 "Excellent car radio" | 2009-03-05 |
| - Reviewed By User: A33ZK4JXY4XKX |
| I'm very happy with this radio. The sound is great, works perfectly with my phone via bluetooth. The design is amazing as is the OEL display. The only nag is that I didn't notice that the american version doesn't have RDS like the european and the tunning of the stations is diferent from ours. But that was my mistake I guess... |
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 "Not All That!!! at all" | 2008-04-27 |
| - Reviewed By rickskal |
Great receiver with lots of adjustments, however . . .
First, just to set the time, you need an engineering degree. I have to refer back to the directions everytime to reset it. I'm a very techie person, and normally NEVER have to use the manual after the first adjustment on home theatre, car stereo, computers, etc . . . So, when I have to go back to the manual, something isn't right. Next, the only adjustment wheel SUCKS!!! If you push it and aren't exactly in the middle of the button, you end up going to another menu instead of selecting the item you wanted. It's better with the remote. Great display, except you can't see it in bright sunlight and it's distracting at night. The bluetooth mic sounds like you're 15 feet away, so I had to go back to my headset. Pioneer need to go back to multiple dials and buttons. This SUCKS!!! |
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 "A great headunit, if a little pricey." | 2008-02-23 |
| - Reviewed By User: AMPBC93M8DHYA |
I bought this headunit for two reasons: bluetooth handsfree and the ability to control my sirius radio from the headunit (using an optional adapter).
Pros:
The sound quality is awesome. I was considering upgrading my factory speakers before replacing my factory headunit with this model. Now I'm not really worried about spending the money for new speakers.
The display can be set up to be as "loud" or as unobtrusive as desired. Pioneer also offers a software download via their website to customize the display.
Bluetooth worked fine with my phone on the first try. The only problem I had was transferring the phone book over to the headunit. This is really a problem with Windows Mobile rather than Pioneer, though. I'd have to transfer numbers one at a time over bluetooth. I've since found that jetware offers a trial software that will allow the whole phonebook to be transferred at once.
I have no use for these features, but I learned from the manual that the headunit is also capable of controlling ipods, dvd players, and tv tuners. With the exception of the ipod interface, the manual didn't say where these could be purchased, but the fact that it's there is something.
There is a built-in 1/8" stereo auxiliary input on the rear of the headunit. This makes it easy to put a jack on the dash for guest music devices. There's also an optional rca input adapter that uses pioneer's bus.
Clock display is available on almost all normal screens. Definitely a step-up from other units I've had where you had to press a button to see the clock...and even then it's only momentarily displayed.
Steering wheel remote options are a good deal, and there are adapters for factory steering wheel controls. This is a very versatile receiver.
Cons:
One of my major buying points was sirius display. Unfortunately I haven't found a way to display both artist and title on the same screen, if it's even possible. There's so much screen real estate, not having both at once is a real oversight.
The "multi-control" takes a lot of getting used to. It's basically a 4-direction joystick that also rotates. I found it way too small when it needs to be turned, and way too stiff when it needs to be moved directionally. The control buttons surrounding it are hard to get to because of the multi-control and are very small themselves.
So many functions are hidden behind so few controls, it makes reading the manual necessary for configuration. The interface is far from intuitive. Even how to set the clock is far from apparent when first powering up the radio. Whoops, you have to set the clock with the radio powered off ;)
There are several "demo" modes that are enabled by default that can be pains. They're easily disabled with the radio off as well.
Overall:
I'm really happy with the purchase and would find it hard to go back to the factory stereo I had. This unit definitely offered the features I was looking for at a good price. I would almost have to pay for an expensive navigation radio in order to get all the features of this radio built-in.
If the color screen is not something that appeals to you, though, I would go for the less expensive 7800 model. It seems to pack the same feature set into a unit with a solid blue display. |
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 "Great Sound!! Lousy Interface." | 2007-12-08 |
| - Reviewed By dcfilm |
I have purchased Pioneer for a couple of decades and have always been pleased with my purchases until I recently installed this head unit in my vehicle. Main reasons for purchase was the Pioneer brand and the Bluetooth connectivity. I took it for granted that this great looking unit would sound great-which it does. The disappointment is how difficult this unit is to use. Difficult to program-presets as well as adjusting the clock. Iphone connectivity issues-no transfer of address book and no auto connect. But once connected great sounding calls. Lacks built in ipod connectivity-need to add an adaptor.
Bottom line: Do your research, do not buy just because its a top of the line Pioneer. |
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| "Absolutely great!" | 2007-11-25 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1137CKD150VO7 |
| Wonderful car audio system! Great sound quality, great display and the bluetooth works like a dream! |
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| "DEH-9800BT Still needs work" | 2007-05-23 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1YRKMBO5EQW8H |
Pros:
Feature packed, although you may not use them, EXCELLENT Bluetooth implementation, clear in and outbound audio, great integration to Pioneer 920 XM Tuner and really looks amazing!
Cons:
Amazing display, but highly glare prone, useless in the day, a major issue when the phone is ringing considering BT was my reason for purchase! Pioneer has to know about this and should offer a solution, a revision should be provided or I'm back to Sony. This is a hazard while driving if you have to bend over and down and use your hand to block the sun to see the display!
Next, as a sound engineer, design engineers need to scale back on the dependency of DSPs. You can't get GREAT sound without turning on most of the filters, the sound then becomes so over processed that it really doesn't sound that good anymore. I played with Time Alignment and even measured the exact distance from my speakers to my headrest, however it shifts the sound too far front for my taste.
The menus are not intuitive, if you're playing a CD and you're on track 35 and you want to see what is on track 50, the LIST mode starts you back at 1 so you have to dial all the way through to get to where you are and then to where you want to go, I have several MP3 CD's with 200+ songs and to have to go all the way to 1 each time is a total killjoy. One other thing about the CD interface, if you set to Random, the unit will play randomly, however if you manually skip songs, it goes to the next track, not a random track.
Finally a poor manual geared towards features and not function. Example, you can't assign a Custom EQ to the CD player and a Preset EQ to the XM, but you can assign Custom 1 EQ to both inputs and each can be customized to taste, this is not documented at all. and drove me nuts while trying to figure out why the curves were different when I switched inputs.
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