In The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkein's unlikely hero, Hobbit Bilbo Baggins, titles the tale of his epic journey across Middle Earth "There and Back Again." It was a perilous undertaking, fraught with danger, but not without its share of high adventure. It's the stuff legend is made of.

Had Bilbo been able to use the Pioneer AVIC-N1 along the way, however, his journey would've been considerably different — the danger and peril would've floated unnoticeably away, leaving just the adventure. "There and back again" would've been nothing but fun.

Think of the AVIC-N1 as the One Ring of the mobile electronics world, without all the evil overtones, of course.

The AVIC-N1 Arrives, the Adventure Begins

When I received advance word that Pioneer had wrapped touch-screen system control, mobile video, DVD/CD/MP3 playback, and GPS navigation in one, compact, standard-dash-sized package, I was very excited about its potential. I mean, come on — all that entertainment in a single, relatively easy-to-install package? It sounded too good to be true. Or at least too good actually to be any good.

Look, Ma! Dolphins! Selectable wallpapers (no animations, sadly) make for delightful scenery in A/V mode. You can even upload your own!

So when the AVIC-N1 I was to review arrived, I was excited, but skeptical. Could it really be that powerful and versatile?

Oh, is it ever.

To be as brief as possible: I love this receiver. Love, love, love it. Not just for the number of functions it can perform, but for how well it performs each of them. It's a spectacular receiver, a nice foundation for a mobile-video system, and an extremely accurate navigation device. It didn't just exceed my admittedly hesitant expectations; it blew the best of them right out of the metaphorical water.

The only problem I have with it: it's so good, I'm having trouble deciding where to begin telling you all about it. But I'll do my best.


First Impressions
The first thing I did upon finishing the installation of the AVIC-N1 (I'll save the installation details for later) was to pop in a CD and test the sound before I got on the road.

I chose Sufjan Stevens's mind-numbingly brilliant (and criminally under-recognized) Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State. Every track on the album features deliciously lush and complex instrumentation, and swirling, hypnotic vocals to go along with it. While the album isn't bass-heavy, it does demand a lot from a deck and speakers, requiring them to sort through and blend the multiple layers of instruments to make it sound like an organic whole.

The AVIC-N1 passed the test with flying colors. It's powerful enough (rated at 22 watts RMS by four channels) to send a strong signal to the front and rear speakers, while its processor brings out distinct, true musical tones.

Touch-screen controls let you adjust Pioneer's 3-band parametric EQ, which is impressively effective in getting your sound just right for your vehicle.

During this audio test, I made sure to play with the audio settings, which are easily accessed by the touch-screen controls. The receiver is loaded with Pioneer's standard EQ controls, including Easy EQ, a three-band parametric EQ, and EQ-EX. The parametric EQ lets you adjust the center frequency, level, and bandwidth for three different sets of frequencies (low, mid, and high). EQ-EX adds fullness to the overall sound, and gives you access to simple bass and treble level controls. The Easy EQ's preset sound curves are accessed on the front control panel by pressing a big blue button marked, intuitively, "EQ". They're pretty handy for making quick, on-the-fly adjustments, and actually do sound pretty good.

Next, I strolled through the AVIC-N1's Supertuner IIID AM/FM tuner. As usual, it provided great radio reception. I quickly loaded my presets (again, using the touch-screen controls), and I was ready to go, radio-wise.

Sound settings established, radio stations programmed in, I knew it was time to test the AVIC-N1's navigation capabilities.


The Big Journey
"So, where should we go?" I asked my co-pilot, the Gandalf to my Bilbo Baggins.

"Hmm?I haven't seen water in a while"

This was true, seeing as how we live a few hundred miles from the ocean. A quick look at a road map, and we decided to hit the eastern shore of Virginia, right along the Chesapeake Bay. We'd never been there before. It was going to be an adventure. Maybe not as big as a Hobbit's, but an adventure nonetheless.

Before we could memorize any of the roads in the atlas, we closed the book. We were going to rely on the navigation system to get us there in a blind run. Typically, I test navigation systems by having them first take me to destinations I've been, allowing me to judge their accuracy and efficiency. This time, I decided to do things differently and hit an unknown location first, just to see if I could get there.

