My Ottonavi experience...

I just bought my car 3 weeks ago and been searching around for an OEM like navi.. I've read about Rosen/flyaudio and other chinese HU..it seems like they all have their ups&downs, then I stumbled upon ottonavi site and I was able to get my hands on this ottonavi oem HU way lower than the selling price which is $699 so I took the deal, I know its another chinese HU and already know what to expect..
It came with practically everything you need without paying extra like (jbl harness, ipod cable, camera harness, 2 usb output etc) this might be the cheapest out of all the oem like HU.. it took me 30 min to install everything w/o any experience.. I've only own this for a day so heres my initial review..
fitment was 99% top left didn't sit as flush as I would like but non noticeable as u can see from the picture im just picky like that..but im sure it can be adjusted..
GPS, main reason I bought it, I mounted the gps antenna on the right side of the unit, and I get full bars..I believe it uses IGO maps, but can be upgraded..10 seconds to initiliaze, the voice is very low like its coming from the HU itself, but doesn't bother me as I will be turning it off anyways cuz I don't like the interruptions while im listening to the radio.. speed (mph) is -1 from the dash so its pretty accurate..
Radio works great boots up as soon as the car turns on then gps will initialize although reception could be better but doesn't bother me, btw sounds better too.. a friend told me who's an installer to move the gps antenna away from the unit and it might help with the interference...
bluetooth works great, Im using an Iphone 4 and have no problems.
DVD works great along with the remote included.. just ground the pink wire and your set..
backlight on the buttons at night doesn't get that bright it seems like its set near the lowest setting.. this doesn't bother me because I keep the setting at lowest setting anyways..
Steering wheel controls works fine without a hiccup also..
I will be installing a back-up camera and maybe hook up an Ipod in the future.. until then hope this review helps to those people looking for an OEM like HU..

update1: auxillary port still works.. Also, I was able to stream pandora and transmit the sound from netflix from my iphone4 using BT (a2dp)..
When setting the time make sure you do the setting for the gps also..

update2: I connected an Ipod touch and it works fine..
On the manual it says the brightness will adjust according to day/night mode, but I can't figure out how to set it.. It seems like the only way to doit is to press tune/osd button and you can toggle to brightness as well as bass, treble etc..
Also once you turn off the car or dead silent you will hear a whine coming from the unit, but its just built in fan located on the back cooling the unit.

update3: added a ccd camera from ebay..(camry 09) works great..



attachments: reverse cam, night buttons, jbl harness, ccd camera,testing usb..

Is this the unit you ordered? Ebay item #150652775752

yes thats the same item.. but I got mine directly from ottonavi, they have it advertised also on their website for $699 ottonavi.com..

The radio specs are interesting
FM (3*6)87.5-108MHz Increment 0.05MHz
AM (2*6)522-1620KHz Increment: 9 KHz
Those are European specs.

On FM it won't matter except that when manually tuning or scanning it will check 4 frequencies for everyone that might be live in North America.

On AM it won't tune exactly to the most stations frequencies because in NA stations are spaced at 10 kHz instead of 9 kHz. The band also cuts off at 1620kHz awhile the NA band goes up to 1700 kHz.

They may have a US setting buried deep in the undocumented users manual (my old old Chinese thing did)...

Yes they have Europe, America and Asia to choose from..

I may have to order one of these. Please post if you do end up having any problems with it. I won't be ordering for about a month, so I'd be curious to see what you think of it after using it for a bit.

Ill definitely keep you updated..

The top left fitment is a problem with most of installs I saw (including mine with OEM frame/surround). I tried to tuneup, but no luck.
It looks chinese copied the OEM frame.. The iGo install has the low guidance volume issue when the other audio source is in action. I played with various iGo settings, but I wasn't able to get a reasonable effect. If I can say the Primo 1.2 is a little bit worse with respect of this. It can be caused by WInCE volume setting, but I dont know what registry key to inspect/change.
Unreal: could you tell us who is the manufacturer of the HU?

How rough is the install on this? Do you have to do anything special to get the steering controls to work? I've installed several new HUs in my day .. but they were always plug and play sort of deals.

@paja thanks for clearing up some stuff, as far as the manufacturer idk I practically threw all the stuff it came with..
@UoD the install was straight forward, this was my first headunit install ever.. So you shouldn't have any problems.

This unit looks pretty sweet. Does it come with A/V input? Front/rear?

@minion yes it came with av input, im prett sure its f/r but I will double check when my ccd rear camera gets here and I will let you know..

What is the Color of the Button Illumination ? Is it like the factory green or is it a different color ? Does it seem to be the same brightness as the factory stereo ?

I have following these on e-bay for a while now and would like to know if your opinion of this has changed ?

How does the Ipod work with the Stereo ?

Thank You for you help,

Dan

So far so good, the color is oem green but it doesn't get any brighter.. It matches the setting to low-medium on the contrast setting..but I keep my setting that way anyways so it doesn't bother me, you can email or call Ottonavi to see if there's a way, they responded quick to my emails or calls.. As far as iPod, there's a connector that comes with the system once you plug in your iPod you can access all your songs, album etc from the HU..
Update: I added a 09 camry ccd camera from eBay.. Works great, fitted perfect without any modification.. it activates as soon as you hit reverse and you can also tap the camera to a constant power in the hatch..according to paja n rrofl it's the sky blue wire this way you can turn it on anytime you want by pressing the ccd button on the remote control.. Which I plan to do when I add a hitch...

pic of the camera..

Please consider the heat when thinking about a full-time backup camera operation/install. In hot days the inside temperaqture can be easily out of spec and can melt circuits inside the camera housing.

Hi Unreal,
Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions… If you get a moment I have a few more…
I noticed in the picture you provided of the accessories in the kit, that the harness to connect the stereo to the car only has two connections to the car… was the third unused, or is there another harness not shown ?
I looked up the rear camera on e-bay by your descriptions, but you get many different camera’s back… Can you let us know which one you purchased as I want to be sure to get the correct one…
And Last, but the biggest… Do you think it would be possible to snap a picture of the radio and dash at night to show how bright the illumination on the buttons really is next to the factory temperature buttons ?
Again – thank you for you help… I think I am also going to order direct from OttoNavi…
Dan

Just FYI - in your spare time, go to GPSUnderground.com.

Figure out what your running on GPS, then you can go there and totally customize (voices, many other features - they call them 'skins') - it's really amazing what you can do with these S/W navs (you can also swap it - personally I like iGo).

Before playing (swapping or anything) - make a backup of your SD card...

Heres the comparison to the oem lights set at low-med setting as far as it goes on the unit.. Regarding the harness; one will be left unused, also the system came with a jbl harness but I forgot to include it on the picture..The system came with iGo 8.3 its really cool, you can also change to different skins..
Here's is the link to the CCD camera seller is sun-electronic (for 09 camry) CCD Car Rear View Reverse Camera for Toyota Camry 09 10 | eBay