- Intuitive User Interface and Touchscreen Controls
- Multimedia at Its Finest - CD, DVD, Pandora Internet Radio, iPod®, and More!
- Advanced Audio Functions and System Expandablility Allow for a Customized Entertainment Experience
Pros:
-Responsive and accurate touch screen interface.
-Mostly intuitive, easy to use interface. I say "mostly" because there's a few bits that aren't totally clear at first and have you running to the manual. See notes below.
-Bluetooth for pairing up with my mobile phones works great. My phone pairs pretty quickly. When there's an incoming call, media pauses for the call without a hitch.
-Playing audio or video files off a USB works great.
-Many illumination, theme, and background options.
-Backup camera displays quickly and can be viewed while in any gear.
-Discs load and eject quickly.
-Easy to use audio EQ. Great sound (at least with my speakers and amp).
-Radio signal strength. I've read some complaints about radio signal strength being worse with the P2400BT than the factory radio for some people, but for all the radio stations I listen to, both FM and AM, the signal strength is just as good or bad as it was with my factory radio.
-Remote and battery included.
-Unit easily controlled with steering wheel controls (with prerequisite adapter also installed).
Cons:
-Bluetooth audio for calls sounds a bit muddy compared to what you'd hear directly from your phone. All other audio sources sound good (provided the source media is high quality of course), so this seems to be limited to the BT feature. That being said, I've had no problem understanding people on the other end of the calls I've had, and they've had no trouble understanding me.
-I don't like how Pioneer has locked down the bluetooth dial pad when your vehicle is in motion. If you can receive calls, which requires touching the screen, why can't you make them using the unit? Let's put it this way, the majority of the unit's touch screen controls are available when driving, so what's the difference between navigating through your CD or USB's files compared to launching the phone's dial pad? They're theoretically equally distracting. Additionally, you could dial a phone number in 3 steps: 1) touch phone icon, 2) open phone book, and 3) dial contact. Any time you see "prohibited" in the manual, think "disabled".
-At least with radio as the source, you can only have a large clock face, or a large radio frequency/station, but not both apparently.
Notes on some peculiarities:
-Per the last con, if you're wondering why the dialing pad of your bluetooth-connected phone is greyed out, it's probably because your car's not in Park.
-If your mobile phone is successfully paired, but you're not seeing anything in the phonebook on the Pioneer unit consider a couple things first: a) wait a bit -it can take some time for your phonebook to load up, especially if there's a lot of contacts and b) check your mobile phone's status, as there may be a request to allow the Pioneer unit to have permission to access your phonebook, and you'll need to manually accept the request.
-If you're not finding video files on your USB drive, for example, don't forget to select the "Media" soft key to switch media file types. If a video file type is incompatible, the P2400BT will explicitly tell you so (as opposed to just acting like it can't find the file).
-The parking brake interlock "feature" seems to be flaky. According to the manual, if you attempt to view video while driving, that function will disabled until you apply the parking brake, release it, then apply it again. Well at least on one occasion the video function was disabled upon startup of the truck and going through the park apply/release/apply wasn't resolving it. Eventually what finally worked was going from Park to Reverse, actually rolling backward a bit, then rolling forward again (to stay within my parking space), then back to Park and THEN I could get video playback to work properly. Kind of nonsense there.
-There is a dimmer setting on this unit, but if you're expecting the display to automatically dim when turning on your headlights, I've been told this will only happen if your factory radio already did this. The illumination on my Tahoe's factory Bose radio automatically dimmed, so the P2400BT is dimming with the headlights on as well. Sweet.
Notes on installing the P2400BT on a GM vehicle with a Bose "Premium" system with an amplifier (e.g., 6-disc Bose stereo with amp in select Chevy Tahoes/Suburbans etc.):
-Used the Metra Axxess ASWC Universal Steering Wheel Control Interface for my install to retain steering wheel button functionality to control the Pioneer. Works great.
