Head unit suggestions - no nav needed

I've bought and installed a Chinese head unit a bit like the one rrolff and PaJa have fitted and then removed it because I didn't like the quirky interface and the way it handled RDS radio.

I then fitted a Kenwood DNX5220 that I had in my last car. The radio, USB MP3 player etc in the Kenwood works pretty well, but the Garmin nav system is simply diabolical when compared to something like TomTom or iGo (this may have something to do with UK and EU mapping on the Garmin, as I think the US version gets better reviews). The Kenwood also doesn't look too good in the dash, although I'm using the Toyota wide double DIN surround and the Metra spacers, and these spacers don't fit the Kenwood well.

I also have a Smart Mirror, that runs either TomTom or iGo, so I don't really need a head unit that has nav.

I'm now considering fitting an audio only head unit, with no nav function. Ideally I want one that has really good MP3 player capability from USB ( I don't use an iPod or iPhone) and has the ability to add DAB radio, with a good interface to that as well. I think a "full screen" type unit, with now, or very few, physical controls would look best in the dash and I'm quite happy to make a custom fascia to convert the slightly bigger than double DIN Toyota opening to match a new unit properly.

I've spent hours searching the net trying to find such a unit. The JVC KW-AVX730 seems to come close to what I'm after, but nowhere (not even on the JVC web site!) can I find if the JVC KD-DB1000 DAB add-on works with it, nor can I find any images of the resulting DAB radio control interface if it does.

If money was no object I'd get the new Sony that runs TomTom, but it's over £1000 here (around $1500) plus all the other costs, like stalk adapters, wiring harness etc and I can't find any info on DAB availability for that unit either.

My budget is up to around £500 (about $750) and my essentials are good radio reception, good FM radio RDS handling (particularly an effective AF function), a good USB MP3 user interface and good, clean looks. A DAB radio option would be very nice to have.

I don't need the ability to play CDs or DVDs, nor do I need nav.

Has anyone any ideas as to what might do the job. please?

Many thanks in anticipation.

Jeremy

 

Thanks, I'll go and check it out. I hadn't realised that there was a Fly Audio unit available in the UK yet.

[edited to add: I've had a look at the EU FlyAudio site and it's interesting. The unit seems to integrate well into the Prius dash, BUT the underlying unit looks (based on the screenshots) to be identical to the much, much cheaper Chinese Toyota unit I bought last year (and then re-sold, because the RDS didn't work well and the interface was more than a little quirky). Quite how Fly Audio can sell a unit for €999 (around £836, excluding shipping) that costs less than £300 when bought direct from China I'm not sure. Maybe they have made significant changes to the interface, but if so they aren't apparent from the screenshots.]



Jeremy

 

Yes, it is another Chinese thing, I think made by Global Car Media. Here's the model I have: http://www.rearviewgps.com/en/productshow.aspx?ID=70

The interface is similar in some ways to the Chinese head unit, but for what I use it for it's pretty good. It has it's own speaker, so I haven't bothered with the FM radio "broadcast" feature (in fact I've snipped the antenna wire off, because it was causing increased noise on the radio). I just use the internal speaker for nav voice instructions, which seems a bit tinny but is otherwise fine. The rear view camera etc also works well on it.

I actually bought mine from an Australian dealer, as I hadn't discovered the Chinese manufacturer. The exact same units were being sold over here under the brand "SmartMirror" for more than double the price I paid for mine, including shipping from Australia. Here's the dealer I used: Brash Imports David Brash was a great guy to deal with, very helpful and he even went to the trouble of creating a UK and EU set of mapping for me, all pre-loaded and ready to run on the SD card.

You can get it cheaper from here, now: http://www.cargpsbluetooth.com/35-rearview-mirror-gps-navigation-tmcoption-bluetooth-fm_p801.html but I don't know what their service is like.

I feel much the same. The Chinese unit had lots if really neat features, like seamless integration into the car, a nice hi res screen, good nav software and mapping, but was let down by some of the (to me) essentials, like the radio interface, poor RDS implementation and the rather odd way that the nav and radio were obviously running on different boxes inside the machine, with the result that the screen could only ever control one or the other at a time. Being able to have the radio screen up with the nav as just a video window was odd, as the nav wouldn't then interact with touch screen actions. All these little quirks made me take mine out, but I miss the nice look of it in the car, and the hi res screen.

Thanks, that sounds like a good tip. I haven't looked at the Pioneer stuff much. They have stopped supporting DAB radio on their newer units, for some reason, but their old DAB add-on boxes are still available, I believe. This seems a crazy decision when the government here is intent on turning off FM radio transmissions in a couple of years or so, forcing everyone to go to DAB.

If folk have cracked the Pioneer software, so you can get a decent user-interface then that's 90% of the problem dealt with. If only someone with the knowledge was to do the same with the Chinese units I think we'd have a close to perfect solution (apart from, perhaps, the reliability issue).

Jeremy