Hi guys,
I have been looking for a "hands on" review for the device but never found one and now that I have it, I thought I would come and share my experiences with you...
My Head Units are AVH-5700 and AVIC-N2. The hook ups are straight forward and simple - Constant Power and Ground, IP Bus Cable and obviously the Ipod plug that goes to bottom side of the Ipod. I must say this thing is not as slow and hard to use as most people make it seem and the sound quality is outstanding but that also depends on your Mp3 Bitrates, etc.
Now remember with a 60Gb Video Ipod which I am using, I already got like 1300 songs on it, so its an ABSOLUTE MUST to have your music in playlists to organise everything, do not expect to just browse thru a few hundred songs while driving because although the unit is not as slow as people make it look, it does take like 1 second to bring up a list of songs. With the touch screen, just hit "Playlists" and pick which ever playlist you want, then it will bring up the list of songs, just hit which ever one you want and off it goes! It DOES NOT play video from the video ipod however - Only music.
Playback is almost instant and I like the unit. Now remember that although this is the newer model it still does not display the full song names on older head units and I think only the very latest ones will do that like the AVIC-N3. I got the N2 in my SUV and it worked great in there too but still no full song names - thats because its a hardware issue inside these older head units that Pioneer updated in the newests ones. Btw, response is a wee bit slower on the N2, but the N2 has a slower response than the AVH5700 anyways. (I noticed this clearly when I first got it).
Well overall I think this item is well worth the money if you are into the Ipod stuff and hate burning CDs because you got just got ONE or TWO songs you just bought and want to hear ;) - also think about having your ENTIRE music collection in something as small as an Ipod.
I might sound like a Pioneer Sales Rep. but that's my 2c lol.