Thinking of getting one of these units. Needs DAB though. Any recommendations and advice?

Replacing Swing.

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Columbus or Kenwood. Both are good, remember that you'll either have n ugly window DAB aerial or you'll need to spend on having the roof aerial replaced with a DAB/GPS unit (and threading cables through).

There is a good spot at the back of the dash for a standalone GPS Antenna though.

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Not Amundsen.

 

Yes it has DAB, Nav, Phone, BT, Park, yada yada, but it does not and cannot display Speed cameras.

 

Columbus can be gently hacked to put a free and accurate Camera Database on.

 

Kenwood I dont know.

I replaced my Swing with a Columbus. Easy peasy. Haven't got DAB, but historically every car I've been in with DAB it's been crap and I would rather be on FM.

Thanks Natalie, I saw your thread with photos. Looks really good.

I would have to say I've had pretty good DAB in vehicles I've driven (drive a lot of hire cars) and in an Octavia I had it was very good.

Did you get the dot matrix sorted to display stuff?

Apart from plastic fascia , is there anything else I need to get?

Who did you buy your unit from?

Thx.

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I've just had a 13 Octavia on hire that had an Amundsen with dab, nav, media, parking assist and climate visual- quite impressed - I'm considering an alpine car play unit?

Thanks Natalie, I saw your thread with photos. Looks really good.

I would have to say I've had pretty good DAB in vehicles I've driven (drive a lot of hire cars) and in an Octavia I had it was very good.

Did you get the dot matrix sorted to display stuff?

Apart from plastic fascia , is there anything else I need to get?

Who did you buy your unit from?

Thx.

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I bought mine from Sat_nav_deals on eBay. Around £500 do make them an offer though because I got a bit of money knocked off. really easy fit and I love it. I took mine to Skoda and gave them what they needed to program into the VCDS for maxidot, and despite them coming out and saying they couldn't do it and had to roll back it now works! So a nice freebie.

I bought mine from Sat_nav_deals on eBay. Around £500 do make them an offer though because I got a bit of money knocked off. really easy fit and I love it. I took mine to Skoda and gave them what they needed to program into the VCDS for maxidot, and despite them coming out and saying they couldn't do it and had to roll back it now works! So a nice freebie.

 

Mine did not work until i rebooted the columbus and reset maxidot to factory settings

Factory Amundsen DAB and associated aerials are very good - way better than FM and holds better signal than my aftermarket Pioneer DAB in the other car.

My Amundsen was nice briefly [emoji57]

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Ok, so almost about to buy a Columbus DAB unit on eBay... Don't want one of those horrible window aerials, but probably need to get a roof top one. Anything else I might need to get as well? Anyone in Somerset who. Might be able to help with installation and sorting maxi dot display too? Thanks.

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Well if you are going for roof mount, that means you can have DAB and GPS all in the one unit, the only challenge is running the cables through the headlining and down one of the A pillars to behind the dash. It's plenty of work, but if done properly will make for a very neat solution that's closer to OEM.

I believe there is a thread somewhere on here about how to require the quad lock so the Bluetooth hands free mic will also work the voice commands on the Columbus.

You shouldn't need anything else other than Maxidot coding.

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So... contacted dealer to see what options there are and he says the Columbus Sat Nav DAB unit is not listed as suitable for my car?

I'm pretty sure he's wrong...?

He's definitely wrong. A few have retro fitted on here no problem.

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I have the Amundsen+ in mine and its the best thing i have bought.

good with phone

good with the nav

good with the SD card

£200 cant go wrong

 

As for the DAB i have a app on my phone which streams the DAB via the bluetooth too the radio

well happy with mine

Amundsen is good. Shame about the speakers [emoji57]

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Again i am very pleased with the standard set up in mine!

I upgraded from the standard Stream MP3 headunit to the Amundsen+

Octavia ?

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yeah man

So... contacted dealer to see what options there are and he says the Columbus Sat Nav DAB unit is not listed as suitable for my car?

I'm pretty sure he's wrong...?

If it eases your mind my dealer when trying to source the surround for my Columbus told me the same, said he didn't even think it fit and wouldn't be able to get a surround for it.

Needless to say... It does fit... And I could get the right surrounding.

skoda parts.com and look for navi surround

Agree the Octavia has far superior sound quality. [emoji106]

Mine Octy was great even with a Stream MP3 [emoji4]

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PaulBrown what is the app you use to stream DAB?

2014 Black Magic Rapid 1.6Tdi Elegance

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PaulBrown what is the app you use to stream DAB?

2014 Black Magic Rapid 1.6Tdi Elegance

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I tend to use TuneIn Radio (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tunein.player&hl=en)

I tend to use TuneIn Radio (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tunein.player&hl=en)

 

how is the sound quality? (being the whole point of DAB for me)