avin Avant-3

[scottbimmer]

Did anyone bought and or installed the Avin-3 Head Unit for the E38?

[arthbkins]

There’s discussion of it in the e38 empire Facebook group. I think someone there got one but hasn’t installed yet.


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[scottbimmer]

Thanks, i'll check it on empire

[franco90]

This unit does fit the E38 price is high but worth it.
I am curious as well to see it in action .


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[kahlilj]

Thanks, i'll check it on empire

Scott please let us know what you find there. I don't do FB

[noobbiker]

I was waiting for someone here to install it. I;ve done a bit of research on it. Supposedly it's actually a decent quality octacore processor (e46 folks ran some software to pull the mfr and model). That's a start. 4V preamp outputs. A bonus. I think I'm gonna take the plunge soon enough.

[Tekshalcre]

I’m buying it next week I’ll try and post pix of my install

[scottbimmer]

Did you buy the HU yet, the Avin-3

[Breaker38]

I’ve got mine coming, should be hear next week, then hopefully I can get it installed over Easter, will give an update when it’s in

[franco90]

Check this out


Avin Avant 3 review - bugs, suggestions and tips (updated again!)

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I recently had the possibility to test the new Avant 3 in my E46 for a longer time now. I had an Avant 2 before.

A general comparison between the Avant 2 and 3:
The Avant 3 ist way faster and smoother and it also boots much faster. Several things are improved like the brightness settings of the display. You have more hardware buttons, which I like, and the display is a bit bigger but it has the same (low 1024x...) resolution. I would have preferred 1280x... or even 1920x... It has no DVD drive - a right step in my opinion. The display can be bigger and you dont really need a DVD drive anymore these days. You can still buy an external one. The steering wheel buttons of the Avant 3 work more reliable - it does not miss inputs like the Avant 2. Also the data from the car BUS is read - nice feature. The integrated Wifi of the Avant 3 works great. It has a dedicated antenna that has a very good range - thank you for that.
Unfortunately the sound of the Avant 3 is way worse than the Avant 2 (see below). This might be because cheap electronic parts are used. Speaking of cheap, the volume knob is maybe even a little bit cheaper than in the Avant 2. But it works (for now). And there are several other problems I want to list below, so the overall impression is not as good as it seems at the first place. You get a banana product - (hopefully) it ripes and matures at the customers. Referring to AVIN Android Oreo will come this summer. They are also working on an update that should come this march (thats what I was told).

So would I recommend upgrading from the Avant 2 to the 3? Depends: If you are satisfied with the sound of the Avant 2 and are not annoyed by its well known downsides, there is no need to upgrade since you will be disappointed by the sound (hopefully they fix it, see below). If you want something more smooth and want to use recent apps and surf the web and don't bother having a beta phase product, get the Avant 3. But first you should read about my problems. Overall you can use the unit in everyday use.

I will update the list when something changes or is solved.

Problems
(I will list them sorted by importance)

No root
Give us root...

NEW The navigation volume slider should set a relative volume (%) to the main volume level instead of a fixed one --> Improvement needed
Right now: You set your mail volume to 10/20. While your navigation talks, you can change its volume with the regular volume knob or buttons from 0 up to 100. The value is fixed. If you drive fast and need higher volumes, you turn up the volume for the music and then for the navigation separately by either going to the settings or activate a navigation audio output so the unit recognizes this and then turn down the volume as long as the navigation app is takling. That is annoying.
Solution: It would be more useful, if you give an option to bind the volume of the navigation to the main volume level with a relative level in %.
Besides: A really short volume ramp would be great when the music volume is autoimatically turned up after a navigation instruction.

Carlink does not work --> Bug
I use the original datacable of my phone. The app is installed on my OnePlus 5 Android 7.1.1 (OxygenOS, rooted) device. The Avant 3 does not see the device, although I tried every USB mode and the debugging is active too.

Setting if chosen mp/h to km/h on the main screen is not saved after reboot, it will reset to mp/h --> Bug

The provided audio player is not the best and so the widget on the mainscreen useless --> Improvement
Let us deactivate this optional to have more space. Or make a widget that works with e.g. VLC player or other players.

NEW Reassignment of steering wheel buttons not possible and elements are labeld wrong. --> Improvement
Its not possible or I just did not find out how to do it. You open the options for the buttons, tap on the symbol, it starts blinking. Then you push the steering wheel button you want to change. -> Does not work.
Also: I dont know if I have some kind of different steering wheel option for my e46. But I have not as much buttons as there are in the options. I just want to make the "R/T" labeled button launch my VLC player and not the radio.

NEW Remapping of the hardwarebuttons not possible --> Suggestion
Maybe some of the buttons could be remapped individually? E.g. I am not using Google assistent. I could bind my weather app to the button.

The settings of the different volume levels are not saved --> Improvement / bug
The settings for navigation, notification etc. in the submenu for the different volume levels are not saved. I dont mean the main volume level. Actually it is good that the main volume turns down after you switch off the unit - if you heard music very loud, leave the car and turn it on again, you might have forgotten the high volume, so not saving the main volume is a good thing. Maybe let us chose the the level the unit starts with.

The advertised PDC picture (the one with the car in the middle and the green/yellow/red bars for each segment) is only working when you activate it manually in the IBUS app --> Improvement
I would like to see a combined reverse camera image with an overlay of this PDC scheme when you drive backwards in a corner, maybe with a setting to chose the placement and size.

There are no settings for the reverse camera --> Improvement
I am missing the settings for the video feed of the reverse camera when driving backwards. On an Avant 2 you could access them by tapping the screen when driving backwards and adjust brightness, contrast etc.

