sat nav and bluetooth kit

[woddle1000]

can anyone recommend a double din unit fitted for an A4 3.0 Cab that doesn't cost the earth?

basically an RNS-E is a grand,

I want similar features, sat nav, bluetooth kit, touchscreen stereo but I don't want to part with so much money!

has anyone else upgraded?

any advice is appreciated

Steve

 

[woddle1000]

well thanks for all your help and replies guys, top forum

 

[Kelza]

hi there woddle why not drop chorley car audio an email just to ask or maybe they can sort you out ,very helpful ..:icon_thumright:
Chorley Car Audio | VAGOC.co.uk

 

[s8craig]

Annoys me when people slag off the forum just because no one had anything to say

well thanks for all your help and replies guys, top forum

 

[woddle1000]

i will do S3Kel, cheers,

 

[BahnStormer77]

can anyone recommend a double din unit fitted for an A4 3.0 Cab that doesn't cost the earth?

basically an RNS-E is a grand,

I want similar features, sat nav, bluetooth kit, touchscreen stereo but I don't want to part with so much money!

has anyone else upgraded?

any advice is appreciated

Steve

Reason you've not got much extra advice is that it's all on the forum already.

Second hand RNS-E's are around £350-£400, on Fleabay, but then you still don't get Bluetooth or touchscreen.... the bluetooth is a lot rarer 2nd hand and the Audi verison is another £250+ new... there are some Parrot equivalent, but on your budget, you're unlikely to get even 2nd hand Audi OEM SatNav + bluetooth.

IMO: Pioneer AVIC are some of the better non-OEM kits around: entry level models (Pioneer AVIC-F320BT) are around £500-£600 - you'll get newer features (USB, SDHC, touchscreen) than the OEM kit, but you'll lose all the integration with the steering wheel + DIS (I've written at least 3 detailed posts with breakdowns on the pro's and con's).

Be very careful of the £300 Fleabay "Does everything" models on eBay (including Freeview TV), they do offer a lot, they've been okay for some, but I've also heard a few scare stories of them overheating and the software being very flakey.

Also - be careful if you've got the BOSE upgraded stereo, might be some probs with using the BOSE amp with non-OEM kit.

 

[woddle1000]

thanks for the reply. i have had a scoot round the site but cant always find what i was looking for as i was unsure how to word it, I think I am going to get a pioneer f920bt installed after the bank holiday, can get it installed with bose leads etc for 850 which i thought was reasonable, i am not too bothered about the DIS for an extra few hundred and less features!!

 

[BahnStormer77]

I know what you mean: I was tempted by some of the non-OEM stuff, but I was getting the multifuntion steering, so wanted all the buttons, incl the voice control, etc to work (which they all do)... and don't under-estimate the value of having the directions on the DIS for yourself or being able to prompt for voice-nav directions direct from the steering wheel buttons while the missus watches TV or trawls through her music.

 

[woddle1000]

the DIS would be nice, but the missus wouldnt get a look in, my car my rules, dont like it, walk, attitude in my car, love my music and her romance crap wont even get close to being a coaster in my car ha, it a matter of justifying all the extra cost for so little extra functions!

 

[BahnStormer77]

I say "her music".... there's two SD cards: one with mine, one with a carfefully vetted and thinned down selection of her music.... although she really wasn't impressed when I replaced some of the tracks: e.g. MAdonna's verison of Amercian Pie had to be replaced with the Don Maclane "original" (more common) version...

 

[BahnStormer77]

... a matter of justifying all the extra cost for so little extra functions!

To be fair, it's not "less functions" really.... just different ones: I was after 100% OEM look, DIS directions, FULL steering wheel controls (phone menu, voice activation, channels/tracks, volume)

The trade off was no touch screen, only half post codes (even some Tom Toms and a lot of the aftermarket ones don't do full UK postcodes) and I've only 8Gb MP3 storage (2 x SD cards) on the satnav with some restrictions on file lengths and number of files that most newer aftermarket systems shouldn't have a problem with.

I would have traded off the OEM look if I could have got the steering controls and DIS directions, but the only people who were offering that were charging a lot more than the RNS-E and weren't willing to fit it.

 

[woddle1000]

i can get a pioneer f930bt, fully fitted, plays all dvds and cd and mini sd and usb, bluetooth handsfree, full satnav, touchscreen for 850, to get an rns-e to do that fitted is alot more money, so the DIS doesnt even come into it! all those other functions are more important to me than dis!

 

[BahnStormer77]

granted... the non-OEM kit does become more appealing if you don't have a multifunciton steering wheel and the Pioneer AVIC stuff (like the F930BT) is some of the best stuff - I'm sure you won't be disappointed... I spent a lot of time seeing if I could get the steering controls to work with a the Pioneer and to get the directions on the DIS, but there was nothing out there... the best most people could do was the volume: just needed to point that out to anybody catching up on this thread and has the MF steering wheel...

 

[woddle1000]

if i had the multi steering wheel i think i would have to think alot more carefully, but i dont so its a no brainer for me, would you recomend the f930bt or would you go for something else?