headunit with bluetooth suggestions please - heads bursting searching forum!

[Rosskie]

Hi folks

Anyone got any headunit suggestions for me?

Been reading thru the forum and googling but there is so much info and then its hard to find specific answers, heeds bursting.

Think I've a rcd310 in the car just now, its in a 2010.5 FR cr170, with the large white dot MFD to the left, and flat bottom MFSW.

I want Bluetooth - calls and audio streaming, integration with MFD would be nice too. Also want to maintain full steering wheel controls.

Dab would be nice, nav wouldn't hurt.

rns315 Bluetooth + dab is obvious choice as will be more or less plug n play...

But are there JVC / pioneer / kenwood alternatives? My priority is Bluetooth for phone and audio, with full MFSW support, and dab. I changed the head in my old a4 and used a Connects 2 cable for MFSW support, but it was rather limited so want to avoid that. Aftermarket will mean I get a new unit rather than a used one with potential problems.

If anyone's replaced there stereo and got something aftermarket that works properly with MFD and MFSW let me know please!

Thinking about £400 btw - can install and do any VCDS myself.

Suggestions welcome, even if its just get the rns315.

Thanks

 

[Specity]

Hi folks

Anyone got any headunit suggestions for me?

Been reading thru the forum and googling but there is so much info and then its hard to find specific answers, heeds bursting.

Think I've a rcd310 in the car just now, its in a 2010.5 FR cr170, with the large white dot MFD to the left, and flat bottom MFSW.

I want Bluetooth - calls and audio streaming, integration with MFD would be nice too. Also want to maintain full steering wheel controls.

Dab would be nice, nav wouldn't hurt.

rns315 Bluetooth + dab is obvious choice as will be more or less plug n play...

But are there JVC / pioneer / kenwood alternatives? My priority is Bluetooth for phone and audio, with full MFSW support, and dab. I changed the head in my old a4 and used a Connects 2 cable for MFSW support, but it was rather limited so want to avoid that. Aftermarket will mean I get a new unit rather than a used one with potential problems.

If anyone's replaced there stereo and got something aftermarket that works properly with MFD and MFSW let me know please!

Thinking about £400 btw - can install and do any VCDS myself.

Suggestions welcome, even if its just get the rns315.

Thanks

I'm in a 2007 Leon and decided to go with a pumpkin head unit, it links up with car Canbus so displays when a door is open has some useful feedback about voltage, fuel and most steering wheel controls. My car didn't have a Bluetooth module and for a the price I paid it was an obvious choice for me. I'm content but if I could go for a new head unit all over again I would go for the Kenwood dnx521dab it will be around £400, should have all your wiring needs, looks stock and no needs for VCDS....The cheaper Chinese made android head units have poor sound output in comparison to original head unit, I'm sure with better speakers which the Leon doesn't have they would sound fine. I'm not sure if the Kenwood integrates with the mfd3 but am sure it integrates with heating controls and steering wheel controls. But you have to weigh up your options as you could go completely stock and get an rns15 for sub £200 but with probably an outdated GPS card. It will have your mfd3 display integration but smaller screen. I know my post doesn't give a definite you should get this but I don't think you'll get that... You need to research the dnx 521, dnx 525 and the rns 315, these are your best options it's all down to what you prefer.

 

[Rosskie]

Hi,
Cheer for the reply - appreciate it. I've started looking at the pumpkin units too now. The kenwoods you mention are pretty pricey, and I can't find a rns315 for less than 350 that has dab + bt, and isn't from an ebay seller with 3 feedback. Just a bit wary of an expensive brick.

You said your happy enough with the pumpkin tho, not too buggy?

Think I'll end up going that route as I like the idea of tethering and basically having an android tablet in there.

Any pearls of wisdom around them?

Cheers

Ross

 

[cupra_ahhh]

Just to add my bit in, I have an RCD510 that's PnP and works seamlessly with the steering wheel and the MFD. Having had it a few years now I kinda wish I had gone the DAB version but I still love it. I have a hard drive connected to it via the USB input and it lets me scroll through the contents with the touch screen and it's everything I need plus it looks OEM.

Also works seamlessly with the bluetooth

 

[Specity]

Hi,
Cheer for the reply - appreciate it. I've started looking at the pumpkin units too now. The kenwoods you mention are pretty pricey, and I can't find a rns315 for less than 350 that has dab + bt, and isn't from an ebay seller with 3 feedback. Just a bit wary of an expensive brick.