Pressing and holding the steering wheel button to increase or decrease the volume acts too slow --> Improvement
The delay should be shorter when you press and hold the button and the time between the steps also.

Spinning the volume knob too fast (not crazy fast but normal speeds) results in not reacting --> Bug / improvement
Sometimes the volume jumps around +-1 steps, even if you turn down the volume... Maybe this is related to the above problem with the delay in between each steps of the volume settings.

Dynamic sound setting according to car speed --> Improvement
Create a setting to set the volume automatically a bit louder the faster you drive.

Drive assistant apps, like "Blitzer.de" (speed camera warning), will not set proper volume levels --> Improvement
When using the specific app, the volume level of the music etc. will not decrease properly when a notification is generated by tha app. The notification is too quiet.
Maybe you could let the user define several apps that are treated as "navigation" apps and make the system reduce the volume so the notifications are hearable.

Navigon Europe version 9 from Playstore does not connect to the server and can not be activated --> Bug / improvement
Navigon Europe version 8 from Amazon store works though and can connect to server to activate.
Navigon select works and can be activated.
Why can I not activate Navigon Europe 9? I bought this some time ago and it worked on my Avant 2.

The screen brightness settings could be improved (previously seemed like inconsistent behaviour) --> Bug / Improvement
Practical example: You drive at daylight, display is bright. The sun sets and the headlights switch on automatically because of the sunset although it is still bright outside. The display dims to the nightmode value, because the headlights switched on. You manually set the display brighter again. You use your car again at night. The night mode settings are owerwritten and set to your manually set level.
Solution: Use the light sensor value of the car interior lighting?
Other solution: Let the unit not save the manually set value for the display brightness but reset the value after restart to the set value in the settings.

NEW Resetting the unit overwrites the onboard computer time to 00:00 --> Suggestion
The unit should be programmed to either push the time to the onboard computer after it synced it with the network or GPS and not only at startup.
Or there should be a delay of some 2-3 minutes until the unit pushes the time to the onboard computer.
Resetting sets the time to 00:00 and does not refresh it when the Avant 3 gets the proper time. You either have to reboot the unit or kill and restart the IBUS app.

NEW Long pressing next/previous track button on the unit or steering wheel should fast forward withing the track --> Suggestion

NEW Split screen mode for 2 apps parallel would be great --> Suggestion

My unit seems to have several MAC adresses --> ?
My router shows the same device ID for the Avant 3 with now 5 different MAC adresses. It seems like the unit changes the MAC adress.

Avin responses
- The sound is a bigger problem for me. The Avant 2 had waaay better sound. It was louder, it had more bass and more settings. The integrated "equalizer" is nearly useless. There are some hidden settings in the Android sound settings, but they dont really improve the sound. Right now it is at the level of every other chinese head unit.
Also there is a sizzling/white noise/buzzing when the unit is active but no sound is played. I think it might be associated to the lower cost electrical parts used. Bad insulation.
The Avant 2 is really way better concerning sound. I compared it. I miss its sound.
In short:
-We need more equalizer settings
-We need the unit to be louder - I drove on the highway for some hours and I had to set the volume to max, which was not enough.
-We need more bass
Someone could say the unit is not able to play more bass etc. But if you add some EQ settings via e.g. VLC and prepare a mp3 with higher bass and volume, it plays very good and clear. So I consider it as a software problem.
--> Improvement
Avins response: An improved equalizer and better audio settings will come in march.

Solved
Pushing the microphone button crashes the unit --> Bug
You can not turn up the volume, no volumebar appears. After some time either the unit crashes or the volume comes back again at a lower level. Happens every time I do this
Solution: Avin told me, you just have to install the "Google" (Assistant) app. The button is linked to that app.


Tips & Tricks

How to prevent the time from setting back Xh? (Seemed like a bug)
Due to unclear translation (into german at least) it was not exactly clear how to set the time properly. It kept setting the time back.
First you have to know, that the BMW IBUS app will overwrite the onboard computer time on every start, if the option is not deactivated under further settings within the IBUS app. I did not know this existed and so I was confused that my set time within the onboard computer get set back.
Second you need to know is, that "keep the timezone settings provided by the network" (or similar, thats what it says in german at least) has to be deactivated, otherwise the unit will set the time to +00:00 GMT. Unchecking this lets you chose the timezone manually. You can combine that with getting time over GPS. Maybe this will work correctly with an inerted SIM card (I did not insert one yet). For the record: it does not sync the seconds though so sometimes your onboard computer and Avant may differ less than 1 minute

Volume slider in the navigation settings...
Setting a value does NOT mean that the navigation app will play at that level. It will lower the media volume to that level and play the navigation instructions at the set level in the volume settings.

[noobbiker]

Been following that thread. Very very disappointing and glad I haven’t plunked down any cash yet. They have an update coming soon. Would be good if they fixed most of these issues. Hope the plan was to use us as gunner pigs and then use our feedback to fix it! Shouldn’t be this hard...

[setconstr]

My friend owns a auto sound shop and He say's the reason no one carries these unit's is that their all Chinese Junk. If you try to find a physical address for Avin there is not one so no backup no response except by email not what I would want for $850.00 head unit ... Here is a place that does things right ( I don't know their prices ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KykvA0ZWNGE

[noobbiker]

^^^I’ve seen this very same post elsewhere. Interesting...��

[clarkitect]

What is “root”?

[ryunk]

What is “root”?

Providing access to "root" allows privileged control over various Android OS subsystems.