bolero or pioneer

[studmuffin]

ive got a stream mp3 in my vrs and really need bluetooth for my phone, ive got a pioneer bt80 here is the spec..http://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/pioneer-fhp80bt-double-cdmp3-bluetooth-ipod-ready-stereo-p-9803.html i had it in my vectra, its a very good piece of kit, does everything i want, just wanted to know how it compares to the bolero unit and if that has bluetooth. the only thing that is stopping me putting my pioneer is, is i dont know how it will look in the dash and dont want to spoil the look of the dash too much with a aftermarket unit

[rob_e]

i have the bolero with a fiscon bluetooth kit - works very well and with the mdi means i also have my ipod hooked up.

i looked at some aftermarket double din units before i got the car, with the idea of maybe getting something that had bt built in, plus nav at less than the cost of the factory bt plus columbus option (1500quid ffs!). Decided i could not find a unit i liked, so decided to keep the bolero and my trusty old tom tom and invest in the fiscon. this ended up costing less than the various double din nav/bt units i was looking at.

[studmuffin]

i have the bolero with a fiscon bluetooth kit - works very well and with the mdi means i also have my ipod hooked up.

i looked at some aftermarket double din units before i got the car, with the idea of maybe getting something that had bt built in, plus nav at less than the cost of the factory bt plus columbus option (1500quid ffs!). Decided i could not find a unit i liked, so decided to keep the bolero and my trusty old tom tom and invest in the fiscon. this ended up costing less than the various double din nav/bt units i was looking at.

there is a bolero unit for sale on ebay, its out of a superb, so i assume it will fit my octy, read on here somewhere that you need a seprate unit for the bt that fits under the drivers seat, is that right ? also how does the bolero sound ? again read on here that it aint too good, as long its not any worse than the stream mp3, i would be more than happy. not too bothered about sat nav as i have a very good tom tom.

Edited 1 July, 2010 by studmuffin

[rob_e]

never used/heard a "stream" so I can't comment, but i'm happy with it. its certainly the best OE sound system i've ever had in a car..

the fiscon unit i have was fitted by richter sport in milton keynes, nothing goes under the seat AFAIK? The unit they add is hidden in the dash somewhere - the only visible change after its fitted is the mic on the a pillar.

HTH

[studmuffin]

never used/heard a "stream" so I can't comment, but i'm happy with it. its certainly the best OE sound system i've ever had in a car..

the fiscon unit i have was fitted by richter sport in milton keynes, nothing goes under the seat AFAIK? The unit they add is hidden in the dash somewhere - the only visible change after its fitted is the mic on the a pillar.

HTH

is it a touchscreen unit ? suppose you dont how much they are do you ?

[InexEng]

I have fitted a Bolero from a FL Octy II and Its fantastic ( fits nicer that the Squarer Superb unit ) no need for a new facia

IMHO the double din after market stuff looks horrible in the Octy II

The SD card is all you need :yes:

I have also fitted my old Nokia CK7 bluetooth carkit - works ok mutes the radio etc - Hopefully will replace it with a Fiscon soon

Edited 1 July, 2010 by InexEng

[PSM]

To my ears the Bolero sounds slighty better than the Stream so do not worry about that.

[jlwah]

the fiscon unit i have was fitted by richter sport in milton keynes, nothing goes under the seat AFAIK? The unit they add is hidden in the dash somewhere - the only visible change after its fitted is the mic on the a pillar.

The OEM B/T kit does fit under the drivers seat - it's about 6" x 5" x 1½" if memory serves me correctly and even comes with a piece of carpet trim that hides it from view.

I've not tried a Fiscon unit, but the OEM GSMII B/T kit is excellent, relativily easy to fit and fully integrated once configured using VAG-Com.

[rob_e]

is it a touchscreen unit ? suppose you dont how much they are do you ?

the fiscon just uses the bolero's touch screen - just press the "phone" button and off you go. fitted price was 350 + vat.

