HU for mercedes W245 - Android Head-Units

Hello,
Long time reader but here's first post
I plan to buy an android head unit for my car.
I need your help to choose a model that feet my needs.
My car is 2011 mercedes B class (W245). It's actually equiped with an Alpine INE S900R unit.
I'm sick of it because of it's poor fm reception, poor gps reception and interface and moreover the crapy quality of hands free bluetooth with no possibility to stream music.
I look for a head unit that fits in my car.
I read that i have not much to expect from fm reception and functions. In my alpine unit rds, af and ta doesn't work well.
I think i will go for 2Gb ram unit.
I have the choice between units with 7" screen, hard buttons and a look like an original command ntg. On the other hand i can have 9" units with soft buttons.
As i don't plan to watch videos and don't need a dvd or cd player in my car is a 9" screen a big improvement ?
Of course i want to have steering wheel control, gps, wifi, an entry for a reverse cam.
I'm in france so i think i don't really need dab+ as our radio stations don't seem to be in a hurry to use it.
I've read bad comments about mtcd_kgl, but it seems to be the most common platform to find units which fits in mercedes cars.
Thank you in advance for your advices.

I'm in the same boat as you, since I drive a Sprinter (W906), which uses the same unit as for the W245.
I had a MTCD KGL 7" unit for this car before. All I can say is stay away from KGL (like the 9" screen unit your referring to https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/HD-9...4.48010108.5.2.KL6ja5&&scm=1007.12783.72505.0). The quality of the finish was terrible and trying to contact KGL in order to solve things in a mature way was simply fruitless because they cut off the conversation. Apart from that, the unit your referring to is still a MTCD-unit. By now, the general consensus on XDA regarding this platform is to avoid it. Malasyk did great things in trying to improve the firmware, but in the end there where too many bugs and limitations on hardware level that couldn't be overcome.
So for now I think the only alternative seems to be the Ownice C500-version with the 7" screen and the hardware buttons. Despite several bugs, to me it seems to be quite good and think of ordering one in the coming days.
Interested to hear your opinions on any other options.

Thank you for your answer.
The C500 is not an option for me as it seems to have an awful FM section with no support of rds functions.
Having spent hours to read the forum and search on the net I think that there might be only one option: finding a mtcc_kld unit which fits in my dash.
Kld units seem to be sold by pumpkin. The problem is to be sure to have one kld.
Chinese sellers would tell you anything to sell their product.
It's a shame I'd rather have A big screen and 2Gb ram.

The Chinese sellers are awful indeed, they will try to scam you into anything. However, Aliexpress does seem to be more strict in enforcing the money-back policy in case you specifically asked about a feature up-front and were given a positive reply by the seller.
Just ask for a screenshot of the system specs and make it clear that you will not accept something else. Problem is however: what do you do if they send you something else anyway? Taxes and return shipping will be your loss anyway and the guy who has bad intentions knows that.
I don't know what specs the pumpkin model has you're talking about. I would never go for a 1gb model anymore, just too damn slow.

You are probably right. I'll wait till I find a suitable 2Gb model

If you really want to get a KLD unit... nothing easier than that.
Pumpkin is just a reseller for a lot of different manufacturers and you mostly don´t exactly know what you buy.
Go to the factory itself. Get in contact with them by chat and tell them your wishes,
HOME
Are you looking for advanced wholesale car audios, car radio, car stereo, car GPS Manufacturing services? If yes, Explore KLYDE car audios
szklyde.com

Related

Most reliable brand?

