Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsDecent headunit with lots of features and excellent audio, but it also has major flaws
Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2016
I just had this unit professionally installed. I bought it because of all these rave reviews. I am generally satisfied, but there are a few things I don't like.
I replaced a stock Scion Pioneer unit that my 2016 Scion iM came with.
Pros:
- Sound quality: excellent. To me it sounds better than many most "premium" Bose/JBL systems you find in cars these days. There are many adjustment options, such as EQ, timing alignment, every speaker can be adjusted for volume separately, including subwoofer
- iDatalink Maestro: I am happy that I can adjust many settings that were supposed to be used with OBDII scanner tool, such as door lock/unlock sequence, headlight timer and auto headlight sensitivity etc. Most cars now provide adjustment of these features built-into their trip computer and/or navigation unit. My car is not one of them.
- Display quality: sharp, bright.
- Features: it has GPS, 2 USB ports, video output, separate sub/4 channel 4-volt RCA's
- Boot time: around 15 seconds, even faster if you were listening to FM station instead of USB flash drive.
- Exit signs on GPS screen: it is a neat feature that I do not have on my iPhone HERE app. It displays exit signs just as they look in real life.
Cons:
While these are subjective, I consider them important. These things may not bother other people.
- Screen is small: I honestly wish I would've gone with 4200NEX/4800BS instead and just used my phone for navigation. Some font is so small, it's hard to read even for a guy who does not wear glasses at all.
- Screen is not as responsive: yes, 5200NEX has a very good screen, but it is far from iPhone touch screen sensitivity.
- The screen is too deep and plastic edges are too tall, so pushing some items on the screen gets complicated, especially items in corners (why did Pioneer design their screen/user interface that way?). It is annoying and could be dangerous if you need to take your eyes off the road to push a button properly.
- GPS boot time: horrible! It takes around 1-2 minutes to load/start your map. UI also looks cheesy/outdated compared to HERE maps on my iPhone. Map also lags when zooming in and out. I will just keep using my iPhone HERE app.
- Rearview camera does not work when in reverse: I have no idea what is wrong, I can turn it on manually from the unit, but it would not turn on when I use reverse gear. I will have to come back to troubleshoot it with my installer.
- Font is too small: I have good vision, but many things are hard to read.
- Terrible glitches: if you have long DJ mixes or recorded radio shows 1-2 hours long (I do have many of them), 5200nex will start playing from the beginning after you restart your engine, make/take phone call via bluetooth. This is extremely annoying.
Update: after using this unit for 3 days, I decided to return it and get 4200NEX/4800BS instead. I downgraded it to 3 stars, since these glitches are unacceptable!