[studmuffin]

the fiscon just uses the bolero's touch screen - just press the "phone" button and off you go. fitted price was 350 + vat.

When you say 350+vat is that for the fiscon ? Rang Skoda up for a rice of a bolero 700 odd quid....... :(

Don’t fancy paying that sort of money, just to get my phone to work via Bluetooth. seriously thinking about putting my pioneer fh- bt80 in the octy, it does more than the bolero, i don’t think it will look that much out of place, its a decent uncluttered looking unit, with just the one joystick dial, yeah the bolero looks good, but not nearly 400 quid good.......

Edited 1 July, 2010 by studmuffin

[studmuffin]

what extra bits and pieces does the bolero need for the bluetooth phone to work, and how much would it cost ?

[K1W1]

what extra bits and pieces does the bolero need for the bluetooth phone to work, and how much would it cost ?

The Bolero has no in built Bluetooth so you need to add either the factory Skoda kit or the Kruftec Fiscon kit. Both are expensive and the cost of either will probably push you back to using the Pioneer that you already have.

If you have controls on the steering wheel both Bluetooth kits will work with them if you don't you use the touch scree on the Bolero to control the phone. You can use the MFD if you have one but that's a pain the touch screen is way easier.

Edited 2 July, 2010 by K1W1

[studmuffin]

The Bolero has no in built Bluetooth so you need to add either the factory Skoda kit or the Kruftec Fiscon kit. Both are expensive and the cost of either will probably push you back to using the Pioneer that you already have.

If you have controls on the steering wheel both Bluetooth kits will work with them if you don't you use the touch scree on the Bolero to control the phone. You can use the MFD if you have one but that's a pain the touch screen is way easier.

looks like the pioneer is going in, it does way more than the bolero, looks quite similar to the stream mp3 i already have with just the one dial in the centre, and i just dont want the silly prices of the seprate bits and pieces just to get my .phone to work....

Edited 2 July, 2010 by studmuffin

[v0n]

looks like the pioneer is going in, it does way more than the bolero, looks quite similar to the stream mp3 i already have with just the one dial in the centre, and i just dont want the silly prices of the seprate bits and pieces just to get my .phone to work....

It's a good decision. Bolero, although being fairly decent factory fitted unit, is absolutely frustrating to live with and should be served in engineering schools as example on how NOT to design head units. Everything is can do, it does in such a way that you wonder what kind of idiot thought it was acceptable and ,considering these units were already launched for Audi and VW, by the time it reached Skoda cars why weren't the most basic issues already ironed out. And there are major issues with just about everything this unit does.

- Yes, it reads SD cards with MP3 files, but it takes forever to read them, and the only way to kind of fix it (and it's not proper fix) is to hide mp3 files in very, very deep directory structure and then serve the unit with playlists only. But even then it doesn't do proper random/shuffle mode.

- Yes, it can interface with Ipod via MDI, but it does it in most frustrating way, completely ignoring ipod playback settings. It doesn't move from folder to folder or from playlist to playlist, but instead plays one folder/playlist/artist/album in a loop. And doesn't remember where you were in the menu structure from the last time, so when you've had enough of it playing the same three songs from EP over and over like a retard, the moment you want to change it quickly to next album and press menu, it always defaults to alphabetical list of songs, so have to press up, up, up about twenty times to get to top menu, press "Artists", scroll though several hundred entries on your Ipod Classic (and boy, that scroll is slow), then press "play" next to the album you want to listen next, just to discover that 7 times out of 10 times it will actually play previous album on the list. That's how bad the software is with long lists. In fact, playing short albums/playlists is so frustrating and long wound in operation that the radio is borderline dangerous to operate. I cannot think of a single radio - car, stand alone or otherwise, that would require so much fiddling with in order to switch to next album. In fact - it is easier, simplier, more logical and safer to just use ipod controls and simple jack to AUX in armrest than MDI for this purpose.

