Stock audio

[BuzzH3]

Originally Posted by f5fstop

Now, the remote. Did you get the wireless remote? If so, is it worth it, does it blend in ok in the steering wheel?

Thanks again.

I did get the wireless remote. It works really good and being black, it kind of blends in with the steering wheel. The steering wheel audio controls was one thing I really wished the H3 had and this solves that issue. There are not a whole lot of controls on it but it has all of the main ones. Plus, with the Z1 there is a button to trigger the voice activation which you can control just about everything in the Z1. The voice recognition on the Z1 works really well.

I too was deciding between the D2 and the Z1. The things that swayed me were:
1. HD based - quicker NAV and ability to learn driving preferences. The second part is cool because it constantly records information about how and where you drive. This not only makes the NAV much more accurate it allows it to generate routes based on roads thet you prefer. Plus, with the ability to record music, it's like having a 200 disc CD changer built into the H3.
2. the 7" vs. the 6.5" screen - may not seem like much, but it's noticable.
3. CDDB database built in - it will look up CD information for any CD you put in it.
4. Voice Recognition

Both stereos are excellent, these were just the main things that swayed me to the Z1. Just my 2 cents.

[f5fstop]

Thanks for the screens.

[BuzzH3]

Here are some pics of the steering wheel remote and the microphone for the Voice recognition on the Z1

[Mark805]

I put my mic on the bottom right in the intrument cluster by the speedo. I agree on the voice recognition. It works flawlessly.

Thanks for the pics on your steering wheel. My reason for lookin at the remote was for a trigger for the voice control. That might fit the bill.

Speaking of learning driving practices. I noticed this the other day... I use nav every day when i head to work (for the traffic nav) I'm such a creature of habit.. anyways.. one day I was running late and I didnt make my usual stop at starbucks.. when I was driving by, my nav told me to turn right.. I was confused and thought it was messed up... i then realized it was expecting me to turn cause I do every morning. TOO funny. The Z1 wanted me not to forget my morning java

[f5fstop]

I believe if I go ahead with this (will decide this weekend when I actually see the units installed in some vehicles at the Pioneer show), I will use the Digistar by Soundgate. Kodiakz wrote back and gave me some info on the interfaces to use. In addition, I learned today that in some cases, the Peripheral devices require unplugging for interfacing with the Tech 2 diagnostic tool, while the Digistar does nto require being disconnected. In addition, the Digistar is an all in one unit that combines the Chime module so it should be a cleaner install.

Still deciding which unit to purchase so I have another question regarding the bluetooth adapater.
Is the sound quality good through the bluetooth? I have tried a half-dozen blue tooth wireless headphones before I purchased one that had decent sound, and even that lacks when compared to a wired headset. So, I'm wondering how does the bluetooth compare to let's say using the phone directly?
I also remembered I have a bug in my LG8100 phone with Bluetooth, it won't allow me to use voice recognition built into the phone when the bluetooth is connected.

I currently have Onstar connected through my Verizon acccount, and the connections via Onstar are fantastic, but I would consider dropping this if the bluetooth was as good.

[BuzzH3]

Originally Posted by f5fstop

I believe if I go ahead with this (will decide this weekend when I actually see the units installed in some vehicles at the Pioneer show), I will use the Digistar by Soundgate. Kodiakz wrote back and gave me some info on the interfaces to use. In addition, I learned today that in some cases, the Peripheral devices require unplugging for interfacing with the Tech 2 diagnostic tool, while the Digistar does nto require being disconnected. In addition, the Digistar is an all in one unit that combines the Chime module so it should be a cleaner install.

Still deciding which unit to purchase so I have another question regarding the bluetooth adapater.
Is the sound quality good through the bluetooth? I have tried a half-dozen blue tooth wireless headphones before I purchased one that had decent sound, and even that lacks when compared to a wired headset. So, I'm wondering how does the bluetooth compare to let's say using the phone directly?
I also remembered I have a bug in my LG8100 phone with Bluetooth, it won't allow me to use voice recognition built into the phone when the bluetooth is connected.

I currently have Onstar connected through my Verizon acccount, and the connections via Onstar are fantastic, but I would consider dropping this if the bluetooth was as good.

There is another tech bulletin on the GMAH24B about some of the older units having to be disconnected (or you could remove the radio fuse), but the newer versions of it don't have this problem. I haven't heard about the soundgate adapter. The all-in-one part sounds cool. Let me know how it works.
I don't have the bluetooth adapter yet since my current phone does not have bluetooth. I think there have been some issues with the bluetooth adapter as far as compatibility, but from what I heard if you have a phone that works with it, it works really well. You can also transfer your phone book to the Z1 and use it to call any POI's since most of them have phone numbers saved on the HD. There are some rumors that Pioneer is working on a replacement for the bluetooth adapter to resolve some of the connection problems. Search AVIC411 for bluetooth. There is a ton of threads out there about it.

[Mark805]

Soundgate will do you right... I'll let you know about the b/t adaptor when it comes in.(On backorder)