Need head unit with best Bluetooth phone function

[Swatdoc]

Hey guys I currently have a top of the line Pioneer multimedia head unit (w/o navigation). Just going by memory, I think it's an avh-8400. I use my car for work and therefore need the Bluetooth phone function to work flawlessly. The stock radio in my 2010 Charger worked perfect with my phones - currently an iPhone 5, but when I switched out the head unit toy he pioneer, the Bluetooth was horrible - very poor connection with multiple second lapses - I'm lucky to be able to hear 2 out of 10 words.

So I'm in the market for new head units for 2 of my cars. I want double DIN with 7" screen and no navigation. Don't trust Pioneer on this so I'm kinda looking at the new units from Kenwood and Sony. I'm sure sound quality will be fine with either unit.

Therefore the main question is - does anyone know about the Bluetooth components in these units and if either has a better reputation over the other for phone connectivity and function?

Thanks!

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[sbelew 10+ year member]

I have had 4 Kenwood units, the x695, x994, x995 and bt900, and all had excellent bluetooth connectivity with my Android phone.

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

That's weird my pioneer works perfect

 

[3 Kings Pro Seller]

Hey guys I currently have a top of the line Pioneer multimedia head unit (w/o navigation). Just going by memory, I think it's an avh-8400. I use my car for work and therefore need the Bluetooth phone function to work flawlessly. The stock radio in my 2010 Charger worked perfect with my phones - currently an iPhone 5, but when I switched out the head unit toy he pioneer, the Bluetooth was horrible - very poor connection with multiple second lapses - I'm lucky to be able to hear 2 out of 10 words. So I'm in the market for new head units for 2 of my cars. I want double DIN with 7" screen and no navigation. Don't trust Pioneer on this so I'm kinda looking at the new units from Kenwood and Sony. I'm sure sound quality will be fine with either unit.

Therefore the main question is - does anyone know about the Bluetooth components in these units and if either has a better reputation over the other for phone connectivity and function?

Thanks!

We sell hundreds of the Pioneers and this would be the first time I've heard of this complaint with newer models.

 

[ash_bhai]

Hi Swatdoc, i am no technical on this one, however, I got a pioneer fitted to my car recently. They also installed a blue tooth mic on top of the steering wheel and it works perfectly. they look something like the link below:

Pioneer AVH P5200BT AVHP5200BT AVH 5200BT Bluetooth Microphone FOR CAR Stereos | eBay

I have an android and iphone 4s connected to it and works perfectly. Also reading online the pioneer unit may need BT updating

Optional Bluetooth Firmware Update for Select 2012 Pioneer CD and DVD Receivers | Pioneer Electronics USA

Hope this helps. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Swatdoc]

yea i just found out about the update. need to locate a laptop with windows 7 and bluetooth to update the firmware and see if that helps. If not it might be a bad bluetooth chip. Pioneer says it's a Parrot bluetooth chip, which seems to be pretty standard.

I like everything else about the deck. Hope i can get this thing working. It's sounding like i have a very rare thing going on here. if i can get this problem fixed i might go ahead with another Pioneer - i really like being able to load my mp3's into the deck with a small SD card.