Clarion CZ500

Best Deal for the Money

I tried to do a lot of research before I purchased this deck. If you are looking for a system that has built-in bluetooth and iPod or mp3 capabilities, this is the best value for your money. It sounds great with the exception of the radio seeming to get slightly poor reception, but I really don't listen to the radio since I use my iPod with it.

The best part is that you don't have to buy any extra cables like you would with many other head units. Although, I will say that the bluetooth auto-connect feature on this unit did not work straight out of the box, I had to go in and turn it off and then back on. After that, it has worked great. I have had a couple of glitches with my iPod connection, it usually works fine, but I have had to unplug it and plug it back in to have it work.

The one negative to using the unit to browse through songs on your iPod is that it always starts with the "A"s so going through the songs to get to the end of the alphabet takes some work. I mainly bought this for the bluetooth for my phone, since it is now illegal to talk on your cell while driving in Washington. The phone sound is fine, but make sure you place the mic closer to the drivers side if you want the other person to be able to hear you without you having to yell. Overall a great unit and I'm happy that I purchased it. There are better decks out there if you want to spend the money, but for the price, I definitely recommend this one.

Bang for the buck

After a little time figuring it out, this is a great unit. All the features I wanted. In a price range I could deal with. The best bang for the buck.

Excellent stereo

Good looking head unit, very bright blue light but the screan is a little on the dull side. Great sound, works well with mp3 CD's, flash drive, bluetooth and music streaming is awsome.

pretty good buy

Everything works great on this unit except streaming audio sometimes. Sometimes when you try to connect and stream the music it says its connected but it doesn't work so you have to disconnect and reconnect your phone. Aggrivating but still works.

Bluetooth works great. Good sound from unit. Good eq controls too.

This is the best value your going to get from a cd player without spending 200 dollars. Can't go wrong buying this one.

solid deck

As title says its solid have no complaints great price.

Great Value, A2DP Audio Skips Occasionally

Overall, I can't complain. Sounds great with aftermarket speakers and sub.

My only issue is the A2DP connectivity, it'll skip every once in a while, which can get very annoying since this is my main way of playing music. I have the original droid though, so that could be where the issue lies. But it's awesome when it works, I don't even take my phone out of my pocket and it'll start playing right where I left off.

The BT phone feature is flawless. I put the mic on my steering column right behind the wheel, and people can't tell I'm using hands-free. If someone calls, it pauses the music and rings, and when you end then call it starts your music back up.

Again, not perfect, but definitely worth the price.

clarion cz500

Great buy

Clarion CZ-500

Very good, I love it, ubs works great, the bluethooth is not the best one but it works well. For listenning music It dosen't always works well with my iphone 4.

Good radio for the money

The Bluetooth feature is the reason why I bought this. Streaming music from my android phone works perfect. Takes a few seconds to pick the signal but you can control your phones music player right from the radio. When you get back to the car picks up right where it left off. Sound quality is good streaming through bluetooth. I cannot speak of the cd player since I will never use it. The usb port is neat since you can make it come out wherever you want (glovebox, etc). Built quality is good. The mic cable is long enough for most cars. The call quality is decent, and it will depend of how loud your cabin is and how close you can get the mic to your mouth. I have a miata which is a loud cabiner (soft top) but I does the job, don't expect quite long conversations while driving.

Great product and value

Excellent head unit sounds great. So nice I bought it twice!!