I have been looking at these android car stereo units. A lot of them really do look the exact same, just with their own badging (logo) but probably from the same factory from China? I was just wondering if anyone has had any luck discovering any brands that are more reliable than others? I just hate to fork out the $250-$300 for one and have it crap out on me in 6 months.
I have specifically been looking at the Joying and Pumpkin units as it seems they are the most popular. But I am open to all the brands.
in my non-scientific study of forums, I found most people were happy with Joying, which is what I ended up getting, and I am very happy with it
Ownice is known for having lots of units with 2GB of ram and bringing things to market pretty fast like Android 6.0, but they are only ever available through Aliexpress and the newer units can get a bit pricey. Joying is known for having relatively solid support and a large product selection, as well as sometimes having custom apps for specific vehicles (ex. air conditioning control). As far as I can tell, they are a personal favorite of many on XDA. Some people also choose Eonon and Pumpkin, I'm not quite sure about them but I'd assume they are solid choices. I personally own a YINUO unit and I wouldn't recommend getting one, as they are expensive and they are always using a very slightly modified stock Hui-Fei ROM (basically the OEM rom), but still they somehow manage to make it crash when doing basic tasks. Albeit, I flashed it for a truly stock ROM and it works fine now.
Roadnavi.com also seems to be somewhat reliable and has decent support
Need more people to chime in here.
I had newsmy carpad and pumkin joying brand, i would go for newsmy because of how simple but powerful the machine is, tje joying and pumpkin brand are slow and reboot prety much everytime var turns off, any apps runing on the background will be closed. Newsmy has this option just like the phones when car is off radio goes into stanby mode screen off does not consume power when car is turned on it resumes like when turning on the screen of your phone any app runing on background will resume with no hesitation. And not to mention full steering wheel controls on any media app unlike the pumpkin and joying that need to download a app in order to make other media players work with steering wheel.
I would stay away from KGL (Kai Gei Lei or something?) units. I received a unit with a front panel that shouldn't have passed QC (rotated text on buttons etc). I was too trusting towards the Aliexpress seller since it was my first buy, so my objection period ran out. I tried to get a new panel through KGL customer service, even offered to pay if needed, sent some pictures along.
At first they responded quickly to the emails I sent afterwards they said "I see nothing wrong" and despite several reminders they just stopped responding.
So first off KGLs quality inspections are poor and their service is basically none existant. I advice to stay away from them.
I have an Erisin unit. It has a very good finish, very good construction, integrates perfectly with the CAN bus of my car, open doors and climatic all is shown correctly... I'm very happy with it. Perhaps sound quality could be improved and its support is quite poor, but I would buy another unit from them surely. Moreover, I think they have the same software than Joyin products, so perhaps their firmwares could be interchangeables.

Vendor review / stable unit

I've been looking around to purchase my first head unit but the information is very overwhelming, everybody have their personal opinion on vendor or unit that in most cases contradict each other.
is there a vendor who stand out of the others? with really good support and product renown to be less buggy ?
I've seen joying being recommended more often then other but there some people who seem to believe you get a lot more for your money with PX5 or Ownice C500 unit.
I am really not looking for a super complex unit that can do super fancy stuff as long as the unit have those feature
2 din universal unit
stable and fast to boot (act like a normal car stereo doesnt take a minute to start)
that can pick the internet from my iphone for apps
work well with GPS apps like Waze or music like Spotify
have rear view camera that work well without taking 30 sec to display
support steering wheel control
Is there any basic unit that can do all of those without costing 400$ or have super fancy feature that make it complicated to setup or unreliable ?
any help would be very very appreciated.
Me Too....I also want a front camera with dvr. I will be interested to watch what others post. I am leaning toward the joying 2017 model. They can be had on ebay or Amazon in the 300 range. Bu then when I add my 2 cameras, and possibly an obd2 port I will end up at close to 400 or a few dollars more most likely.
Would also like to hear peoples opinions on the above, I'll be after a new head unit in the next few weeks.
Seems to me the ones with the best/most support from the manufacturer are Joying and Ownice. The best support in terms of modding seem to be Joying from what I've read here. Between Joying and Ownice I think it's just personal preference. The rest of those out there seem to be spotty support or hardware or software or all of those.
Hello
Sorry for my syntax, I am French and English is not my strong point.
I do not think OWNICE is recommended, the RADIO FM interface is disappointing, the RDS is not managed, the developers think it is enough to enter a label to replace the display of the frequency, which shows a very Poor knowledge of the subject.
Side audio adjustment, no equalizer, just Bass, Midle and Aspen, no adjustment of SUB etc ...
JOYING does not do much better.
By experience I prefer XTRONS or ERISIN, good manufacturing quality and the software is well managed, very stable.
That's just my point.

