Pioneer FH-P8000BT Double-Din In-Dash CD/MP3/WMA/AAC Receiver with Built-In Bluetooth, iPod Control, and Rear USB Input

This is not a review about installation. I had the Best Buy Geeks do it and they were great; placed the microphone exactly where I wanted.

My worries about the promise of the unit's feature set just melted as the installer hooked it up and quickly set the migration of my iPhone 3G phone book, the hands-free bluetooth telephone, the stereo bluetooth audio playback, the iPod control via USB (from iPhone) and the AUX input hidden in the glove box. Aside from a wiring harness, no additional parts were needed. I supplied the Pioneer iPod interface cable (though you can use a good spare one) and a Monster 3.5 mm stereo mini-jack to mini-jack cable.

As others have reported, when you plug in the iPhone 3G via USB the phone display will show a message about compatibility and that you can switch iPhone to Airplane mode. Ignore or say no and your iPod control works perfectly. Additionally, the iPhone charges when connected this way though other users have had varied results. I keep an additional Griffin charger plugged into the dash's 12V power port and use it when I have the iPhone playing in bluetooth mode. The sound via stereo bluetooth is nearly as good as via the USB dock connector. You'll never get any compatibility message on your iPhone display when you're in bluetooth audio mode.

My unit was manufactured in May 2009 (this information is located on the unit or box). This was before iPhone 3.0 software was released. The manufacturer does not promise 3G hardware or 3.0 software compatibility so one should not be too annoyed with the brief display message. It just works otherwise.

There's a small guide provided to get started. The full user guide is downloadable. I printed it at FedEx Kinko and put it in a binder in a storage area behind the passenger chair. If I need to I'll pull off the road and have fun reading about some obscure feature. The controls aren't too difficult. I mean, the installer got it up and running without ever having installed this unit beforehand. Much of what folks find too hard or frustrating should be done while parked off the road.Get more detail about Pioneer FH-P8000BT Double-Din In-Dash CD/MP3/WMA/AAC Receiver with Built-In Bluetooth, iPod Control, and Rear USB Input.