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Clarion VZ309 3.5Inch SingleDIN Multimedia Station with USB
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4 out of 5
 caption Click to enlarge. |
 Add the optional CCUIPOD1 to control your iPod from the source unit. |
 6 channels of preamp output to grow your system. |
 Includes full-featured remote. |
Enjoy a Wide Variety of Media
The built-in optical disc drive is compatible with DVD-Video, DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RW, CD-DA, HDCD, CD-R and CD-RW, so you're assured access to a wide variety of visual and musical entertainment.
You can also play back MP3/WMA files from disc, complete with ID3-Tag display of artist/track info on the screen.
3.5-inch LCD Screen
The 3.5-inch LCD displays operational status of your iPod, CD and DVD playback, radio functions and more. It offers maximum usability within minimum dimensions.
iPod Playback
Just connect your iPod to the VZ309 using the optional CCUIPOD1 to control your iPod from the source unit. Please see the Clarion website for iPod models that can beconnected.
Front USB Input
Grab a USB drive with some of your favorite MP3/WMA tracks and enjoy them right from the front of the unit.
HD/SAT Radio Ready
You can connect optional tuners and enjoy the benefits of high-definition and XM satellite radio.
AM/FM Radio
Catch up on the news or listen to your favorite stations. Get quick access to your favorites with 18 FM and 6 AM station presets.
Auxiliary Input
Use the front 3.5mm auxiliary input to connect external audio devices like MP3 players, etc.
Rear AV Output
A rear AV output allows you to send your signal to a second monitor in the back seat.
Dedicated Rear vision Camera RCA Input
Add a rear vision camera to see the area behind your vehicle, for added safety and convenience.
Room to Grow
With 50 Watts through four channels, and a 24-bit D/A converter, the VZ309 gives you great sound to start. But it also includes 6 channels of preamp output and a subwoofer volume control, so you can easily add external amplifiers and build a monster system.
Remote Included
A full-featured remote control is included.
What's in the Box
VZ309 Source unit, Mounting bracket, Removable face plate case, Trim plate, Remote control unit, Battery (CR2025), Owner's manual, Installation manual, Installation hardware ....read more
Posted in
Good Hardware. Bad Software. BONUS: Plays AVI/MPG files
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
First of, the four star rating has a lot to do with the price point (130 for Unit + HD Receiver).
The hardware has so much capability, and yet the software lacks so much. It feels like the Software didn’t go through any kind of QA process. Software is full of annoying bugs. UI is laggy and lack-luster
The player was able to play AVI and MPG files from the USB drive, which was not mentioned in the spec. I am guessing they initially had plans for this, and ended up scrapping it due to deadline issues. If Clarion made the source available, some software engineer out there like me could make things a little better. This hardware is definitely capable of doing some good things, and can actually sell for 100 bucks more, if the software gets it’s issues fixed.
Bottom line: It’s a good value (features) at the sale price, if you can ignore the crappy user interface.
List of bugs I can remember:
1. Mute only mutes for one track. This is definitely not an intended feature as you can see the mute icon still on the display.
2. Setup menu looks like they throw something together at the end of the schedule. You can only access this through the remote. Nothing really useful in there anyway.
3. Player plays/displays JPG files. So if you have a USB with music connected that has album art images, it will display it, and doesn’t know what to do after that. Doesn’t play the next track. When you hit next, it goes to the next music track, but clears out the shuffle option if previously selected. Really annoying
4. I gave up on browsing through folders on USB, which can only be done through remote. This interface is horrid.
5. The looping of a DVD track after a power-cycle as someone already mentioned in a previous review.
6. Yet to figure out on how to change time.
There are so many other randomly annoying bugs
Four stars at the price!!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Really odd receiver. A multi-hundred dollar MSRP, selling often for $130 with an HD radio receiver. Doesn’t have any of Clarion’s normal navigation buttons or interface elements, and lacks Clarion’s CeNET interface. I strongly agree with the notion that this is some random product branded by Clarion. At MSRP I’d be horribly disappointed with this unit – plenty of options from Pioneer, Alpine, Kenwood that blow this thing out of the water. But at $130 with an HD radio receiver, it’s a great deal – sort of. It’s not as polished or as thoughtful as other $130 receivers, but what it lacks in polish it makes up in features, and sometimes that’s a fair trade to make.
