Hello everyone, i'm one the market for built in double din Navigation unit, at first i was looking at Pioneer F serioes F90bt in particular, but after reading some reviews i'm questionable if it would be a good purchase, sure the price is good, but will i like it ? I heard the **** sucks and few more things on Avic411.

Anyway it came down to 2 model Kenwood DNX 8120 and Pioneer Z3 i found really good pricesw on them and now stock on which one to pick.

I was originally leaning towards Z3 due to hard drive space for music and over 12 millions POI's, but then i heard that Pioneers maps suck and like 5-7 years old and Garmins maps which Kenwood uses are much much better. Plus if i go with kenwood hard drive music easily solved with purchase of Ipod and probably be better since you can take it with you.

soooooooooooo........

Do you guys have any opinions, experiences feel free to post !

Thanks to everyone.

 

ive had great experience with pioneer's units,
ive had a pioneer avic d2- which had the gps and what not
and now have a pioneer 4000DVD, the 4000dvd dosnt have gps

living in a small city, ive never really needed gps.. so i cant really speak for the gps feature.
on both units ive used the ipod connection because its easier to just throw it in the glove box and control it on screen.

then again, ive never owned a kenwood.
out of the 2 youve picked, my choice would be the pioneer, solely because the past 2 units ive owned have been flawless

 

Cool, thanks for you opinion man )

I was really looking into F90bt , but then i got on avic 411 forum and seen alot of complaints about the ****, and software and people doing whole bunch of mods to it..dont know now...

the question is , spend 650 and get a unit that i might be dissapointed with or spent little more and get one of the top ones.

 

Hey Rus, sorry to threadjack but I was curious... I'm also looking at the F90BT (had been wanting the D3 but love the new Bluetooth features) and got a chance to play with the F900BT at Best Buy today and rather enjoyed it... was still pretty sold on getting the F90BT this summer when I upgrade my sound system... but since you said you've done some reading... does it sound like a poor purchase? The Z3 is a little out of my price range and really I don't need quite the amount of nav features it has (from a features standpoint the F90BT is perfect... just want to know the functionality is up to par).

Thanks!

 

SF2K4 yeah i know man, the functions of F90bt are perfect for me as well, maybe i need to stop by best buy as well sometime.
You can go to avic411.com and read for youself you'll see what alot of people complain about, i guess its a decent buy for the money, but i'm not sure if i will want to do all those upgrades and mods to it .
Also people are saying that maps are like 5-6 years old.

 

See, the navi isn't really the big sell to me... the high points of the F90BT are the Bluetooth capability, the voice-control for the iPod, the beautiful screen/DVD function, and did I mention Bluetooth?

I think in the end, for me, the pros out weigh the cons... go to your local Best Buy and see if they have one to play with... maybe you'll be as sold as I am about it.

AVIC-F90BT, here I come!

 

ok, buy it ) and let me know how its working, lol

i've been thinking about getting it and selling it in may when new Kenwood 9140 and new Eclipse unit come out.

 

What kinds of things are you hearing about the Z series?

 

i havent looked into Z series much, i mainly heard one thing and that was about Pioneer maps being old.... i looked mainly into F series cuz i like features and apparently the price, just saw F90bt for like 600 shipped on ebay.

yeah you know thats what i might do, just get this F90bt and kind of test it out, play with it untill summer and when new kenwood and Eclipse comes out get one of those, cuz that eclipse unit is expected to do some damage to other makers and kenwood will be similar in options !

 

Or you could buy the F90BT for me and I'll test it out for ya until summer...

 

aha as soon as i hit the lottery )
or you enlist and earn money for the unit ) lol

 

i have the kenwood and i love it does everyting i could ask ive had it since it came out and all is great .

 

I also read alot about the f90bt at first and it sounded great till i got my hands on one there was something about it that did not seem right the screen was a little small also the nav was no where as good as the 8120andi really did want to like it i tried but in the end it had to go back . a week later i goyt the kenwood and it was what i was expecting right out of the box . there is something to be said for waiting and getting exactly what you want hope this helps good luck

 

Well see here's my problem... sorry to keep jacking your thread Navigation isn't really that important to me... I mean it'd be nice to have but like I said the 2 most important things are the Bluetooth and the iPod functionality... and the price. The F90BT (or the D3) are both like $600 or less on eBay while the Z3 or the DNX 8120 are $1000-$1200. Now I know you get what you pay for but I'm a college kid on a college kid's salary who also is getting new speakers, subs, amp, etc. in the process of all this and saving that $400-$600 would be a big help... but I've read some reviews on all of them and it does sound like the DNX 8120 is the cream of the crop... I won't be able to purchase until this summer anyway so I guess cross my fingers and hope the price comes down?

If that's not so, the D3 doesn't have the Bluetooth phone capability correct? Maybe the F90BT will have enough firmware/software updates by then that it'll be better, too.

Thanks guys... I know this wasn't my thread but you're helping my purchase choice as well. Rus, I wish you luck. From the sound of it, you need the DNX 8120 if you've got the money. It sounds amazing.

 

Yeah i probably do need DNX 8120, but the thing is in May DNX 9140 and the ne Eclipse come out and i would want to get them, dont feel like paying 1000+ for a unit that wil be outdated in like 2 month...

I think i just get F90bt play with it untill summer and then sell it and get one of them new boys..


P.S. Just ordered F90bt $635 shipped to my door.

 

Well keep us updated... I'd still love to get it for the price.

 

The price is good man, and when you look at the options i really like the price. Since its in high demand, i dont think i will have any trouble selling in case i get sick of it or something.

 

I mean, it sounds like all the complaints are from long load times... for it to boot up, load the back-up camera, etc. ... those sound like things Pioneer can and should be working on fixing.

 

Yeah i think so too... the main thing just like you said boot time, the **** and sometime maps are old, but for $635 shipped i think it will be good enough.
Just need to get install kit and the override thing to use navi while driving.

 

Here's what i found on Pioneer website and regarding their V2 firmware update.

"The firmware update, however, does not address reported concerns regarding the length of boot up times. As is the case with other computers, the length of time to boot up an AVIC F-Series system is largely due to the numerous demands (navigation, entertainment, information, connectivity, compatibility, etc.) placed upon it."