We punched in our destination city, and chose a road at random (actually, you can look at the location of your desired destination before you choose it, which is remarkably helpful). I decided, too, to have the system take us on the "shortest" rather than the "fastest" route. This typically entails taking lots and lots of back roads, rather than interstates. This truly was going to be an adventure through totally unfamiliar territory, of the over-the-river-and-through-the-woods variety. For all I knew, there could even have been giant spiders waiting for us. But In a matter of seconds, the system had calculated our route, and there was no turning back. With that, off we went.

The AVIC-N1 touch-screen menus guide you efficiently through the system's potent navigation features. You can search for and get guidance to specific addresses, intersections, landmarks, restaurants, banks, airports, hotels, and much, much more.

I noticed immediately that the AVIC-N1 is accurate. Frighteningly accurate. The map continually tracked our position, even when the system wasn't in navigation mode, and did so with reliable precision. "Gandalf" was particularly impressed. For the first few miles, he expressed his amazement every time the map showed us passing streets at the very moment we actually passed them. Conspiracy theorists (and anyone worried about being followed by black helicopters, for that matter), you may want to avoid installing this receiver in your car. The satellites are clearly always tracking your position, and they always know where you are.

As with most DVD navigation systems, the AVIC-N1 guides with both its visual map and voice prompts. I learned pretty quickly that relying on just the voice prompts isn't the best navigation strategy. The AVIC-N1's soothing, female voice lets you know that a turn is coming up anywhere from seven-tenths of a mile to a quarter mile away. Your second, and last, reminder, comes at a tenth of a mile away, which is a pretty short distance. A couple of times I nearly missed my turn (alright, once I did entirely) because I forgot that it was coming up until the voice prompt reminded me.

The trick, which I found easy to learn, is to use the visual guide and voice prompts in harmony with each other. At the first warning that a turn was coming up, I'd keep an eye on the screen (without taking my eyes off the road, of course). Every time you approach an intersection, the AVIC-N1's screen provides you a close-up image of the turn you have to make. In cases where you have multiple turn options, it shows you exactly where you need to turn. I was thoroughly impressed by the accuracy of the map renderings. By the time the system gave the second warning, I knew exactly where and when to turn, simply by comparing the map detail to the road in front of me. The voice guide was my cue to look at the map; the map finished the job.

Along the way, I also grew quickly to appreciate two map features. First, as long as the map disc is in the drive, you can adjust the scale of the map on the screen, from 25 miles out to as close as one-fortieth of a mile. I usually kept it at a scale of one-tenth to one-quarter of a mile, which gave me a clear idea of where I was, plus a satisfactory view of the roads around me.

Second, the orientation of the map is adjustable. By touching the appropriate icon on the screen, you can choose to have the map track with you (rotating as you make turns), with the electronic compass always indicating north. Or, you can choose to have the map remain oriented north, so that the triangle representing you changes direction on it as you travel. I decided fairly quickly that I preferred to have the map track along with me; it made it easier for me to keep myself oriented in real, three-dimensional space.

When you're navigating, the map always shows you how far you are from your next turn, how far you are from your destination, and how much estimated time you have left until you arrive. When you touch the distance-to-turn box, the voice guide tells you what sort of turn to make next. When you touch the ETA box, you can choose for it to show how much travel time you have left, or what time it anticipates you'll arrive.

The map screen, with its adjustable display scale, gives you all the information you need to get where you need to go.

At the bottom of the screen, you see the name of the road you're on, and the town you're in. At the top, you get the name of the road you'll take next. Both features are remarkably convenient, and make navigating that much easier.

And here's the icing on the cake: the AVIC-N1 comes loaded with 64 MB of internal memory, which means that once you've programmed your destination, you're able to remove the map disc and enjoy your CDs or MP3 discs while the system navigates from memory. Great music (to go along with the accurate guidance) meant that our three-hour adventure had a soundtrack, as any good adventure should.

