The Pioneer AVIC-F500BT offers a unique compromise between a portable navigation device and a built-in GPS console.
The Pioneer AVIC-F500BT offers a unique compromise between a portable navigation device and a built-in GPS console. The base unit is completely self-contained, so you can use it any car like you would a standard portable sat-nav, but it’s designed to be professionally installed to integrate with your car’s stereo system. To that effect, it comes with a small 50w x 4-channel gateway amplifier and all the requisite cables for interfacing with the built-in stereo.
The AVIC-F500BT’s functionality is divided into three main components: navigation, mobile hands-free and multimedia. As a navigation system, the F500BT is up there with the best of them, offering most of the features you’d expect in a high-end system like text-to-speech technology, lane indicators, and warnings for speed cameras and red light cameras. Traffic updates are available for Melbourne users, but it’s yet to be implemented for Sydney despite availability. Also, the F500BT’s WhereiS v14 maps are slightly outdated now that version 15 has been released.
The ‘BT’ in its model name refers to the built-in Bluetooth, which is used for connecting wirelessly to a mobile phone so you can use it as a hands-free kit. You can transfer the contacts from your mobile for caller ID functionality, and once your phone is paired to the system, all calls are automatically routed through the AVIC-F500BT whenever it’s in range and appear on the mapping screen as a pop-up box.
The AVIC-F500BT supports music playback via USB and SD card, but it saves the best for iPod connectivity. Using the supplied iPod A/V cable, you can play all the content on your iPod – even DRM-protected music and videos. A tabbed interface lets you jump between playlists, genres, artists, albums and podcasts, and the Now Playing screen displays cover art and the iPod click wheel for navigating between tracks. From the mapping screen, cover art thumbnails for the currently playing track are displayed in the lower right corner, with an ‘iPod’ button for jumping back to the iPod interface.