Pioneer Navigation CHEAP: AVIC F500BT

[StereoInstaller1]

At 6th ave electronics, the pioneer AVIC F500BT is a double DIN sized Navigation deck, without an optical drive at all.

It is 1 1/8" thick, decent performance, runs on Windows CE.

USB (2GB (!) cap though, fuckers) SD (8GB cap), Parrot Bluetooth, decent Nav, adn voice recognition.


Retail is $600, my cost is over $350. 6th Ave has it for $200, SHIPPED!

I ordered one yesterday. I have never seen one in person yet, but have been reading about it for a year or so. I have installed about 15 F700BTs, which is the one with a CD drive.

The 500BT has ports for an external GPS antenna and an external mic for the bluetooth.

Many hack/mods can be found at www.avic411.com

Of course, iPod integration is excellent if you use the proprietary cable, and bypass for video in motion is easy software hack.

Rear view camera input too, if you want it. I am eventually gonna make side view cameras, just to be a smartass.

Keep in mind that this is expected to be used as a AUX piece, but I have no use for sattelite, AM/FM or CD/DVD, so I am gonna use this deck as my only source. I am gonna have an external volume control, like the JL Audio CL-RLC to run into my amps, as I don't want to use the Pioneer volume control.

Twohundredfuckingdollars for navigation, bluetooth and music all in one? I am all over it.

Luke

[Schnitzer318is]

Good find Luke... that's an awesome deal. Circuit city used to sell em for $449.

[lylefk]

Where are you going to put it?

[StereoInstaller1]

Where are you going to put it?

In my car, of course!

Until I get around to building the new dashboard, it is gonna go in place of the ashtray. Gonna use a JL Audio RC-CRL or whatever the fuck that thing is called to run the amps, plan on no head unit at all...soon as this thing proves itself.

There is a guy over at avic411 that has hacked the shit out of this thing. Now you can switch from TomTom to Garmin to Igo, plus some other hackery I can't remember. Seems like it might be pretty nice once all the bugs are worked out.

I wanna figure out if it has inputs on the boards for steering wheel controls. I will either use some buttons on the console or actually make steering wheel controls or something.

Lots of guys are using 16GB HCSD cards. I am gonna try a 32GB. If it loads and works OK, I think I should be OK with that.

Either way, nav and music for $200 is awesome.

Luke

[4n8only]

sounds like a great idea. im rly interested doing this with my e30. i currently only have the stock head unit. this is gonna sound dumb but how did u connect it to your speakers? and how did it turn out so far?

[StereoInstaller1]

sounds like a great idea. im rly interested doing this with my e30. i currently only have the stock head unit. this is gonna sound dumb but how did u connect it to your speakers? and how did it turn out so far?

Well, having been kind of busy and 2 hours from home, I only got the thing this morning.

If you took your stock deck and "modded" it to have an AUX input, you could run this into it easily.

In my case, there are multiple amps and speakers, so it is a bit more complex...

[StereoInstaller1]

OK, guys, the thing is up and running.

What a pile of shit.

Super low output, shitty SLOW performance (new updates should be better, we will see) and what pisses me off most: the goddamn thing doesn't turn on with the fucking key.

Tell me, Pioneer, WHY did I go to the godddamn hassle of making both constant and switched power if the fucking thing doesn't care about the goddamn key?

Bluetooth and nav both seem just fine, except every time it loses power, it loses sattelite, so it has to re-sync or some shit, it has serious amnesia.

As far as my idea of using this and a pre-amp to be my entire system, so far I think a resounding FUCK NO!

Time to go fuck with it more.

Luke

[E30Idea]

Installed pics asap!!!!

[StereoInstaller1]

Nope, more shitty news: the fucking pile of shit is dead.

Won't charge, won't turn on, nothing.

Pioneer gets an ear full monday...

[dashboardmonkey]

Somebody warn Pioneer...........Luke is pissed!

[atomic]

[StereoInstaller1]

MORE damn news on this thing: Now it has decided to come back to life.

I called Pioneer this AM, got no love at all. Tech said I did everything right, sorry about your shitty luck, ship the POS back to New York.

Called my local rep. He actually has one, loves it...but still, no love. No new unit for me without shipping to New yawk.

Dammit.

So, for some fucking reason, I carried it outside. I hit the power button 5 times in rapid succession...the fucking thing powers up.

So now the goddamn thing is working flawlessly, as in 100% perfect.

Boot time is about 15 seconds, map quality is amazing, bluetooth just kicks ass.

Hope the fucker still works tomorrow, but for right now, all is well.

Luke

[e34john]

HAhaha, hope the damn thing works out. Toys like that thing is what makes me want to hop on a hayabusa and drive it onto a lorry.

[atan88]

Thanks for the update. Keep us posted.

[StereoInstaller1]

The antenna I have is a used one, taken out of some damn car whenever it was. The plug is a MMCX style plug, like a typical portable (one of the few that have a plug in) uses.

The plug I got from a local place that sells electronic junk, then I soldered the tiny bitch on...so it is a bit flaky, to say the least. Nothing like I do for customer cars.

So far, the thing rocks for nav and bluetooth. I am gonna keep hacking away at it, see if I can make an actual media/nav/BT device that truly works.

Oh yeah, I got the turn on/off thing nailed, too. Boot time is less than 30 seconds now!

Luke