You might also find that your car is turning radio on and off multiple times when idle. I'm not quite sure if it's a traffic recording issue or just bug in the software turning radio on and off sporadically when the engine is off, but every time it does, it wakes MDI, and ipod, which then keeps on playing in glove box, without MDI fully turned on and charging - so when you return to your car at an airport after two days you'll find your audiobook several chapters ahead and battery on the ipod half or fully drained.

- Yes, it can interface with optional bluetooth unit under drivers seat, but you'll quickly discover both factory units use rSAP, so if you have ANY modern phone from shared Eu/US market it won't work, because nothing except domestic Nokia, SE and some Blackberries supports that protocol. None of the Android phones, some Iphone compatibility, no Linux platforms and list of supported phones so short it fits on a single A4 page.

- Yes, it has maxidot interface, but again - it doesn't do anything you want. You can't change albums, playlists or artists from steering wheel controls (at least I haven't found a way). Switching between tracks has noticeable, frustrating lag. Fast forward is not fast enough. MDI entry on maxidot displays ID tag entry and that's it. Pointless.

So, if it arrived with your car, keep it, if you are to invest few hundred pounds, just about anything will be better.

Edited 3 July, 2010 by v0n

[studmuffin]

It's a good decision. Bolero, although being fairly decent factory fitted unit, is absolutely frustrating to live with and should be served in engineering schools as example on how NOT to design head units. Everything is can do, it does in such a way that you wonder what kind of idiot thought it was acceptable and ,considering these units were already launched for Audi and VW, by the time it reached Skoda cars why weren't the most basic issues already ironed out. And there are major issues with just about everything this unit does.

- Yes, it reads SD cards with MP3 files, but it takes forever to read them, and the only way to kind of fix it (and it's not proper fix) is to hide mp3 files in very, very deep directory structure and then serve the unit with playlists only. But even then it doesn't do proper random/shuffle mode.

- Yes, it can interface with Ipod via MDI, but it does it in most frustrating way, completely ignoring ipod playback settings. It doesn't move from folder to folder or from playlist to playlist, but instead plays one folder/playlist/artist/album in a loop. And doesn't remember where you were in the menu structure from the last time, so when you've had enough of it playing the same three songs from EP over and over like a retard, the moment you want to change it quickly to next album and press menu, it always defaults to alphabetical list of songs, so have to press up, up, up about twenty times to get to top menu, press "Artists", scroll though several hundred entries on your Ipod Classic (and boy, that scroll is slow), then press "play" next to the album you want to listen next, just to discover that 7 times out of 10 times it will actually play previous album on the list. That's how bad the software is with long lists. In fact, playing short albums/playlists is so frustrating and long wound in operation that the radio is borderline dangerous to operate. I cannot think of a single radio - car, stand alone or otherwise, that would require so much fiddling with in order to switch to next album. In fact - it is easier, simplier, more logical and safer to just use ipod controls and simple jack to AUX in armrest than MDI for this purpose.

You might also find that your car is turning radio on and off multiple times when idle. I'm not quite sure if it's a traffic recording issue or just bug in the software turning radio on and off sporadically when the engine is off, but every time it does, it wakes MDI, and ipod, which then keeps on playing in glove box, without MDI fully turned on and charging - so when you return to your car at an airport after two days you'll find your audiobook several chapters ahead and battery on the ipod half or fully drained.

- Yes, it can interface with optional bluetooth unit under drivers seat, but you'll quickly discover both factory units use rSAP, so if you have ANY modern phone from shared Eu/US market it won't work, because nothing except domestic Nokia, SE and some Blackberries supports that protocol. None of the Android phones, some Iphone compatibility, no Linux platforms and list of supported phones so short it fits on a single A4 page.

- Yes, it has maxidot interface, but again - it doesn't do anything you want. You can't change albums, playlists or artists from steering wheel controls (at least I haven't found a way). Switching between tracks has noticeable, frustrating lag. Fast forward is not fast enough. MDI entry on maxidot displays ID tag entry and that's it. Pointless.

So, if it arrived with your car, keep it, if you are to invest few hundred pounds, just about anything will be better.

