Just installed new NAV/DVD head unit (with pics)

[Azimuth]

rrolff, the ebay listings for that radio show that the manual is included, maybe they can send you the missing manual?

I am very interested in buying the same HU,

I have a few questions if you don't mind answering them.

Did you have to modify the harness like frenchie did at all?
Aside from the surrounding plastic and the radio itself, did you need to order anything else?

Do you like the interface? Does it look better than in the ebay pictures?

Is it easy to see the contents on the screen when you are sitting in the drivers seat or do you need to put your head directly in front of the screen?

Did you find a good place to mount the USB interface cable?

Thanks
-Azi

[rrolff]

Originally Posted by Azimuth

rrolff, the ebay listings for that radio show that the manual is included, maybe they can send you the missing manual?

I am very interested in buying the same HU,

I have a few questions if you don't mind answering them.

Did you have to modify the harness like frenchie did at all?
Aside from the surrounding plastic and the radio itself, did you need to order anything else?

Do you like the interface? Does it look better than in the ebay pictures?

Is it easy to see the contents on the screen when you are sitting in the drivers seat or do you need to put your head directly in front of the screen?

Did you find a good place to mount the USB interface cable?

Thanks
-Azi

Azi,

When I say "no instructions" I mean nothing that helps much. It's like 34 pages - and should be 100+ with good details (this is more a computer than radio).

For installation, it was as I mentioned - silly easy. All the wires just plug into the Prius (and they only go to specific connectors - so it's impossible to mess up). There is a male connector "brake" wire out of the back of the unit (to connect to your brake wire on the Prius - from features on other HUs, I correctly guessed that I don't want this). There is also a female connector ground wire - I correctly guessed that you put the male wire in the female - and viola...

The mounting brackets come off the old head unit, and just mount straight back on this HU.

You pull the dash pieces out, unscrew the 4 10mm bolts on the HU, put in the new, connect wires, replace the bolts, and pop on all the trim.

Frenchie is correct that once you've done this, you could probably do it in 3 minutes (not including mounting the GPS - which I highly recommend putting under the drivers "tweeter" - I get great GPS reception, and it locks in pretty quickly... I believe this could be done by any competent 12 yr old...

It looks as good or better than the EBay pictures. The interface is very nice looking, That said, you gotta know what your doing - for instance, it's simple and straight forward - but when you get into changing things like the key beep tone, or the GPS volume or (whatever), it takes time to figure out where the stuff is - keep in mind though - some of it is specific programs - the GPS for example is its own program. When I put in Nav a GO (iGO for 800-x480 in 3D) in place of ROute 66, everything will change. Cool note - with this iGo you're supposed to be able to customize everything in it - from your own icons - or I even already found Homer Simpons voice for the software THumbs up on the interface thus far...

The screen is TFT - you can see from the EBay pictures, it's *clear* - so no worries about side views... I will say it's hard to see when the sun is at the right angle (but that is true in our Lexus also).

I'm still not sure what the USB cable does (?????????) - but I plan to run them through the "center bridge", by the shifter, and into the center console.

To date:
DVD is nice - works as expected. I would like the screen to be "brighter" but that's likely a setup issue.

Nav works great - locks in a signal within 20 secs, can even find a signal in my garage (???) - but I need to swap it out for iGO. I still can't figure out how to listen/watch NAV while listening to radio (again - a setup issue)

PIP works - but I can't figure out how to move the windows around, and set it up easily - again - a setup issue.

AM works great - with the exception of choosing stations - as an example, our most powerful station - 640 - when the radio "seeks", it stops at 638 (??????). Same with other stations - when you enter the station (took me a day to figure this out), it gets better/perfect reception. You can then store your 8 stations, and you are fine. I'm guessing there is some setup thing for this????