Help : Android 2DIN HU with good sound quality?

I konw the title of this thread is a bit general, but I've read a few threads here and now I'm even more confused than before
First of all, hello to everyone here, I've been a reader of this forum for a while, but now I've decided to register, mostly because I need help with the matter in the thread title; I'm absolutely new to Android HUs and everyone I ask has a different opinion. My previous sound system consisted of a Pioneer DEH80PRS HU, Audison LRx 4.300 amp, Helix Deep Blue 12" sub in factory sealed box, and a pair of Audison 5x7 front speakers; the HU was an overkill for the rest of the system, but I got it from a friend that had somewhat of an SQ setup and I've heard what this HU is capable of. Now, I bought a new(er) car, 2007 Kia Ceed (better than my ex 1999 Mazda 323 Sedan), and the HU is 2DIN. I've thought about putting the Pioneer in (as I'm more than happy with its capabilities) but it would look somewhat small and silly in this interior. And if I'm going the 2DIN route I might as well go with an Android HU, for its versatility and let's be open about this, price (compared to brand name solutions). And that's where my problems start.
Since I'm new to the whole market there currently seems to be a wave of DSP units, but I've read through the DSP unit thread and there seems to be no good enough reason for me to buy any of these "DSP" units as the benefits are not that big; the sound control is an ok thing (also mangeable via an app), but everyone seems to talk about how louder it is - I don't really need loudness, I'd like to have something with a good integrated amp that gives out a good signal, it doesn't have to be at a level of my previous HU, but I'd really like it to be above the factory HU (which surprised me with its sound capabilities, but I guess that's because my 2007 car has the newest factory sound system I've had). Also, I noticed quite some people talk about sub outputs not working on some of these HUs, I'd really like to have that working so I could connect the sub out to my amp, are those problems connected to a specific manufacturer or is it just random failures?
The second thing, as this is predominantly chinese manufacturers teritory there are LOTS of them, althoug a few brands stick out. Out of those most people I've talked to tend to have Joying or Eonon, or as of recently Xtrons; Joying is out of the game for me, as of three people I know that have them all three ended up with faulty ones. I was first looking at Eonon GA2171S (because of the DSP), but I can't find any reviews or user experiences, nor can I find the specifications of the amp and/or DSP chip. Other Eonons and Xtrons look pretty similar to me, the specs and the looks, and I'd be happy to get one of them.
And this is where You come in
I need Your reccomendations, preferably based on personal experience, for a new 2DIN Android HU. My priorities are in this order :
- up to 7" screen that fits 2DIN (no overhanging 10" screens as it would look weird to say the least)
- good amp / sound output
- up to date hardware and software (Oreo, 4GB RAM, etc...)
- availability from EU (I'm from Croatia)
- moddability of software (custom roms)
- possibility of connecting factory steering wheel controls
As I've said, Eonons and Xtrons are what I looked at based on reccomendations (and avaliability from EU), but You're free to reccomend something else, I'm open to any suggestions as this is uncharted territory for me.
Tnx to everyone in advance :highfive:
I have 3 different units right now, Ownice, Eonon, and a no name generic. All three of them sound about the same to me, all are amplified with Pioneer or MTX.
I think you're better off just deciding based on features and interfaces you'll need (such as an SD slot or multi USB) and expect bugs cause they all have them
I also have 2 4 gig ram units now and I dont think they are any faster than the 2gb units i have.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Which Unit??

