Installing a aftermarket radio system

[AndyHB]

That's interesting... I have just bought a 2008 Viano (w639) and they have a head unit that'll fit the van just nicely.
@AnthonyUK It looks like a straightforward swap out of a plug 'n play unit, how much effort is involved in fitting one?

 

[Botus]

its depends on how much of an animal and what you want to work - for example

if you can see nav, phone calls or radio stations, etc. in the speedo cluster / and or info panel
and you can play with the vol, stations and answer calls via the steering wheel
and still want this to work, the car to be 100% original (aside from a different unit) aka an intact wiring loom, and trim pieces that fit and clip in, rattle free. Then it needs some TLC, and maybe a week's wait for the right bits to turn up and then 5 hours graft and of course to link up with the car's canbus system - depending on the unit, its firmware and how u wire the interface it may go to plan or you spend the rest of your life trying to get it to work

if you're a animal who likes vandalising wiring looms and don't mind if the trim is cracked, it flattens the battery if left for longer than 48 hrs, and the new unit is missing half its cabaility but it makes a noise, its about 25mins

 

[Noddy 99]

Those Erisin androids - I've got one...

1. They are very easy to install
2. If you have Harmon Kardon (I don't), you need to buy extension cabling (at about £85) which will BYPASS your HK. You can't run the HK with the Android so if the HK sound is important to you, forget it.
3. I was told I needed an Android Auto adapter @£35 but you don't - you just download the Android Auto app from the Playstore and run it as an app
4. Don't bother buying a 4G dongle @£40 - just use your phone as a mobile hotspot
5. Mine is a 2gb RAM unit and is painfully slow - so slow that I can't use it as a sat-nav; I have a separate tablet for that.
6. As a music jukebox, it's fine and has a decent amp. If you install PlayerPro, you get get some great EQ and artwork options.
7. The Bluetooth and Wi-Fi work fine but Google Assistant voice command is glacial...

Cost me about £175. It looks good and works... OK, I suppose. To get "better" you need to leap up to Pioneer, Alpine etc. @£800+. Some people say they're no better than the cheapies...

 

[AndyHB]

its depends on how much of an animal and what you want to work - for example

if you can see nav, phone calls or radio stations, etc. in the speedo cluster / and or info panel
and you can play with the vol stations and answer calls via the steering wheel
and still want this to work, the car to be 100% original (aside from a different unit) aka an intact wiring loom, and trim pieces that fit and clip in, rattle free. Then it needs some TLC, and maybe a week's wait for the right bits to turn up and then 5 hours graft and of course to link up with the car's canbus system - depending on the unit, its firmware and how u wire the interface it may go to plan or you spend the rest of your life trying to get it to work

if you're a animal who likes vandalising wiring looms and don't mind if the trim is cracked and it flattens the battery if left for longer than 48 hrs, and the new unit is missing ha;f its cabaility but it makes a noise its about 25mins

That's a fair response to a 'how long is a piece of string?' question...

 

[AndyHB]

Those Erisin androids - I've got one...

1. They are very easy to install
2. If you have Harmon Kardon (I don't), you need to buy extension cabling (at about £85) which will BYPASS your HK. You can't run the HK with the Android so if the HK sound is important to you, forget it.
3. I was told I needed an Android Auto adapter @£35 but you don't - you just download the Android Auto app from the Playstore and run it as an app
4. Don't bother buying a 4G dongle @£40 - just use your phone as a mobile hotspot
5. Mine is a 2gb RAM unit and is painfully slow - so slow that I can't use it as a sat-nav; I have a separate tablet for that.
6. As a music jukebox, it's fine and has a decent amp. If you install PlayerPro, you get get some great EQ and artwork options.
7. The Bluetooth and Wi-Fi work fine but Google Assistant voice command is glacial...

Cost me about £175. It looks good and works... OK, I suppose. To get "better" you need to leap up to Pioneer, Alpine etc. @£800+. Some people say they're no better than the cheapies...

@Noddy 99 Thanks
You've helped me a great deal here. I was looking at one of the Pioneer Avics when this caught my eye, I think I'll refocus back on the Pioneers - professionally fitted... I don't mind ' having a go' on a £200 unit but I'm not cobbling anything together on a Pioneer. Which will lead me into a question on Halfords fitting service.. I'm wary and need to research that particular topic further.

 

[Botus]

in the old days Panasonic, Pioneer Kenwood ect. made bricks that would be higher quality and last 20 years - then they added 3 million jazzy lights you don't want

today u get more features and lookalike OEM with these android things

sadly like most stuff everything lasts about 10 minutes

 

[AnthonyUK]

I’ve had an Erisin unit fitted for the past 3-4 years and it has been fine. It was straightforward to fit, is a good fit too and works well. If you want everything Botus mentioned then you will need to spend some time setting everything up but it will work.
You will likely lose the media display info on the speedo but no big loss. You can still change volume etc from the steering wheel and this worked without issue for me but others have not been so lucky.
It has 4gb ram so is speedy enough for anything I need it to do.

Like anything android though it does need a reboot every month or so but compared to the COMAND 2.0 it replaced it is light years ahead.

 

[Noddy 99]

Do be careful before you splash out big dollar. If you see a Pioneer for £350, that is just a SCREEN which acts as a mirror for your phone. The £700+ ones typically have a 7" screen whereas most of the Chinese ones are 8".

Finally, I read somewhere (honestly can't remember where) that the Pioneer ones are no better than the Chinese ones; they might even be built in the same factories...

 

[AnthonyUK]

Do be careful before you splash out big dollar. If you see a Pioneer for £350, that is just a SCREEN which acts as a mirror for your phone. The £700+ ones typically have a 7" screen whereas most of the Chinese ones are 8".

Finally, I read somewhere (honestly can't remember where) that the Pioneer ones are no better than the Chinese ones; they might even be built in the same factories...

Hardware wise possibly. The Chinese ones maybe have even better spec. for the price at least but the area the more expensive ones are better are generally they spend a bit of time QAing the Android build. I run a custom ROM which does what I need without any bloat but this is maybe outside of what most people would want to get involved with.

 

[AndyHB]

in the old days Panasonic, Pioneer Kenwood ect. made bricks that would be higher quality and last 20 years - then they added 3 million jazzy lights you don't want

today u get more features and lookalike OEM with these android things

sadly like most stuff everything lasts about 10 mi

Hardware wise possibly. The Chinese ones maybe have even better spec. for the price at least but the area the more expensive ones are better are generally they spend a bit of time QAing the Android build. I run a custom ROM which does what I need without any bloat but this is maybe outside of what most people would want to get involved with.

Interesting.. I hadn't considered a custom ROM. I'd only use:
Handsfree
DAB (Radio 6)
Apple car play
Soundcloud (podcasts)

Striping the bloatware out would be a positive.

Once again i'm oscillating between branded and Chinese CE stamped (copied everything) goodies.

Time for a list methinks...

 

[LostKiwi]

I fitted an Erisin unit in my stepson's Vito and it was a piece of cake. The hardest part was hiding the wiring for the GPS unit.