So I spent yesterday installing a new Pioneer AVIC X920BT nav head unit in my 2005 F-150 SuperCrew Lariat. The install went perfectly--I was able to locate all the "special" inputs you need for a nav unit (reverse signal, vehicle speed signal, parking brake signal) all inside the cab without perforating anything to the outside. Anyone who is looking for these connections, send me a note and I'll tell you where they're located.

All works well with one fairly glaring exception. My Blackberry 8820 connects and calls just fine, but the folks on the other end of the conversation say there's a lot of noise on the call. I called myself using the home phone in the driveway, and it sounds like a pulse width modulated AC signal, much like when your cell phone is near a speakerphone while it's ringing. Very annoying, although my end of the call is completely clear.

I did have one call this morning carried out across town with no complaints, but as soon as I got back into my neighborhood the noise came back again.

By the way, before I ever connected my phone for the first time yesterday, I went ahead and installed Pioneer's latest firmware update for the head unit.

Any ideas on how to diagnose the problem?

 

I am in the market for a navi. Would you recommend the 920bt. Sorry I can not be help to you but maybe you can be help to me.

 

Could the noise be in your neighborhhood, like overhead wires, cb radios etc. How do you like the H/U. I am waiting to receive mine. Where are those wire located? Did you get the rear camera and XM?

 

Freddy,

I have isolated my problem with Bluetooth noise down to the location of my house relative to my cell phone carrier's signal. As soon as I get out from behind the shadow of a mountain near our home, the call quality is great and I have no complaints. It's certainly not Pioneer's fault as far as I can tell.

I think the navigation (maps, directions, interface) is somewhat better than my Garmin Nuvi stand-alone unit. The iPod control functionality is excellent, even watching movies from my iPod Classic is a snap.

My only complaint about the unit is that there's no "dual play" option that would allow the kids to watch a movie in the back seat using headphones while the grownups in the front seat listen to something else (or nothing at all). After the first few hours it's gets tedious listening to the movie sountrack while driving. To fix that problem, I'm planning to add a manual bypass for the speaker-level outputs that will kill the truck's speakers and subwoofer while letting an IR blaster use the pre-amp level outputs for IR headphones in the back. Note: If you pay the extra for the Z120 model, I believe it does, in fact, have the ability to set up dual play from the unit itself, whereas the X920 does not.

Other than that, I'm very happy with the unit.