Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
57 of 57 people found the following review helpful.
Great App Power. Nice GPS. Great Bluetooth. Not totally Intuitive!
By Naija-Ninja
I just got this (in my opinion) great in dash nav dvd AVIC X940BT this weekend. I have spent two days fooling around with it and I must say I am happy with my purchase. I still have some more tinkering to do to completely work out a full understanding of the unit so I may not touch on some aspects in this review. I will start with the GPS.GPS: I had a tom tom mounted on my windshield that would slip and fall whenever it got cold. It also needed to get charged after about 2-3 hrs unplugged and working. Plus, the mount is always a thief attraction so I started looking into in dash units (which are also thief attractions (lol)). The AVIC X940BT maps are made by NAVTEQ. This is a reputable mapping company (I believe they map for Garmin and nextar). Not only are the maps updated when installed but the voice commands are super. It tells you what lanes to get on and when exactly to turn. Turns are emphasized with an extra beep/bell at the instance you should turn. Written above the map is the street you are turning into and written below is the street or road you are presently driving on. It does not mention the street name in voice turn by turn (but ask yourself how often you understand SAMANTHA on the Tom Tom device when she mentions street or bridge names?). It has a route planning option as well as a route learning option so it can learn your preferred routes. I am yet to fully test the route learning option. It provides multiple routes when possible for your entered destination. You can avoid toll roads, use local roads, use highways etc. What I find really impressive is that it corrects itself quickly if you take a wrong turn and it does not take a long time to plan a route when starting off at first. I think this has to do with where the signal is mounted. Mine is mounted on the passenger side of my dash (neatly in the corner near the windshield). It also provides for different viewing options of the map while driving- 2D, 3D, street view and an Eco friendly view. I have not tried out the street (street view is greyed out right now, I will work on the settings to see why) or ECO views yet. I much prefer the 3D view (it is a top down view with your arrow pointing forward). So far, I love the GPS! 4.5 starsPhone: The guys that did the installation did a super job (even though it was a bit pricey). I have a blue tooth mic in a decent spot above my driver side air bags. I also have an iphone 4S and this NAVI really caters to the iphone and android phones. Pairing the device was not easy (especially because I did not read the manual, teeheehee). Click on settings (bottom right corner of the home screen). Go to bluetooth settings. Note that the code for registration is 1111. Click on register new device. Go to your phone and find the Pioneer Navi. Start pairing ( I advice to start from the Navi). After a couple of tries I was able to put in the passcode. For some reason it kept timing out before I could put in the passcode. Once this is set you are practically in bluetooth heaven. I did not need to download my contacts (there is an option for this) because it automatically synced and I could search for peoples names and numbers from the NAVI. Placing a call is easy because you click on a persons name and then whichever of their numbers you wish to call. A menu pulls up during calls and you could still go to other screens and do other things during calls. The menu minimizes nicely when you go to other screens. I have not tried multi-party calls. I did skype (video showed up on my iphone but voice was through the stereo). I give the phone a 4/5. Bluetooth pairing was a bit of a hassle but skyping and general sound quality is a big plus).Audio: Drum roll! Prepare to be annoyed and then wowed! Mostly wowed! Make sure you purchase the pioneer CD-IU51V. It is expensive (an absolute rip off price wise really) but it is essential to your enjoyment of this system. Without it, your experience is limited (unless you can rig a regular USB to connect to the AV-1 of the radio head). Firstly, you can stream your music sans cables straight from your ipod/iphone/android via bluetooth. This is good for passengers. They can remotely control what you are listening to because while streaming the ipod is accessible. You can change tracks on the NAVI in bluetooth mode but you cannot access playlists, albums, artists etc.Important: Go to settings- AV settings- set AV-1 for ipod. set Apps for wired! ( in my experience, if you set apps for bluetooth prepare to bang your head on a wall and wonder why Pandora and AHA do not connect). Download AppRadio from the App store. Along with it download CarMediaPlay, Aha Radio, Pandora and TuneIn Radio (if you do not have them). These are my favourite apps on the device plus they demonstrate in their own ways the limits and potential of the X940BT. When you connect your iphone to the device via the CD-IU51V you can now access many apps on your phone/ipod via the X940BT. First open AppRadio on your phone. It shows up on your screen of the NAVI. Play around. You can see your photos, and see other apps that AppRadio directly supports. Now go to your phone and go to youtube or netflix. You could watch movies or clips because of AppRadio. Go to Pandora or AHA on the NAVI. If you selected wired connection then you should be able to seamlessly access these two apps from the NAVI. With the wired connection you could go to IPOD on the NAVI and access playlists, albums, artists etc. This device entered into the "wow" category as soon as I discovered how many apps I could play with on my NAVI (PS: watch that bandwidth). Oh, there are many audio settings to play with to get lovely sound out of it. I have stock speakers and I felt like I was in an amped up vehicle with some settings. I give the AUDIO a 4/5 (minus one for the cable rip off).All in all this is a great system. My first in-dash NAVI and one I am very happy with. Hope this helps.
