Had a very productive weekend:D

Out with the MFD2 & in with the Columbus:D (with help of course from VRStu:thumbup:)

Now I just need to change the BT phone kit for the "premium" version & find where the second aerial goes:rolleyes:

So far i'm very impressed with the unit, the maps are very clear & the MP3 ID tags are a joy! As is the ability to go up and down the tracks without taking my hands off the wheel:thumbup: The sound quality with the standard speaker set up is very good, and the surround sound when watching a DVD a real pleasure. Great when you use your car as your office & you are left waiting about:thumbup:

Anyway appols for the poor picture, but it was taken in a rush & as Stu has posted some of his I didn't think the forum would object to this poor one!

Yeah the sound whilst watching a dvd is brilliant.

nice one looks good, so whats the difference with the premium phone kit??

mine works fine with the standard bluetooth kit or at least I think its a standard kit

AFAIK the "premium" kit allows the phone book to be stored on the Columbus & numbers dialed using the touch screen, along with other more advanced functions:D

I think most of the BT modules that are now "available" are in effect the "premium" version, and so work with the Columbus, however there are folk on the forum who know far more about this than I do:thumbup:

Does this mean there is an MFD2 available soon?

Does this mean there is an MFD2 available soon?

Guess there is! Any one interested, PM Me:thumbup:

Had a very productive weekend:D

Out with the MFD2 & in with the Columbus:D (with help of course from VRStu:thumbup:)

Now I just need to change the BT phone kit for the "premium" version & find where the second aerial goes:rolleyes:

So far i'm very impressed with the unit, the maps are very clear & the MP3 ID tags are a joy! As is the ability to go up and down the tracks without taking my hands off the wheel:thumbup: The sound quality with the standard speaker set up is very good, and the surround sound when watching a DVD a real pleasure. Great when you use your car as your office & you are left waiting about:thumbup:

Anyway appols for the poor picture, but it was taken in a rush & as Stu has posted some of his I didn't think the forum would object to this poor one!

How good is the bass response with your columbus?. I am having sound quality problems with mine.(poor bass unless it is set at max).

Great unit otherwise.

Guess there is! Any one interested, PM Me:thumbup:

PM Sent

How good is the bass response with your columbus?. I am having sound quality problems with mine.(poor bass unless it is set at max).

Great unit otherwise.

No problems with mine

Same here. A dramatic increase in the quality of the sound over a Stream.

Have you tried putting the old Stream back to see if there is still a problem?

Same here. A dramatic increase in the quality of the sound over a Stream.

Have you tried putting the old Stream back to see if there is still a problem?

Wish I could. Columbus was fitted from new. Plus no AM radio reception.

Wish I could. Columbus was fitted from new. Plus no AM radio reception.

I think the AM reception issue can be solved by swapping some wire saround on the back of the unit, but don't ask me which ones!

I think the AM reception issue can be solved by swapping some wire saround on the back of the unit, but don't ask me which ones!

Hi, Dealer has done that and I got a very limited and poor quality reception. Radio now sounds like a free gift from a mail order company. (crap). Not the best when you are paying that amount. Ever patient and helpful dealer on the case tho'.

Guess there is! Any one interested, PM Me:thumbup:

How do you find the new unit soundwise for music? Is it miles apart from the MFD2 and if you had a Stream before that what is your take on your upgrade path?

How much does something like this set you back

How good is the bass response with your columbus?. I am having sound quality problems with mine.(poor bass unless it is set at max).

Great unit otherwise.

Seems to be ok on mine.

sound is far superior to the standard stream unit especially when you put a DVD on

You wont be getting change from a grand, especially not for a Skoda unit :eek:

You wont be getting change from a grand, especially not for a Skoda unit :eek:

And the rest........:eek:

Stick to my Tomtom lol

How good is the bass response with your columbus?. I am having sound quality problems with mine.(poor bass unless it is set at max).

Great unit otherwise.

