2011 E90 - $600 budget - which 2 Din Headunit?

[BamaBMWgirl]

My brother generously gifted me $600 to put a new head unit in my car. I have the standard single din BMW Professional CD player and Auto AC (don’t think I will need to relocate the heated seat controls). I’ve attached a photo below to avoid any confusion. I don’t believe I have Logic 7.

Heres my my must have list;
Carplay - plug in OK
Steering wheel controls
Bluetooth - hands free
Backup Camera
Aux/USB factory plugs remain operational
Largest Screen possible

I don’t need;
Built in Nav
Cd/DVD player

I’d like it to look as OEM as possible. Having read a bazillion reviews I have narrowed it down to three brands. E O N O N, Boss BVCP9685A, ATOTO A6. Are there others to consider?

Which HU would you suggest? I will have Best Buy do the install. Please also note any extra harnesses etc that I will need to order.

Thank you for the help!

[DennisCooper]

Hi,

The E non brand are banned from being mentioned on this forum due to many unhappy forum members who purchased their units which turned out to be terrible and support/help was minimal. They've been removed/kicked off the other massive USA BMW forum and a UK one too. People still buy them due to price and aren't bothered about quality, reliability or performance. Never heard of Atoto, just another rebadged low quality unit like the E non. If you aren't fussed about quality, reliability, long term useage, any help/support/warranty you might need, then consider the En on and Atoto, but you might find Best Buy won't install a product you bring into them.

Boss is a entry level brand within car audio but what separates brands like these from the cheap chinese stuff is that they have a proper sales/distribution channel and after sales care/warranty should you need it from USA retailers like Best Buy. Their quality is better than the cheap Chinese brands and pricing is perhaps the same or marginally higher. This option would be the minimum level I'd recommend - you have some comeback in case of issues.

Zenec make car specific head units including one for the E9x. I think the price level is significantly beyond $600 though. These units are better quality again and do have an after sales care/warranty program in place with resellers/dealers. Reliability, performance and quality are better too.

These are the car specific units. You could get a fascia plate and install a standard double DIN head unit from the likes of Pioneer, Alpine, Kenwood, Sony, JVC etc. This option woulfd give you the best value for your money overall in terms of quality, reliability, performance and all after care if needed.

So comes down really to what you want to have and what's important to you, if you do go the cheap chinese route, be prepared to lose your money if the unit becomes faulty and the 'support' isn't so good/helpful.

Cheers, Dennis!

[MarcoZandrini]

Great advice, as usual, Dennis.

[BamaBMWgirl]

Thank you Dennis for the in depth reply. I will definitely follow your advice. While I don’t want/need a ton of bells and whistles, I do want reliability.

While searching the forums I’ve come across some of your posts regarding the Avant units. Right now it seems like they would fit within my budget. Do you have a final opinion on these units?

[DennisCooper]

Hi,

Marco - Cheers !!

BamaBMWgirl - The Avin brand is USA only and the products are Chinese generic units and quality but they've got some input from the USA owner in terms of design etc, which makes them a little different to the usual chinese clone type units. There is a better level of support compared to the clone types off Ebay & Amazon, but, still significantly lacking compared to the premium brands. If you look at the various USA BMW forums where there's more purchsasers of Avin products, you'll see the threads where owners are happy, where some are mostly happy and put up with various niggles and where some owners aren't happy. The usual seems to still be the case that support isn't so good when issues are reported, but being a USA registered company, you could at least push for them to operate under USA consumer law better if needs be - I'm not saying the outcome will be different though. So, personally, at the price they charge, I'd not recommend Avin, but, depending on your viewpoint, you might wish to take the gamble.

Given you do say you want 'reliability' I'd say your best value for money option would be to get a double DIN head unit from the likes of Pioneer, Alpine, Kenwood, JVC, Sony, and install with an E9x fascia plate.

Cheers, Dennis!

[MarcoZandrini]

Dennis, happy holidays and have a great 2020!!

[ECSTuning]

I have an Avin unit in the wife's E70, she loves it very easy to use and very reliable, LTE connectivity is great with a GoogleFi sim card, we can easily listen to Spotify or stream video on road trips. I have a few guys here with our Bremmen units (LINK) in their E90s, they love them, fit and finish is very similar to stock while giving you an updated radio interface, they don't have the LTE feature, but with wifi sharing being built into nearly every phone they don't have any issues.

Bremmen in the E90
Carplay - wifi link yes
Steering wheel controls - yes
Bluetooth - yes
Backup Camera - supported but not included
Aux/USB factory plugs remain operational - 90% sure this is going to be a no go, but the head-unit does have USB inputs you can rout to factory locations.
Largest Screen possible - one for your car is a 9" screen



-James

[franco90]

Thank you Dennis for the in depth reply. I will definitely follow your advice. While I don’t want/need a ton of bells and whistles, I do want reliability.

While searching the forums I’ve come across some of your posts regarding the Avant units. Right now it seems like they would fit within my budget. Do you have a final opinion on these units?

Found this for after market set up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFOd_IuceP0

and this on the E90 forums
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1440376


good luck