When the system gives you a voice prompt, it either attenuates or mutes the music — you get to decide which you prefer. You also set the volume of the voice guidance independently of the music volume, so that it comes through at a constant level, no matter how loudly or quietly you play your music. This was one of a slew of seemingly small but brilliant features that made me understand just how much thought went into the design of the AVIC-N1. Such attention to detail really makes this receiver a superior one.


The Big Journey (continued)
Life is uncertain. With that in mind, it's safe to say that even with a navigation system as accurate as this one, it's possible to miss a turn. The AVIC-N1 compensates for mistakes by offering nearly instantaneous route recalculation. This is a feature common to most navigation systems, but the speed of this one really blew me away. To give it a really good test, and because we were navigating in memory mode, I tried to make the system hiccup by intentionally missing as many turns as I could. Finally, about five to six miles off of the original course, I had to re-insert the disc in order for the system to recalculate properly. But that's not a bad range, in the least.

Remember when I said that the map scale is adjustable only when the map disc is in the drive? That's definitely true, but I should add that the navigation system will maintain the map scale you selected just before removing the map disc, so you don't have to worry about a "default scale". (I did find out later that, when not in navigation mode, the map keeps tracking your position, but the scale will track back to 25 miles once you go outside the geographical area the system memorized before you removed the navigation disc, which wasn't terribly inconvenient.)

On the road, I found that the touch-screen controls could be a little cumbersome and distracting. They're not quite as intuitive as I'd like them to be (sometimes you have to scroll through multiple control sets to get to the function you want) — still, once I learned how to use them, their operation seemed quite natural.

Fortunately, however, it's not necessary to use the touch-screen controls for basic functions. Pioneer wisely included a joystick control that lets you flip through your radio presets or seek stations, jump between CD tracks, and more. You can also change sources and radio bands using the buttons on the control panel, so you don't have to take your eyes off the road at all. Complex operations, like sound adjustments, still have to be made with the touch-screen controls, but, as these should be made when the vehicle is stopped (or by a passenger), the touch-screen controls are perfectly suited for their operation.

All in all, I'd say it took me about 20 or 30 miles of continuous driving to fully get the hang of the AVIC-N1's guidance strategy. In navigation mode, you can use several different types of screens to give you various information. There are advantages to each of them, and the one any given user chooses to view most often will be a matter of personal preference. I experimented with them at length to see which was most helpful.

• Map View is the conventional view, in which an arrow continuously shows you where you are on a scrolling map.
• Driver's View splits the view into two parts — the map on the right and a simulated view from the driver's point of view (including a small speedometer) on the left. While nifty looking, I couldn't quite figure out its advantages (although there is something to be said for flash, I'll be the first to admit).
• Guide View was my favorite. The standard map view remains on the left, and on the right is a graphic indicating the kind of turn you'll make next, the name of the road onto which you'll turn, and how far away that is. If two turns need to be made in rapid succession, the system lists both. I appreciated knowing the turn direction well in advance, especially on multi-lane highways.
• Route View was probably my least favorite. It keeps the map on the right, and, on the left, shows the name of the next few roads you'll take, stacked on top of each other, like file cards. I found this view distracting (though I could understand its usefulness) and didn't use it much at all.
• A/V Status lets you keep track of what's playing while you're navigating; the map stays on the right side, and the A/V screen on the left. This is especially helpful if you're listening to MP3s and want to be able to see file and folder names.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a rear-view camera hooked up. If I had, I would have been able to split the screen between the map and a view from the camera. This is especially useful if you're towing cargo, and want to make sure that everything's alright with it. When you have a camera hooked up, you connect a lead to your reverse light — when you back up, the screen automatically switches to the camera view, which gives you a clear look at everything behind you.

Three hours after heading out, we rolled into our destination town, and found the road I'd programmed in without a hitch. And, luckily, it did take us right to the water line. Not too shabby at all.

Later that afternoon, with the touch of a single button in the navigation menu screen, I was able to tell the system to take us home. Just for fun, I decided to program in a point of interest as an intermediate stop along the way. The discs included with the deck (there are two: one for the eastern half of the U.S., the other for the west; both also include major Canadian metro areas) are loaded with over 12 million points of interest, such as restaurants, hotels, gas stations, national parks, even banks and ATMs. We decided to pick a restaurant in one of the towns we'd passed through on the way. The system got us there, then home without having to re-insert the disc and reprogram even once. Spectacular.


