I've had the Z1 less than 24 hours, and already I've got a pile of stuff to ***** about.
Picked the unit up along with the Sirius and iPod adaptor.
Let's start with the good. It's a lot of fun, the inboard hard drive means you don't have to keep those map DVDs loaded, it's got every feature you could want, the GPS and nav features are excellent (though not without quirks, of course), the overall sound is excellent (especially compared to the FJammer - barf), voice recognition is great, and watching DVDs while waiting in the parking lot for my wife to get back is just what the doctor ordered.
Now, for the stuff that isn't so hot - and some items that just downright piss me off:
SECURITY
None. Nada. There isn't even a cover plate that comes with it, or offered by a 3rd party vendor.
SIRIUS
Ugg. Horrible interface. Before I continue let's just get something clear right from the get-go: Pioneer has a contractual relationship with XM, and that is why the XM interface is so much better. It has nothing to do with Sirius, or the adaptor itself. XM simply warrants better treatment; no doubt demanding as much from Pioneer. So what's the problem? There are many:
The graphics just suck. There's no combination Artist and Song Title that scrolls across the screen. You can have one, but not both. Song, Artist, station number, and station name are all displayed in one little text area. You have to press an onscreen DISP button to switch between the text info. Blah. That's horrible. There's a big ole' SIRIUS graphic that is always on, and that's probably where they had planned to display all the info correctly prior to XM signing the deal, haha.
No signal strength indicator. C'mon. Even the tiniest piece of S%^T Sirius radio has signal strength and better song, artist, and station display info.
I'm wrong on any of this info, please let me know. I'd love to be proven otherwise, believe me....
iPod
A travesty. It's criminal, really, how sucky the iPod integration is with Pioneer. My God. There are only 2 problems, really, but boy are they doozies.
Problem #1: Selecting your music. You hit a search button, and then choose by artist, song, etc. No matter what you choose, you'd better pull off to the side of the road because it's going to take you a long time to get to the 'N' artist list. I'm not kidding here. It took me 5 minutes to get to Neko Case. Horrible. I mean, honestly. This would be such an easy fix: At the top of the screen, give me an alphabet chart to select the first letter of the artist. Can they make it faster? Not sure. I'm not certain where the problem lies. It's probably the equivalent of a USB 2.0 connection, so maybe it's a software thing? If it's a slow connection, therein lies the problem. Regardless, an alpha selector at the top is the way to go. iPod music is my life, and right now the unit is just worthless in my truck.
The only solution, for now, is to definitely stick with playlists. Short playlists of your favorites.
Problem #2
Let's say you finally get to that artist and tune you wanted, and away you go. You're listening to Shock the Monkey from Gabriel's Security album, and want to go one menu back to an album song listing. Forget it.
You need to go through the entire artist search again. If I'm missing something here - if someone knows a way to always go one menu depth back, lemme know.
Voice recognition may have solved this crap, but it doesn't work with the iPods.
Those two problems alone make iPod adaption a joke with the Pioneer units.
GPS
Here's where the unit really shines, but I've got some gripes:
Right out of the box, the accuracy is off. That's normal, they say, until the unit gets smarter. It needs to apparently know - over a period of time - your driving habits, where you are, how fast you go, blah blah blah. All I know is that my $400 handheld Garmin V unit is dead on accurate. I'm going to give this thing 2 weeks, and if my location is still 100ft off, I'm taking the whole thing back. Remember, accuracy counts.
What's that river over there? Is that Lake Geneva? I wonder what railroad line this is? You'll forever be asking those questions with this unit. This is nearly a deal breaker for me, believe it or not. I'm a bit of a railfan, and like to know who's tracks I'm crossing. When you move the cursor over tracks, rivers, lakes, etc only the closest road info is displayed. That's crap. Again, my 2 year old Garmin has better info.
Satellite strength should be accessible by one onscreen button. You shouldn't have to go 3 or 4 menus deep in order to check.
No latitude/longitude info. Maybe it's buried deep in some menu nest, but I can't find it.
Mute
There's no mute button on the Z1. C'mon. Jeesh. You can mute by selecting SOURCE and then OFF, but how about just a mute. $2500 and no mute button? Zzzzzz.
Manual
The manual is just junk. Man oh man. Pioneer, I've got one suggestion for you. I'm going to type this slowly so you can follow along with me:
Alphabetical index at the back of manuals is a good thing. Not having one is a bad thing. Having to search endlessly for any particular topic is a pain in my backside.
Well, there you have it. Plenty of *****in on my part. Is it worth the money? The jury is out. If I'm wrong on any of this stuff, please let me know. I'll sleep better.
Linear Mode