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
This isn't your parents stereo
By T. Smith
This is the first aftermarket stereo i've bought in many years and I must say that i'm completely blown away at how far technology has advanced with car stereos during that time.I have an android phone and wanted something that would interface with that and so the X940 seemed like a great choice based on price and other reviews i've read. I'm very happy with the X940The main reason I chose this unit over Pioneers more expensive Z140 is because I do like to have a volume control knob and I didn't want a motorized faceplate that had to move out of the way every time I needed to insert a CD or DVD. I've learned over the years that the less moving mechanical parts any machine has, the longer it will last. Electronics will usually last forever, but motorized parts are usually the first to fail. Also, I didn't need the HD radio that comes with the Z140 either. I find that normal radio serves me well.Now back to the X940. First off, I think it's really sad that such an expensive and complicated stereo doesn't come with a paper manual. The manual is on a CD in .pdf format,which is pain to try and navigate around when your trying to learn the system. The first thing I did was print out the entire manual(220+pages) and put it in a binder so that I could skip back and forth when learning about this unit. And of course you can do this while your using the unit, which makes learning it a lot faster. This is the only negative thing I can say about this unit.The positives are many. The sound is exceptional. Even through factory speakers with no amp, it completely lifted the sound quality to another level. There are built in equalizers and bass boosts and loudness controls to further refine your listening experience.The navigation unit is fantastic. It can configure mutliple routes based on what your prefer(i.e. gas savings, quickest time, points of interest, etc.). You can choose from 2-d, 3-d or street view. You can configure shortcuts based on your preferences too and at the touch of a button, you can find your route home from anywhere you happen to be. I found the navigation unit to be very straightforward and intuitive to learn. I'm still learning new stuff about it.The bluetooth feature is one of the main reasons I bought this unit. I wanted something that could stream Pandora radio from my android through the stereo to my car speakers. This feature works great. I'm sure as time goes by more and more bluetooth apps will be developed to work with this.This unit also works with Iphones , but since I don't use Apple products, I can't comment on how well it works with those. I know it does require and extra cable to use Ipods.There is a hookup for a backup camera which works great and you can also choose "rear view" on one of the shortcut settings to show you the rear view anytime you want. It does a split screen with the map and it's great to check out if your towing a boat or something. That way you can keep on eye on what's behind you anytime you want. It also automatically goes into full screen when you put the car in reverse and changes back to normal screen when you put the car in drive.DVD works great and you can watch it on the 6.1" screen or send it through the rear A/V outputs to another TV. Which is what I did , since this unit went into my RV.The hands free phoning is really cool. When you get a call, just touch a button and talk. The included phone speaker works great. The stereo automatically downloads all your contacts when you sync it using the bluetooth feature.I've still got a lot left to learn about this unit, but overall, I couldn't be more pleased with it. I think anybody in the market for a top of the line stereo upgrade will be happy with this. Just be aware that it takes some time to learn it and it's quite easy to get lost in the various touchscreens till you learn your way around.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
Another Excellent product by Pioneer!
By Michael Badonsky
I recieved and installed my Pioneer Avic X940BT without much difficulty in my 2004 Mercury Mountaineer with the Metra 95-5026 Double DIN Installation Kit to mount the radio. I used the Metra 70-1771 Radio Wiring Harness to keep from cutting out the OEM radio plug, and the Metra Axxess ASWC Universal Steering Wheel Control Interface to utilize the steering wheel radio controls. I added the Boyo VTL425 Ultra Slim Black Bar "back-up camera" with some extra effort.The touch screen works great (I have some difficulty with touch screens due to my big fingers), the GPS nav works well (I saved all of my favorite locations in the unit for instant touch and go navagation), gread video quality (and although I don't have them, you can tie your headrest monitors into the unit), and I loaded all of my favorite music on a miniSD card and plugged it into the system- At the touch of a button, I can play my entire jazz collection without having to change a cd (my only complaint is it is just more music than I have the drive time for). What haven't I mentioned yet??... the bluetooth - hands free calling- expandable for HD radio, satellite, and more (more than I'll use anytime soon).I worked installing police car lighting and electronics, so for me the installation was probably easier than some might think it is. But with some basic knowelege, and paitence, and the proper installation tools and hardware, anyone can install one of these systems in their vehicle.Bear in mind that I have only had the unit for a very short time, but I am very pleased with it for the time I have had it. And some might think it is too complicated to operate- but the basic operations are on an easy to read menu selection. Take the time to look up what you want to do in the operators manual, and you will get the hang of it after a couple of tries- what high end piece of electronics is not complex these days. **One thing I like about the X940BT is the ability to change the flash screen at start up- loaded one of my favorite pics in and "wa-la!" everytime it comes on I get to see the pic of me and my honey in the fl keys.I hope this review is helpful to you in making a choice between the ever growing selection of automotive electronics.
See all 43 customer reviews...