Vehicle Dynamics
Like any red-blooded American male who grew up fascinated by cars, I've often found myself wondering as I drive, "how many Gs can I pull when I accelerate?" Or, "what's my angular velocity as I hit this hairpin turn too hard?" Or, "what's the slope of my car, right now, as I'm braking as hard as I can?"

Well, thanks to the AVIC-N1, now I know.* And my life is much better for it.

How many Gs can your car pull on acceleration? The AVIC-N1 can tell you! That, and much more.

Vehicle Dynamics mode clearly separates the AVIC-N1 from other navigation-capable receivers, and catapults it into the performance-equipment stratosphere. It'll give you readouts of your speed, force of acceleration, angular velocity (how fast you're moving sideways in turns), force of side acceleration, the slope of your vehicle (the relation, in degrees, of the height of the car's front end to the car's back end), and alternator voltage. This mode also can provide a compass and a clock.

These specs are displayed on the monitor in the form of electronic gauges. A needle and a digital readout let you know your exact specs, and your maximums are saved (unless you reset them, of course). Three gauges are displayed on the screen; in the center is the speedometer, which can't be changed, flanked by two smaller gauges. To switch the specs they give you, all you have to do is touch the gauge you want to change, and choose the spec you're looking for from the dynamics menu. Quite simple.

Dynamics specs only become available after the AVIC-N1 has sufficiently calibrated its internal sensors. This presented my only major disappointment with what was otherwise a nearly perfect receiver: the calibration took over 400 miles of driving to complete. Luckily, I chewed up most of that mileage on my trip to the Bay, but it was still a bit frustrating, as I was chomping at the bit to get a look at the Dynamics gauges. I was able to check on the calibration process as much as I liked in the navigation menu screen; accessing it was quite simple (from the same menu, you can also check on your connection and satellite communication status). But waiting for it was like watching a pot of water come to boil; it certainly tried my patience.

Once the calibration was complete, however, all my frustrations were quickly forgotten. The Dynamics specs are cool. Unbelievably cool. As soon as I was able to pull them up, I cheered out loud (luckily there was no one around to hear me). And then I got on the road.

My advice to you, should you install the AVIC-N1 in your vehicle is to be very careful with the Dynamics specs. They're a lot of fun, but they can be quite distracting. For safety's sake, I would advise anyone using the AVIC-N1 in Dynamics mode to make sure that he or she has a passenger in the car who can watch the gauges. The owner's manual provides plenty of important safety information; it's all worth reading and taking to heart.

*Semi-full disclosure: I drive a 1998 Ford Taurus with a stock V6. Not exactly a high performance machine. So, if it's all the same to you, I won't list my car's maximum Dynamics specs; but I do know them. So I've got that going for me. Which is nice.


Oh Yeah! It Plays Videos, Too!
Lost in the shuffle of its incredible navigation (and great audio) performance is that the AVIC-N1 is, in fact, a DVD receiver. And a dang good one, at that.

I tested its DVD capability by parking the car, engaging the parking brake, and popping in the Deluxe Edition of the first film in The Lord of the Rings trilogy (now you see why I opened this review with a Hobbit metaphor), one of the more stunningly beautiful films ever made (in my humble opinion).

The picture quality impressed me quite a bit, especially considering that I'd had my grubby fingers all over the display, using the controls (one of the drawbacks of touch-screen controls, I think); Pioneer's special anti-glare screen coating minimizes the potential obscuring effects of fingerprints.

The AVIC-N1's LCD monitor is quite satisfactory for DVD viewing. (And, yes, you're correct: this is not a shot from The Lord of the Rings.)

Epic films like this certainly lose something when shown on such a small screen, but still, it looked fantastic. The colors were vibrant, the picture crisp. And while I missed the discrete channel separation of my home theater (you can connect the AVIC-N1 to an optional surround-sound decoder and install a 5.1 setup in the car), the soundtrack still sounded authoritative coming through the front and rear speakers.

