Customer Ratings & Reviews

Great Car Stereo

Wonderful unit with so many great features and a few downsides.

Pros:
1) Wonderful sound quality.
2) Effective 13 band equalizer.
3) Time correction: The sound from all speakers reaches your ears at about the same time. Great!
4) Bright Screen with adjustable angles
5) Versatile connectivity: HDMI, Aux, 2 USB, DVD, SD, 2 video
6) Reliable bluetooth,
7) Apple CarPLay, androidauto,
8) SiriusXM can be added with additional hardware.
9) Apps: Pandora and Aha apps get online music through your phone.
10) Recognizes several File Formats from any source: audio: mp3 & flac. Vid: avi, mp4, m4v. For flash drive, use FAT32 format.
11) Upgradeable Firmware and Maps.
12) Good built-in Navigation with optional extras.
13) You can customize the unit's display, button colors, background image and splash screen.
14) Video can be permitted at all times by using a hidden setting.

Cons:
1) Runs hot. Heat doesn't seem to cause any problems and you can't tell from the front. I'm guessing that will shorten the life of the electronics.
2) Updating maps is like pulling teeth. If you get good instructions from one of these reviews or online, you might be OK. It is not intuitive, it requires Windows or Mac, and is unreliable. Also, expensive after 45 days. $129.99.
3) You should first update your firmware. My new unit was 2 releases behind. This is easier than updating maps.
3) androidauto is very basic and requires a phone with Android 5+ (Lollipop)
4) No ogg music file format, but who does?
5) Inputs connectors are on the back, have lots of extension cables if you want USB, HDMI, AUX, Video, etc.

An overview of updating maps from Windoze (details omitted):
1) Format a flash drive connected to USB2 of your AVIC-8100.
2) Preregister your AVIC-8100 online
3) Download the evil navigation update software from pioneer dot naviextras dot com
4) Run Naviextras on Windoze
5) Plug in your flash drive that you formated in your AVIC-8100
6) Hope the drive is recognized by Naviextras
7) Log in with the user/password you created on naviextras .com. Hope that Naviextras recognizes your log-in.
8) Select map updates. Hope that Naviextras does not simply tell you there are no updates.
9) Hope that Naviextras updates your flash drive with your selected updates.
10) Wait for a long time while the updates are written to you flash drive. Wait some more.
11) Exit Naviextras and shut down Windoze.
12) Connect flash drive into USB 2 of the AVIC-8100.
13) Use the AVIC-8100's Navigation menu to select setup and update maps
14) Wait a long time. Get a bite to eat.
15) Done. Now use your new maps

By Daniel on October 25, 2015 Verified purchase

10 stars

The only thing better than the product is the service I got from sonicelectronix
My only complaint is how he'll bent they are on you not watching the DVD player while you're driving. My passenger would like that feature without having to jump through hoops

Much better than OEM radio.

Great touch screen sensitivity. Great input output connection flexibility and options. Great equalizer. Easy to follow instructions all hookups except for keeping rear speaker control when have a factory amp. I can see why this is the Pioneer flagship product. Cost is a little high though... And I got it on sale.

Awesome

This is the best receiver I have ever had a little complicated but sit in you vehicle and learn your receiver it's worth the time touch screen was slow at first but it right on now gps has never skipped a bet and the sound is phenomenal . The con on this radio is that the voice tells you you are going over the speed limit and if you turn off the voice you turn off the gps voice. Instilling is complicated. So I recommend someone else! ( Yukon Denali. 👍👍

By Donnie on February 28, 2016 Verified purchase