hello all, new here although i have ready many posts.
I have posted in another forum about head units, i have a Ford Focus 08 model so have joined the ford owners club forum for advice but i think some of my issues would be best answered in a place like this.
I have recieved some good feedback but i think i may have exhausted them with particular units.
I seem to have found some answers to my original post but have now dwindled my choice down to 3 so i need more help if at all possible...
so my post today was about how i have come to the choice of these 3..
XTRONS TE103AP
or
EONON GA2168
or
EONON GA2168k
The XTRONS is the top spec i can find on a 10" screen which could be overkill for my focus but it looks great in some vids i have seen, its also the only 10" that has 4gb RAM and 32gb ROM with octacore and Android 8.0 which was reccomended above so it has pretty much got me. the screen is detachable although slightly more longwinded to take off than some pumpkin and eonon models of similar size that i found. Also being black friday/cyber monday weekend i could get it with a fair whack off the price (£240ish on their site). My only worry is it doesnt look like it comes with the CANBUS adapter, i also am not too familiar with what that even is, is it just for steering wheel controls (which i dont have) or is it for the stalk aswell?
As for the EONON GA2168, that screen is better detachable and is also octacore however it is only Android 7.1 (is that a major difference?) its also only 2gb RAM and not 4 (again not too sure about this, would a car stereo really benefit from more than 2gb? This also doesnt seem to come with the CANBUS adapter but does come with a free rear cam or dash cam and is £247
And finally the EONON GA2168K which is very simlar obviously but is only 16gb ROM and again 2gb RAM but this time with Android 8.1 but only quadcore processor without CANBUS and also comes with free cam of my choice and is cheaper at £217
Both XTRONS and EONON offer similar spec stereos that will fit right into my hole that are only 7" however but do for some reason come with CANBUS decoder/box (is that the same thing?)
So im swaying toward the XTRONS, better spec and all that but will i need to but this CANBUS thing? Any help would be greatly appreciated, sorry this was a bit longwinded but i have spent many hours now researching/spreadsheeting/doing my missus head in with all this now and want to purchase while these deals and offers are on. Hopefully some of you may have experience here.
Thanks in advance for any input :good:
understandably i cant post links to the actual units or my original thread on the owners club but hopefully some of you will know which units i am refering to. Thanks
I have the ga2168k from Eonon...
Had it only a short time now but so far I love it.
Now, I'm using it as a daily driver in a Ford f550 superduty.... not entering it into a show...going to car club gatherings or anything of the sort. I wanted it because I needed GPS, hands free calling and that 10.1 BIG display just fits a Ford F550 well as it is a lot of truck.
Perhaps the more memory one may be better for you if you are watching things on it... or doing some crazy things with it... for a simpleton like myself, it's perfect.
Which did you go for in the end?
Im pretty much in the same position as you, torn between which 10.1 to go with... Pushing slightly more towards the Eonon GA2168K
mdis89 said:
Which did you go for in the end?
Im pretty much in the same position as you, torn between which 10.1 to go with... Pushing slightly more towards the Eonon GA2168K
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just installed a GA2168K yesterday in my 2006 GTO.
One thing I noticed in the included harness adapter is they have constant battery power and accessory power swapped.
Installed it with their R0008 dash cam that came with it. No DVR app. Finally found the main config menu (hidden by password 8888) and enabled DVR.
It does not detect the camera. it was working fine with my GA2170. Went to their website and was looking to see if they had a different camera available, and that is the only one. However, on the R0008 camera product page it gives a list of HU's it isn't compatible with, and the GA2168K is one of those. Sent support an email, hopefully will have an answer Monday on that. The other frustration is that half the settings they show in the user manual and online, aren't showing up in the actual menu's. Hoping they can send me a newer Firmware/OS that enables those... And finally, there is no seperate control for subwoofer like there was in the GA2170 Looks like I need to buy the remote amp level control and run a new cable to the trunk
Another issue... It is advertised as having 18 FM presets and 12 AM. It only allows me to store 6 of each...
Dears,
anybody tried Eonon GA2178 - 10" Android 9 Head Unit?
I'm actually on Eonon GA2168K - 10" Android 8 Head Unit, it's a good device with minor problems.
Anytime developers fix a problem they introduce an other problem and there's no community support for MTK chipsets.
Because of this I'm evaluating the new Eonon GA2178, that is quite similar but based on Rockchip chipset.
Tks!

