I have seen a few posts about Chinese head units and if they are worth it. Because of this I wanted to tell you about my experience. I own a Skoda Octavia 2 (2008) and last year I bought a Chinese head unit "ATOTO SA102" for 160€ off Amazon. This year a new generation was released, and I wanted to give it a try. The head unit is called the "ATOTO F7 PE" which stands for Pro Edition. It was about 225€ on Amazon DE (https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B08V5G4PBB). The Standard Edition is available for about 200€. I really wanted to try out this head unit, because it was one of the cheapest ones out there which had Android Auto and Apple Carplay. I personally only have an Android phone, so I'm only talking about my experience with it. I have used it for about a week.

 

 

Installation:
The installation for me was okay. I needed to get new holding brackets for the head unit as the ones included in the box were not compatible with my vehicle. After getting the holding brackets my next challenge was getting the USB cable from the back of the head unit to the front of my car. I needed to purchase a separate frame to fit the head unit after I had removed the original one. The head unit included a few wiring harnesses which could be used. Unfortunately I needed to buy a separate one for Skoda. After a little bit of drilling and taping the USB looks great. (Check the picture above) The ATOTO F7 has a floating display which looks awesome. My old one had the display embedded in the frame. Installing the floating display to the head unit was very easy as it had a lot of adjustment options. The display can be moved forwards and backwards and it can also be tilted easily. This felt much simpler than I expected.

 

Pros:
- The price! The head unit was about 225€ compared to 350€+ for premium brands. This was the biggest reason for me to try a Chinese head unit in the first place.
- Android Auto works perfectly. I personally always use it for Spotify and Google Maps.
- Its features are good. It has ability to be hooked up to a rear camera and a subwoofer, which were the requirements for me.
- It has fast charging while using Android Auto. My phone has a very old battery which means I can finally keep it alive during long drives. With my old head unit, I always lost battery while driving. Currently I'm gaining about 1% every few minutes.
- Startup time is okay. The startup time is lower than in my old head unit, ~10 seconds to boot + ~10 seconds for Android Auto to be fully initialized.
- The head unit has a lot of different customization options. For example, you can change the wallpaper and startup logo of the head unit.
- Email support is good. I have had quite a lot of questions as the F7 is a bit different compared to my old one. The support always responds within 24 hours.

 

Cons:
- The USB wire attached cannot be removed from the head unit. This will make the installation quite a pain in some cases. In my car I needed to take the whole front plate off and push the wires out.
- The holding brackets included in the box did not fit my vehicle at all and I needed to get new ones on my own.
- The bass does not have its own slider. It needs to be changed directly from the EQ which makes it difficult for "normal" people.

- It does not have the Skoda boot logo available yet. I messaged the support and they are looking if it could be added later on.
- If I find any more cons, I will keep you updated.

 

In conclusion the touch screen feels responsive and fast. Also, Android Auto feels a lot faster while changing apps compared to my old head unit. If you have any questions let me know. Many people only trust the most popular brands, but after my experience I would fully recommend trying the Chinese ones as well. I personally like it a lot more than the original one I had when I got the vehicle

Not exactly integrated is it?

 

Looks like most new cars that have a tea tray stuck to the dashboard, was there not one available with a VAG faceplate to replace the stock unit?

 

I am on my second Chinese head unit (proper flush OE mounting) but it would appear that I am the only person in the world that just wants a radio/CD player/Satnav and does not want to have an extension to a mobile phone, its got Bluetooth but I dont make or recieve calls while driving and only carry an old school phone with me when out and about.

 

My experience of cheap Chinese head units for use as standalone & not with a phone has been good.

 

I see that you call it a floating display so presumably you chose it for that reason, please forgive the pun but whatever floats your boat

23 hours ago, J.R. said:

Not exactly integrated is it?

 

Looks like most new cars that have a tea tray stuck to the dashboard, was there not one available with a VAG faceplate to replace the stock unit?

 

I am on my second Chinese head unit (proper flush OE mounting) but it would appear that I am the only person in the world that just wants a radio/CD player/Satnav and does not want to have an extension to a mobile phone, its got Bluetooth but I dont make or recieve calls while driving and only carry an old school phone with me when out and about.

 

My experience of cheap Chinese head units for use as standalone & not with a phone has been good.

 

I see that you call it a floating display so presumably you chose it for that reason, please forgive the pun but whatever floats your boat

 

Hello, thanks for your reply!  I attached a picture of my old head unit. Personally, I like this "floating" display a lot better but of course it is just a personal preference. Great to hear that you also had a nice experience with your Chinese head units.

dear my question is the quality of sound and surrounding sound it get different when you changed to Chinese or the sound as same as?? it's very important to me the sound.. my old one rns315 it's sound was great and im afraid of change it which need to purchase portable screen touch with Mobile link to keep it's quality sound as it is