Hi. Does anyone have any good experiences with one of the replacement head units on eBay around the £200 mark?

I recently bought an Octavia 1.9 Tdi se estate 59 plate that had a Bolero unit in, and i was looking to upgrade without spending a fortune.

I went from Bolero to Columbus for the satnav functions.  Any of the cheapo "chinese" units are likely to be underpowered and annoying to use.

Forgive my ignorance, but how do you mean,underpowered?

Bought one from Germany although Chinese make. For what I wanted it to do its functional. It come with everything you'll need in a satvav/intertaiment system. If you can put up with occasional crashes then go for the aftermakert ones. Oem headunites are twice price but is far superior quality.

Hi. Does anyone have any good experiences with one of the replacement head units on eBay around the £200 mark?

I recently bought an Octavia 1.9 Tdi se estate 59 plate that had a Bolero unit in, and i was looking to upgrade without spending a fortune.

What do you want to upgrade?

If you are after satnav then columbus is the one to go for but cost a fortune.

If you are looking at fitting a aftermarket single din headunit then you'd need to budget £100 for fitting pieces plus the cost of the unit

Thanks for the replies. I've seen a couple on Amazon aswell. At least they've got a decent returns policy if it isn't suitable!

Hi I got a kenwood 406 dab head unit from halfords. They are doing a 20% trade in with your old radio. Didn't even want my old radio

See the last few posts here for my opinion and for plenty other info on the subject

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/296751-what-double-din-hus/page-5#entry4338946

Eddy,

 

Yes, I have good experience.  I've got the Audiosources AS-620 unit, bought through iceboxauto's web site  (cheaper than through ebay):

 

http://www.iceboxauto.com/vw-octavia-2007-2013-7-as610

 

It replaces the Bolero and provides an awful lot for less than £230:

 

• Radio is fine but only uses one on the two car aerials (but solved by buying a dual fakra converter for £5 @ http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181754128739 )
• Plays music CDs, DVD movies
• micro-SD card and separate USB cable for iPhone for playing music and video files.  The music player does album art and has a proper random play, unlike the Bolero.
• micro-SD for WinCE sat nav comes with older version of iGO 8 software but easy to replace with latest iGO Primo + speedcams and maps (excellent if you turn off a few memory-hogging features)
• Bluetooth phone app is basic but useable. It works ok for making/receiving calls with all handsets but only properly downloads Contacts on Android and (I think) iPhone models.  Contacts from my Blackberry don't display correctly.
• Bluetooth streaming for music is very basic.
• Canbus integration shows all the doors/boot/aircon/hand brake etc status info as per Bolero.
• Integrates with my front and rear parking sensors alongside reversing camera (I bought a replacement for my boot lock incorporating camera)
• Built in OBD screen for basic monitoring.
• Build quality and fit are perfect - as good as Bolero.
• Good warranty and UK support from Liverpool.

Though I haven't used them, it also includes extra phono inputs/outputs and pre-amp outputs.  You can buy DVB-T if TV is wanted.

 

Overall, I'm very pleased with it.

Cheers Rizmod, I think that's the way for me to go.