I had my pioneer in my vectra, it is a superb, easy to use, nice uncluttered looking piece of kit......it has ipod control, you can play mp3's off a usb stick, {usb lead hidden in glovebox} auto answer, Bluetooth phone kit, via car speakers, what more do i need??? its only going to cost me the price of the facia surround and iso leads, about 50 quid max, and not to have the added expense of buying the bolero and extra bits, and also {by reading the above issues.} the hassle of using a bolero.......

Edited 3 July, 2010 by studmuffin

[stokevrs]

Thanks vOn, I wondered why my iPod kept moving ahead several songs when I turned off the Bolero & the engine! Tried pausing the track before switching off, or changing to radio before switching off, or both but same result. Sometimes the next day I'm a good few songs further on or sometimes not. Who designed the MDI? They should be forced to have it in their car.

[Raglits]

It's a good decision. Bolero, although being fairly decent factory fitted unit, is absolutely frustrating to live with and should be served in engineering schools as example on how NOT to design head units. Everything is can do, it does in such a way that you wonder what kind of idiot thought it was acceptable and ,considering these units were already launched for Audi and VW, by the time it reached Skoda cars why weren't the most basic issues already ironed out. And there are major issues with just about everything this unit does.

- Yes, it reads SD cards with MP3 files, but it takes forever to read them, and the only way to kind of fix it (and it's not proper fix) is to hide mp3 files in very, very deep directory structure and then serve the unit with playlists only. But even then it doesn't do proper random/shuffle mode.

- Yes, it can interface with Ipod via MDI, but it does it in most frustrating way, completely ignoring ipod playback settings. It doesn't move from folder to folder or from playlist to playlist, but instead plays one folder/playlist/artist/album in a loop. And doesn't remember where you were in the menu structure from the last time, so when you've had enough of it playing the same three songs from EP over and over like a retard, the moment you want to change it quickly to next album and press menu, it always defaults to alphabetical list of songs, so have to press up, up, up about twenty times to get to top menu, press "Artists", scroll though several hundred entries on your Ipod Classic (and boy, that scroll is slow), then press "play" next to the album you want to listen next, just to discover that 7 times out of 10 times it will actually play previous album on the list. That's how bad the software is with long lists. In fact, playing short albums/playlists is so frustrating and long wound in operation that the radio is borderline dangerous to operate. I cannot think of a single radio - car, stand alone or otherwise, that would require so much fiddling with in order to switch to next album. In fact - it is easier, simplier, more logical and safer to just use ipod controls and simple jack to AUX in armrest than MDI for this purpose.

You might also find that your car is turning radio on and off multiple times when idle. I'm not quite sure if it's a traffic recording issue or just bug in the software turning radio on and off sporadically when the engine is off, but every time it does, it wakes MDI, and ipod, which then keeps on playing in glove box, without MDI fully turned on and charging - so when you return to your car at an airport after two days you'll find your audiobook several chapters ahead and battery on the ipod half or fully drained.

- Yes, it can interface with optional bluetooth unit under drivers seat, but you'll quickly discover both factory units use rSAP, so if you have ANY modern phone from shared Eu/US market it won't work, because nothing except domestic Nokia, SE and some Blackberries supports that protocol. None of the Android phones, some Iphone compatibility, no Linux platforms and list of supported phones so short it fits on a single A4 page.

- Yes, it has maxidot interface, but again - it doesn't do anything you want. You can't change albums, playlists or artists from steering wheel controls (at least I haven't found a way). Switching between tracks has noticeable, frustrating lag. Fast forward is not fast enough. MDI entry on maxidot displays ID tag entry and that's it. Pointless.

So, if it arrived with your car, keep it, if you are to invest few hundred pounds, just about anything will be better.

Mostly correct, but the GSM II unit is not rsap... It's only the GSM III that is and to be fair, the Bolero (or Columbus) is only the interface to these bluetooth units

I don't have MDI so can't comment on that, but the rest sounds about right, but you forgot the mid range inadequacies too