OK guys, I have been seeing all these peopel putting double din nav systems into their trucks and now I want one. I have been looking at Poineer since that is what came in my truck and that is what most people seem to be putting in. I have some questions though.

1. What is the difference between the poineer AVIC-F500BT and the AVIC-F700BT? They seem to have the same size screen and features but there is like a $200 price difference.

2. What should I look for in an in dash nav system besides just the features I want (iPod, navigation, double din, touch screen, blue tooth)?

3. Any problems with getting a refurbished one?

4. Any suggestions on a nav system besides the two listed above (trying not to go above $450)?

F500BT? $248 brand new with 2 year warranty
F700BT: $378 new or $325 refurbished

 

I have the F700BT and I love it. It wont play DVD's but thats fine with me cause I dont have many DVD's anyways. Nav works great. Sounds great, works great. Def worth the ~$500.

 

Go with the 700 or the 900 if you want to play DVDs. The 500 is a stand alone unit, its to be used with another stereo not on its own. I LOOOOOOOVE my F90. Your fine with a refurbished a lot of my electronics are refurbished and I've never had a problem. Its a good way to save some cash.

 

So the 500 wont work to play music by its self? never heard of something like that.

 

if your gona have somethin like that in your ranger.. make sure you do somethin to beef up the security system!! cause if someone know the antenna trick and sees your big ol nav screen they might ****** it,.. just a thought

 

Do what TrePaul86 did by taking the faceplate off a crappy ranger headunit and just putting it on top to cover it.

 

The Pioneer AVIC-F500BT on-dash navigator offers an advanced, all-in-one solution for adding large-screen navigation, multimedia capability, and hands-free calling to your vehicle ¿ without removing your factory radio. Simply mount this road-ready travel companion on your dashboard and exercise convenient control over your music, phone, and navigation.

 

I might but i dont live or park anywhere that vehicle break ins are a problem or that anyone would see it. I think I would end up just leaving it off anyways because I'm lazy. the two or so times a year i park in the city i can just throw a sweatshirt over it or something.

 

im a noob when it comes to rangers and i just youtubed this antenna trick really scary has anybody found a way to fix that?

 

mount a piece of metal on the other side of the handle,, run a ground wire to the metal on the door and run another wire to your battery!! then let someone use a metal antenna and try to break in!

 

LOL!!!

 

not a joke! try mine!

 

does it work? seems like it might not (try taking off the positive battery cable, no shock)

 

If you buy a refurbished F700BT off amazon tell them to make sure all the cables are included. Dont just assume it comes with everything like I did. Learned somewhat of an expensive lesson by not asking any questions.

 

good to know. thanks.

any suggestions on something besides pioneer?

 

I've heard good things about the Kenwood units.

 

None of InDashNavs really catch my eye right now, they all have issues. But Kenwood would be my choice, cause it uses Garmin for the GPS software and Ive always had good luck with the GPS units/Softwre...

 

ok, ill look into some of them.

 

What issues are they having? I havnt had any issues with mine. IDK what pioneer uses for GPS software but it works pretty good for me. Takes me on back roads that get me home like 5 minutes faster. Roads that I never knew about and my towns SMALL.

 

x2

 

Yeah no issues with mine either, especially with the 3.0 update that just came out.

 

You obviously don't know your town very well, I get get just about anywhere around her using trials/gravel roads without a map. I own one of these for my navigation:



As for issues, I know a couple people who had the F series Pioneer and they had nothing but issues, 30 some seconds to boot up, bluetooth problems, Ipod Channel Issues, ect.

I hate big cities so I avoid them, I just get a map, my cousin burnt a fuse out in her GPS on the way to the lake and got lost lol. She was like it told me to go down this road and the it went out and then I tried to back track then I took the wrong turn. I was like didn't u pay attention to where u turned and she was like no it just told me where to turn...

 

All of those issues were fixed with updates. It was pretty bad before the updates, its fine now though.

 

I never go anywhere without my state gazzettear (sp?) but a nav system would be nice for calculating time and predicting traffic, plus my maps aren't detailed enough to see smaller roads/ addresses. The Bluetooth will be nice if/when Oregon goes to hands free phones only law like Washington did.

 

Are these prices too good to be true?
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