Pioneer DEH-X8600BH

A lot going on in this single DIN Pioneer! Great bang for the buck.

I like this single DIN Pioneer DEH-X8600BH!

Some background, I installed the Pioneer 2600BT touchscreen DVD in my wife's car and this smaller, hceaper unit seems a bit easier to use in bright daylight due to better display visibility.

The only thing I feel I sacrificed is the touchscreen itself. The touchscreen units do offer a better Pandora experience without needing to remember what button does what etc.. but for general listening I find this unit sufficient. I don't plan on building stations or doing much thumbs up while driving my truck anyway.
I will say that a big touchscreen is annoying at night and this single DIN DEH-X8600BH is easy on the eyes at night since you can tailor the colors and brightness to your tastes.

Also, this unit adds HD radio (Clear FM!!) and a removable front panel, and that makes parking at the mall a bit easier to me since nobody is scoping out whats in my truck.

I am an android user and I wanted Blue tooth for phone calls and Pandora, this head unit works well for that and I found the controls to be logical and somewhat intuitive.It offers all of the functionality you need to control Pandora, but I doubt I will bother remembering how to use all of the multifunction buttons. Calls are clear and set-up was easy.

Once you play with it for an hour it all of the controls make more sense.
I have not had much success using the USB cable to play music from my HTC phone, but to be honest I just use a big thumb drive and when the stereo is turned on it's nearly instant. I prefer BT for Pandora,I dont like plugging in. The thumb drive just stays stashed away and has no real value to a would be thief.
Scrolling through the artists list and songs while looking at the display is fairly straight forward.Just scroll with the volume button and then press it to make a song start. While playing one set of buttons skips to next/previous track, another skips to next/previous folder/artist. Between the 8 gig thumb drive, HD radio and Pandora I have not even had a chance to use the CD player, go figure.

It has a good amp inside it also, it really has made me rethink adding an amp for the main channels, even in my noisy 7.3 powerstroke SD truck I don't think I will bother.

The display itself has many color options and brightness settings, that's a big deal to me. I set it to green so it is legible at night without being overbearing, but many color choices are available.

I have already recommended this unit to people, for the money its kinda awesome!

Good sounding product, lacks useful buttons

It's a great sounding unit and seems to do it's job. However, it would be nice to have a few extra options, like a mute, pause and play button. All three and some are found on the remote which to me doesn't make sense why they would put on the remote and not the unit. A lot of times the remote isn't the most convenient to use. I have hard enough time looking for my TV remote. The last thing I need is to have to search for my head unit remote while driving just to pause the music.
Another thing that bothers me is the instructions provided. It's like reading an engine repair manual. They give you every little detail but it's hard to understand. It would be nice if they would send a quick start guide that gives you all the basics like most electronic manufacturers do now days.

My New Favorite Headunit

I have always been a Pioneer fan, and this headunit fully lives up to my expectations. I absolutely love this unit. 5 band EQ, plenty of boost options (if needed), Bluetooth built in (no extra dongles to purchase), functionally usable iPod compatibility (I've seen some horrendous examples of bad iPod compatibility), custom color schemes and wonderful sound quality. This headunit is outputting to a 400W amp powering 4 125W RMS Pioneer 6x9's, and a 3000W amp powering a Pioneer competition level subwoofer (3000W Max/1200W RMS) and it sounds glorious. The volume range that this headunit has really lets you fine tune the sound in your vehicle to that perfect level you are looking for.

My only gripe is what others have said, no on-unit pause button. Having that function be on the remote only is a downer, but then again I have maybe had cause to pause the music a total of 4 times in the 2 months I have had this unit.

Note to Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable owners: The site says it will not fit but I can assure you it will. You will need to remove the metal support behind the headunit enclosure area, and get right angle jacks for the phono connections on the back (if you are outputting to external amps, otherwise not needed if using the headunit as the amp), but by doing this the headunit fits snugly once properly locked into place with the included mounting equipment.

Best Radio Made So Far from 2014 Line and $$ Friendly :)

Everything about this unit is beyond great.. crystal clear sound coming from the amps due to the 4v Pre-Out this unique unit has to offer.. Super USER FRIENDLY ... love the little antenna extension its built with.. there are some cars out there where the antenna may run a little too short and just this having having that extension helps it a lot.. also like that it has full control of Pandora and Music thats stored into my phone very detailed Info comes through. the real only thing that lacks is just that it only has memory for upto 3 devices :\ .. it can be used with apple,android or tablets as well but other then that i really dont care too much about being limited to 3 its not a big deal for me . other then that SUPERB HEADUNIT!

great head unit

This unit plays well and has enough sound without amp to work well for me. It was easy to install in a 99 4 runner. As the other reviews say it's hard to see the led display in the daytime. I am happy with it.

Good featured deck

Quality sound, good reception (am and fm). HD radio works seamlessly - So much better than Satelite sound.

Exactly what I wanted

Everything works amazing on this unit. The sound quality is superb. The Bluetooth works great.

Pioneer 8600 bh head unit

This head unit is awesome, when coming from a basic mp3 3 band equilateral that was outdated.

The good: clean and easy to use setup, change color/contrast of HU, sound control from loudness, 5 band eq, bass boost, hpf ect! Bluetooth sounds good, just mount the mic correctly for your vehicle. He radio sounds good.

The bad: the deck has a brightness of 1-5. It's too bright at night at 5 but then can't see the deck during the day at 3. I wish it had an auto exposure setting :) also, when taking the face plate off, after hitting the corner button and pulling out, the faceplate still always gets stuck a little bit which is kind of annoying so I guess that takes practice.

I would reccomened this deck for the price

Great Deck

I have always enjoyed Pioneer products, this one continues the legacy of greatness. The freedom to control every aspect of the deck is amazing, as well as phone, ipod control.

great HU!!

Got this a while back for a "99 Honda Accord and its still running great. Bluetooth easy to setup and is flawless in quality. Always loved Pioneer

By jomo on September 23, 2017 Verified purchase