Pioneer AVH-X8500BHS

Great investment

I just installed this AVH-X8500BH , and must say that I'm truly amassed!!!!! This unit makes every penny . The sound it's loud and cristal clear , and moist important for me it's pretty natural . Don't know about durability , but the rest is SUPER .

works great

Its a solid head unit with a lot of features it works well paired with my Samsung galaxy note 2 works with the note 3 too I've tested it out. I'm using a rooted note 2 to get the most out of the touch screen. pioneer limits what can be accessed when u mirror your phone you can bypass that by purchasing a 30 app and a rooted phone . Also I bought a parking brake micro bypass 20 bucks .That's so you can use app features while driving . Also bought a mhl for my phone which can cost 20-60 pending phone or official Samsung or apple product so I'm kinda invested which is my only real con this setup can cost some loot. But worth it to me. Also this head unit powers my non factory speakers really well without external amp.

Excellent HU for the money...

I installed this HU last week and have about 40 hours of listening time put in. Although largely unchanged from 2012, it remains a solid deck for the money. Detailed assessment below:

- Build quality is first rate. Paneling and hardware is solid.

- User interface is responsive and intuitive. Accessing most major menus can be done within 2-3 inputs. The 800x400 resolution screen is bright and crisp – even in direct sunlight. Color balance and saturation look good.

- Sound quality is what you'd expect for this price range. Pioneer offers a simplified time alignment interface called Sonic Center Control with 7 alignment variances per side.

- The graphic EQ has 5 standard and two custom settings (8 band adjustable). Custom #1 can be adjusted independently for each audio source (BT, radio, iPod, DVD, etc). The Advanced Sound Retriever works pretty well on some of my older MP3 tracks. But I don’t notice much of a difference on my more modern iTunes collection.

- Bluetooth works as expected. Get in, start the car, and it syncs within 3-4 seconds. Contact list transfers over seamlessly. Voice control works great for basic call features. Calls over Bluetooth are clear; and I’m told there’s little background noise when speaking to others. Pandora streaming works great. But you’ll need the AppRadio, a compatible phone, and the right Android/IOS cable in order cable to stream artist, title, and the like/dislike features. If you’re in ACC mode with a connected device, and you start the car, it can sometimes cause a hiccup in that the HU cannot find your phone again. I found that waiting 10 seconds or cycling the Bluetooth switch corrects the issue.

- HD Radio is nice but the transition from analog to HD is a bit clunky. Analog plays at a much higher volume over HD stations. It would have been nice if Pioneer leveraged a built-in leveler between the HD and analog signals.

- iPod control is quick and flawless. You can search for content by playlist, song, artist, or genre. Video works great and allows for basic picture adjustment. You’ll need to buy the CD-IU201S cable to play video. Or if you’re running one of the newer iPhone/iPods with the lightning cable, you’ll need the more expensive CD-IH202 adapter.

- DVD and CD player offer standard controls. No noticeable delay in startup or playback.

- SD card works OK. There is no standard menu screen to browse folders. You use the seek buttons to browse forwards or backwards. Pioneer does separate by file type so you can look at audio and video files separately. Lower speed SD cards like CAT 4 don’t play very well. My CAT 10 card did fine.

- The adjustable button/screen color is a nice touch. I was able to match up the deck pretty close to the OEM lighting (red with blue accents). There is also room for one JPEG image that you can set as your screen background.

- Adjustable LCD panel with detachable face. In my opinion, this feature alone is worth the extra $150 over ACH-X5500BHS. Although this causes the screen to protrude a quarter inch.

- Dual USB input for multiple audio/video sources. I found this to be useful as I can run one to my glove box for the iPod, and one to the lower panel for my phone. This unit also features dual zone integration which is great for a second monitor for the backseat passengers. For 2013 Pioneer also added an HDMI input for Android devices.

- Mixtrax was an unexpected surprise but no change from 2012. Provides a 10 second mash-up between two adjacent tracks. I do find it annoying when trying to seek through songs but my daughter finds it amusing. Mixtrax also provides visual accents to whatever is playing at the time. Think of it as a spectrum analyzer with flashing lights.

- AppRadio mode. I am glad Pioneer has taken the leap to support both IOS and Android apps. But don’t expect anything grand here. You’ll get basic connectivity with things like calendar and contacts. There’s a basic maps application with pinch and zoom. A couple music apps. And a couple of specialty apps for fuel consumption and parking. But don’t expect turn-by-turn GPS, YouTube, Netflix, or any other full feature app to run through the HU. Also, you’ll need Pioneer’s proprietary cable (varies by device) in order to run AppRadio mode.

The problem with AppRadio is that Pioneer has to update the firmware anytime Apple or Google update their OS. So if you’re the type that has to have the latest and greatest OS, don’t expect that AppRadio will automatically get updated with it. In my research, it is taking Pioneer around 2-3 months to catch up from a major OS upgrade.

The full list of apps can be found through this link (sort by IOS or Android):

Before taking the plunge, do yourself a favor and make sure your phone is compatible!! The most updated list of IOS/Android devices can be found here (Samsung phones require a proprietary 5-to-11 PIN adapter):

It’s worth mentioning that both IOS and Android have aftermarket developers that mirror the smartphone screen to the HU's touchscreen. If you’re willing to jailbreak or root your phone, and it’s on the list of compatible devices, AppRadio might be a more compelling solution for you. I will update this review once I have had a chance to experience myself.

All in all this a great deck for the price. Great audio with a plethora of add-on capabilities. The only big changes for 2013 are Android AppRadio and HDMI.

Great head unit for the money.

The only complaint I have with the unit, is that the internals are very loud. this was my first Double Din with video so it mat be a trait to them but overall I would recommend.

The best

This is the best radio I have ever purchased. I had a choice between this radio and the appradio 3. Although the appradio has a better screen it does not have all the features this radio contains. If your looking for a dvd player w/ tons of features don't look any further than this head unit.

Excellent Pioneer Head Unit

I have using an 5 year old eclipse AVN6620 and upgraded to this pioneer avh-x8500bhs. I first say I should not noticed a difference in SQ. Boy was I wrong. This unit blew me away. I had no idea what I was missing. The technology has been vastly improved from the eclipsed days. I also noticed that my component speakers was vibrating. Now no issues with the pioneer. The eclipse was definitely sending out dirty signal. Love this unit. My only issue now is getting the appradio to work for GPS. If I cannot get this rectify. I will have to upgrade to the AVIC-Z150. As for now hats of to pioneer.