Stay away from Eonon radios

[cham]

Originally Posted by nice1guv

Have you tried to go into the factory settings?
I also had bad radio reception when I got mine and I went into the factory settings part and saw that the region for radio was set incorrectly from the factory.
Even though the band range was still the same, I switched it to the correct region and that made a huge difference.
It's still not as good as factory was, but instead of not being able to listen to it, you can listen fine now, bit staticy sometimes but good enough.

yes, all settings are correct. The radio does work somewhat, probably about 50% as well as the factory mid

[cham]

Originally Posted by bimfest

i have upgraded to a new unit now anyway,i have a xtrons android 7" screen. i do believe xtrons and eonon are basically the same, the units are identical in every way,both have good support aswell. xtrons seems to be located in the uk though and responses i get from there are in good english.

I have installed a fair few of these now, and they seem to be getting exponentially better. The latest one i have purchased and installed is very stable and swiping down and past pages is very fluid and not buggy like past models.

Before you install this PLEASE setup on on your bench first to make sure it works before you start disassembling your MID and cd player. Simple setup with a battery and using clips from +ve terminal onto the yellow wire(B+) and red (ACC), and the -ve terminal onto black(GND) on the iso plug. I have had failed units before and doing benchtests will save you alot of time and also damaging the unit while installing will become apparent.

has the radio reception improved as well?

[bimfest]

yes, its spot on. I changed the radio region preferences in 'factory settings' option as it was set to some other location, even thought the frequency ranges were the same, that made a little bit more 'HD' like but out of the box it is identical to the stock unit.

They now come with the correct plug and play antenna adapter for the x5. There is also a wire that loops from the cars existing wiring to the new harness which gives the antenna the appropriate boost that it would get from the stock unit.

[O3X5]

How do you keep the BC functions with this? Looking to upgrade to one myself.

currently I have an issue with the bc from the mid, might just skip a fix & just upgrade.

[Awntchi]

OP should change the headline to this thread...I think it was concluded that android eonon does work as it should but not the windows based one.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[glassjoe]

I was actually looking to buy the Eonon GA6166F for my son's E53 (no DSP or Nav). His current radio reception is not great with the factory MID and was hoping the Eonon's unit amplified the FM signal a bit.

Does Google maps work well? If I understand correctly, using GPS doesn't require a wifi connection. Is that also correct?

Also, how is the screen in terms of brightness for use on a sunny day? The angle of the dash in that area has me concerned with sun glare washout. Anyone have any feedback on that topic?

[Awntchi]

The radio antenna that came with the unit is useless, I'm ordering a stronger one from eBay (following a recommendation from a forum member).

My unit requires an sd card containing maps to be inserted for it to work off the GPS antenna (or just use WiFi). I haven't used either option yet other than just checking connectivity using WiFi upon installation...and that works fine.

As for the screen beightness, it's not the best when hit with sun light but better than oem in my opinion.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[bimfest]

the sun doesnt hinder it as much as you think it will. The screen can go quite bright if you change the brightness in the android settings, and once the parking lights are switched on it automatically dims down and the button lights turn on.

As Awntchi says you can either use google maps + wifi or you need an sd card with preloaded maps which slots into the front left of the unit and a gps app that can use those maps to operate the gps standalone with no wifi.

regarding radio reception its a hit and miss, mine worked fine when plugging in the adapter that came with it, others seem to have reception issues. I was extra careful with the antenna adapter cable since i know in the past these break often. You cant bend the cable too much it can damage the inner core and thats where the reception interference happens.

[yes_its_neil]

Although I am very happy with the performance of my Eonon, it is something you can't universally recommend as satisfaction levels seem to vary among users who have fitted one and perhaps seems to be vehicle dependent too. I came from a no OBC, no Nav, no DSP, no reversing camera environment from the factory, but have been able to cover all those shortcomings and gain some extra features by fitting an Eonon. My navigation program is called IGO, which runs without issues and I also have google maps installed, which runs perfectly while I have internet access. I have my Eonon working via wi-fi to a USB modem with a 4G (LTE) sim card fitted. I have an external antenna for the modem running up to sit almost invisibly on the left hand (passenger side for me) A pillar trim. This enables me to run music streaming apps (apple music) as well as an internet radio app (tunedin). I can also run youtube and any other android app I find useful. I have a weather app and also Torque Pro, which covers most of the OBC/MID functions plus more. I re-installed my MID unit behind the rear left hand side luggage compartment hatch, but rarely access it. Torque can display a multitude of sensors simultaneously. Consumption instant and average, speed, gps, coolant temps, MAF, etc etc. Even does timed acceleration measurements. Any ECU sensor can be displayed. It will highlight which sensors are outputting readable data. I have thousands of MP3's on a SD card for those times when I am outback with no mobile coverage. Will also play DVD's, but I rarely use that feature as eyes glued to a screen is not recommended!
The Eonon I have is the first generation (8Gb) version. I believe the later model has 16gb and higher screen resolution and runs Android 5. I modified the storage partitions of mine to create a larger user data capacity for apps. (4Gb now) Previous to that, mine was full and I could not add any more and even updating the existing apps was problematic. My unit had 1Gb for apps, the newer model has 2Gb.
Fitting it was straight forward. Modifying the space and cutting out framework took some time, but the effort was worth it. Not sure about the radio reception complaints I have read. The unit does not come with an antenna, but it does come with an adaptor so that the vehicle antenna is utilised. There is a wiring connection that presumably powers a receiver/booster as part of the factory antenna system. Obviously that connection has to be maintained to continue to received an amplified radio signal to the Eonon. I have fitted an after market reversing camera, with gridlines. It is a combo rear number plate led and camera unit. It covers the ball on my towbar and rearward and enables me to reverse with accuracy I never possessed previously. I can back up to a trailer without fear of any ugly misjudged 'bangs'. The camera works seamlessly upon selecting reverse. Handy in shopping centre car parks for judging vehicle length. The steering wheel buttons are a small issue. Volume up and down works at all times, next and previous work for MP3's on the music option, but not on 3rd party apps. No big deal to use the touch screen tho. GPS voice output can be either switched to the speakers exclusively or blended with any currently running audio. Day time glare is an issue with any screen in any car, but this is no worse than any phone/tablet or GPS I have viewed. The unit can have backlit buttons to perfectly match the orange glow of factory interior lighting. The torque app can accept any number of themes, but I have chosen one that matches the main instrument cluster. The unit displays a pulsing BMW logo at boot up. All very nice. As I stated, I have not experienced the factory screen, but I know it doesn't match the features I enjoy.

[glassjoe]

Great write-up, Neil,and thanks for the insight! I think I'll go ahead and grab one of these for my son.