# pioneer avic z130bt



## eviling (Apr 14, 2010)

ive never used the 120, 110, or the 3 origonal z series decks (though i'm told they were much better) but over all, the 130, a break down of features 

User interface - 9\10

stability of system - 6.75\10

sun glare - 4\10 has allot of issues but with the ability to tilt, i would take that to a 6\10

navi - 4\10, basic navi, great detail, poor routing is the main reason it's so low, slow boot times and fussy VR orders that never work with navi. the UI is decent, and fast (once booted) but takes to long to get in a car and plan a rout. 

ipod interface - 9\10 great interface, i like the cube design, but the pioneer drivers for the ipod are very unstable, and the ipod likes to freeze allot. it also takes up to 5 mins to create a voice directory (from fresh plug in) or 1-2 if you never took it out. the VR is fickle and can sometimes just work at all. 


bluetooth hands free - 6.5\10 has allot of reverb issues from my drivers, it likes to pick up tons of noise i never stop getting complaints. they constantly hear them selves. the stereo only goes down, it does not mute its self, so you're hearing two things, it does this as well as with the GPS< but the GPS volume is always the same. 



over all, i was much happier with the slower to user interface of the Sony XNV-770BT i had before this deck. the ipod speed is what keeps me happy its the best ipod interface ive seen in a touch pad navi unit.

the RCA output of the deck, i run mine with an MS-8, the EQ features seem meh, ive never used them. the RCA output its self seems crappy as my ms-8 won't even do a output configuration with the ms-8 CD. 

just thought id throw together my impression of it. feel free to ask questions about it.


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## canuckinboston (Jun 10, 2011)

Hi Eviling:

I just joined and am agonizing between this unit and the Alpine INA W910bt to replace the stock Symphony II in a 2003 Audi RS6 (with Bose speakers). How did you find the voice recognition for phone calling? Also...the navi has been savaged in avic411.com not only for the slow speed but also because of its lack of accuracy (ie it would actually route you incorrectly onto a slower route). Did you find this?

I agree with you the iPod interface may be the best of any DD (even Alpine) that I've seen to date (played around with the W900, and assume that the W910 will be the same), but the BT phone issue you speak about may be a deal killer, especially if the VR is as spotty as I've read. Replacing the stock mic does not seem to consistently fix it at least from what I've read on other forums. Did you find any fixes to improve the reception at all (moving the mic, installing a 3rd party mic etc.)

Some folks have said the unit is too bright at night and can't be dimmed enough short of turning the screen off. True?

Lastly, how did the unit sound? I've heard that previous Pioneers had lousy SQ but it had improved of late; how do you think it stacks up to the Alpine +/- H800?. Sorry for the large number of questions.
Thanks!


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## eviling (Apr 14, 2010)

yeah, well couple things. 

I may be having so much feedback because i mounted my mic on the top of the windshield. but still, had my mic for the sony up their and had no issues. 

the GPS does indeed fail in that very way. i took a router across allentown, and instead of taking me up the express bypass to the city, it took me stright through the city to the high way on the other side of town, even though the express way was bother shorter and half as long with traffic. 

the alpine is where it's at in SQ from what i understand. alpine claims it even has it's own mid range processor, i havn't really looked into that since it's not an important feature to me since i run external processing. it is a unit i'm considering for a switch as well, its a clunky UI for the ipod like you said, but the 910 is much faster than the 900. so it's bearable with it, the pioneers interface isn't all it's lead up to be anyways, it's still lagging even with the glide features. 

the screen auto dims, their are no light issues. The VR system is not worth being a deal breaker, i use it allot but it's not very good at all, i only use it for safety reasons but really it's meh, ive never used it with my phone but i'd never want to, i have way to many people with the same name and it can't even get a band name right, i can't imagine the people it'd be calling on my phone.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Comparison of the Alpine w505 vs. the Pioneer z110bt. 



bikinpunk said:


> on the bench, the z110bt measured pretty bad. that stupid friggin' fan kicks in and you get _CRAZY_ frequency response... talking +/- 3dB throughout the entire passband in cycles. Craziest thing I've ever seen...
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I like the pioneer ipod of the 110bt much more than I did the 120. Not sure how these compare to the 130.

My navi was good most of the time. However, the aggravating thing is that it didn't route me to X along my route; it showed the locations I was looking for (ie: restaurant) in order of distance, closest to furthest. However, that didn't mean closest was on my route. Sometimes closest was 5 miles away but in the other direction.
I'd hope the z130 fixed this. If not, I couldn't take it... especially if you bought it for navigation.


