Pioneer isn't going for subtle here: the company just unleashed a flurry of
in-dash navigators, with a considerable amount of accoutrements on display. The units range through the flagship AVIC-Z110BT (pictured), "midrange" AVIC-X710BT and X910BT, and the AVIC-U310BT for rich people on a budget. Seriously, with a starting price of $599, none of this is suited for the cheap-and-simple set, but at least Pioneer backs up those pricetags with serious functionality. In the high end, the Z110BT includes an tilt-out XGA 7-inch touchscreen,
MSN Direct tuner (for traffic and other live info), 4GB of internal storage, CD and DVD playback, and Bluetooth. Comforts include both voice recognition ("Find the nearest Starbucks") and text-to-speech ("I wouldn't do that, Dave"), along with iPod control and support for optional rear seat monitors and wireless headphones. Of course, all those perks aren't cheap: the device retails for $1,600. The other units include smaller screens and subsets of the specs, on down to the 4.3-inch U310BT.
Read - AVIC-Z110BT
Read - AVIC-X710BT and AVIC-X910BT
Read - AVIC-U310BT
posted Jun 14th 2009 at 10:06AM
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Agent .25i @ Jun 14th 2009 10:38AM
It's asking for children... Did PedoBear make this?
Dez @ Jun 14th 2009 10:42AM
Pioneer equipment runs on the blood of the innocent, what of it?
Also, why only 4gb internal storage? Seriously, for that price, you think they would just toss in a 32gb SD card as a drive...
carl @ Jun 14th 2009 11:43AM
I think it's weird that there's a frog jumping over a laser beam.
STP @ Jun 14th 2009 12:34PM
That's Lenfant Plaza in Washington DC, just south of the Smithsonian museums.
jimmy @ Jun 14th 2009 10:48AM
why keep harping on the price like it is exorbitant? these price points are in line with previous generations of avic nav's. you want something cheap, get a jensen or dual garbage nav.
TRAFFICBLOWS @ Jun 14th 2009 11:06AM
car electronics are so overpriced... you can get brand new laptops for under $200 with bigger screens and better specs no less.
CraigJ @ Jun 14th 2009 11:46AM
Just duct tape an eee PC to your dash board and you're good to go.
Timm @ Jun 14th 2009 4:11PM
Salt shakers are over priced to when you realize you can just use a spoon instead.
James @ Jun 14th 2009 7:05PM
Spoons are overpriced when you realize you could have just used your hands.
asuka @ Jun 14th 2009 10:34PM
Hands are overpriced when you realize you can just use your miiiiiiind, maaaaaan.
Joe @ Jun 14th 2009 11:24AM
Is it just me who finds it strange that the graphics on these things are just fffing ugly as sin? You get this nice sleek looking in-dash sat-nav, then power the thing up and it looks like a Multimedia CD-ROM interface from 1995? Yuk.
nac9 @ Jun 14th 2009 11:42AM
Was gonna post the same thing. The UI is embarassingly ugly. Those icons are hideous, the lettering is gross, maps are awful, and the whole system looks like it's a decade old. Considering Pioneer's new business strategy involves them making most of their money off of automotive electronics, they might want to work harder when designing these things.
paul34 @ Jun 14th 2009 1:00PM
I was also going to post the same thing. I don't understand why Pioneer is unable to produce an effective UI. Well, they sort of have, but their maps still look like they're from 1998. I don't understand why you can engineering completely new headunits but its so difficult to, you know, improve the aspect of your device that customers interact with THE MOST?
It's like buying a "new" computer and its really just a Hewlett Packard 66 MHz Pentium with Windows 95... only its rattlecan-painted black.
Shawn @ Jun 14th 2009 11:26AM
If this works as "well" as my Pioneer Elite AVIC-F90BT.... I'll pass.
They released that thing with a mountain of bugs. There are still open issues to this day. Thank god the modding community has made the deck somewhat respectable.
Greg Combs @ Jun 14th 2009 11:43AM
Aside from a tilty screen, this sounds exactly like my F90BT that Engadget forced me to buy a year ago. The retail on mine was about $500 less too. ... That, plus I got a group-buy discount from Al-Eds.com ... Would up getting an $1100 doohicky for just over $700 ...
And the biggest drawback for my device is one of their key features on the new one. MSN Direct is such a piece of shit for the car. It's completely worthless for city driving ... Why you ask? Because the thing you're most interested in, the traffic, if one of the last items to be downloaded after you start the car. How's that you ask? Often times I see gas prices and movie times updated almost immediately. Then comes the weather for the surrounding area. And when you're pulling into your work or school, after sitting in 45 minutes of traffic, that's when you'll be able to see you just drove through a lot of traffic, so perhaps you should have taken a detour. Balls.
The previous model before mine collected traffic from XM Satellite. Sure you had to pay for it, but you didn't have to wait all goddamned day.
Please excuse me, I'm now depressed.
Jeff @ Jun 14th 2009 12:18PM
Anyone who buys an in-dash/permant mount GPS is making a big mistake, in my opinion. There is so much competition and advances in this technology, locking in to something for the life of the vehicle makes no sense.
