teleplayer75's Full Review: Pioneer DEH-P6900UB Car CD/ MP3 Player
I purchased this head unit from Crutchfield for my 2003 Toyota Tacoma.
Since I know you're reading this review to learn about all the things I didn't like, I'll start there.
USB Interface:
My biggest gripe. Not the way it works, but the way it's advertised. I own a Creative Zen Touch 40gb MP3 player with PlaysForSure firmware (I can plug it into any Windows machine and it looks like a hard drive), and I wanted a head unit that would control it and display track information. When I looked at the product specs at Crutchfield, it says:
USB input for iPod, PlaysForSure WMA devices, and USB storage devices
Pioneer's website says:
"uBus" also controls many MP3 players** and USB memory devices ("Jump Drives") as well.
Neither of these are entirely true. When I couldn't get my Zen to work, I called Pioneer. They told me that only devices formatted as FAT32 are compatible. This leaves out a LOT of devices.
Fortunately, I was able to find an 80gb USB portable hard drive made by SimpleTech - SimpleDrive, with a cool Pinafarina design. It's USB powered, and the DEH-6900 has enough power to drive it. Best of all, only $80 at BestBuy. It did have to be re-formatted as FAT32, as it ships with NTFS on it. Unfortunately, Windows XP doesn't let you format drives larger than 32gb as FAT32. A quick Google search found me a free 3rd-party utility that did the job nicely.
Menus:
My second biggest complaint. To access some of the menu items - like setting the clock, some display items, the stupid demo mode that ships turned-on - you need to turn the unit OFF, then hold down the main button to get into the setup menu. Why? Why make me turn the unit off?
Otherwise the menus are a little clunky, but not too hard to navigate with a few minutes practice. One nice thing is the remote provides direct access to most of the menu functions, making life MUCH easier. I highly recommend using the remote for pretty much everything.
Remote:
Which brings us to the remote. As I noted above, it's very complete, providing direct access to things that can take multiple keypresses on the faceplate.
The only thing I don't like about the remote is a lack of tactile feedback. The buttons are arranged in a regular rectangular pattern making it very difficult to use without looking down at it - something I try to avoid while driving. It'd be nice if the buttons were grouped and spaced apart a bit, or some of them had a texture on them.
Display:
I hope you like blue. Because that's what you get. Lots and lots of blue. In good news, the display is very sharp, and there are lots of toys to play with if you're into that sort of thing. You can change the display to all sorts of nifty things, including movies, VU meters, visualizers and other fun things. You can also calm it way down if you want: I choose to use a simple display that just shows me track information.
The display is almost completely unreadable in bright sunlight. The glare off of the steeply domed, very shiny faceplate is awful. Even worse, my driving sunglasses attenuate blue (think UV), so I have to take them off to see the display.
Installation:
Installation is no different from any other head unit. Most of my installation time was spent soldering the electrical harness adapter together. After that it just drops into the dash. The only unusual part is running the USB cable. I ran it into my glove compartment so I could hook up the USB hard drive in there and still have easy access to it. The unit comes with a nice USB extension cable so you can run it anywhere in the dash.
Configuration:
This is a head unit for the tweaker. The 7 band EQ has a bunch of pre-set curves, and you can save two of your own custom ones.
Most of the audio configuration is straightforward and intuitive. One of the ones I really appreciate is the input leveler. You can increase the overall level of certain inputs relative to the Tuner. If, for example, you're listening to the radio at a normal volume and you switch to the CD, the CD's volume could blow you out of the car. You can adjust the CD's overall volume to be lower to match the Tuner.
There are also 3 levels of the Loudness setting (which accommodates for weak lows and highs in an automotive environment). I've never seen this on a head unit before.
There are the usual fade/balance settings which are also handled uniquely. You see a 3-D representation of where the sound is balanced in the vehicle. You use the joystick to move the center around. Very intuitive and clever.
There are subwoofer and crossover settings available if you want to install a sub and protect your expensive speakers from low bass. Good for those of us who haven't installed an external crossover network.
In use:
Once you get around the unit's quirks, it's quite nice to use. The tuner is good, with noticeably better quality than my stock head unit. I do like the control wheel. It's easy and intuitive to use.
A nice feature is being able to disable the AUX1/AUX2 inputs. This way when you're switching inputs (Tuner->USB) you don't have to switch past AUX1. A little thing, but a nice touch.
When you switch to the USB input for the first time after starting the car, the head unit does a FORMAT READ to see what's going on in the hard drive. This takes about 10-20 seconds on my 80gb drive. What's nice is you can switch to another input while this is happening. When you go back to USB it's ready to go.
Using the USB input is just like using an MP3 player. You can see track information in different combinations by poking the 'Disp' button on the remote or faceplate. You can play random, track/folder/all repeat, play playlists. Basically all the things you're used to are here. Nicely done.
I really like the way the motorized faceplate bows down out of your way when you want to insert a CD. Another cute little feature is the auto-open. When you turn the key off, the faceplate opens up so you can easily remove it to carry it with you. Like the reminder beep (which beeps to remind you to take the faceplate) it can be disabled if you don't like it.
Still to try out:
The 4v preouts. This is a nice feature, boosting the signal to the amplifiers for a cleaner signal in your dirty car. I'm not running external amps at the moment, so I haven't been able to test this. Yet.
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