Pioneer ICE

[Spooky]

Thinkin of a head unit for my car ( one thing I hate about my car at the mo is its possibly the worst cd player EVER made), not really plannig a massive system but like the looks of the Pioneer DEH P77MP and P7500MP. Anyone have these fitted and can tell me pros and cons for both.
Not too sure of OEL displays ( like the 7500 has) as I reckon they could distract whilst driving.
Interested in sound ability of both in standard CD and MP3 mode, how easy to use em etc
Thanx
Spooks

[Stuart Wright]

I have a DEH-P5530MP. The display isn't distracting in any way and MP3 playback is great. And I'm fernickety.

[crocodile]

I have had both of these units in the last 3 months & I would recommend that you avoid both like the plague.

DEH-77
This is a highly flawed design. The display only shows a maximum of 10 characters at a time. If you want to see an MP3 or CD text name longer than this you have to continually press a button which shows the info in blocks of 10 characters. If you're unfortunate enough to follow my mistake & buy a DAB tuner as well then the problem is even worse with DAB text to the point where it's all but useless. The same applies to FM RDS text. The radio preset buttons have no night time illumination of the numbers & there is also another button of identical design in the row. Therefore at night you are faced with 7 identical buttons with no idea of which is which.

DEH-7500
The only real usable difference between this & the DEH-77 is it can display 16 characters at a time. Still not really enough & still rubbish for DAB/RDS text. The other main difference is is the ability to display cr*p mono graphics which is highly distracting & of no use to anyone. I have it switched to a text only display at all times.

There is no facility on either unit to have DAB text scrolling automatically as it does with all home DAB tuners. The only way to display DAB text is to first switch to a DAB text mode, then wait for the informtion you want to be transmitted, then press another button to store the text & finally attempt to read it blocks of 10 or 16 characters, depending on the unit. This is a highly entertaining exercise when undertaken on a typically bumpy road at 70MPH.

If all this isn't enough I would say that sound quality from all sources is average at best & you have to pay extra for a remote control. The remote control is also poorly designed, very expensive & only works intermittently.

I have expressed my disatisfaction with both units to Pioneer but their attitude is very much one of "we've had your money (£800), p*ss off". On this basis my recomendation would be to have nothing to do with Pioneer whatsoever. If you must choose Pioneer then go for the cheapest model that meets your requirements. If you check the audio specs of the units you will find that there is prescious little difference between entry level units & top end, except you get to pay a very high premium for gimmicks.

By way of comparison, I recently fitted a Sony CDX-MP40 to the wife's Corsa & find it a much better package. It plays MP3, comes with a remote control & has a full scrolling display for around £150 from Halfords. It's been superceded now by a newer model but is probably still available at an even better price. Only possible drawback is that Sony no longer produce a DAB tuner.

If you require any further info I'm happy to provide it. I also publicly invite Pioneer to respond.

[Spooky]

Bought a Pioneer 77MP a few weeks ago and quite pleased actually, agreed that its a pain thet you have to press a button to see the track name but small complaint really, other than that, I think its a cracking wee unit :)
Thanks for the replies guys
Spooks