Doc @ Jun 14th 2009 1:18PM
I don't think it matters much. You need to look at it less like a static entity and more as a WinCE based computer, just like any other GPS unit on the market. The unit itself runs iGO 8 with an iGO 8.3 update scheduled for release later this year. iGO is used on many other units on the market ranging from standard GPS devices like the Mio to other devices like the Sony PSP. However, the Pioneer units, being WinCE based, can run many other GPS software packages such as Navigon, TomTom, Garmin, whatever... You're not really locked into anything.
dagamer43 @ Jun 14th 2009 12:31PM
I'd love to get one of these, but living in Houston, it would be stolen by the end of the week of putting it in. =/
jakem @ Jun 14th 2009 1:51PM
I thought Walker kept the streets safe around there.
dagamer43 @ Jun 14th 2009 1:58PM
In Dallas, not Houston. =/
matt @ Jun 14th 2009 1:41PM
I see they were able to land the out-of-work graphic artists from Police Quest III.
Timm @ Jun 14th 2009 2:42PM
I spent 2K on my AVIC Z1 a few years ago. 5 or 6 hundred is nothing compared to that.
The Avic Z1 sucks so bad I would never buy another Pioneer device again.
marc @ Jun 14th 2009 2:54PM
I like my AVIC-D3 for the most part. If i didn't get it recently and needed a new head unit i would pick one of these up. Pioneer makes a pretty solid GDS/DVD system.
Jon Doe. @ Jun 14th 2009 3:08PM
I want Mario as the icon, or Sonic for a sports car, and he bounces up when he gets to an intersection or goes down a pipe when he gets to a tunnel. At the of your trip there is a castle with a flag where Mario jumps on the flag and slides down it.
Thomas @ Jul 15th 2009 7:56AM
Just what we need - an in-dash device that has DVD output so idiots can watch a movie when they are driving down the Interstate at 90 mph.
Agent .25i @ Jun 14th 2009 7:46PM
Most, if not all, in dash setups have a bypass that shuts down the DVD function while the car is in drive, or until the e-brake is applied.
Your real fear should be people like me, the ones that hack their normal GPS's with MinMo on board and watch Fast and the Furious while driving down the interstate at 100mph.
Most GPS's do this, look it up.
Agent .25i @ Jun 14th 2009 7:48PM
Not WinMO, meant WinCE.
johnny @ Jun 14th 2009 5:41PM
I have the avic-f700bt, these new units dont sound much different. I love mine I am not sure what the guy above meant when he said bugs still plague it to this day? Mine works great now. Now if another company can make the whole voice recog. thing for music i will switch however, not sure why no one else has done it yet besides pioneer and ford/microsoft
Gabe @ Jun 14th 2009 7:52PM
Johnny, you're happy with the 700bt? I was planning on picking one up this month, and I'm happy to see this news. Hopefully I can get one on clearance now. Idk about Jeff's comment on the advancements in the GPS field. While it's true that every model will be outdated soon enough, if it serves my needs, I don't need the newest/greatest things out there. I just want to have GPS and iPod connections in my car without having a clunky external device that I have to take down and put up every time I get into the car.
blakgost_pro @ Jun 17th 2009 10:52PM
Kenwood DNX9140....
chrisj979 @ Jun 15th 2009 2:16AM
Funny comments abou the map graphics, but that is that particular 2d map, it also has 3d maps. It helps when you real ALL the specs. It has voice recog for directions, music, etc. It also does text to speech where it will read your text messages you receive. It does all kind of vehicle dynamics, audio time alignment, comes with a USB port so you can listen to music from an external hard drive or a thumb drive, full ipod\iphone controls as well as watching videos from you ipod\iphone, and plays mp3 DVD's.
As for the price, the Z3 list price was $1800 with more features this one is already $200 less.
paul34 @ Jun 15th 2009 4:01AM
Both modes seem to be displayed there. Also, people are criticizing not just the maps, but also the icons. Do you see them? Do *you* read the comments?
Also, being a 2D map is no excuse. Go look at GM's or Lexus' latest UIs for their navigation systems and tell me whether their 2D maps look as antiquated.
Agent .25i @ Jun 14th 2009 7:41PM
But will it find a house scheduled for demolition accurately? I know of a company that may be *very* interested.
t_bracelin @ Jun 14th 2009 10:00PM
I'm planning on picking up a an AVIC-F900BT (last years equivalent to this AVIC-X910BT) on Amazon. Thanks Pioneer for making the starting price on that model drop!
R1 Rydah @ Jun 14th 2009 10:31PM
I'd go with a Kenwood 9140 over all the upcoming Pioneers
HD Boy @ Jun 15th 2009 12:11AM
These new Pioneer head units seem to work pretty well with the iPod Touch and iPhone 3G -- except for a silly limitation in their Parrot Bluetooth modules. The newBesides these DVD-based navigation models, a new generation of Pioneer DVD- and CD-based head units have vehicle interfaces compatible with the iPhone 3G (and in marketing brochures are now designated with an official Apple 'Works with iPhone' as opposed to 'Made for iPod' logo).
