nspendleton

I bought one of these last week and installed it this past weekend. Real easy to install, bluetooth phone and music works great! I removed the factory power adapter/cig lighter from the center console and put the USB port in its place since I only use it to charge my iPhone and iPod.

For some reason I can't get my iPod or iPhone 5 to play via USB, occasionally I get an XM error on my display when I plug in my iPhone and the whole radio seems to reboot. I've sent an email to PAC tech support. Did anyone else who has installed this have to do the firmware update to get theirs to work right?

Wheelman

What's different about the ipod functionality of this vs the PAL v2 kits?

Wheelman

Also, do you lose XM functionality?
Does phone # show up on radio when someone calls?
Can I connect an iPod with a cable and my phone via bluetooth at the same time?

Reggied

The company that support this device has updated firmware. Since you just purchased your unit you should have the latest version. The bad news is you will need total access to the unit in order to reflash it. I sent my back because the 2005 vette has some issues interface with the unit. I am not a supporter or iphone products because I work for Motorola "droid baby".
I did use the USB port to stream music via a USB thumb drive. The smaller drives worked OK "under 2G".

nspendleton

Not sure about the PAL 2 question.

You don't lose minimal XM functionality. You can only access the first 255 XM stations. Yes phone numbers show up and you can even dial recent numbers from the factor non-nav unit.

Once I have a free chance to take the console back off and update the firmware I'll let you know for sure, but I do believe you can have a phone connected via bluetooth and an iPod connected via USB at the same time and when you get a call it will come in over bluetooth. The only downside to this unit is that for the bluetooth phone to work, it has to be using one of the iSimple inputs.

Wheelman

Do you still use your current XM tuner, or do you have to buy theirs? Will I lose access to my current factory xm, or xm bands? With the PAL i think you lose access to XM 2.

nspendleton

You still use your current factory XM tuner. You retain your factory XM functionality, but only are restricted to stations 1-255.

Wheelman

Good news, I think only really new radios can access stations above 255 anyway, pretty sure my '08 never went that high anyway.

nspendleton

I've had mine installed now for about a month and absolutely love it! Streaming music via bluetooth is great. With the smart key and bluetooth I don't ever have to take anything out of my pockets when I get in my car. Talking via bluetooth is even better. Even with the targa removed and with the windows up, people on the other end can hear me clearly.

Only couple of negatives with my unit:
-Sometimes the song title gets stuck and I have to switch back through all the bands to get it to display correctly. This is a pain when I am using the headunit to search for a playlist/song.
-I can't get my iPhone4/iPhone5/iPod to play via usb. I can get a thumb drive to play, but for some strange reason I can't get my Apple devices to play. I have some more things to try out before I just give up and ask for a new one!


All in all I'm really happy with this unit!

pleadingbark

Is the sound quality better with this than just using streaming bluetooth through one of those antenna adapter things?

nspendleton

I'm not sure what bluetooth antenna adapter thingamagigy you are talking about. Quality is pretty damn good. A little feedback/hiss when changing songs or pausing a song, but its really not that noticeable by any means.

Wheelman

He means an FM modulator. Bluetooth quality should be slightly better than using one of these.

AtomicCorvette

This may be a very trivial question, but does apps such as Pandora, Slacker Radio,....etc work with this unit wirelessly?

Wheelman

Yes, it will stream pretty much any audio your phone will output when it's connected via bluetooth. You will probably have to control the track forward / skip features from your phone on these advanced apps like this though.

myfunz

is it compatible with my PAL 2 setup?

Wheelman

Doubtful, but it pretty much replaces all of the PALs functionality, so you could just sell it and replace it with this.

GuLuMoNeY

subscribed. Just got this unit in the mail. I will be attempting to install this in my 2005 Non nav unit in the next couple days! wish me luck!

Fastoldguy

Thanks To All OP & Replies.

I just ordered one. As soon as I get my New Harmonic Balancer installed... I'll attempt the ISimple hook up.

starfox69

The isimple works really good.

walleyejack

Anyone done this with an Android, and was it successful also ? Looks pretty kewl.