Pioneer MVH-P8200

Good Buy

I bought this unit when it was marked at 179, however I don't even mind that I paid extra because this unit is great! It plays my ipod without any fancy cables, and sounds great while doing so. I am using the subwoofer RCA out to power a few subs and they also sound great. All in all good buy, and I love the control scheme, its just too easy to navigate around!

Regretful

I really wish I hadn't gone for this headunit. I don't mind not having a CD player but I do mind that it's 1) SLOW 2) has terrible controls, and 3) doesn't play nice with iOS4.

The biggest issue is the control stick. It's very difficult to click straight down on it and sometimes when you do, it doesn't actually do anything. It's very frustrating to use. Add on top of this that every input is extremely slow to execute and you've got a POS headunit.

My iPhone 3GS was fine until I updated to OS4 and then it has a hard time being recognized by the headunit (USB connection). I've been using the SD card function to get around this, and while it's very nice, it takes a good 60 seconds to load every time the power or input is cycled.

The sound is pretty good (I'm not super picky) but I don't recommend this headunit for anyone and have thought long and hard about getting rid of it due to it's poor usability.

Very Nice Head Unit

I would certainly recommend this unit to anyone looking for a very sleek looking head unit with good solid features and great ease of use.

Pros:
simplicity: You look around and there are a great many radios that have too many buttons, a cluttered face and are confusing to use. which button does what? does this button have a secondary feature? You don't have to worry about things like this. there are three buttons and one knob, and that's it. Navigating through the menus is made even easier by the great 3" screen whereas many other radios are still using an archaic 2-line led display. Adjusting the graphic EQ, changing the bass booster settings, all are very easy.
I also enjoyed the ability to make custom menus for items i frequently use (different EQ's for rap/rock, different bass settings, etc.)
I did not have any particular difficulty with the knob as some other people have mentioned, i place one finger at the 12 o'clock position and the other finger at the 6 o'clock position on the knob and push directly in when i want to [enter] something; I have found this method to work with almost 100% effectiveness.
The screen is very easily viewable in all but the brighest direct sunlight, I think this is a common pitfall for aftermarket head units, they are simply impossible to see in bright sunlight. I think in this category this unit did very well.

Cons:
Screen brightness. Should you opt to have the clock turned on (fills the entire display with just the time, the numbers in white and the background is user-controlled) at night, it is too bright and is distracting and annoying. I don't consider this to be a major drawback, seeing as how even on the normal source screen there is a clock in the upper right hand of the screen.
I also wish that the entire faceplate came off, not just the button portion of the faceplate, I'm a little unsure as to why they made the unit this way.
I do not know about other head units, but I went from double-din to single-din and had to use a Scosche dash mount kit. This unit's face was too big to fit through the opening in the faceplate of the dash mount kit and required a steady hand with a dremel to widen the dash mount faceplate enough to fit the radio through. Other than that, it installed easily, looks great, and sounds wonderful.

I really do not have any major complaints about this unit, between the great screen, the simplicity of use and the wonderful sound quality, this is a very nice unit. Five stars.

love it

love the usb input for ipod, its fast and has great sound quality, couldnt figure out how to select a playlist using the unit controls but there is an option to select music off the ipod not using headunit

Great to look at, not so great to use.

The unit looks great and sounds good. The issue comes into use and features. The unit does not support A2DP so if you are looking for Bluetooth Audio, move on. As for controls, this unit has a terrible control scheme. The navigation knob is very sensitive and difficult to use when in motion. Also to "enter" a command you must hit the knob directly in the center, if you lean it a little too much to the left, right, top, or bottom it goes to the next menu or menu item. If you check the tutorial videos for this unit you will see the issues with the control knob.

Nice price and looks

This deck is tite it has a graphic eq and a lot of sound options. The price is nice and affortable. The only downs on this are its hard to play mp4 vids. I tried with sd card usb and an mp4 and cant quite get the hang of it the knob is also knda hard to control. But its nice I would really buy again. Sonics shipping is fast loved it.

Pioneer deck

Its a great deck. Its going into the future more by deleting the use for a cd player and giving options like USB, ipod and SD card to be able to listen to your music. The screen can be a bit small but overall a great product

AWSOME!!

This headunit is a great buy. I have a 1000w 4-channel amp hooked up to four 6 1/2 speakers and two 6 x 9 speakers. I also have 1000w 2 channel amp hooked up to two 12inch subs. My car sounds so nice at this point I don't feel like I need any other upgrades.

The only thing that disappointed me was when I first hooked up my ipod through the usb. I would get a stat-icky sound every 5 secounds that really annoyed the **** outta me. I really thought it was a defected hu. i did some research and found it was the ipod firmware 4.1. I upgraded to 4.2.1 and it fixed the problem instantly.

I created a relay bypass so now i can watch movies anytime i want. The Video playback on this hu is very clear and actually i expected less then what it gives me. you can search youtube to find out how to make a relay bypass. its easy and should cost no more then 10$. i bought all the parts at a local radio shack.

The color versatility is great. i can match the color of this hu to my cars interior without any kind of worries.

The wheel is really not that bad like others are saying. I can see that those people just like to hate on everything they get there hands on. or are really high standards. I suggest if u are one of those people then don't buy this head unit. look for something that is around $600. Maybe that will satisfy you.

I really don't mind not having a cd player because all I listen to is my iPod anyways. If you need a cd player or a dvd player don't buy this hu.

I suggest doing a lot of research on what head unit suits your needs. Personally i love this headunit and am very satisfied with my choice.

If you don't mind not having a cd player. upgrading your ipod to 4.2 or 4.2.1 then you will love this product. its very easy to use and you dont need a manual to figure it out.

good product

very great looking radio