AVIC-F Series Navigation/Entertainment Systems

 
It can be tough finding the best car stereo and navigation system for your vehicle, but you’ve come to the right place.  At Essential Gear Guide we don’t like to make things too complicated and that’s why we love Pioneer.  These guys like to make the most sophisticated/top of the line products simple to use; and we appreciate it.  I was a huge fan of the AVIC-Z2 and now they have the Z3 which retails for $1800.00 and is worth every penny.  But before you go out and drop 18 Benjy’s, you might want to consider the new AVIC-F Series due out this June (08).  The AVIC-F900BT (shown above) combines navigation, bluetooth, voice recognition and iPod capabilities, along with all the ultimate in car entertainment choices. 
The VoiceBox technology is the best available, but your going to have to keep reading to find out why. 

The AVIC-F series in-dash systems include the: AVIC-F700BT, AVIC-F900BT and Premier branded AVIC-F90BT.  The AVIC-F500BT is basically the same thing but doesn’t require you to tare out your current system.  Each of these units enable users to link and control their personal devices.  When any external device is plugged in, the systems will instantly recognize the source, allowing users access and control through the 5.8-inch high resolution WVGA touch panel display and/or voice control.  Some of the numerous capabilities include:  iPod®, Bluetooth®, MSN® Direct, HD® radio, XM® and SIRIUS® Satellite Radio, single CD, DVD video playback and compressed audio and video playback through USB and SD memory devices, and a rearview camera input.  The AVIC-F700BT starts with a single CD/CD-R/RW playback mechanism while the AVIC-F900BT and AVIC-F90BT are further equipped with CD/CD-R/RW/DVD/DVD-R/RW video playback, capable of reading MP3, WMA, iTunes AAC, Wave, DivX* and MPEG4* files.

A collaboration with VoiceBox Technologies yielded a sophisticated intent recognition and advanced conversational voice recognition system for hands-free dialing of compatible Bluetooth enabled cell phones and full voice control over an entire music collection on iPod players.  For all you non-Eggheads, this means that you don’t have to talk like a robot to play a song or answer a call.   If you stumble or pause while giving a command, for example, “I want to, like, um, play artist, um, ah, Joe Purdy” the system distinguishes the command phrase from your speech impediment to perform the desired function.  You can request music using the artist name, album name, playlist name or music genre.
In the hands-free phone mode the system utilizes intent recognition.  With a command such as, “call George W.,” the AVIC-F systems can identify the contact without specifying any other parameters.  These units will prompt users with additional information by responding, “I have four numbers for George W. – home, office, Airforce One, and Chucky Cheese. Which would you like to call?”

An SD memory slot located in the front of each unit allows you to add additional Points of Interest, pre-designed travel itinerary, or even compressed audio and video.  There’s even a mini-jack A/V input on the face for immediate connection to other portable devices, such as camcorders and video players.

NAVIGATION:

With over 12 million points of interest across the entire U.S. and Canada the flash memory on the navigation maintains an “always on” state so you can easily search for gas stations, ATMs, hotels, restaurants, and the like with either “near a current location”, or “close to a specified destination”.  On the AVIC-F900BT and AVIC-F90BT model, specific landmarks are illustrated using 3-dimensional icons. The AVIC-F900BT and AVIC-F90BT products also feature MSN® Direct connectivity. With a paid MSN subscription*, users will receive updated traffic, weather forecasts, gas prices and movie time information.  At a glance, traffic incidents and traffic flow are displayed directly on the map indicated by different colored lines and traffic icons. The navigation systems automatically integrates with the MSN Direct data allowing users to follow the path of least resistance. 

There really is so much more to talk about with these units, but we’ll wait until we get a chance to play with them some more.  Keep your eye’s open for the update.

The Pioneer AVIC-F700BT, AVIC-F900BT and Premier AVIC-F90BT will be available in June 2008 for a suggested price of $850, $1,100 and $1,200 respectively.