Header banner
Revain logoHome Page
Jeremy Jackz photo
1 Level
1261 Review
78 Karma

Review on 🎧 Pioneer MVH-S21BT Stereo Single DIN Bluetooth In-Dash USB MP3 Aux AM/FM Android Smartphone Compatible Receiver with Bonus ALPHASONIK Earbuds by Jeremy Jackz

Revainrating 4 out of 5

Great bang for your buck - some limitations and design flaws, although

Love this main unit. Here's what I experienced - good and not so good. Installing the speakers and power wires was easy for a 2003 Camry with the Metra 70-1761 radio wiring harness. Ensure that the wired microphone (for hands-free phone use) is routed and positioned so that it connects to the rear jack on the device before inserting the dash-mounted device into the dash-mounted mounting sleeve. Otherwise you will have to remove the head unit to connect the microphone cable to it later. The front panel controls are pretty basic. Tuner buttons 1 and 2 have dual functions of forward/rewind and fast forward/rewind. The large volume rocker on the left serves as a menu button (press in). This sometimes gets activated (pressed) unintentionally when adjusting the volume, leading me to a menu which I then have to exit. The display is a bit glossy and reflective. I've noticed that when wearing polarized sunglasses, the display goes black unless I tilt my head slightly to the side (this is a feature of the device's polarized display). I really wish the characters on the display were brighter. The dimmer is two-stage and doesn't change the brightness of the display significantly or effectively. The buttons to the left of the watch face are backlit so brightly that the contrast between them and the alphanumeric display makes the display appear matte in comparison. Remote control Wireless IR remote control - you need to point it at the main unit to control it. The remote control is approximately 2.5 inches high and 1.5 inches wide. It controls volume, mute, pause, source, track, track information, etc. AM/FM Has 6 buttons to store 18 FM and 6 AM stations. With most FM radio stations, station information scrolls across the display. Bluetooth connects easily to my second generation Moto G (2014). You can navigate through Pandora and Google Play Music and use your phone via Bluetooth. iPod/iPhone Apple products have not been tested with this device. Pandora With the regular Pandora app from the Google Play Store, this device allows you to use the controls on the head unit to navigate through Pandora (skip, change channels, thumbs up). The Pandora app unexpectedly knows that it is connected to this Pioneer head unit because the Pandora app displays the word "Pioneer" when using the Pandora folders. MTP (access music files stored on the phone). You can access music files on your phone by using a USB cable between your phone and the USB port on the main unit. Unfortunately, the maximum number of music folders the device can read is 500 when the head unit is connected to an Android phone via USB. If you have more than 500 music folders on your phone, the main device will only randomly see and play files or subfolders on the device. EACH folder represents the set of a folder. For example, if you have a folder called "Kanye" and within that folder is a folder called "Yeezus," that's two folders. My modest music collection is contained in about 750 folders with this structure, so the main unit cannot see and play all of the music stored on my phone, only random parts of it. Too bad. Instead, I chose to access my music collection via 2 x 16GB USB sticks, each containing around 375 music folders (less than 500 folders) (see below). That's enough for now. Hope this helps!

Pros
  • Dope πŸ”₯
Cons
  • is being phased out