E39 Touring after market navigation

[HarryT]

I am looking for a solid after market navi system for my bmw touring.
Anybody with experience with chinese navi systems?
I can see they are less expensive but are they reliable?
Hopefully someone has a good tip for me, thanks in advance!

[dannyzabolotny]

The sub-$500 eBay units are a total crapshoot. Some members have had good experiences while others haven't. You're basically on your own with those units since the sellers generally don't offer any support. I highly recommend spending a little more and getting a Dynavin N6 from Jeff at J&T Distributing. He offers support for all the units he sells, and the Dynavin OS is a lot more refined than a lot of the cheapie eBay head units. The Dynavin N6 is also the only unit that supports DSP properly right out of the box.

I installed an N6 in my 540i touring a few months back and it's been rock solid. Bluetooth, USB connection, navigation, iPhone integration, etc. It really makes my touring feel like a new car in terms of technology.

[spngr311]

I just put the Xtrons unit in my touring. I like it, but I don't know how long it will last. It was pretty cheap, screen is nice, everything works pretty well (the can bus data isn't working right, but that may be my car), and it fits nicely. Their tech support is absolutely horrible (had some minor questions and they never had an answer).

I had a Dynavin from long ago in my E46 (it was great) and then in my wife's E53 (it crapped out - I forgot I had ordered it from Jeff and never contacted him later - totally my fault for not discussing it with him; he is very helpful).

[itsbrokeagain]

You can range from E0n0n/Xtron to Dynavin to doing NBT out of the later F chassis BMWs. All depends on how big your wallet is!

Edit: why is the E word banned from here?

[DennisCooper]

Hi,

Itsbrokeagain - take a look at this thread which explains why that brand is auto banned - http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...-for-2002-530i

HarryT - In direct response to your question, then no, the cheap chinese replacement type head units you see awash all over ebay aren't reliable. If you look at every BMW forum, then the 'chinese head unit' threads, it doesn't take long to see the pattern emerge of unhappy and irritated purchasers. There's been various businesses who've tried to sell them in the UK and perhaps plenty of other countries but have now either shut up shop or have dropped them for their product line up. The main reason is due to unhappy customers with units ranging from minor issues and niggles, to major problems and also complete failures. Inter dispersed with these posts are ones from those who purchased a unit and their particular unit has been fully working out of the box and crucially, has kept working properly longer term, 6-12 and sometimes 18 monhts +. However, there's not many of those purchasers, and I'd estimate it's perhaps 85-90% of purchasers have/experience issues and 10-15% have properly, long term working units.

It'd be very expensive if you get a unit from Jeff in California sent to you in Holland. He's basically the only reseller of Dynavin who properly supports the units. If you get an issue, he'll genuinely try to help. The products are still relatively lower in quality but are the 'best' Chinese unit out there. It's the after care and support that's crucial, in comparison, the UK reseller for Dynavin recently was taken to court by a purchaser. The judge agreed with the purchaser in the product wasn't fit for purpose. If the official reseller had just refunded the customer or exchanged the unit for a working one, it needn't have got to the stage of legal action.

Here's a writeup of the install I did in my Touring and the reasons for why I went the route I did;

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...-Audio-Upgrade

I need to tweak some more and fix a few aspects (one of the D pillar pods came away from the mounting) and will update when done. I'm not saying you have to go the same route as I have, but the choice of head unit is important if you do wish to have the potential for excellent sound quality.

Cheers, Dennis!