Build – not great. Chassis has some flex to it, and you have to be careful if you’re using the DIN bracket to mount it. Believe it or not, the chassis will flex enough that the faceplate won’t lock into place. It’s not a roadblock, just a concern. If you’re ISO mounting it, you won’t have a problem. I originally DIN mounted for ease of removal, but switched to ISO.
Display – really very good. I wasn’t expecting much out of a 3.5″ display on a $130 receiver, but it’s fine. I’m sure there are better displays, but it’s as good as any I’ve seen in low/mid end car audio gear. There is no screen saver or visualization options, which I feel is unusual for a stereo with a relatively high-tech display, but quite frankly I find that stuff distracting anyway, so whatever. As others noted, there is zero customization. Also not a big deal. The unit is connected to a 7″ display on the roof (got screens, yo!) and whatever is on the stereo’s display is also on the second display. It does NOT handle multisource playback.
Interface – buttons are all labeled clearly enough and are easy to use. As I mentioned above, it’s not like other Clarions so don’t expect to know what you’re doing. The buttons are not logically laid out, and most have multiple functions. There are only like 10 buttons so it’s not exactly difficult to use, but by the same token just not well thought out. Many functions require the remote to use – some make sense, some are seemingly random. For example, you can navigate through MP3s track-by-track on the head unit itself, but if you want to change folders, you need to use the remote. Dumb!
Menus respond slowly, but not impossibly slowly. Pressing Source to switch sources means waiting a couple seconds for the source to actually switch. Changing tracks takes a second or so each press of the Next button. Pressing Setup is another second or two delay before the setup menu appears. I don’t tend to fidget with my stereo while I’m driving, but I see how this could be an annoyance to some. It might be an annoyance to me from time to time.
In general, the interface is Fine. All elements are labeled clearly enough that nothing is a hassle. It’s not perfect, but you quickly get used to it and it does what you ask it to do.
Playback – My primary motivation for buying this stereo was playing MP3s off a flash drive, and it seems virtually no manufacturer is good about documenting this feature on their stereos so it’s always a surprise. Apparently the entire function was a surprise on the VZ-309, as “MP3 Playback from a USB Device” is not documented at all in the manual. Not even one word. Here’s what I can say -
MP3 decoding is good. I’ve heard better, but I’ve heard much worse. I’m playing back on stock Isuzu speakers through the integrated amp, and have no complaints. Aside from the slow menus, tracks start quickly and seek properly, so that’s a plus. I have not yet found the upper limit of what the stereo will address, but my flash drive is 4gb and has 628 tracks on it across three folders and the unit has no problem here; Folder 1 has about 10 tracks, Folder 2 about 10 tracks, and Folder 3 has the remaining. All folders are directly in the root. It plays CBR and VBR files, although it does not handle bad files gracefully. Sometimes it will skip the track, sometimes it will reboot the entire unit. It does keep playing, though, so that’s nice. A Sony of mine just displays ERROR and does nothing else til you power cycle it.
The display only shows Folder, the two next tracks, and the currently playing track. Kind of a waste of screen space, but also makes those four items very easy to read. ID3 information for the playing track scrolls, but the other tracks you only see the first 12 or so characters. If you’re like me and have a folder FULL of Huey Lewis and the News MP3s, you’re hosed. Every single Huey Lewis and the News track looks identical on the menu, so you’re guessing at what track is up next. Makes seeking a particular file really annoying. On the upside, I LOVE Huey Lewis and the News, so I’m always happy to hear ANY of their songs! If you’re sensitive to this, rename everything from Artist – Title to Title – Artist.
