Pioneer AVIC-X930BT Review

Over a year ago some of the biggest names in the car audio industry, including Pioneer, sponsored a study to see what consumers knew about in-vehicle technology. The result was shocking. For instance, people thought they needed to purchase new cars in order to get a fancy infotainment system, rather than keeping their current vehicles and buying aftermarket multimedia radios (like the AVIC-X930BT). Can you imagine if wheel companies heard  car owners thought they needed to buy an entire automobile to get new rims? The irony in all this, of course, is that OEs have always looked to the aftermarket for innovations which they then incorporate into their vehicles. It's the aftermarket that has driven carmakers to offer features like remote start, rear-seat entertainment and high-end audio systems !

Pioneer's AVIC-X930BT is a great replacement source/nav unit for the driver that wants the latest technology but doesn't want to buy a new car. Especially when you consider the price. It lists for $799. Getting navigation, all sorts of entertainment options, plus Aha Radio for under a grand is a steal.

Aha Radio
Developed by Harman International, this infotainment platform is the coolest car audio technology since, well, GPS navigation. As the company explains, it “translates text-based digital content to voice and plays it back within the car.” You can get traffic info, hear all those useless—I mean, vitally important—Twitter and Facebook updates, and listen to various music stations, podcasts or songs from your device's library. Download the app onto your iPhone for free and now you don't have to be by your computer or staring into your mobile device to know what's going on.

You can connect your phone via Bluetooth and listen to whatever you want through Aha or buy the separate cable and use the pin connection. If you want to control features on the X930BT screen you'll have to go with the latter option. I used the Nearby Traffic feature before driving around town to test the nav. But frankly in an area like Los Angeles where it's always crowded, it seems superfluous to have an app tell you it's congested on every freeway near you. However, you'll definitely want to tune in for any accident reports. The best part about this feature though is that you don't have to look at the screen to see where there's traffic. The reports are spoken; and the program will automatically scroll through the different roads you're close to.

After you've heard the traffic reports you can check in with your Facebook contacts. I'm not a fan of sending or reading updates on what I am or what other people are doing every half hour, but it seems like most people have no problem sharing the most trivial details of their lives with their friends. With Aha Radio each post gets read to you. The program introduces who it is and what they wrote. And you never have to take your eyes off the road. You may not like Facebook either, but you have to appreciate the technology here. If it could read all my emails as well, then I'd pay well over the MSRP for the X930BT.

The app is easy to use. There's a nice selection of stations and adding them to your menu is simple. I tapped Onion News as well as several news and entertainment channels for my main page. And I also added “Coffee” and “Hungry”. Type in a search term by category or name and get recommendations for java and food where you are. Another interesting feature is that you can hear content from other people or load your own. I clicked on “Jokes” and skipped through the worst collection of user-generated humor—you won't find any Richard Pryors there, but if you think you can do better, you can record your own one-liner or what have you and share with the community.

Pandora
When you have so many entertainment options in the car, through the iPhone, of course, the CD/DVD playback functionality seems almost unnecessary. I'm almost exclusively listening to tracks off my iPod or tuning into services like Pandora these days. Not only can I listen to music I know and love, but I can easily access new tunes as well. The Pioneer AVIC-X930BT is satelite radio- and HD Radio-ready, but frankly I wouldn't spend the extra money to add them.

Not only do you have incredible variety of content through Pandora, but the interface is also easy to use. You can switch from one genre to another simply; bookmark a song; and assign thumbs-up or thumbs-down for what you're listening to. My only reservation about it all is that you have to launch the apps from your phone. That applies for Aha as well. But maybe one day. For now, I don't think it's a big deal having to do that.

Video
Speaking of too much content: you can watch YouTube, Netflix, and whatever else you have on your iPhone when you're parked, or send it to backseat monitors while you're driving. Who needs FLOTV when you have the Cloud!

Navigation
What you can listen to and watch is amazing and we could spend the rest of the review talking only about those features, but of course the AVIC-X930BT also handles another major function: navigation. It uses Tele Atlas maps of Canada, Puerto Rico, and the entire U.S.A., including 12 million points-of-interest to help you find whatever you need while on the road. The graphics are great and the directions were nearly flawless. But you'll find minor navigation quirks on all systems. Speaking of which: with the AVICs you'll want to input cardinal directions along with street names. Some nav devices will provide a list of streets that you can choose. But with the X930BT if you don't add north, south, east or west, it won't supply any results.

With Pioneer you get the added functionality from your nav with their AVIC FEEDS system. If you don't mind spending a little extra time to get the most from this product, then you'll definitely find it worth your while. You can transfer destinations from Google Maps from your iPhone, download POIs and more. Obviously though with everything else on this unit, some people may find all the options and extras somewhat overwhelming.

Hands-free calling
I've used a lot of different Bluetooth systems for talking while driving and Pioneer has never disappointed. The hands-free system worked perfectly. The microphone transmitted my voice clearly and I was able to hear callers free of any echoes or major distortion. The only issue some people may have is that it takes a few extra seconds to connect your phone. Of course, it takes more than several seconds—which is normal across the industry—to boot up the unit when you start the car. Then a few more seconds are required to connect the phone and have access to your phonebook. But once that's set, you're ready to talk.

Conclusion
All in all, I found the Pioneer AVIC-X930BT to be a fantastic system and a terrific value for consumers. And, you don't need to buy a whole new car to get the latest in-vehicle technology. For all the talk about Ford's Sync or any other OE infotainment option, it's a relatively inexpensive aftermarket unit that provides the best all-around product, along with features that aren't available on most new cars. With the addition of Aha Radio, Pioneer delivers the future now—and it costs less than the overpriced packages offered at the car dealerships.

What I Like Best:
-Aha Radio
-Pandora
-Bluetooth
-Security feature (lower part of left menu is removable from face of unit)