Freondude

Freondude: #pioneer_avic_z110bt The factory unit in my 2005 Ram 1500 would no longer play CDs. I bought this and had it professionally installed since the "DIN and a half" dash opening in my vehicle required modification to fit the Double DIN Avic Z110. I was initially looking at the Alpine line of full screen Nav units but was turned off by the all the pricey options needed that, combined, cost as much as the Nav unit. As an alternative, I found good reviews for the Pioneer Avic Z110BT. This unit did not sound better out of the box over my factory stereo until I fiddled with the builtin EQ and sound effects. The "Living Room" setting gave enough bass boost to sound good and not be overwelming. Now it sounds awesome. The ability to play from a SD Card or iPod is a huge change for me in being able to play music on the road. I have 32GB of music at my disposal which gives me close to 6,000 songs to choose from. The Avic feeds seem to be tailored to iPhone only... I have a Blackberry that will sync to the builtin Bluetooth of the unit but thats about it. I also bought an optional Kenwood rear view camera mounted right above my rear license plate. There are many of these cameras available. The one I got has a fish eye lens. I still primarily use my mirrors when backing to get between the parking lines but the camera quite handy in determining how close I am to another vehicle, wall, or fence

Notes:
- Not really a con here but the fact I had to go track this cable down after the install was a minor annoyance. You need an adapter cable to run your iPod since the Z110 comes with a USB/Mini Stereo Jack cable that plugs into the back of the unit but does not come with the proprietary cable needed to adapt both the USB and Mini Stereo Jack to a iPod plugin. Pioneer makes one (CD-IU50V) but I found an offbrand (Precision Interface Electronics PIO/USB-50v) locally that did the trick with the same cost.
- You must set the parking brake to enable some setup options (Blutooth, Cell Phone, etc)

Pros:
- GPS tracking works fine
- Plays DVDs fine, true the screen is small but its good enough to pass time.
- Plays a standard 2GB SD card loaded with MP3's just fine. I dont know if there is a limit to how big of a SD card can be used. 32GB SDHC cards are available but the format may not allow its use.
- Plays old 30GB 2nd gen iPod just fine (once I bought the optional cable).
- Touch screen is calibrated fine out of the box works fine.
- System layout is intuitive enough to get around without relying on the owners manual too much.
- Boots up in about 10 seconds. Older Pioneer Nav models could take as long as 2 minutes to bootup.
- Rear camera view automatically comes on when vehicle is placed in reverse.

Cons:
- GPS Nav voice is very robotic sounding.
- GPS Map does not show posted speed limit or your own speed. I think my Garmin Nuvi spoiled me on that.
- Voice recognition for making hands free calls is spotty.
- HD is not a builtin option. For me, I did not get the HD tuner since HD channels are spotty where I live anyways.
- MSN Direct is not a builtin option. Despite how cool it may be, Microsoft is dropping the service 1 January 2012 so its not worth the extra price for the optional module + the monthly charge.
- No Wifi builtin. Like the rising and setting of the Sun, this must be just around the corner for all flagship units. I would imagine once it is available that it would be much like the DVD player and you would not be able to use it unless parked.... or you hacked it to play all the time. Feb 14, 10