Sony XAV-601BT

Mirror-link does not work...garbage....sony does not care on feedback...its a fluke....none of the smartphone mentioned are working with set

Love this stereo! SONY is one of my trusted brands that never disappoints me. Truly a great brand with amazing products.

This product is awful.

It does not have navigation, instead it relies on either Telenav app and a mobile phone or a TomTom device that has been taken off the market. Today the only way to get navigation on this device is via an iPhone/Android app. The app itself is rather lousy. While it provides you with the navigation via the app, the app is using your data connection to get the maps and directions. You can listen to music while in navigation mode, however it will only play what is on your phone and all the songs will be played in alphabetical order, not in order they are on the album. The unit can only do one thing at the time, thus while it has a bluetooth audio and iPod connectivity it will be turned off once you start the navigation.

Love this stereo! SONY is one of my trusted brands that never disappoints me. Truly a great brand with amazing products.

I have always known SONY for their unbeatable quality and honesty. However I have registered disappointment in this particular product. When I developed interest in the XAV-601BT for my new car I started my research but was disappointed with the sales features I saw all over the internet. They were totally misleading, this the claimed Tom Tom navigator is NOT available and I was unhappy when I noted that after purchase.

However, the sound quality,trust me you will love it! It supports bluetooth, Dual USB, the display and visualizations are good too.

I did lots of research before purchasing this stereo, I read reviews and looked at other manufactures. I even rang SONY (Not that I would recommend that). Anyway after a couple of weeks of hard research I decided that the SONY XAV-601BT was the stereo for me, it allows you to connect many ways not just iPods/iPhones, and if you have a latest Android/Symbian phone you can connect them too. The touch screen is responsive and picture quality is great. The idea of the 2 USB's is a great feature too, the one in the glove box can have a nice big USB flash drive left connected with all your music, videos and pictures on it and not have unsightly cables on show. The sound quality is defiantly an improvement to the standard stereo installation. Before this stereo I had a Parrot Bluetooth kit fitted which I have now removed due to this stereo having it built in, I am shocked that the SONY's Bluetooth is an step up on the Parrot kit, the volume goes higher so I can hear people clearer now and also the quality for the person I'm talking to has improved, some people have said that they can't even tell I'm driving. Basically at the moment I can't find a single fault with this head unit, all the features included that I can use work very well, Tuner, CD/DVD Player, USB Music/Video/Pictures, BT Audio and BT Phone calls. The only options I can't use yet are the Mirror Link and iPod control. The Mirror Link allows you to mirror your phone to the unit, this will in the future allow me to use my phones Sat Nav on the unit too, so can't wait for that. To use the Mirror Link feature you need a compatible phone (SONY's website lists these). The iPod control apparently allows you to connect a iPod/iPhone to the unit and play back Music/Video/Pictures and also allows a passenger to control the unit via there iPod/iPhone. (I'm not a apple fan so can't confirm this works).The quality you expect from a SONY device is defiantly here, there are a few little extra features not needed but add to the build quality. You can choose pretty much any colour for the buttons and on the front screen you can have a little movement flash, minor but shows thought has gone into the unit.

Pros:

Great Screen (Functionality and Picture)

Sounds perfect

Bluetooth is clear and easy to use

Functions are user friendly

Lots of connections

The Price of the unit, it's cheaper than most and this is because it doesn't have Sat Nav built in, but as you can use you phone to do this why pay the extra £300 +!!

Cons:

Not really a con as I did know before purchase, but shame Mirror Link doesn't work with older phones too (hopefully it will soon, it's not a SONY software so hopefully the phone manufactures will get it updated)