Head unit advice

it does but a bit of advice i purchased one of these, it works really well but since the day i had fitted it i still cannot get the ****** thing out for the life of me!!
 
i heard that there are fitment issues? is that true?? a member mentioned the top locks in but bottom doesnt?
 
jazzysingh said:
i heard that there are fitment issues? is that true?? a member mentioned the top locks in but bottom doesnt?
Click to expand...


do you know what member this is as i have the EXACT problem and its absolutely killing me! haha
 
I have that model and yes the bottom has no mechanism to lock into place which seems a bit silly. It isn't noticeable unless you look for it but it's annoying when you know it's there. I have not tried to fix this myself, I would imagine you could DIY a fix whether that be transferring the stud from the rear of the OEM headunit or doing something on the bracket at the bottom to hold it in.

I discovered the Zenec has a parrot module in for bluetooth (better because it will have firmware updates), TMC module inbuilt and it also integrates with DIS so I have bought one of those and will be selling my 4 month old Xtrons model (same as the ebay one) soon. Zenec should be delivered today :D There was no need for me to upgrade, the ebay one does the job perfectly but I am a gadget freak so have to have the best ;)
 
My personal preference is to always go with the device which is most widespread and has the best support. In this case the Zenec is the best but it's price is prohibitive at £800... During my research I found the Xtrons (same as you linked in the first post) had the best support out of the rest, they have a support forum where staff send you firmware updates if you need them. Because the second device you posted is generic I found it hard to find any info about it online to see if it was decent or not.

Also the Xtrons comes with iGo which is much better than Sygic ;)
 
Ok quick update, I just took my ebay headunit out ready for the Zenec and I had no problems removing it at all, it literally could not have come out any faster as it unlocked the first time I entered the removal key.

Now I have removed it and inspected the locking mechanism it looks as if you need to bend the mounting bracket very slightly so the tabs lock into place once inserted. I won't be testing this as I don't want to bend the bracket as I will be selling the headunit but if anyone else wants to give it a try the bottom two retention tabs seem to sit flush with the main body hence they don't lock, if you bend them outwards they should lock into the OEM plastic cage fitted to the dash.

This is what I have already and will be selling shortly:
PF71A3A 7" HD Touch Screen DVD Player With Sat Nav For Audi A3 (2003-2011) | Xtrons

This is what I have coming today:
Zenec ZE-NC3131D Audi A3 | Car Audio Direct
 
How do I justify to the Mrs spending £800 on a car stereo, Oh I forgot I dont have to as we dont live together lol cheers AK47UK i think i may invest in that unit
 
These really do look cool, not sure if I would go for the Audi head unit or one of these to replace my symphony in my B7

My son keeps saying no gotta be audi not cheap crap lol

I just want the sat nav , bluetooth and mem card slots for my music

Si
 
dentsy said:
These really do look cool, not sure if I would go for the Audi head unit or one of these to replace my symphony in my B7

My son keeps saying no gotta be audi not cheap crap lol

I just want the sat nav , bluetooth and mem card slots for my music

Si
Click to expand...

Usually I would agree and would go for the Audi kit but take a look at the specs. The RNS-e is dated, only offers partial postcode routing, doesn't integrate Bluetooth from what I have read etc. If money is no problem then the Zenec is the way to go IMO, if not then the Xtrons offers a fantastic spec for a ridiculously good price and works very well too.
 
audi upgrades
This is the nicest car I have owned (2010 A3 2.0 TFSI s-line) last thing I want to do it put a crappy £200 head unit in it, but it does look like you have to pay a bit in order to get something semi decent
 
The Xtrons is very good, you have to try it to see what you think though.

I just installed the Zenec and am impressed. Only had a little play so far but the boot up times seem to be much longer than the Xtrons and the time it takes to connect to my phone over bluetooth and the gap between pressing play (using bluetooth) and hearing the music is greater than with the Xtrons. Other than that it seems very good, I am updating it at the moment so will play more later.
 
I don't think the Zenec allows you to customise the boot logo which is a shame, that's another plus point for the Xtrons though.

I have updated the Zenec now and I like it, another niggle is the fact that when I play the radio it will tell me what station it is on the DIS but if I play music over bluetooth from my iPhone 5 it will still say I am listening to the radio as does the on-screen infobar.
 
If you have the money to spend it is definitely the better option, wouldn't say it's three times better than the Xtrons which costs about £300 but if you are heavily into your ICE and gadgets and have the money it is worth a buy.

I like the fact it runs a custom iGo which updates through naviextras, has a Parrot bluetooth module which FW is upgradable and FW upgrades are released for the MCU and running software as well as the CANBUS.

I don't like the GPS software being stored on an internal NAND though as it means it is risky to experiment with the GPS. I used to play around with these WinCE GPS units to get them to run multiple SatNav programs and even had them running games etc. If I bricked this then I would be in trouble, although there is a good looking engineers menu for updating so I reckon I could recover the GPS if I needed to.
 
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You might need some ground loop isolators too, Noticed this morning that the speakers whine when accelerating.
 
I didnt think it would be as easy as plug and play lol I know how to drive a car but mechanics and electrical systems it goes to my local garage, so when you say ground loop isolators you may as well tell me to go out and buy and fit a sausage to the car :) I guess i will find out one way or the other AK47UK lol
 
You might find you don't need them but if you do they are very easy to fit, they are devices with RCA plugs that go in between the RCA out of the headunit and the RCA in of the quadlock loom to provide the OEM amp with signal.
 
Let me know how it goes, if you need help updating the GPS lmk and send me a message when you are all installed and I will send you the links to update the device firmware.
 
update already, been emailed, the head unit is a 7-8 day turn around, so wont be despatched within 24 Hours as the website claimed (Bummer) I think I will wait as the company seems a good one.

Thanks for that AK47UK
 
Car audio direct are brilliant, this is a special item so will probably ship from Germany but most of their stuff is UK stock. Been using them for years as they seem to be cheaper than Car Audio Security.
 
If its ok for you mate its ok for me lol I will wait for it to come, will give me chance to route my reversing camera through to the front of car
 
Not sure why people have had so many issues with it locking I have no issues with the cage locks with all four engaging properly!

Mine literally involved taking the old one out and new one in and worked fine first time locking in properly

Also i ordered mine from car communications.co.uk which was the same price as everywhere else an fit arrived within 24 hours from the UK!
 
newbieboyy said:
Not sure why people have had so many issues with it locking I have no issues with the cage locks with all four engaging properly!

Mine literally involved taking the old one out and new one in and worked fine first time locking in properly

Also i ordered mine from car communications.co.uk which was the same price as everywhere else an fit arrived within 24 hours from the UK!
Click to expand...

You're talking about the Zenec though aren't you? We were talking about the Xtrons :)
 
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Zenec fitted today, straight forward to install, bit fiddly getting USB / iPod cabling up and through, no pain no gain lol little software problem soon sorted with AK47UK's help (thanks) not had time to try all the features just way too much to play with, unit seems well made and it all locked into the dash no problem
 
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Jet2004uk said:
Zenec fitted today, straight forward to install, bit fiddly getting USB / iPod cabling up and through, no pain no gain lol little software problem soon sorted with AK47UK's help (thanks) not had time to try all the features just way too much to play with, unit seems well made and it all locked into the dash no problem
Click to expand...

Have you any photos. Also any issues with rear sub or speakers not working
 
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