Playback order of MP3s is VERY odd. Playing Folder 3 on my flash drive puts about 550 songs in one folder. They appear in a random order – not sorted by artist, track, album OR file name. They may be sorted by date order, but I’m not sure. It seems a little random. I’m pretty neurotic about keeping files named uniformly and having most if not all ID3 information filled out, so the fact is a little intriguing. Hardly a roadblock, though. A nice feature this unit has is that it allows you to choose a track number by typing it into the remote – for example, if you want to listen to track 432, just type 432 into the remote. That’s super convenient. On the downside, tracks are labeled across folders and not per folder – to expand on the previous example, the first track in the first folder is track 001, and the last track in the last folder track 628. The first track in the third folder might be 54. Minor nit – again, it’s something easy to get used to.
Random works pretty well, and UNLIKE a lot of other Clarions, it you hit Next it goes to another random track, not the next track in that folder. On the downside, your only options are randomize everything or randomize nothing – you can’t tell it to just randomize one folder. I feel that’s a seriously lacking feature. Same with repeat – repeat the entire device, or nothing.
Overall, I’m happy with the feature. Yes, it could be better in several ways, but in combination with everything else this stereo offers and at the price point it’s totally fine. Heck, there aren’t many $130 receivers that even handle USB! I have more expensive stereos in other cars that aren’t any more graceful. The fact handles a lot of music on a big drive makes it a-ok by me.
HD radio works very well – it seeks fast and tunes fast. After a couple seconds of listening to SD radio, it notifies you if an HD-1 or HD-2 channel is available. It will automatically tune to the HD-1 channel, and the OPT button lets you select the other. My only other HD radio experience is in my truck with a Directed tuner, and the Clarion works as well or better. Zero complaints. Normal radio reception is very good in town – don’t have any long-distance tests yet, but it pulled in some pretty weak SD stations just sitting in the driveway.
DVD playback is quick and clean. As others have noted, if you cut power to the unit while watching a DVD, when it resumes it will be stuck in that chapter of the DVD forever. Weird little problem. You can either switch to another source before powering down, or eject and reinsert the DVD when you power back up to start over. Switching sources or stopping & restarting doesn’t work. The remote is absolutely required to navigate DVDs, so don’t lose it. Also, it seems to have a minor problem choosing some aspect ratios – I tried a variety of 16:9, 2.25:1, and 4:3 DVDs and results are mixed. The screen on the roof is smart enough to work it out, but the screen on the unit not so much. If you like watching movies on a 3.5″ screen this could be a problem, but if you do, stop. That’s silly.
Bottom line – It’s not perfect, but does everything its advertised to do moderately competently. At $400, you have much better options, but at $130 nothing comes even close. IMHO, the details where it isn’t perfect are more than offset by the wide range of things it does at the price. If you just want to play a CD, don’t buy this unit – it will annoy and frustrate you. But if you want to play MP3s off a flash drive while watching your backup camera it’s a fine option.
Final word of warning – Again, I’m pretty convinced this is not a Clarion-manufactured unit. With that in mind, you can’t connect any other ceNET peripherals. If you read the specs, you already know that. But for everyone else, DO NOT anticipate buying an iPod interface, satellite radio interface, CD changer interface, or Bluetooth interface. I wouldn’t anticipate being able to buy a replacement remote or faceplate or anything else. Until I know otherwise, everything about this unit is “fly by night” so to speak, so be nice to it, and enjoy your $130 DVD/MP3/HD-radio-playing receiver while you can! I am!
Very solid deck for a minimal price!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
First off I self installed this and love it, replaced a alpine deck and runs to 2 amps to power all of my after market speakers. Im 22 and have been into car audio for about 6 years now, self learned and installed everything I’ve put in it. One of the best feature is the HD radio, honestly if you know about car audio you know that FM radio is useless to someone with multiple amps and after market speakers and subs. Finally im about to play radio without all the garbage that is broadcast over normal fm. The sound quality is great and the deck looks beautiful not to mention the ridiculous price here on amazon.
I find these complaints a tad off and wanted to give you my input on them.
1. If you start your car before you attach the faceplate, the receiver will remain turned off. You have to press the power button to turn in on – every time. Very inconvenient.