FM - my area does not have great coverage - so I'd rate my FM happiness in my Xterra/Lexus as a 8. The reception in this I would rate a 5. It is not as good - I get the stations, but in my area, they aren't as clear (remember, they weren't clear before either - it's just worse -- others have talked about antenna issues in the Prius. I think this has worse reception than the stock HU. That said, it may be setup (???)

iPOD does not charge my iPhone, and in fact, my iPhone goes into Airplane mode. I am sure there is a setup for this, but it goes back to the whole documentation support box... The interface works nicely, and looks good for listening to music etc. Didn't try videos, and only played with this for a few minutes...

USB - have no idea what you would use this for... Maybe iPhone USB to iPhone cord???????

SD cards - I believe it can support 8GB for MP3 and the like - you can make virtual CDs and other cool stuff - there's an interface for it I haven't played with - why bother with an iTouch/phone. Cool plug ins on the front for the 2 cards - 1 for GPS, the other for ..... Not really any docs on building your virtual CDs etc - but that's a setup issue

CD/MP3 - didn't try one - just DVD.

Remote - it has one, but didn't play with it.

Bluetooth - works nicely - easy interface - can stream music, and picks up incoming calls etc - just as you would expect. Didn't try changing tracks - there's an iPhone bug that prevents that - I think it was fixed in the iPhone 3.1 release, but I'm jailbroken - so I have to wait for the 3.1 jailbreak.

Haven't installed my backup cam or parking sensors (this will be the nicest thing about the unit - i HATE the rear visibility).

Initial impressions: It's really cool, has gobs and gobs of features, but it takes time to learn how to use them all - and documentation effectively does not exist. Tech support is also somewhere on the other side of the world. 2 days of emails, and nothing. That said, I really need to call them - they are supposed to have a user forum. This would fix all my woes (but I can live with the minimal woes I have)... I'd love to have a compatriot to help navigate this thing

One more thing - it has a MIC jack on the back, but also a mic on the front. It does not ship with an external mic, so I placed in one from my PC (on top of the steering column - hot-melted on). To date, I have no idea if the external or internal one - or both are working (again - maybe setup). I just plugged it in cause it made sense (????????????????)

EDIT: I ordered the parking sensor kit for $40 from them. You need it to match your paint color!!! They also have a "Camry" camera that appears plug and play for the Prius. As it doesn't have night vision, and was expensive (like $45), I chose one from a different spot with better specs. It looks like it will fit - and was cheap...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350125551920&ssPageNam e=ADME:B:EOIBSA:US:1123

I think for the money, you can't go wrong...

Cheers,

Rolf

[radioprius1]

Sat radio??

[frenchie]

Bonsoir,
I come back with experience regarding routing cables from HU via the center console to wherever you decide.
Yesterday, I installed under the driver's seat this thing .
So I routed a pair of cables (heavy, high quality?) with RCA plugs from the HU to the "thing" under my seat. It was not nececessary to open "the south part of the bridge" : it was easy to follow the upper part of the bridge and to crawl under the center console.

Regarding FM quality : check if the antenna's amp is powered . (In europe , there is this feature and the radio provides power).

When you finish playing with windows, maybe you can do some basic soundproofing in the doors: the result is astonishing....

[rrolff]

Originally Posted by radioprius1

Sat radio??

I don't think so - it's not mentioned anywhere - I'll ask if and when I talk to them. You'd have to hook it up via USB (???)

[rrolff]

Originally Posted by frenchie

Bonsoir,
I come back with experience regarding routing cables from HU via the center console to wherever you decide.
Yesterday, I installed under the driver's seat this thing .
So I routed a pair of cables (heavy, high quality?) with RCA plugs from the HU to the "thing" under my seat. It was not nececessary to open "the south part of the bridge" : it was easy to follow the upper part of the bridge and to crawl under the center console.

Regarding FM quality : check if the antenna's amp is powered . (In europe , there is this feature and the radio provides power).

When you finish playing with windows, maybe you can do some basic soundproofing in the doors: the result is astonishing....

