Has anybody bought and installed any of the chinese OEM double-din knock-offs to replace the stock stereo? I'm not too concerned about the GPS fucntionality, but I want to keep my steering wheel controls and BT phone functionality.

Thoughts on the system? Aesthetics? Functionality?

An example:

Ebay Lancer Stereo

 

I think someone did a DIY thread on this unit. Might have been in the regular lancer section. If I remember correctly they liked it at first but after a while the unit over heated. Try searching for it or just checking out the How to sections.

 

I have bought a Ebay Double-Din Unit off of Ebay before and had it installed by a retupable shop.

1st off, the Resolution is not anywhere as good as name brand units. They throw some good numbers, but the DVD's are grainy.

2nd, after a week, my volume knob acted up. If I turned the volume up, it would go up. If I turned the volume knob down, the volume went up even more. Would take 5 minutes of 1 so click at a time to turn it down. 1 wrong more and it would go up 5 clicks.

3rd, after having it installed for 2 months, I sold the car. A week after I sold the car, the unit ended up smoking and eventually catching fire and the new owners were on the side of the road watching the car burn to the ground. And no, I am not making this up.

Just stay away from the cheap Ebay stuff. The Name Brand stuff is expensive for a reason. Its a 7-Inch Double Din DVD Player, a big bling feature, so pay for it like it is.

 

Thanks for the info, guys. I think I'll just get a DVD unit anyway, without bothering with the Navigation. I'd rather use my phone anyway, since that will have up-to-date maps. There's a few (name brand) I saw on Amazon, and a couple used ones listed locally on Craigslist I might look into.

 

I recommend looking into Pioneer AVIC units. I have purchased 2 of them on eBay. Both have been in perfect working order when received. The unit in my car is a Pioneer F700BT-AVIC. I got it for $250, and it works like a champ. I have it custom programmed to resemble the MyFord Touch system, which is also Pioneer.

 

It's funny you mention that. I was just looking at a local CL ad for one, The guy wants 280, but says it's missing the GPS antenna... Might be worth looking into. Funny thing is, I need two units too. One for each car. What dash kit did you use for your installs?

Also, I use bluetooth streaming from my phone as my ONLY source of audio. Do you use that at all?

 

I use an SD card. An 8 GB card can store almost all of my music.

You are probably looking at a Z-series AVIC for streaming BT. Well worth it, though. They can be programmed pretty easily.

 

I have had one, Bluetooth works great. perfecty clear. Gps is awesome and prefer it over my Garmin 4.3".'
Only had two problems with it- the angle of the screen causes some glare making it hard to see in a sunny day.
Second is my deck seemed to have trouble keeping time! don't get why, some reason kept resorting back to overseas time.

 

I have one. This one : http://www.ebay.com/itm/8-Mitsubishi...265926&vxp=mtr

I put a best offer in, while drunk, of $400 shipped to canada. Was a bit pissed when i won it, but went ahead. Install literally took 20 minutes without the reverse camera.

Nav is one of the better ive used. I have an Avic x930 in my truck and this Chinese unit is far far better. Ipod interface doesnt work with my iphone or touch 2nd gen, but works ok with a nano.

Cd and DVD work really well, plays all formats i've tried, but whatever the GoPro format is right off the SD card, it wont play. Sound is at least on par with the OEM non Rockford system it replaced. Radio comes in a bit off here and there though. I am not using the supplied signal booster or TV antenna though.

SD card music and video work just alright. searching is a *****.

Blue tooth works really good as well. No issues playing music from my phone or ipod through bluetooth and the hands free is pretty much flawless. Blue tooth buttons on wheel do not work though.

Reverse camera works really well, but i only plugged it in to try, so it would depend where you place it.

Typical chinese quirks. They just never get it right. I have driven with it on playing video for well over 4 hours and no heat issues or screen malfunctions.

Hope that helps.

 

my buddy did and it works fine with the nav and his subs hooked up to it

 

eBay is like amazon but w more drunk sellers lol but I guess u can get lucky some times

 

I bought one last year and I loved it. I'm selling my Lancer DE and upgrading to an EVO but the current buyer doesn't want the unit. It looks like it could be a stock unit and the hand controls work perfectly. I use my bluetooth through it daily. If you are interested in purchasing, i'm selling mine on eBay at: http://www.ebay.com/itm/200833030230...84.m1555.l2649

Great thing about it is you don't have to worry about it shipping from Asia like the rest. I live in PA

 

Sirius work with this?

 

I'm not positive if Sirius would work with this. If so, you'd probably have to make some modifications.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/200836526945...84.m1555.l2649

I dropped the price on my unit so if you are interested, please bid