~ Honestly this is a horrible complaint, I’ve owned a few alpines and other random decks this seems like a common thing to me, my solution put faceplace on before starting car or press one button?
2. The “power”/ON button is not lit when the unit is off. So, coupled with the issue #1, it is a major inconvenience at night. You come in, start the car, put the faceplate back on – and nothing. Now you will have to blindly look for the power button to turn it on.
~ Again horrible complaint seriously your vehicle doesn’t have a dome light, why dont you attach the faceplate before starting your car?
3. If there is a CD/DVD in the drive, it will always start in the CD/DVD source, regardless of last source you were listening to when it was turned off.
~ Incorrect, mine doesn’t do this, I leave CD in, USB in, AUX in and it will play what ever I left off with.
4. USB slot is also not lit, so, inserting a USB drive at night takes a few tries.
~ Seriously … ?
5. Most of the buttons have more than one functions. One function is printed right on the button, the other function for the same button is printed right below it. However, ONLY the button is lit, not the print below it. For example, the power button also acts as the mute button. But when the receiver is on, only the power symbol is lit, not “MUTE” which is written right below it. It is true for all buttons with more than one functions.
~ The deck doesn’t have many buttons and memorizing them takes about 5 minutes, after a few car rides I don’t find this a valid complaint either.
6. The dreaded DVD-loop issue. If you switched to a different source or turned the unit off while playing a DVD, next time it will only loop in the chapter it was last playing. Definitely a bad programming issue.
~ Valid complaint, I don’t use mine primary for DVDs so it hasn’t bothered me much.
7. If you “mute” the unit while playing a CD or songs from USB, the mute will be automatically canceled and sound will come back on after the next song comes on.
~ Incorrect, mine doesn’t do this
8. The faceplate anchor design is merit-less at best. It has two plastic anchors sticking out from the unit where the faceplate latches on. These are plastic anchors about 1″ long and they are just sticking out.
~ Semi valid, they seem strong enough but I do try to be gently while putting the faceplate on doesn’t bother me.
9. Absolutely no display customization. What comes with is what you get – and what comes with it is nothing. You can’t change the display color/wallpaper/font/size – nothing.
~ True but I wouldn’t complain about it, most decks are like this and I think it has a very good looking GUI
10. USB operation is ridiculous at best. It shows all the songs in one list and the only way to navigate through them without the remote is to go up and down, which is painfully slow. You can go folder to folder using the remote. With the “UP” and “DOWN” symbols being not lit, it’s inconvenient at night.
~ If u want to play specific song after specific song USB is a bad choice. I usually put a bunch of CDs in there own folders and select the folder I want before I even start driving and stick with that CD or I put it on shuffle
11. If your mp3 folders have a pic such as an album art, this unit will get stuck at that, and it will ask you to put the parking brake on to view it – instead of just not showing the pic and moving on to the next song. If you have a lot of albums, you will need to manually remove all the album arts from the USB drive.
~ Valid, solution delete pictures from USB, took me about 3 minutes but i can see how its annoying.
12. In the USB mode, it “eats” about 1 sec from the beginning of a song when it moves starts the next track.
~ Valid, annoying indeed
13. It will recognize only 512 songs total in your USB drive. Now-a-days people have their whole music collection on a single chip. 512 songs limitation sets you back to 1999.
~ I haven’t tested this yet but it is a weak limitation that was an advertised feature you knew before hand.
14. A lot of the DVD operations can only be performed using the remote. There are buttons on the faceplate that are inactive during DVD play which they could have easily put some functions on.
~ I primarily use the remote so not a valid complaint to me.
15. It is not compatible with all USB drives.
~ I’ve tried a trascend, sandisk and off brand all worked but I’m sure theres some that don’t work.
16. No dedicated button for “search”, meaning fast forward or reverse. So, if you want to FF a song or DVD chapter, you will have to press and hold “>>|” for about 5 secs and then it will do it only at 2x speed. Do the same again (another 5 secs) to go 4x. If you let go before that, it will just skip to the next song or chapter – and you will have to do it again.