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## canuckinboston (Jun 10, 2011)

Thanks....I saw that graph on another thread. Not sure if the DAC/processor in the Z130 is different from the 120 but would probably have to marry it to an amp if I went this route.
Navi is the least important on my list, but I'd like it to be functional if its there and I've paid for it. The most important for me is BT phoning, ideally with good voice control (which I know is not ideal on any DD head unit) followed closely behind by iPod functionality. Pandora is not available in Canada, and I don't listen to Sirius/XM. Not particularly interested in video either. I had thought about a non NAV unit, but none really piqued my interest except for the Pioneer AVH4300. However, that does not have BT built in, and the Pioneer add on BT module is about 2 years old and felt to be lousy.
From what I have gleaned so far: Pioneer gives a great ipod experience, middling BT, lousy nav, reasonable sound. Alpine gives great sound, reasonable iPod, ?BT (not so good with the W900, not sure about the W910), not so great nav. I had also thought about spring for an OEM Audi RNS-E nav unit, but with BT and iPod addons this would have run me double the cost of any modern DD and leave me with 2005 technology.
Decisions....decisions....


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

the signal was taken via RCA out.


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## eviling (Apr 14, 2010)

bikinpunk said:


> Comparison of the Alpine w505 vs. the Pioneer z110bt.
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no, they did not fix it  and I've had that happen on road trips. 

if you want a deck for navi that's good navi, the new sony's with the tom tom's are realllly nice, and of course the garminn on the kenwoo, but the kenwood is still so slow, and the UI still sucks.

the ipod UI is very much the same i think, i forget what the 120 looked like. 


I don't know about that fan issue, but that sure is disheartening to hear since my system is a pretty high end SQ build, perhaps i'm having some of that effect my tunning :surprised: maybe i really should jump boat again, it just seems no full featured navi units suit us here with our high end builds. this is my second navi deck, and the 7th deck ive ever owned period.


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## rytekproject (Feb 25, 2011)

So the avic z130bt and the MS-8 haqve issues or you just have to manually set it up? I was thinking of eventaully getting a MS-8 to pair with my z120bt


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## canuckinboston (Jun 10, 2011)

eviling said:


> if you want a deck for navi that's good navi, the new sony's with the tom tom's are realllly nice, and of course the garminn on the kenwoo, but the kenwood is still so slow, and the UI still sucks.
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> the ipod UI is very much the same i think, i forget what the 120 looked like.
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I hear you. The overall sluggishness of the Kenwood units, especially their high end excelon line, and the garish looking GUI were deal breakers for me, although apparently their BT was excellent and they had great Garmin nav. I would have picked up the Sony XNV 770BT but the iPod interface, especially their search function, didn't work for me. I found it probably the clunkiest UI of the ones I've demoed (Clarion, Pioneer, Kenwood, Alpine, Sony). I was already leaning towards the Alpine W910 before joining this forum, and I haven't heard anything yet about other units that likely will make me change my mind. Thanks all for your help!


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## eviling (Apr 14, 2010)

if you want a great BT, the sony never got a single complaint. i never could get it synced with my phone..i didn't try very hard to sync contacts. the pioneer as far as phone syncing, has it down. but the mic seem'd lacking i guess. if you mount it on the steering wheel you might not run into that, for me i think its a cause my A pillers have my mids and tweets. but i think even when i had speakers low, i was still getitng complaints, but people can't stand it wnow, they pretty much tell me to call them when i get where ever i'm going lol.



rytekproject said:


> So the avic z130bt and the MS-8 haqve issues or you just have to manually set it up? I was thinking of eventaully getting a MS-8 to pair with my z120bt



their were no issues between them other than the level sync setup, but you don't really need it with RCA inputs.


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## canuckinboston (Jun 10, 2011)

eviling said:


> if you want a great BT, the sony never got a single complaint. i never could get it synced with my phone..i didn't try very hard to sync contacts. the pioneer as far as phone syncing, has it down. but the mic seem'd lacking i guess. if you mount it on the steering wheel you might not run into that, for me i think its a cause my A pillers have my mids and tweets. but i think even when i had speakers low, i was still getitng complaints, but people can't stand it wnow, they pretty much tell me to call them when i get where ever i'm going lol.
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Did you find the iPod interface with the Sony OK? I don't like how when you're playing a song and want to choose another in the same playlist or album the "back" function takes you all the way back to the master Music folder and forces you to dig around to find the playlist/album again and then the song. With the other DDs, "back" takes you to the last used playlist/album. Strange how Sony programmed it this way, I think it would be really irritating longterm and probably dangerous if you're driving and have to press several buttons to navigate your music.


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## eviling (Apr 14, 2010)

canuckinboston said:


> Did you find the iPod interface with the Sony OK? I don't like how when you're playing a song and want to choose another in the same playlist or album the "back" function takes you all the way back to the master Music folder and forces you to dig around to find the playlist/album again and then the song. With the other DDs, "back" takes you to the last used playlist/album. Strange how Sony programmed it this way, I think it would be really irritating longterm and probably dangerous if you're driving and have to press several buttons to navigate your music.


pioner takes you all the way back too, but only if you slide over to the other cube, you can play music from the list with out changing screens, "dual tasking" as it were. which in all honesty, great interface, again VR can be fickle but works enough to get the job done.


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