Bespoke Questions

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Justin.b

In my experience, that is normal. I think it must need a clear line of sight to the satellites like dish/direct tv does. My sat radio experience is all in rental cars though.

-Justin

That's about what I figured, and it would drive me nuts. I'd trade sound quality for consistency. Lots of trees where I live, and it happens constantly here with the car I have.

[Justin.b]

As a radio, Bespoke isn't bad. Sound quality is good.

Bluetooth for a phone is great. Pairs every time with no effort.

The problem is that unless you're using an iphone the only option you have to get audio playing through the head unit is a2dp bluetooth streaming, which also works well and allows you to skip ahead/back from the head unit and displays track information on the screen.

This is fine... EXCEPT that the radio will only support a connection to a single bluetooth device at a time. So if I want to stream audio from my tablet because it has more memory to store music, I have to disconnect my phone and lose the handsfree function.

This is ridiculous. My first bluetooth earpiece (probably 6 or 7 years ago) was a cheapo motorola that would keep a connection to two phones. My present one supports a2dp and will connect to my phone and tablet at the same time. If I get a call on the phone, it pauses the audio for the tablet, lets me take the call and then resumes playback when the call is over. This is the standard, not some exotic superfunction.

That's typical of my frustration with the Bespoke unit. It lists a bunch of features on its spec sheet that aren't fully implemented the way you think they would be.

When you read that it supports 'routing,' you assume gps navigation. Then you're terribly disappointed if you ever try to use it. It says a2dp and hands free phone functions, but again the implementation is very far from what you'd expect from the specs.

I'm not ready to rip the thing out and throw it out the window or anything, but I have come to think of the bespoke unit as a mainly cosmetic upgrade, and I think that's what anyone without an iphone should consider it.

-Justin

[Wakelessdust]

Has anyone had the BeSpoke freeze up when you plug it into your phone mine tells me to contact a service teck, just a black screen app on phone works ok but not when connected to the head nothing shows on the screen.

[Nevermore]

I'm glad I found this post. The car I order is finally on the boat on it's way over here at long last, and I got an email saying I can change my options for the next 7 days. The bespoke wasn't an available option when I placed my order but it is now. My dad insists I upgrade (probably because he plans on stealing my car whenever he can and has an iPod) but I wasn't sure if it would be a good idea since I have an android phone. Glad to see it's still considered a good unit!

[DarrenDriven]

Originally Posted by mpmacd on YouTube

Looks like you got the upgraded pioneer headunit. I can't seem to find a lot of information. Maybe i'm just useless. Do you feel it was worth the upgrade? I ordered it on mine.

The answer is yes and no.

The Bespoke upgrade gives you the nicer looking head unit and an additional 50 watts for improved sound. It SOUNDS great, although lacking in bass because of speaker limitations, the highs and mids are very clear and rarely distort, even at full volume. Very happy with the sound and the function of the musical controls. The bluetooth connection for iPod and Pandora streaming works seamlessly.

On the flip side, the Bespoke app is a joke. The navigation interface is clumsy and nearly unusable. You can only use it when your iPhone is plugged in via the supplied cable and can't use it over bluetooth. When you have the navigation app opened, you are limited to listening to Scion internet radio stations which have poor programming and bad bandwidth. Stupid, stupid Scion! Of course, they could easily upgrade the app in the future and eliminate all of my complaints, it just hasn't happened yet.

For $845 you could easily buy a better aftermarket solution if navigation is your priority, but I don't mind waiting for an app upgrade and I am very happy with the look, function and sound of this head unit until then.

[jdub512]

Originally Posted by DarrenDriven

The answer is yes and no.

The Bespoke upgrade gives you the nicer looking head unit and an additional 50 watts for improved sound. It SOUNDS great, although lacking in bass because of speaker limitations, the highs and mids are very clear and rarely distort, even at full volume. Very happy with the sound and the function of the musical controls. The bluetooth connection for iPod and Pandora streaming works seamlessly.

On the flip side, the Bespoke app is a joke. The navigation interface is clumsy and nearly unusable. You can only use it when your iPhone is plugged in via the supplied cable and can't use it over bluetooth. When you have the navigation app opened, you are limited to listening to Scion internet radio stations which have poor programming and bad bandwidth. Stupid, stupid Scion! Of course, they could easily upgrade the app in the future and eliminate all of my complaints, it just hasn't happened yet.

For $845 you could easily buy a better aftermarket solution if navigation is your priority, but I don't mind waiting for an app upgrade and I am very happy with the look, function and sound of this head unit until then.

I agree with everything just said. Now that the new Iphone5 is out... we seem to have a whole new issue to deal with now with the new connector. I know there is an adapter but I just read about how it doesn't convert the digital signal to analog...etc. And with i0S6, I hope the BeSpoke app gets going on an update!

[Nevermore]

I will ask this, is it worth it for someone like me without an iPod or iPhone?

[Hanakuso]

Originally Posted by Nevermore

I will ask this, is it worth it for someone like me without an iPod or iPhone?

Honestly if you don't have a smartphone (iso or android) or ipod I don't think it's worth it.

[Nevermore]

Originally Posted by Hanakuso

Honestly if you don't have a smartphone (iso or android) or ipod I don't think it's worth it.

I do have an android smart phone. Also, I forgot to mention in case anyone else suggests buying a better unit for less, I'm getting a lease, so I don't have that option. I get what I pick.

[Hanakuso]

Originally Posted by Nevermore

I do have an android smart phone. Also, I forgot to mention in case anyone else suggests buying a better unit for less, I'm getting a lease, so I don't have that option. I get what I pick.

In that case I would say the Bespoke unit is worth it once make the app for Androids. The actual Bespoke application sucks, i've probably played with it for 10 minutes and it has potential to be good, but as the moment it's very disappointing.

[Katana]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

That's interesting because I'm having the opposite experience with sat radio. We just bought a used car that had XM radio in it. Apparently the subscription hasn't been cancelled yet so I'm getting stations. The sound quality is good but anytime I go through any tree cover at all it cuts out. Is that normal?

Here is a link to how I installed XM on the BeSpoke head unit:

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...9&postcount=39

[DarrenDriven]

I'm not talking about satellite radio, I am talking about the internet streaming radio stations that you are forced to listen to when using the Bespoke app.

[M3power326]

I would prefer the AppRadio 2 ($600) over the Bespoke headunit ($845). I have the Bespoke but the navi is so unusable if you can't type in an address. It also really sucks that you can't listen to the iPod while using the navi. At least with the AppRadio, you can use MotionX GPS and listen to YOUR music or Pandora.

[M3power326]

With that said, I will give Zypr a chance to fix the Bespoke app before I switch it out for at the very least an AppRadio 2.