Hey all,

I have just got my first car ever the Skoda Octavia Elegance 2012  and I am not too knowledgeable about cars, nor car gadgets.

my family is coming soon from the US and I wanna order an android head unit for my car, which cannot be bought for a decent price where I live.

So basically I would appreciate a recommendation for  such a unit which preferably can be integrated with a reverse camera ,audio, usb/sd cards and i do not know the other options that exist...  but it must be reliable and not some cheap Chinese crap that gets broken down after 1 month,

 

My budget is I would say top 300 usd, but rather lower, and I have no problem getting a used unit in good condition, 

Thanks.

Welcome

 

Most Android headunits tend to be Chinese so can be of varying quality. Is there a reason you specifically want it Android based or just down to cost?

 

There are two different headunit shapes, what headunit do you currently have?

Thanks for your reply,

 

What others other than Android ones exist? I am simply unaware (using an Android phone myself)

also which are the two headunit shapes? so I will have a look

There are Windows CE based ones available.

how do they compare to the android ones with respect to price/performance?

i also suspect that having the climate control and reverse parking camera to integrate with them is impossible right?

What are you wanting out of your ICE? Bluetooth, satnav, DAB? 

 

The unit fitted to your vehicle also displays the Parking Distance Control and Climate Control settings, so you have to bare that in mind. 

 

Kenwood do an integrated ICE unit (see link below), and I know Skoda sell a Kenwood unit for around £650. Not sure if it's the same as the one in the link below though. 

 

https://www.kenwood-electronics.co.uk/car/oem/skoda/

16 minutes ago, Fin69 said:

What are you wanting out of your ICE? Bluetooth, satnav, DAB? 

 

The unit fitted to your vehicle also displays the Parking Distance Control and Climate Control settings, so you have to bare that in mind. 

 

Kenwood do an integrated ICE unit (see link below), and I know Skoda sell a Kenwood unit for around £650. Not sure if it's the same as the one in the link below though. 

 

https://www.kenwood-electronics.co.uk/car/oem/skoda/

the more features the marrier. everything you listed above except DAB ,plus parking camera plus climate control and so on.. I do not know even which features exist,,,

will google maps work with it? is it possible to pair my android phone with it?

I actually used to always used to own windows phones... sad that platform had died out >.>

 

That kenwood head unit is so expensive it is insane

 

Edited 9 March, 20197 yr by jenjen

I went with the Kenwood unit for my car and although it felt it a bit dated I thought it was a good unit as it had decent functionality, great sound quality and easy to fit as it was a straight drop in.  Zenec did also make some decent VW compatible units as well.

 

You've said you don't want 'cheap Chinese crap' but with a budget capped at 300 dollars, that's all that's really in your range if you're wanting a wide range of features.

I assume, perhaps wrongly, that even the cheap cheinese produce is not all crap- and varies in quality. which are the better brands out there?

A possible solution is to retain the original HU fitted your vehicle (Bolero) as that displays your CC and PDC, and look at fitting an aftermarket Bluetooth Car Kit, like the ones below;

 

 https://www.parrot.com/uk/car-kits#discover-car-kits

 

As for satnav, you could look at something like this;

 

https://www.cdslotmount.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1

 

There is also Brodit which are phone and vehicle specific;

 

https://www.brodit.com/brodit.html?pn=home

 

You could also look at buying second hand. Or go down the Chinese knockoff route, bearing in mind, caveat emptor! 

 

7 hours ago, Fin69 said:

A possible solution is to retain the original HU fitted your vehicle (Bolero) as that displays your CC and PDC, and look at fitting an aftermarket Bluetooth Car Kit, like the ones below;

 

 https://www.parrot.com/uk/car-kits#discover-car-kits

 

As for satnav, you could look at something like this;

 

https://www.cdslotmount.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1

 

There is also Brodit which are phone and vehicle specific;

 

https://www.brodit.com/brodit.html?pn=home

 

You could also look at buying second hand. Or go down the Chinese knockoff route, bearing in mind, caveat emptor! 

 

how does all this differ than just a regular headunit? any up/downsides?

7 hours ago, Fin69 said:

 

 

Couldn't be happier with my Android head unit, coming from a Columbus which is laggy and sounds, relatively, awful. 

 

6 months in now. Check my fairly recent posts and there's a long thread on it.

 

Recently started using tune-in radio for Virgin radio station (saves messing with DAB options) and Alexa/Amazon music app for voice controlled, virtually unlimited music library. 

 

Top notch

This is currently for sale in the appropriately names For Sale sexton on here;

 

 

Here you go: