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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
Great features at a decent price
By Ryan M
I don't normally write reviews, but I decided I should for this product since there aren't many and I think the manufacturer deserves credit. I've used Power Acoustik amps and speakers before and liked them a lot. The company produces quality products but gets non-name-brand prices. So I wasn't too scared rolling the dice on this unit. I've been using it for a half a year now and it hasn't disappointed.Sound is just fine. I doubt its audiophile quality, but it will stand with a good portion of the Sonys and the Pioneers. My one gripe there is that it doesn't seem to filter the low pass signals out of the main channels if you tell it to output to the sub channel, but this is a relatively minor problem and if you're not using a sub, you won't even care. The volume is sufficient.Menu/control system is pretty good. You get some geek cred for having a touch screen and the basic functions are as you would expect. The external controls on the faceplate are a little weird. I definitely would have made the source easier to change than scrolling through by tapping the power button (I've never accidentally shut it off though--it's just you would think this would get its own button). I do like having the call pick-up and disconnect buttons that you can use when the faceplate is down.iPod control is weird and I honestly don't use it. It's 100x easier to navigate your songs on the iPod itself. But I don't have use the custom ipod input because the basic audio input off a headphone jack is all i need there anyway and it lets me set my iPod in the console right side up. I suppose if I got into video on my ipod I'd give the ipod control another try, but it doesn't really worry me.The Bluetooth handsfree option works fairly well. When someone calls you, no matter what screen you are in, it mutes your music, comes up with who it is and lets you choose to answer. It will also dial out strait from the head unit and interface with your phone's phonebook. It had troubles interfacing with mine. I actually prefer to just make the call from the phone and then the head unit takes over. I'm still out on whether I find the audio quality acceptable. In town its fine, but at highway speeds I think it picks up too much noise. Still, it's definitely usable.Movies are pretty good. They can be a little washed out in the day depending on where the sun is etc., but generally the picture is great. I also like that it's not just a DVD player but a divx/xvid player and can use SD and USB storage devices. I haven't really used it, but I like knowing its there. If I did want to watch movies etc, I'd definately be using more the xvid/divx stuff than off the ipod. My one grip is that you have to use the remote for some of the navigation of the movie menus. I wish this was all touch screen, but you don't need it that often.Navigation is the killer app for me. I just love it. It's also the part that I was most ambivalent about since there were no reviews of it. Well I'm glad I took the plunge. It's $200 extra, but well worth it. It's well programmed, you won't have a problem switching from a Garmin or a TomTom. It finds the satellites a lot quicker than my Garmin too, and I assume (though I don't have many tall buildings or mountains around me that it will hold on signal better there as well. And I have the antenna buried behind my glovebox. I imagine if I gave it more prominent positioning, the signal would be even better. The maps seem to be better than my garmin: it has less unnamed streets in my experience. And the fact that it's built into your dash and you don't have to sucker it onto your windshield is great. I'm really interested if anyone knows about software updates for it (just because I'm geeky that way). The website it points to doesn't seem to exist. You can quickly switch between your nav screen and your audio screens. You can continue listening to your source audio while in the nav screen and you can continue to get audio nav directions when off of the nav screen.The security feature sort of scares me. The removable part isn't all that noticable when it's removed. It doesn't seem like much of a deterrent, which is all that really matters. I once had a head unit with top of the line smart card security. Well, it was stolen even though the card was out. All the thieves got was a dead stereo, but that didn't help me any. Anyways, this unit is so reasonably priced that I think the risk is worth it.So all and all: everything is a little rough around the edges, it seems like it was designed a little hastily--maybe by the engineers, but it's feature-rich and most of the features work well. And if you tried to get anything similar from a big name you'd easilty be paying twice as much, which makes this a great buy.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
loaded with awesome features but with glitchy os
By Eltonq
Ok I have owned this thing for some months now (between 6 - 8) and I am loving it because it has done all that I wanted it to do and even more. I wanted a replacement unit for my 1998 Honda Civic coupe. I have two 10" Sub-woofers and a decent power amplifier as well. My old deck would play CD's anymore and I didn't disagree with it. I myself was getting really sick of burning, playing and ejecting CD's all the time. I drove a rental 2011 Acura and that car had exactly what I wanted as far as new technology but I still don't think I should have to fork over $50,000 to get Bluetooth calling Bluetooth mp3 playback from my iPhone and 7" screen navigation. This unit was the perfect solution. The only difference is that this unit actually has a few more features than the Acura. It can play DVD movies and be wired to show local TV channels as well plus more.With the praise being out of the way here are the things that the non tech savvy consumer may not like about the unit.1. It is a bit loud when the volume is turned to zero or the audio is muted. Its basically coming from the cooling fan when the unit is turned on. The frequency of the fans also changes from time to time based on my engine speed. My guess would be that the cooling fan in the radio is based on my charging system output. The fans tend to get a little louder when I'm on the gas. Now understand that this is installed in a civic where the radio is up high on the dashboard and closer to my ears than maybe where it would go in your car. Again the noise is not overbearing or even noticeable once you start driving (as road noise increases) or have the radio up by any amount BUT if you are the kind of person that likes to just sit in your car with the radio muted with your windows up, you will hear a cooling fan operating from the radio. This doesn't bother me at all.2. This thing is basically a micro-computer with a very poorly developed operating system or bios or firmware or whatever the correct term for it is or it could be a super cheap processor if it has one. I say this because I have had to reset the unit a few times over the months. I use it primarily for listening or streaming songs from me iPhone so the phone is paired to the unit. Sometimes its as if it forgets my phone and I have to repair it but it now seems I have to reset it completely for a fresh pairing. Also there was an instance where I wasn't able to pick up any radio stations and I installed this myself so I knew the antennae was plugged it. I had to reset it here too and it fixed it. I must note however that this was happened on the day of the install and i think i may have shorted 2 wires. It only happened that one time and never since then. The point here is that I can almost guarantee you will reset yours at least once or twice if you buy/have one. The other times when it loses the connection or forgets is when I turn the car off, run into a gas station, get back in and start it back up it may take a while to reconnect to the phone or sometimes not at all. I usually then go into my phone and manually reconnect it which is very dangerous if you are driving! I'm a tech savvy person so this doesn't bother me too much because bluetooth works good I would say a good 80% of the time. I wish they would come up with some kind of software update this.3. Overall the functions can be glitchy at times. I was listening to an MP3 disc once and every time i would get into the car it would start from song 65 when I was listening to song 88 or 90 before. That happened once. Again I attribute this to poorly developed software.4. This is one that bothers me, the LCD will not fold out properly at times. It comes out of the unit and goes right back in. I have to press the open button again for it to finally come out and fold up. when it folds all the way up it hits the dashboard and tries to fold itself back in all the way (safety feature which is cool) so I have to kinda hold the screen on its way back down for it to stop and stay open. Thankfully I don't use the 7" LCD very often because all the functions can still be done with face folded in.5. Last but certainly not least is there is no anti-theft practicality with this radio. You can detach the little panel with the channel program buttons but that's it. Its such a joke that I have never even wasted my time taking it off because without it the rest of the front of the radio is still clearly visible and still looks very much like an in dash fold monitor to the potential radio thief! Huge bummer...Conclusion: Overall I am happy with my purchase because in the end I have new car technology in my old car for under 50 grand and no car payment. That means I am definitely willing to accept a few flaws here and there so long it works good most of time which this unit does for me. I like having my phone in my pocket at all times and be able to play my music, not have to waste money and time on burnt CD's and take or place a phone call while this is all going on. End the call and right back to the audio. Bluetooth audio is limitless. You can stream satellite radio if you have the app or Pandora or even YouTube right thru your radio! This makes my commutes much more on demand for the things I want to listen to when I want to listen to them. I would imagine someone makes a better version of this radio but It will cost significantly more.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
2nd power accoustik owner
By H. barraza
this my 2nd in-dash it sure is better the the old model ptid-8960 i loved the indash until the touchscreen got mess upso i was looking for a replacement and it cost the same as this model so i went with thisi really like the interface really easy to touch and navigate to the featuresvideo quality is good with dvds/ipodthe radio preset are easy to usesmall detachable facei haven't install the navi yet but i will hopefullythe blue-tooth awesome no more charging the stupid ear peace just have your phone blue-tooth on and everytime you jump in the car it automatically turns on by it self how tight is that =]Ipod feature is sweet must have the ipod cable or u can use the aux but i prefer the cable it shows the title of the artist song name and album it doesn't let you scroll so that was a little boo but still good easy featurethe bad thing about this is it has a building cooling fan and it can get loud and anoying when you lower your music to talk 2 other people driving with you i though it was the speakers but no its the stereo so that was a con for meother them that i still love
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