Did Piccolo surpass Freeza by the time the Androids arrived?

[p-hyvo]

absolutely. he demostrated to not be a lot weaker than ssj trunks

[BWri]

The three years of training with a Super Saiyan and said Super Saiyan's almost limitless potential wellspring of a son certainly helped things. I can believe that Piccolo would have made enormous strides. Enough to put Piccolo above Freeza and even SSJ Goku after Yardrat? That's probably where the disagreements start to happen. It wouldn't surprise me if Nail's inherent potential was merged with Piccolo's, enabling for some rapid growth in strength as a result. If that's not enough then maybe Toriyama should have, I don't know, maybe given Piccolo the Kaioken to rationalise his growth?

I am in agreeance with this. In particular, we now have evidence that the Namekian fusion unleashes power over time and has a time release quality to it. The U6 Namekians showed us this (at least in the anime).

Piccolo definitely should have had Kaioken to make these boosts of his make sense, but this is the wank Goku show after all. Can't go giving other characters useful powerup techniques when we can just keep stacking things on Goku.

[dragon boss z]

There is no definitely proof either way, no matter how many people try to claim otherwise. It was stated that he was strong for not being ssj, not that he was as strong as a ssj, and he was confident enough to fight the androids, but the same could be said for the humans who showed up, and they may not even be stronger than first form Frieza.
My personal opinion, he didn't surpass Frieza. But the objective answer is there isn't enough information to say for sure.

[Dorexx]

Of course. He claims he doesn't lack confidence on his way to the battlefield, and the Steve Simmons translated the line as having him claiming to be capable of taking on the Artificial Humans:

Piccolo: “How about it, Son Goku…Frankly, do you think we can win against this enemy…”
Goku: “There’s no way I could know that without even seeing them. I’ll answer once I give it a try.”
Piccolo: “You’re pretty carefree…It’s not like I lack confidence…However, I can’t clear this uneasy premonition from my mind…”

Spoiler:

This places him considerably above Trunks when he first appeared, who already had the power to defeat Freeza in a single blow.

...or he's just wrong because arrogance and overconfidence exist? How the hell is that definitive proof before he even met them?

The safest conclusion is even though he probably became a significantly better fighter he still wouldn't defeat Freeza at his best.

[zarmack]

Both Dr.Gero and A19 were suggested to be stronger than Mecha Freeza (who was suggested to be stronger than Namek arc SSJ Goku). So Piccolo definitely surpassed Freeza before fusing with Kami.

[GreatSaiyaman123]

...or he's just wrong because arrogance and overconfidence exist? How the hell is that definitive proof before he even met them?

The safest conclusion is even though he probably became a significantly better fighter he still wouldn't defeat Freeza at his best.

Doesn't sound like overconfidence when he's talking pretty humbly about it. He actually criticizes Goku for being so carefree and says he's got a bad feeling about this. This is more like arrogance:


Not to mention he already had a general estimative for their power: They are far above Trunks and are likely a match to the Goku and the Z Fighters after 3 years of training.

I think saying he can't beat Freeza sounds like underrating. He's about to face someone who's supposed to make Freeza look like a walk in the park. The lowest i'd put him is as strong as Namek Freeza or Goku.