so because you can only tune in to 580, 590, 600, 610, 620, 630 and so on. I've tried everything but that's really how the AM tuner of this stereo works.

Pioneer DEH2100IB SCD Receiver with iPod Control excellent player for the car 100% satisfied with my investment suggested there is also a cable with which you can connect to your ipod

This came in a 2004 Honda Odyssey I just acquired.
Didn't sound as good as my Clarion cz I had in a Sienna and a Cherokee.
(I had factory & replacement speakers in both, for a true before/after experience). I dialed in different equalizer settings to try to improve the Pioneer, but couldn't quite get what I was after. Audio control navigation took some trial and error. Buttons are ridiculously small/hard to read. Selling it.

It is installed in 1998 Toyota Camery. The installation is very fast and simple. The ipod control is great. Overall this device is good. However, I found that the AM reception is very poor for this device compared with my original factory radio. When scanning the AM radio station, it can only found 3-4 station in Los Angeles while there are many more that my original radio can find. When mannually tuning, it can find more station. However, the noise is unbearable for most of the stations. Another problem is playing CDs. It often skips the track at the end of the CD. This happens for many CDs. The same CDs work fine with at home with high end stereo systems.

Sound quality and iPod integration are very good, I don't use anything else other than the iPod and I use it quite a lot. I do find the controls to be lacking, there are many issues regarding usability and user-experience that make this unit quite difficult to operate while the car is in motion. Switch to iPod control and problem is solved since you use the iPod to manage the music (not very safe while driving).

I purchased this as a birthday gift for my spouse about a year ago. It has been a real challenge to use because the buttons are small and navigating all the features is impossible to do while driving, including finding pre-set radio stations. I originally purchased it so we could plug in our ipod but the ipod we had was too old (4 yrs) and was not compatible. When we upgraded to a Nano, it worked great for a few weeks but then the Nano stopped working with the receiver. Now we listen to music that we have loaded onto a USB thumb drive and that works well. If I had the purchase to make over again I would purchase a different product.