Replacement for Pioneer in-dash stereo

[vacationlovers]

Our FR3 came with a Pioneer AVH-X3600BHS in-dash stereo, which died as soon as the one-year warranty expired. When I tried to buy another one, I found that it was already a discontinued model.

So I bought the drop-in replacement model AVH-X391BHS, which has now died after two years. It has also been discontinued, and no replacement model is mentioned on the Pioneer website. But that doesn't matter, because I wouldn't want another unreliable Pioneer unit anyway.

Has anyone found another unit that will fit in the dash, and provide all the features (most importantly, displaying the rear and side cameras)?

 

[emm-dee]

Our FR3 came with a Pioneer AVH-X3600BHS in-dash stereo, which died as soon as the one-year warranty expired. When I tried to buy another one, I found that it was already a discontinued model.

So I bought the drop-in replacement model AVH-X391BHS, which has now died after two years. It has also been discontinued, and no replacement model is mentioned on the Pioneer website. But that doesn't matter, because I wouldn't want another unreliable Pioneer unit anyway.

Has anyone found another unit that will fit in the dash, and provide all the features (most importantly, displaying the rear and side cameras)?

Any double din will fit. Space adapters, if needed, are available for just about all brands. I would be curious as to the reason for the failures...ie power and or ground connections. Pretty sure Pioneer is a little more competent at building their product than FR is at building their product.

 

[Blallen58]

I don't know about the radio replacement but for the cameras, I followed these instructions and added an external monitor so I could view all three angles at the same time on a separate monitor that I mounted on the dash.

Here is the link to the forum thread:
https://www.forestriverforums.com/f...de-camera-install-for-under-100-a-181713.html

Here is a picture of the monitor I used. The picture quality is much better than this picture shows:

 

[robo44]

On my 2019 I used the radio once, the speakers are awful, the camera for the turn signals is in a poor place to keep eyes on the road. Bluetooth never hooked up. 2 months after I bought the RV I quickly moved the camera to a dash mount monitor like Ballen58.
This past weekend I completed a dash mount for all my gadgets. Going to mount it to the drivers side A-Pillar.

 

[Blallen58]

On my 2019 I used the radio once, the speakers are awful, the camera for the turn signals is in a poor place to keep eyes on the road. Bluetooth never hooked up. 2 months after I bought the RV I quickly moved the camera to a dash mount monitor like Ballen58.
This past weekend I completed a dash mount for all my gadgets. Going to mount it to the drivers side A-Pillar.

What brands and model numbers of equipment did you use to replace the stock radio?

 

[robo44]

What brands and model numbers of equipment did you use to replace the stock radio?

I did not replace the stock unit.
I have SirusXM satellite radio account on our daily driver, using the SirusXM App on my phone, I connect to a Bluetooth speaker mounted in the cockpit. Basically the current Pioneer radio is never used.
The Bluetooth speaker is excellent sound an more directed to the driver and passenger for a better quality sound.

 

[emm-dee]

I gave up on changing any speakers or radio systems in my Forester because of the normal ambient noise level. Changed all the coach speakers to Polk Audio which was a slight improvement over the factory speakers. Adding a 10 inch amplified Bazooka was a major improvement.

Now we just use an Alexa Echo Dot or Sirius/XM app played through the Jensen system. Works pretty good and I don’t see it being worth the $1000+ investment to make it any better.

As far the Pioneer dash system goes it is only used to view the toad and its hitch.

 

[DouglasReid]

If I were you I would call Crutchfield. I looked on their site and confirmed your unit is discontinued. Im surprised yours failed because Pioneer stuff is usually Very High Quality:

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-Shd9BYkex78/p_130X360BHS/Pioneer-AVH-X3600BHS.html and click on "Contact Us" at the top.

The easiest replacement would be another Pioneer unit that would just plug up without any adapters for install or connections.

They can help advise you what would be the best solution if you will tell them yrou requirements.

 

[vacationlovers]

Thank you all for your suggestions.


I did talk to Crutchfield, because I have bought stuff from them before. They did recommend a Pioneer unit, but I didn't want it. "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me". They only found three units that have the necessary two video inputs for displaying all the camera views. The first is a $300 Alpine unit that would work, except that it doesn't have a DVD player. The next choice would be a $450 Kenwood, which does everything the Pioneer did, but it's out-of-stock and they don't know when they'll have it. The only in-stock unit that has all features is a $700 Kenwood.


I haven't made any decision yet, because we won't be traveling for a month or two.

 

[DouglasReid]

Thank you all for your suggestions.


I did talk to Crutchfield, because I have bought stuff from them before. They did recommend a Pioneer unit, but I didn't want it. "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me". They only found three units that have the necessary two video inputs for displaying all the camera views. The first is a $300 Alpine unit that would work, except that it doesn't have a DVD player. The next choice would be a $450 Kenwood, which does everything the Pioneer did, but it's out-of-stock and they don't know when they'll have it. The only in-stock unit that has all features is a $700 Kenwood.


I haven't made any decision yet, because we won't be traveling for a month or two.

Sounds as if you are well on your way to a solution. You need only balance cost, availability and features to decide for yourself.