Looking to buy a headunit

Hi
I'm looking into buying an android head unit for the first time
My main option is to buy from Aliexpress, so i looked for options there and I would love some recommendations.
I don't have many requirements, i think that I can assemble it myself, but a few things I care about:
1. Waze, Spotify, Google Maps, and general android apps (I know every android head unit supports it, that's why I want one )
2. phone calls quality (road noise reduction and clear voice capture)
3. radio reception. my car currently has a head unit by jvc and the reception isn't great.
The main unit that caught my eye is TEYES CC3 (new unit to my understanding), it seems good but a bit pricey than others.
Another unit that have high sals is Junsun V1 pro, but I saw some bad reviews here.
other models i've seen are: Youmecity TS10, Aycenty PX6, AutoTop PX5, and LEHX (no model name)
I would love to hear recommendations / warnings / heads up
thank you!
EDIT: I don't have external amplifiers or subwoofer, just the regular OEM speaker array.
Ghsucre said:
Hi
I'm looking into buying an android head unit for the first time
My main option is to buy from Aliexpress, so i looked for options there and I would love some recommendations.
I don't have many requirements, i think that I can assemble it myself, but a few things I care about:
1. Waze, Spotify, Google Maps, and general android apps (I know every android head unit supports it, that's why I want one )
2. phone calls quality (road noise reduction and clear voice capture)
3. radio reception. my car currently has a head unit by jvc and the reception isn't great.
The main unit that caught my eye is TEYES CC3 (new unit to my understanding), it seems good but a bit pricey than others.
Another unit that have high sals is Junsun V1 pro, but I saw some bad reviews here.
other models i've seen are: Youmecity TS10, Aycenty PX6, AutoTop PX5, and LEHX (no model name)
I would love to hear recommendations / warnings / heads up
thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Suggest avoid all of the obscure types and look to an MTCD/E type, Dasaita sell these.
If you're not comfortable with quirks and bugs, problems, avoid these completely and look for a suitable genuine/branded Android Auto unit. You won't find Android Auto on on Aliexpress however - regardless of the wild claims.
marchnz said:
Suggest avoid all of the obscure types and look to an MTCD/E type, Dasaita sell these.
If you're not comfortable with quirks and bugs, problems, avoid these completely and look for a suitable genuine/branded Android Auto unit. You won't find Android Auto on on Aliexpress however - regardless of the wild claims.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not afraid of bugs and quirks, i'm pretty capable of researching for solutions, but that means that I need a "popular" model, so I could find help within communities like this.
I will read more about what you suggested. to my understanding the TEYES ones aren't in this category, is that right?
what do you think of them anyway?
from the little I have read it seems to me that they are developing their own firmware, rom, and apps to work with these units, so I would like to think that they are doing a good job (are they?). furthermore I saw that they are releasing updates from time to time to fix bugs.
I'm not looking for a lot of customizability or frequent updates, after the installation and hopefully short debugging my intention is to enjoy it for several years without changes.
thank you very much!
Hello, what did you end up buying bud? 6 months later I am in the same boat as you, not sure what to buy in sept 2021
Hi !
I ended up buying:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32720737378.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.5a874c4dy5QaWA
I didn't want to wait for PX6, and didn't see much choices for PX5.
Initially my favorite was the TEYES, but my gf rolled it out (based on aesthetics and higher price)
My next choice was PX6 but I didn't find a good seller.
the product I ended up buying was from "Youmecity Car Multimedia Store", the seller was very nice and responsive, and has a lot of good reviews.
downsides for my unit: it isn't much configurable, the internal mic isn't working (and you can't connect external one), I didn't find (although I didn't spend a lot of time searching) different roms.
Overall I'm pleased with my unit (except the mic), its very responsive and works well, worked out-of-the-box, no cable soldering. even compatible with the rear cam I have installed.
Note - don't buy the OBD from them, it's huge, and it uses WiFi (can't connect in the same time with phone hotspot).
Note 2 - If you buy from his, ask for the new software version, they update it once in a few months.
If you have more questions feel free to ask here

Categories

Resources