-Used the Meta GMOS-04 interface to retain the door chimes/alerts/OnStar stuff. Works fine except the chimes are too loud now. This should be adjustable on the interface itself, but actually isn't that straightforward and I don't think my installer knew the proper way to do it. Found out after the install that there is documentation online about a specific method of adjusting the chime volume if it's too low or too loud.
-The above interfaces are pretty expensive, but word of advice -do NOT try to go cheap and get these interfaces on eBay, or if you do, avoid the ones with a price that's too good to be true. I bought the ASWC through Amazon with no issues. Trying to save some $$, I got not one but TWO bad GMOS-04 interfaces through eBay -what a waste of time that was!
-Used Metra 40-GM10 GM Antenna Adapter.
Overall, I am very happy with the P2400BT. The bluetooth feature wasn't a priority when I bought it, but it has quickly become a favorite feature. Everyone is very impressed with seeing the backup camera in action and it's so easy to use. And now, although I can still use a disc if I *really* want to, I finally *don't* have to and can play all my music off a tiny USB drive (SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16 GB Flash Drive SDCZ33-016G FTW!) or an iPod. Everyone seems to comment that it's kind of amazing about how many features you can get for under $300 on an aftermarket radio these days and I agree. I would definitely recommend the P2400BT to anyone.The XM tuner in my RAV4 had bombed out so I went looking for an upgrade. Did not intend to upgrade this much but am glad I did. Happy to report the receiver displays 4 lines of info for XM (with Pioneer GEX-P920XM XM tuner). The touch screen works wonderfully and it is easy to navigate to all the options. My Sony mp3 Walkman was immediately found with Bluetooth and displays all song info on screen. Lots of sound and video options available to customize to your taste. You get a message warning against watching DVD/video while driving if you insert a DVD but I don't know that I will ever watch a DVD on it anyway. I have always enjoyed Pioneer products and service and this is no exception. NOTE: I did have the unit installed by a professional at a local shop.*** EDIT***
After tinkering more with this unit i've discovered a trick. I have a genuine iphone 4s dock from apple (the small white ones), an apple charging cable (standard one supplied) and a 3.5mm headphone jack from Belkin. You can connect the 3.5mm to the iphone dock and the apple charger to the back of the dock and then you have the full functionality of the 'Pandora' functions on the unit without having to buy the $50-$60 cable. I use the iphone dock as the cradle (not the most stable but it positions nicely in my car)
I'm from Australia and bought this unit knowing there may be 'issues'. For anyone outside the US, my problems were as follows:
1) AM Radio skips by 10khz per station where in Australia it only skips by 9khz. So if you want 873AM you will only tune into 870AM
2) Locked to region 1 (USA only)
3) Pandora only allowable in the US, but can bypass this with some know-how.
4) Forget playng any digital radio.
I listen to very little AM radio so the tuning was no biggie. The DVD region lock is not really an issue as it plays avi/divx files so i'm good with that too.
So far everything about the unit is nice. I had mine professionally installed and there were no 'installation' issues they encountered for a Holden Colorado Ute. It has many illumination options and other little tweaks.
Bluetooth with iphone 4S: This works perfectly. I like how it it just seems to 'work' all the time. I've made a few calls, the radio mutes till the call is finished. I haven't heard anyone complaining about the call quality so i'm sure it works well. It shows all your contacts on the unit and you can also set favourites (haven't figured it out yet)
Pandora: I have used this quite a few times in Australia (download the app from itunes in the US) and I find it's a great service. It works off bluetooth so as soon as you enter the car your songs will start to play and usually it will play from where it left off. So far the music it has been selecting has been impressive. If you find your having issues with Pandora in Australia, I find you can use Tunein Radio instead.
Tunein Radio: This is a good alternative if your not interested in Pandora. It works off bluetooth so you don't need to have a cable plugged in. So for my AM radio issue I use this instead.