~ I’ve never found the need to fast forward a song while driving before?
17. The internal clock loses time like crazy!! It would be half to a minute behind in just a week.
~ Not valid had mine installed for over 2 weeks clock is still right on. I believe your install may be bad which caused your Cd playing on start up.
18. No permanent brightness setting for the screen. All you have is Normal -> Dim -> Off, using the Dim button.
~ Valid but minimal, even at night I haven’t found the unit to be overly bright my car has the deck set pretty low so that may be why.
19. Finally, THIS UNIT IS SLOW!!! Navigating through songs or tuning stations, skipping songs, switching sources – much slower than even the cheapest receivers out there.
~ Not true I’ve had a few off brand feature loaded decks that where slower and how often do you swith sources maybe once at most during a car ride which the switch takes about 3.2 seconds (i timed mine) and switching stations or songs is very quick less then a second on my unit.
These are just my opinions take them as you will. Thanks.
This is not a Clarion product
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
As another reviewer had observed, this so-called “Clarion” unit is little more than a rebranded Jensen VM8013HD. Take a look for yourself. Same inner workings, same remote, same low quality control; the only difference being the omission of the SD slot and slight differences with regards to the faceplate. This receiver is simply horrid in every imaginable aspect. Clarion has really sold itself out and tarnished its marque with the release of this shoddy product. Even at this price range, the slow response of the unit when changing tracks and performing virtually every other function is unacceptable. The only redeeming feature is the inclusion of the HD radio, which does work surprisingly quite well and locks onto available HD channels as they become available. But that’s about all it’s good for in its present state. Do not be misled into buying this product simply because it bears the Clarion namesake, which at one point stood for quality.
Take note that this isn’t the only glorified off-brand junk in Clarion’s 2009 line-up: the NZ409 (w/ navigation) is also a rebrand of a Boss/Jensen/whatever and deserves equal amounts of calumny. Only the higher-end models in the VZ/VX line are likely to be manufactured by Clarion themselves.
Good for the price
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Summary
I wanted a dvd player that I could use as a bare system for now, then expand on later. For example, I used to have a modified Xbox installed as my headunit. I constantly fiddled with it to get the most out of it, but it regularly left me without music during it’s downtime. I also wanted to hook up more monitors to it because I didn’t expect the 3.5″ screen to be adequate. It does deliver on the bare system front, but leaves much to be desired.
Pros
- Getting a free HD tuner with it was a nice bonus and easy to install.
- The face itself is attractive and most menus are fairly intuitive.
- The screen produces sharp images unlike cheaper products.
Cons
- Limited audio customization. There’s presets, but no way to modify x-over frequencies.
- The product boasts 6 channel preouts, but there is only 1 sub channel. I know it doesn’t make much of an auditory difference, but it shouldn’t be advertised as such.
- USB functionality
– It only lists files as one huge list. No expandable/collapsible folder structure. You can advance by folders, but it can take a long time if you’re looking for something specific
– Works intermittently for my one particular drive. I don’t have any problems using my drive on a computer, but the VZ309 won’t let it play for any meaningful amount of time.
– No .flac playback. I realize this may be asking too much, considering it’s not a standard feature, but there’s a lot of media players that can do this.
- When using the AV in, it shows a bland static background. I’ve seen decks with less impressive hardware display nice animations. This is severely lacking here. I was very underwhelmed by the interface.
- Cheap feeling remote
- Audio only input on the front and video only input on rear. If you’re connecting a console system, this would be cumbersome
- Whenever the VZ309 gets powered up again, the default volume level is about half of the max. This is a big deal for my moderately powered system when I remote start my car in below freezing weather. So I have to disconnect the face to avoid cracking a subwoofer; not to mention I don’t enjoy loud music early in the morning.
Bottom line: it delivers (kind of) what it says and NOTHING more. If you’re looking for an inexpensive DVD deck that isn’t some no-name Chinese garbage, this could be for you. If you pay more than what Amazon offers it for, you’re likely to demand your money back.