Pioneer AVH-2500NEX

My rage grows by the day.  Several years back, I had a Pioneer AVH-2330 installed in my wife's Jeep at BestBuy.  For a few months, it worked fine.  Bluetooth let her safely make and receive calls.  Then it stopped working.  GeekSquad solved the problem.  Repeatedly, over a year or two.

Eventually we went to a car stereo store in Garden City that showed when I Googled Pioneer dealer near me." They said Pioneer only did firmware updates for their stereos for a couple years and the 2330 was obsolete and would never work again.  A new 2500 was the solution.   In retrospect, I think they were either in over their head or just wanted to sell us a new stereo for about twice what BestBuy charged us for the 2330.  But I wanted a solution and BestBuy could not fix it either.

Like the 2330, it has worked intermittently.   Bluetooth fails to connect.  Android Auto does not work through the USB cable.  Sometimes it works.  When the car is off the phone no longer works. 

My wife thinks buying a new car with a factory Bluetooth stereo is the next step.  No more Pioneers.  No more aftermarket stereos.

Oh, and their implausible contact address cycle-sports@pioneer-usa.com bounces.

The original stereo shop is gone.

We went to Walker Audio Design in Nampa.  The guy in charge seemed like a careful diagnostician.  He confirmed that the AVH-2330 still had firmware upgrades available.  He determined that the 2500 could not hear the microphone.  We have had a windshield replacement recently and he speculated the cord might have been damaged.  A new microphone fixed nothing, so we had him put in a Pioneer that lacked the CD player but was reasonably priced and all is well.  I am pleased with these guys.