I was a bit put off at first by the fact that the AVIC-N1 doesn't come with a remote, as I'm thoroughly accustomed (as I'm sure most are) to controlling a DVD with one, but I quickly found out that the touch-screen controls do just nicely. When you touch the screen, the DVD controls appear; there are three sets of them through which you can toggle back and forth, each of which offers a different set of operations. With them, navigation through the DVD is fairly simple, making a remote unnecessary, which I'm sure keeps costs down — and that's a good thing.

Selectable DVD touch-screen menus (above and below) give you access to all elements of your DVDs, effectively taking the place of a remote control.

All in all, I was completely satisfied with my in-car video experience.


Installation
Installing a navigation system in any vehicle is always at least a little bit tricky because of the extra connections that have to be made.

As far as the AVIC-N1 goes, I've installed an in-dash navigation system in my car before, and I didn't find this one any more difficult than the first one.

The essential connection is the one you make from the navigation unit to your vehicle's speed sensor (VSS). The VSS sends critical information about the speed at which you're traveling, which the AVIC-N1 uses to perform its functions and monitor your position. The position of this sensor lead varies from vehicle to vehicle; I found it easiest to tap in under the hood, then run the lead through the firewall.

In order for the system to know when you're going backwards, you also have to connect a lead to your reverse light, but that's not so difficult. I simply ran a lead back to the car's trunk, tapped in right at the reverse light, and was ready to go.

Finally, a lead has to be run from the AVIC-N1 to the vehicle's emergency, or parking, brake. Watching videos in the car is illegal when the vehicle is in motion; the connection to the parking brake lets the system know when the brake is engaged and the vehicle isn't in motion, which unlocks video playback capability.

Pioneer provides wires for connecting to the VSS wire, parking brake, and reverse light. They've got plenty of length, which made the wiring go that much more smoothly, cutting down on total installation time.

The main unit installs just like any in-dash receiver; in this respect, no special connections have to be made.

The AVIC-N1 sits in your dash like a standard receiver. You'll need to install a hideaway box, too (typically under the passenger seat). When the monitor's retracted, the 10-character secondary display and faceplate controls let you keep operating and enjoying the system.

The other critical component is the "hideaway" box; here, most of the inputs and outputs can be found (leaving room in the in-dash piece for critical components and monitor retraction). The manual was careful to warn me to mount the box either parallel or perpendicular to the front and rear of the vehicle to keep it aligned with the car's primary direction of travel. I found the ideal spot for it under my passenger seat.

The speaker and power wires extend from the back of the in-dash component. Another cable connects the receiver to the hideaway box. This I was able to route this cable under the carpet on the passenger side for a clean-looking installation.

The hideaway box also features the audio/video inputs and outputs, the backup camera input, the preamp outputs, and more, so it's essential to install the box in a spot that has enough room for all these connections to be made.

The last essential component to the operation is the GPS antenna, which keeps the system in contact with the navigation satellites at all times. I installed mine only temporarily, without taking the time to hide the lead, knowing that (sadly) it won't be in my car forever. Mounting it permanently, however, wouldn't have posed much of a problem. The antenna has an extremely low profile, which makes it ideal for mounting on the roof. Its magnetic base is extremely strong (surprisingly, given its size), so you won't have to worry about it getting knocked off.

Truth be told, installing a navigation system can be a bit intimidating. The in-dash installation isn't too bad, and if you feel comfortable with or have experience installing a receiver, you won't have a problem in this area. But finding and working with the VSS wire can be a different story (after all, this is what keeps your speedometer working properly). If you feel at all uncomfortable with any of the special connections, by all means, take it to a professional. Or, if you buy one from Crutchfield, call one of our Tech Support specialists to walk you through the process. As they say, it's better safe than sorry.

But once you've got the AVIC-N1 installed, you're in for a treat. As an audio receiver, it's spectacular. As a DVD video receiver, it's thrilling. And as a navigation receiver, it's almost impossible to top. Whether you're embarking on a journey across Middle Earth, or just trying to get back to your cozy Hobbit-hole, you can count on the AVIC-N1 to get you there ... and back again.