BMW Navigation Install

[Six6siX]

The stock speakers/amp are very good on e39/e46, it's the stock head units that are crap. I have just an aftermarket HU in my car and the sound quality is better in orders of magnitude compared to stock.

I know the stock headunits are dire but I am interested in how this solution compares to other aftermarket headunits in terms of sound quality (hence wanting to know the overall setup - speakers/amps etc to get a better overall picture)

I have a reasonably good Pioneer headunit and Rainbow 6.5" components up front in mine and I'd be hesitant to change my current headunit for one such as this if it meant taking a significant hit in sound quality even if the navigation etc was excellent (I appreciate it is all subjective, of course)

 

[MatteH Oxford]

Surely the trigger for the PDC is from the reverse light switch?.

All you need to do is find where the wire is spliced into the reverse light circuit & where it traces back to for it's input @ either somewhere in the canbus system or the actual headunit (sorry but I wouldn't know 100% where it feeds into without a diagram).

When you know what's being fed 12v, all you need to do is wire in a on/off switch that also lets you use PDC moving forwards.

 

[[TW]Fox]

I don't care about it enough to add a new switch.

I still have fully functioning front and rear pdc as the car left the factory with.

 

[pepsilol]

How would people react to one of these sytems but with more of an iDrive layout..?

 

[[TW]Fox]

I don't personally think your choice is the route I would have gone. I think the functionality it provides is good, and no doubt it is far more flexible and expandable than a solution from a major ICE manufacturer.

The Sony, seems to be a much more well rounded solution in the way that appears to be a polished proprietary solution and has a Tom Tom, which would be a massive USP for me.

The Tomtom was previously a massive draw but thats before I seriously considered a unit like this. Remember - you can put Tomtom on this if you wish, and from using it I'd rate iGo at least as good as TomTom. Which goes a long way to defeating the main advantage of the Sony.

However, the dealbreaker for me is the pricepoint. I don't think I could drop that much on a chinese unit. It's a ridiculous amount of money for it.

Yea, the price is annoying. Effectively I've rationalised it by saying I've bought a £300 unit and paid £300 for the OEM look, fit and integration level. Which still doesn't rationalise it, but there we go. You cannot escape the fact that due to a complete lack of alternatives on the market, it is overpriced.

But this was never a money saving solution - none of the 3 options I originally considered were cheap anyway. I wanted an integrated navigation system and was happy with quite how much it would cost to get that.

I can, however, sell my Intravee setup for at least £200 taking the net upgrade cost down.

 

[[TW]Fox]

How would people react to one of these sytems but with more of an iDrive layout..?

In theory, wow, that would be amazing. In practice I'm not entirely sure how much difference it would make. I've included a photo of the menu you get currently and it's far from ugly but in reality you almost never see it unless you want to change a function or look at the OBC or something. Therefore you could put a load of effort into an iDrive style menu and still end up with a unit which 99% of the time is displaying a navigation map anyway.

Plus the iDrive interface is the way it is because it uses a hard wired controller not a touchscreen, so it arguably isn't the ideal layout for a touchscreen anyway?

If I had to pick improvements I'd want a capacitive touchscreen and a faster CPU with more memory long before I'd want an iDrive style interface.

 

[Rotty]

looks good, all you need to do now is dump the wood trim

 

[MatteH Oxford]

I don't care about it enough to add a new switch.

I still have fully functioning front and rear pdc as the car left the factory with.

O.K. fair enough. I just thought you'd want it 'all' working, so to speak, after waiting as long as you have. Still, it looks neat enough & you say you're happy with it.

I doubt that it's all that difficult to sort out should you change your mind .

 

[beermonster]

Does look very good, what's the issue with dsp option vehicles?

 

[Wizzfizz]

looks good, all you need to do now is dump the wood trim

 

[[TW]Fox]

Just popped a new Class 10 SD card in. Wow, Navigation is much more responsive and far quicker at calculating routes etc

 

[paradigm]

Just popped a new Class 10 SD card in. Wow, Navigation is much more responsive and far quicker at calculating routes etc

Surprised there isn't any proper internal storage?

I am dissapoint.

 

[[TR]SweetSpotOz]

x

 

[[TW]Fox]

Surprised there isn't any proper internal storage?
.

You are not suprised at all, be honest

Fox, what brand is the unit? Do they make OEM looks for other manufacturers?

Do the physical OEM-look buttons work or are they all for show?

It's made by a company called Dynavin. They also do exactly the same unit for E46, E90, E87 and also various Audi's, VW's and Mercedes models.

The OEM look buttons do all work, yes.

 

[Django x2]

Wow, I really like that, looks good. Much better than the OEM equivalent for functionality.

I can however state that that tree in the pic above, is not there in real life

Are all the buttons orange at night time / when the lights are on?

I'm thinking of the CIC upgrade for the E60. Seems to be around £800-£1k at the mo.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Yes, the buttons light up Orange when the lights are on.

 

[Django x2]

Random question, when in reverse your front PDCs are active too right, does whatever is infront of you appear on the display (assuming you are parked close to a wall or another car)?

 

[[TW]Fox]

Random question, when in reverse your front PDCs are active too right, does whatever is infront of you appear on the display (assuming you are parked close to a wall or another car)?

Yes it does - it displays visual info from all 8 PDC sensors on the car. The issue is that once you pop it out of reverse it returns you to Nav/Radio/whatever thinking you are done reversing.

This sounds like more of an issue than it really is - factory PDC is of course still functioning.

 

[Django x2]

Ahh, so all you want is a 20 second delay (or forward speed delay) to resolve or as suggested, splice your PDC dash button into the reverse switch unit cables to allow you a manual control.

 

[shaank]

Looks good Fox, like really good - much 'cooler' than the OEM. Does the lighting match close enough to the rest of the centre console / instrument cluster?

A few friends with X5's would like this for sure! Wish I did this on my E46's now...