Wow - impressive - that *thing* costs as much as my whole stereo

Did you take pictures of the wiring? Also the install

I'm getting sound material here Soundproofing & Noise Control Materiels Prices - seems low cost, functional, and you can get it in any thickness... How much (you can go metric here - even though this post originated in the US) material did you use per door (square meters/yards heck - nanometers - Angstroms)? How thick can I go (what is there space for)?

I want to open the bottom part under the bridge (where the cigarette adapter is) to install my inverter way back there (or up there as it is in the front of the car)...

Inverters, powered subs, powered amps - good thing we have that flux capacitor on-board!

TIA

[frenchie]

Soundproofing:
I just made a basic soundproofing.
I got 8 sheets, size 50cms x 25cms , so 2 for each door.
It covers maybe 60% or 70% of the surface.
IMPORTANT : because my car is white and the soundproofing material is black , I had to stick it inside the doors and not outside and it takes much more time..(2 hours = 4 doors)....

Results :

1. when you tap on the door , the steeldrum sound is gone.
2. when closing the doors : now, you will have another lexus. (nice sound)

Antenna : I will check if I have some good pictures of the plug on the radio.
Bonne nuit.....

[rrolff]

PM quote:
Hey,

Great thread. I'm very interested in changing out the stock head unit of my trim II, but I haven't had any luck finding the unit in your pics on ebay. Would you mind pm'ing me the seller. Also, if you could point me toward the resources you mentioned with info about these different chinese HUs, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!
End quote:

I left his (or her) name out, as it was a PM, but I think the context is important - he (or she) can identify him(or her)self as he(or she) wishes

EBay search { rav4 pip} - direct link...

As for the others, there are gobs - Ebay search camry GPS, or RAV4 gps, or toyota gps. You can reference the bezel threads for size (200x100) - I'm guessing there are like 15 varieties.... Eonon does not support the steering control - so that's a no-go... It's hard to find who does what - I think there are like 3-4 factories in china making these - some have better GUIs, some - not so...

I have a few things I am not happy with - the FM (Frenchie may have the fix), bugs - drove 3 hrs to the airport today, and sometimes you run bluetooth, and when you go back to radio, it would be "on" 640AM, but the radio channel was elsewhere - (780???, 530??????). You press the 640 button, and it stays there - you press 1070, it goes there, then press 640, it goes to the real 640. There is a slight whine with Bluetooth calls (on my end).

[georgew]

Originally Posted by rrolff

Azi,

When I put in Nav a GO (iGO for 800-x480 in 3D) in place of ROute 66, everything will change. Cool note - with this iGo you're supposed to be able to customize everything in it - from your own icons - or I even already found Homer Simpons voice for the software THumbs up on the interface thus far...

Are maps available for N. America with Nav-a-go?

Originally Posted by rrolff

I still can't figure out how to listen/watch NAV while listening to radio (again - a setup issue)



PIP works - but I can't figure out how to move the windows around, and set it up easily - again - a setup issue.

AM works great - with the exception of choosing stations - as an example, our most powerful station - 640 - when the radio "seeks", it stops at 638 (??????). Same with other stations - when you enter the station (took me a day to figure this out), it gets better/perfect reception. You can then store your 8 stations, and you are fine. I'm guessing there is some setup thing for this????

FM - my area does not have great coverage - so I'd rate my FM happiness in my Xterra/Lexus as a 8. The reception in this I would rate a 5. It is not as good - I get the stations, but in my area, they aren't as clear (remember, they weren't clear before either - it's just worse -- others have talked about antenna issues in the Prius. I think this has worse reception than the stock HU. That said, it may be setup (???)

Will you let us know if you're able to resolve any of the above issues? Thanks

[Azimuth]

rrolff, I contacted the dealership you mentioned to have an ebay listing created. If all goes well I'll have the plastic piece before the end of the week.
I am concerned about the trouble you are having getting the steering wheel controls working. Please update us if you discover anything new regarding any functionality on this HU.

I would also be interested in your thoughts about the reverse sensors. Have you made any progress in installing these?