Hi troops, fed up with my columbus head unit going in the huff for days on end then teasing me wirh a few hours service all the time...(come to think of it, sounds familiar 🤔 🤣)

So looking for recommendations for a decent replacement unit, nothing much over 250 if pos. Would like it to do all the stuff that columbus does. Except mimic my wife😁

Cheers in advance 👍 

I believe this is a typical problem in Columbus, having it repaired should be less max. 50 GBP.

Aye, but where? I've tried speaking to a few folk locally, but they all seem pretty clueless. Any recommendations?

Is anyone able to help?

I’d like to upgrade my Columbus unit too. It works fine (TV tuner, radio, CD, SD card etc.) but I’d like DAB radio and apple car play. Alibaba Express looks a good bet, but I’d be interested to see what other folk think/advise.

5 hours ago, Wile7 said:

I’d like to upgrade my Columbus unit too. It works fine (TV tuner, radio, CD, SD card etc.) but I’d like DAB radio and apple car play. Alibaba Express looks a good bet, but I’d be interested to see what other folk think/advise.

I gave up waiting for help, so went with a previous post's recommendation from autotec direct. It's £239 + 40 if you want dab, which I haven't got, yet. Just about to contact them for fitting instructions...quite a few more wires!

PbA VW8735V 7" Android 10.0 Sat Nav GPS CarPlay Android Auto WiFi Radio For VW SEAT Skoda RNS/RCD Shape

Not sure how to copy a link, but if you copy that it will(*probably !) take you there👍

I can recommend this one, it is made by a Swiss company named Zenec, who closely cooperates with car manufacturers. Installed it last week  there are a few minor gripes I have with it, but the overall impression is very good. Previously had Amundsen Plus.

 

http://www.zenec.com/products/ego-navi/vw/z-e2055/?lang=en

1 hour ago, Pride4u said:

I can recommend this one, it is made by a Swiss company named Zenec, who closely cooperates with car manufacturers. Installed it last week  there are a few minor gripes I have with it, but the overall impression is very good. Previously had Amundsen Plus.

 

http://www.zenec.com/products/ego-navi/vw/z-e2055/?lang=en

Thanks bud. I've got the Erisin model from auto tec,  I'm having some teething problems (no sound🥺) but the tech help guys so far have been really helpful. I'll update this post when everything is sorted. Just out of curiosity, how much did the Zenec unit cost?

It was in the neighborhood of 530 EUR (without VAT).

2 hours ago, Pride4u said:

It was in the neighborhood of 530 EUR (without VAT).

Thanks. Mine was £240, but time will tell if I got a bargain or not 🤞

Wee update on the erisin replacement head. Unit is decent all-round, maps are good and it's easy to use. However, at this point in time I haven't been able to resolve a few niggles, how minor they are will depend on the individual I suppose. The front/rear fader doesn't function  - autotec say this is down to the car's amplifier and not the new head, which is a bit odd because someone else I spoke to there said they didn't think my car had an amplifier fitted...any advice on this would be appreciated. I'll just say now that the team at autotec have been really helpful up to now, and patient with my lack of knowledge, so can't really fault them. 

Also, Bluetooth dialing from the steering wheel control is now defunct, I had to disconnect the unit under the seat to stop my phone pairing with a non-functioning system. So not so handsfree call handling any more.

Finally, the unit switches off when the engine does. Good for the battery, not the dads and kids waiting for mum to finish the shopping. Again, supposedly something to do with single/double power source that's beyond my ken. So, would I buy it if I'd known all this? Possibly not, but still wouldn't trust a second hand columbus at 300 quid, so...