i'm looking into a new headunit. I currently have the stock head unit with jbl speakers and factory bluetooth. the caska and xtrons has a good price at $279..How are they in terms of reliability?
I actually did a fair amount of research into both of those very recently. As I too am in your boat. The xtons has a ton of bad reviews, including one on this site. Says that it freezes a lot would not show correctly etc. I see the other units on ebay, but I cannot find a single review for them anywhere.
I have the Chinese unit too (Henhao, the WinCE version), If you look at the reviews, you will see the pros and cons.I suppose you do not want to spend $600+.
My unit has poor FM reception (might be better for 2009+ which have powered antenna).
Sometimes the GPS voice goes off as the front speakers are completely cut off.
Sometimes, the sun glare will render the screen unreadable.
No mid on the music.
When a BT call comes in, GPS is completely disabled until call is done.
In the summer time, when the GPS is on, the time on rest of the system is out of sync with real time....
But after all this, I would still buy the unit. You cannot pay for a Yaris and expect a Lexus IS.
I purchased one from XTRONS and installed it in my 07 RAV4. I had problems with poor FM reception, the RDS displaying scrambled letters instead of song information and other small preference issues. Overall I will rate this unit a 4 out of 10. After returning 1st unit back to XTRONS ($80 shipping to China!!!) the second unit received had same poor FM reception issues. XTRONS states it's because I need a power antenna. I ended up purchasing a different unit all together and taking my losses. I purchased the ADVENT OTORAV1 on Amazon for $500. Boy, what a difference. FM sounds excellent!!! Everything works great. I give this unit a 10!!! I will post a few pictures when I get the chance.
@Junebug: Yes, there is a 4GB Micro SD card under the button marked as Map. I have the 07 RAV4 Sport V6 4WD here in Sunny Florida.
@Vanib: The GPS voice and music is deactivated while your on the call but the monitor continues to show your current location, route and upcoming instructions. The phone call supersedes all speaker related functions.
@Junebug: Yes, there is a 4GB Micro SD card under the button marked as Map. I have the 07 RAV4 Sport V6 4WD here in Sunny Florida.
@Vanib: The GPS voice and music is deactivated while your on the call but the monitor continues to show your current location, route and upcoming instructions. The phone call supersedes all speaker related functions.
How do you manage the DIAL pad which the GPS display is on? Are you able to switch to the phone dial screen (e.g. to press a key) and toggle back to the GPS screen as needed, which still on call.
I read the thread you posted above. I don't have any of those issues they posted. When I received my unit the first thing I did was upgrade the software using the ADVENT website and then upgraded the GPS using horizonav.com. The Bluetooth works great and I can press the Nav button to toggle between Bluetooth and nav with no issues.
The only major problem for me with these units is the fact that they don't have HD radio, that is something I can't live without anymore. The sound quality difference between regular fm and hd radio is huge.
I have a 2009 RAV4 Sport and was thinking about getting a OTORAV1. Where is the best place to get it? Is it hard to install? I have XM on the stock radio and was wondering if I will need to get a tuner for the OTORAV1 or if I could use the tuner that is already installed?
I purchased the OTORAV1 from Amazon.com for $399. That was the lowest I could find it at the time (Ebay had it for $800+). As for the XM radio, I do not have XM radio so i don't know what you can or can not connect to it. What I do know is that it does accept XM radio. There is a separate cable in the back that has connections for XM radio. Im guessing thats what you will connect the XM receiver too.
Just a note for others interested in this unit:
I upgraded the Navigation to IGO Primo. IGO Primo looks and works much better then IGO8 that came with the unit.
Do you remember the seller? Was it directly from Amazon or the 3rd party?
EDIT: I just looked today and the OTORAV1 I was looking at earlier this week isn't even listed on Amazon anymore. I might be hosed unless I want to trust ebay.
oh, forgot, Its was very easy to install. Came with plug and play wiring harness. The only hard part was running the wire for the rear view camera. I wired GPS antenna to passenger side of dashboard.
Yea, I just checked Amazon and I can't find it for sale anywhere. The only place I found it was on EBay but it cost way too much!!!! I wouldn't pay $800. Try ADCmobile.com and send them an email. They might be able to get one at a good price.
However, either of the two sellers for the Honda listing, can possibly get the ADVENT+OTORAV1; but were unable to quote a price - they would have to ship it in. Awkward.