Interesting observation, but please, this is not objective oberservation by any means! Had the FW updated yesterday & as well as getting a couple of more options appear in the pop-up window in map view, there seemed to be a noticeable increase in the bass, espescially when listening to MP3's stored on the HDD:confused:. Now I thought the base respose was ok to start with, so this was a bit of a suprise! Haven't had the time to check other sources, but hope to get time to check it out later today

Interesting observation, but please, this is not objective oberservation by any means! Had the FW updated yesterday & as well as getting a couple of more options appear in the pop-up window in map view, there seemed to be a noticeable increase in the bass, espescially when listening to MP3's stored on the HDD:confused:. Now I thought the base respose was ok to start with, so this was a bit of a suprise! Haven't had the time to check other sources, but hope to get time to check it out later today

Most interesting. I will try and convince my dealer to follow that route. It is a great shame that they do not know the difference between "Just OK" and good sound quality. I am interested in what quality you are recording your MP3's onto your HDD. I am downloading onto the SD card at the second highest quality. My son says that this is a higher quality than the cd. I am not too sure, and he states I am just taking up too much room on the HDD. (I am not too clued up on all this MP3 stuff)

Stu very kindly fitted mine in a couple of weeks ago & put the premium bluetooth kit in yesterday for me.... Thanks fella!!!

IMHO the sound is definately better than the MFD2 unit i had before although even the MFD2 was decent enough. The map display on the other hand is a world apart! This thing even tells you which lane to get in when on the motorway etc! It automatically re-routes if traffic jams are detected en-route & gives 3 different routes options at the start of every trip so you can choose whichever you like!

The DVD picture quality & sound is again "out of this world"

The bluetooth kit compliments the Columbus very very well! All functionality inc making/receiving calls, missed calls, call lists, history, on hold & full phonebook are displayed on the unit too & is an absolute doddle to use! You can even have the your phone's ringtone played through the car speakers if you want before you answer the call!

If you have Maxidot all the info that appears on the Columbus also appears on that & with just a couple of presses you can do pretty much anything! The in-call quality is IMO very good too & crystal clear!!!!

As you can tell i'm mighty impressed (at a cost of course).

I use 128KBs which is ok. Basically, the lower the number the lower the quality! a lot of folk recommend 256KBs, but as your son says this will take up more space. What is the sound quality like from DVD's & CD's? or is there a lack of base from all sound sources?

For ready reckoning on MP3's I use the following, work on an uncompressed CD taking up 700MB of space. Again, very rough, but if you compress music to 128KBs, you could get as much as 8 or 9 CD's in that space, so you loose something. Often it is the unheard sounds such as the base frequences which loose out! Some programmes can compensate for this.

Again, don't quote me on these capacities as it "all depends" on many factors, but I kind of use that as my basis & work from there!!

I know what you are saying when you are not happy with "sound quality", however this is such a subjective issue that what sounds awefull to one will be fantastic to another!!

I'm a hifi nut & 20+ years ago used to fit car "stereo's" & always think how hard it is to get good sound quality in a car, there is so much working against it!

I use 128KBs which is ok. Basically, the lower the number the lower the quality! a lot of folk recommend 256KBs, but as your son says this will take up more space. What is the sound quality like from DVD's & CD's? or is there a lack of base from all sound sources?

For ready reckoning on MP3's I use the following, work on an uncompressed CD taking up 700MB of space. Again, very rough, but if you compress music to 128KBs, you could get as much as 8 or 9 CD's in that space, so you loose something. Often it is the unheard sounds such as the base frequences which loose out! Some programmes can compensate for this.

Again, don't quote me on these capacities as it "all depends" on many factors, but I kind of use that as my basis & work from there!!

I know what you are saying when you are not happy with "sound quality", however this is such a subjective issue that what sounds awefull to one will be fantastic to another!!

Hi, I use 256KBs, Music was superb till the unit gave a loud "pop" and restarted itself. Music now sounds "OK" with the treble set at 25% , mid at 60% and bass at 100%. before the "pop" the treble was at approx 60%, mid at 50% and bass was rich and balanced at approx 60 to 70 %.

Music at a decent (loudish) volume now verges on harsh on both MP3 and CD. I have to find a decent DVD and go and try that. I tried a DVD when I first got my octy and was blown away with the sound. I am learning to live with the music quality since it looks like I will be in for the long haul with the amazingly patient and pleasant dealer.