Pioneer also is about to release the Premier DEH-P710BT, a CD-based head unit that features a newly redesigned, built-in Parrot Bluetooth 2.0 radio and USB Direct Control for iPod/iPhone with an improved (but small) 192 x 48-pixel, full-dot OEL (Organic Electro Luminesce) display. It replaces last year's DEH-P700BT. Earlier this year, Pio also released another revised line of head units with iPod/iPhone 3G-compatible DVD players (designated with the AVH-prefix). These all preceded the new CD and DVD-navigation units in manufacturing by a few months.
So now, in some circumstances, it is easier (and may be more affordable) to simply replace your current car radio instead of struggling to find the correct 'vehicle adapter and wiring harness' to connect that new iPhone or iPod Touch to your car old head unit.
Unfortunately, these new Pio units may not all have the same Parrot Bluetooth technology nor deliver the same iPhone/iPod Touch Address Book compatibility. They all appear to have a silly limit of supporting up to 400 or 1,000 Contacts (depending on the head unit) and up to 3600 or so phone numbers.
For instance, the AVH-P4100DVD is a double-DIN unit with a 7-inch TFT LCD display and a DVD player (street price about $549). It supports all the same features as the new DEH-710BT, except for iTunes song 'tagging' (with the optional HD radio module). But it also uses an older Parrot Bluetooth radio (BTB200) that can't sync the same number of Contacts as the newer Bluetooth radio in the DEH-P710BT.
Once installed and connected, the Bluetooth radios with these new head units easily pair with the iPhone's Bluetooth 2.0 radio as well as amplify and play music through your vehicle's sound system. The head unit's Bluetooth supports voice dialing for iPhone Address Book entries (with one limitation...). And when you answer an incoming cellular call, playing songs pause and the volume fades down graciously; when you end the call, the music restarts and fades back up where the song left off.
Pioneer's Parrot Bluetooth modules store contact information on a small flash memory chip. Pioneer and Parrot's short-sighted, Bluetooth storage limitation creates a real problem for business travelers trying to manage a large Contact lists. With Pioneer's Bluetooth system, if you have too many contacts, it appears you constantly must switch back and forth between the head unit interface and the iPhone interface to place calls or use voice dialing.
It's difficult to foresee exactly how this Bluetooth radio limitation will manifest itself in daily use, but it doesn't sound seamless. Perhaps Pioneer engineers have thought this through, but it could make for a quirky dialing flow when using Pioneer's Bluetooth or at worst, an unusable work flow if you constantly have to disconnect the iPhone from the head unit to manually dial any contact above number 401 on your list (to use the iPhone interface) (also shipping this month) either 400 or 1,000 Contacts and up to 3600 or so phone numbers.
These design specs are terribly shortsighted and this seemingly arbitrary limit simply is inadequate for modern business users. For instance, my wife and I each have 2500 contacts (and growing) with perhaps 5,000 numbers synced to our respective iPhone Address Books from Macs. We simply can't be making some hands-free Bluetooth vehicle calls through the head unit interface and others through the iPhone interface. Constantly switching back and forth would be a nightmare and besides, this really wouldn't be delivering the iPhone compatibility you and your OEM's advertise.
I am hoping you can point me to a solution that corrects this problem now, or learn that Parrot will address this in future Bluetooth systems. We would like to purchase new head units with Bluetooth now for our two vehicles, but unless I hear differently from you, I guess we'll have to forego what seems to be the limited Parrot Bluetooth options. Ideally, we would like to be reassured that any OEM head unit with Parrot Bluetooth we purchase today will be firmware-upgradeable to the Bluetooth 3.0 standard that was just ratified. Without this assurance, your Bluetooth modules built-in to head units may be too expensive, and even threaten to make the head units obsolete within a year after they are sold.
SD Boy @ Jul 24th 2009 11:23PM
wat
YouFaceTheTick @ Jun 15th 2009 1:16AM
Wow, or get a phone from your cell provider and pay the extra 20-30 a year for the data package. With that you can get GPS. It'll take over 4 years to match the cost of this worthless contraption.
Nick @ Jun 15th 2009 11:09AM
I think pioneer is slacking on their game. That's why they stop making the f-series because they know they messed up! i might consider going to kenwood because me and 3 of my friends have the f-900bt and we all sold ours for $300 each because they are crap
Guillermo @ Jun 15th 2009 5:50PM
i used to live in Houston, i got stolen 3 times the gps, my radio. Once they broke a windows of my car. I had a pioneer radio with dvd and lcd screen single slot. Houston let me feeling strange, however im coming back to live in Houston, i shouldn't let my items at anyone eyes. I call for a robber myself.
SethK @ Jul 3rd 2009 1:50AM
The Z series don't share that much in common with the F series from a nav standpoint (among other things). This is using an updated version of Pioneers in-house nav software, not the iGo software that the F series uses. Lot more features.