You said your happy enough with the pumpkin tho, not too buggy?

Think I'll end up going that route as I like the idea of tethering and basically having an android tablet in there.

Any pearls of wisdom around them?

Cheers

Ross

Check amazon as they sometimes have offers, if you get an android unit look for the one with a intel chip as they are better processors and can be upgraded to android 6.0 and even nougat i think. The pro's are that for a reasonable budget you can add blueooth with music streaming and sat nav and automate the knock off version of android auto. You can tether to your phone and use apps like spotify and google play music to stream also and A reverse camera is also really easy to install. Cons are the unit isnt the brightest but OK, the sound quality IMO is not as good and the unit itself isnt as fluid (the interface i mean) for me i just feel like the bluetooth isnt well integrated as my phone for example, its on another section of software almost if that makes sense. I wish you could change the launcher to nova launcher but youll lose the bluetooth icon and radio icons etc again more proof its not a coercive u.i. The 3.5 mm jack will no longer work but you will get usb and iphone outputs with unit so is ok.

 

[The_Saint]

After a long time being happy with my Philips WinCE unit, my hankering for an Android unit became too strong, also motivated by wanting a DAB+ receiver.
Initially I was all set on the Pumpkin offering but I was also strongly tempted by two XTRONS units which are a specific fit for VW/Seat/Audi/Skoda:
This 8" model with DVD http://xtrons.co.uk/pb86mtvap-8-hd-digital-octa-core-64bit-32gb-2g-ram-android-6-multi-touch-screen-car-dvd-player-custom-fit-for-volkswagen-seat-skoda.html
This 9" model without DVD http://xtrons.co.uk/pb96mtvapl-9-hd-digital-octa-core-64bit-32gb-2g-ram-android-6-multi-touch-screen-car-stereo-custom-fit-for-volkswagen-seat-skoda.html
Both work with a £49 DAB dongle, I reflected that I don't use CD/DVD in the car any more and went for the 9" version with the DAB dongle, it arrived the first week of May.
I was led to believe that the 9" version had an SD card slot but it doesn't, however there are two USB ports in the back, one for the DAB dongle and the other to which I could connect a USB flash drive which works OK although this is an issue that I probably think is a negative against the 9" model.
In use you have to forget you are using an in-car head unit and instead think of it as a very specific application of an Android tablet, some things you take for granted with an in-car unit such as the radio or music player resuming from when you last used the car don't happen.
Start-up time is very good, almost instantaneous unless it decides to start from a reboot which it does from time to time, no real pattern to this. When it does start from cold it probably takes as long as my old Philips did every time so I can live with that.
Having access via WiFi to Google Play is something I still haven't tired of, when I think of the paltry amount of expensive apps that run on Windows CE it is no contest, I probably have gone mad on Sat Nav apps but only use TomTom and Sygic so I should probably delete the others.
ODB2 integration took some patience, I had two Amazon sourced bluetooth adaptors but these worked very intermittently so I bought the XTRONS one http://xtrons.co.uk/obd02-bluetooth-obd2-car-auto-diagnostic-scanner-tool.html
Which works very well with Torque and not so much with Carista.
The heating controls display briefly on the screen when I make any change to the blower settings, not sure how useful this is in reality.
The dashboard information shows what you have selected but is of marginal value I think.
Bluetooth integration with mobile phone - I know that this is what the OP was interested in, it has always been of only slight interest to me - it works once you notice that the default volume is set to minimum, it does request to pair with the phone more often than I would have expected but typing in 0000 doesn't take long. I would say like all of these I have tried you really need an external microphone for best results.
The performance of the 8 core chip with Android 6 is very good I would say, not laggy at all.
Now comes the major gotcha - It has become totally unresponsive about 5 times and the reset on the front panel has been no use at all, I quickly learned that fuse F8 near the battery is the one to remove to force a reset by removing all power. However in fairness this hasn't happened in a month now.
In summary I would probably sacrifice the extra screen room and go for the 8" that has an SD slot if I was to have my time over and as I say there are some automation issues for things that you take for granted with a conventional head-unit but I would strongly recommend.
It will be very interesting if and when the major manufacturers such as Kenwood, Alpine, Panasonic, Sony, Philips bring out their Android units.