QL-RAV520 / Custron T1070RAV

[yerba]

Originally Posted by iRAV

I installed new head unit last weekend. I want to share my opinion about this. This is on 2010 RAV4 Base 4WD w/o JBL.

I bought the new unit from Amazon, sold by company in China, KULETONG Inc. I paid $509 shipped. The Sales rep, Emma, was very helpfull she replied all my 6 question emails promptly. Shipping is also fast, only took 3 days arrived at my door.

Anyway, back to the unit...

The head unit comes with
- 1 Instruction manual (only contains operation manual, nothing technical)
- 1 IR Remote
- 1 wiring harness which fits perfectly to RAV4 harness
- 1 GPS antenna
- 1 tablet pen
- 1 iPOD cable
- 1 mini USB adapter cable
- 1 4GB SD Card loaded with iGO GPS map for U.S

Installation:
Pretty much installation is straight forward, the same with other model already discussed in this forum (QL-RAV501, QL-RAV977). All plug and play except I also installed e-Bay RAV4 specific CCD camera (also from China), where I need to cut the bulb housing to fit it. From T1070RAV there is orange wire labeled Camera Control which I assumed that is the reverse gear signal so I connected it to (+) wire of the backup light. In addition, backup light power also supply the backup camera.

Fitment:
Not bad, but not perfect.

Notice little gaps below

It does not bother me though.

Operation:
The first time T1070RAV starts in about 2 mins to boot and aqcuire GPS signal for the first time then after that it starts about 10 secs every time I turn on the car.

Start up image is configurable so I can pick Toyota logo, but I'm not sure if I can override this with my on pic.


GPS is pretty good, it calculates route very quickly with 2D and 3D map. Voice is configurable with many languages Male/Female. Volume is also adjustable, separate from other sources (Radio, DVD, etc). I don't have any complaint in this function.


Radio, I think reception is little better than stock stereo. I can select radio setting based on USA/Europe/Asia. RDS works on some stations without problem, It can display Program Type, Station Name, Artist, Song Tittle. On other station those information are mixed up, part of station name concatenated with artist or with song title. I'm not sure it is the problem with the unit or with the station or with signal. I can have 6 presets each for FM1, FM2, FM3, AM1, and AM2.


DVD/CD player
DVD player is region free. I can play non reqion 1 DVD on this unit. So far I have tried mp3 and movies burned on CD-R, DVD-R. Picture quality is good, it claims produce 5.1 surround sound, but I don't have subwoofer so I cannot confirm this but I can hear surround sound.


SD Card/Music Player
Beside from CD slot, I can play movies and music from SD/SDHC card. The navigation in this function is just OK. You can browse into folder and select files you want to play. But I'm having hard time to figure out a quick way to adjust Bass/Treble/Mid, I have to go to home menu, scroll to setting then adjust from Amplifier menu every time. It is not accessible from the right button like normally on stock stereo.

iPOD control
Well I don't have an iPOD/iPhone but at work a friend has one so I tried to connect the cable to his iPhone. It works, but I didn't try much.

Bluetooth, A2DP
It works really good. Voice on the call is clear both ways using built in mic. This unit is not capable for voice dialing however. Streaming music from my phone is also good. I can control it from the unit to select next/prev song, pause, play, or stop.

Backup Camera
Quality on the image I guess depends on the camera, mine is $28 from china, so I don't expect much, but it works for me. With connection to backup light the rear camera works every time I'm in reverse gear, even when the unit is OFF. If I played anything it will pause when I'm in reverse then continue when I'm not in reverse.


Steering Wheel control
Before I installed this I added Audio control+Bluetooth on my steering wheel. All buttons are programmable from the unit so I can have them all working. Note: Voice Dial button from steering wheel is assigned to other function, in my case as MUTE. The connector from the unit to steering wheel harness on the car only has 3 wires for Audio/Bluetooth (black,white,red), which means it does not recognize VSS (purple wire).

Other Connections:
On the back of the unit I have 1 plug that I don't know what it is for (bottom right). Looks like external mic plug. Other than that it has AV in Aux 1 and Aux 2, AV out, Camera IN, DVD-C In, Digital TV in, Subwoofer Out, GPS plug, Radio plug


So far I'm happy with this. I think I got what I paid for.

Very nice review of the head unit. I have exactly the same one on my RAV4. How did you get the logo changed to Toyota? I went to settings and chose the Toyota logo but the boot screen is still the default image, not the Toyota one. Thanks

[foodtime]

Do you guys have the wire diagram? I want to see what colors so i can take advantage of all the steering wheel functions.

[WILLRAV42012]

Originally Posted by nulasvk

looks good
please update your experience with this unit from time to time
im going to buy it

Have had a problem with the left half of the screen displaying garbage. It first suddenly happened about a month ago. Then after a few days the problem disappeared. Then, last week, the identical problem reappeared. Sent a message to the seller. Waiting for a reply.

[snrav]

how did u do the cam installation ?

[foodtime]

Originally Posted by WILLRAV42012

Have had a problem with the left half of the screen displaying garbage. It first suddenly happened about a month ago. Then after a few days the problem disappeared. Then, last week, the identical problem reappeared. Sent a message to the seller. Waiting for a reply.

I had the same problem. With countless emails back and forth between autodvdgps.com; I had to pay for shipping to return the HU back for a repair. There is nothing you can do about the left side messing up other than returning back to the compnay for repairs. This headunit is good but I'm going with another company for my Mazda's HU option.

[iRAV]

Sorry to hear that man. My HU doesn't have that problem. My most irritating issue is the language on GPS, when it resets to Chinese while I'm driving and need to look up for address, I can't type in the address because weird character show up, so I have to restart the system. If I have saved address then its OK. The problem is only when I tried to input the address. Happens once in awhile.

I was looking for MAP update maybe if I can find English version it will fix the problem but iGO website doesn't seem to list Custron in their supported device.

Originally Posted by foodtime

I had the same problem. With countless emails back and forth between autodvdgps.com; I had to pay for shipping to return the HU back for a repair. There is nothing you can do about the left side messing up other than returning back to the compnay for repairs. This headunit is good but I'm going with another company for my Mazda's HU option.

[iRAV]

You go to the Seeting\Boot Screen then double click (touch twice) the logo you want.

A dialog to enter the PIN show up, enter your pin then confirm,

Originally Posted by yerba

Very nice review of the head unit. I have exactly the same one on my RAV4. How did you get the logo changed to Toyota? I went to settings and chose the Toyota logo but the boot screen is still the default image, not the Toyota one. Thanks