Video: I played a cartoon for the kids and they were really enjoying it until I pull the handbrake down and it 'stops'. Video quality was very good too and although the screen is 5.8inch (not 7inch) it is still very watchable even from the back seat of my UTE. The kids were in a trance.
One last thing for anyone considering this unit. It is piano black (shiny). I was expecting it 'matt' so a litle disappointed in that respect.
Overall for the bluetooth alone this unit is worth it.I purchased this receiver because I wanted to upgrade the factory stereo in my 09 Subaru Impreza. First off, install was incredibly easy. Just took the old stereo out and connected the wires to the harness I had bought (A Nissan wiring harness fits this car just fine) and it worked when I turned on the car. The dimmer is a really cool feature that I didn't think would work. Also, it comes with a parking brake sensor for watching DVDs which was a little bit more difficult to install, but not impossible. I don't plan on watching many DVDs in my car (I have a perfectly good TV for that) but the picture quality is fine and they give you plenty of options to adjust the picture. Now, one thing that I love about this unit are the multiple hookup options. You have bluetooth, auxiliary, usb, radio and CD. I primarily use the bluetooth to play music through my phone and the audio sounds great to me. It's also awesome having the handsfree since it's illegal to talk on the phone while driving here. The bluetooth changes songs very quickly, I was worried because there is a delay of a few seconds in my mom's 2012 Honda Pilot factory stereo. I won't go into great detail about the other hookups but the iPod hookup through USB is also very nice. I hooked up a cheap back up camera that I bought here on amazon and had the hardest time figuring out how to get it to display on the unit until I realized there's a dedicated backup camera input in the bottom corner on the back of the unit that says something like "RC INPUT" above it or something. I kept trying to plug it into the yellow "VIDEO IN" input, which is incorrect. One great thing about this unit is that it really does make factory speakers sound much better. I had complained and hated the stock speakers in my car because they sounded muffled and just terrible but now that I plugged this in and configured the audio settings and wow! It really does sound much better, my girlfriend thought that I had installed a subwoofer! The only annoying things about this unit are; 1. the backup camera will not go away when you are not reversing it just keeps popping up with a black screen so you have to go to the home screen and turn it on/off each time you want to use it and 2. the face is not detachable which is really terrible because I have to worry about it getting stolen when I park my car. All in all this is quite nice for the $ you spend because the bluetooth is great, it has much better sound quality, and many built in features. One more thing I forgot to mention is the fact that when you install it there will be small gaps between it and your vehicle's trim because it is smaller than the factory unit, they do supply a black trim to cover up the gaps but even it is loose and I had to cut the bottom off to make it fit. That may just be the 09 Subaru Impreza that has this problem but thought I'd mention it.
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I bought this unit to replace my factory installed radio in my Acura RSX. It was a definite upgrade! It paired instantly with my Motorola Droid X2 No Contract Verizon Cell Phone without any problems. I use a SanDisk Cruzer Fit SDCZ33-008G-B35 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive Blackfor the USB input to keep a low profile database for my music. It also pairs/ reads my SanDisk Sansa e260R Rhapsody 4GB digital player / radio (with a little bit of waiting). I like all the options and it is very intuitive to figure out if you don't like instruction manuals. There is a bit of tweaking that is required to fine tune in the acoustics of the output, but that would be with any unit. Displays are very nice and clear, and the sound quality is a definite improvement from my past unit.Now for the not so good parts (in my eyes). It has to much Apple exclusive aspects. I am not ANTI Apple (just not for it). It is a shame that there isn't an Android based link to the unit. I would liked to have had Pandora linking to Android and not only an iPhone/pod etc. Also, I would have liked to have the album art displayed for anything other than iPhone/pod sources. My other MP3 players can do it, why not this unit? Also there is a handbrake switch that denies you many features if the break is not on. Thus this required me to install a bypass system (you can find it on YouTube). All the same, a hassle and requiring more $$ for install.
All in all a solid buy. I am glad I got this unit and look forward to using it on my daily commute time of 2-3 hours a day!!
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