Avin BMW head units, anyone?
 

Came across these at e46fanatics.com.. Anyone here have any experience with them? Looks interesting!

https://avinusa.com

Good thread (with install pics) started here:

http://www.xoutpost.com/electronics/...on-system.html

I'm looking at an Avin as an option to replace my AppRadio 2, which I've never been a big fan of. I'm hoping they may drop the price on the E39/E53 models soon (like the E46s).

Sounds kind of buggy in the reviews. And as an Android phone user I can tell you, its just generally not the kind of tech that lasts for years and years. Technology just moves too fast for dated android hardware to keep up. And from the sounds of it, user are reporting that it is already experiencing issues like this (lagging load times, limited memory issues, crashes from multiple apps). Have you guys played with new car radios these days? They miss some of the features here, but not much. A 19k chevy cruze has Nav, Bluetooth, CD, Aux In, SD, USB, XM, am/fm, Pandora, Weather, fuel prices, movie times! Can't ask for much more than that and its every day reliable. This tech is cool, but its not quite there yet.

Well, if the choices were (1) continue to try to use the now 9-year-old factory technology (and crappy sound) on my 2005, (2) trade my X in on a Chevy Cruze, or (3) take my chances that the Avin's tech/OS might not age that well, then I'm going with No. 3 every day of the week. Even if it's never updated, it sounds like it will do absolutely everything I could want (and more). Pioneer's AppRadios are crap--due to their restrictive firmware, their limited "approved apps", and Apple's restrictive OS, I had to jailbreak my iPhone 4S just to get some decent functionality. Even then, it's still a pain in the ass sometimes just to get Spotify up and streaming.

I really like the idea of just adding a hotspot to the Avin and not ever worrying about plugging my phone in to use the various apps. Mini SD card storage for GPS maps is nice, too. I'm just trying to decide between an Avin and a Dynavin for my next head unit.

This unit looks like the Eonon that's on Ebay, read some bad reviews about it here and on some other BMW websites. I have a Hualingan 3rd Gen, works great, looks OEM, the Dynavin is a good choice also, none of them are DSP compatible.

Thanks for the input guys!

Yes, after reading the multi-page thread over at fanatics, a few issues have come up.

Kinda pricey as well.

Would not mind if it works well enough.

Am looking at the DSP workaround process as I have DSP and factory nav. Makes things more complicated, ugh.

Thanks for the input guys!

Yes, after reading the multi-page thread over at fanatics, a few issues have come up.

Kinda pricey as well.

Would not mind if it works well enough.

Am looking at the DSP workaround process as I have DSP and factory nav. Makes things more complicated, ugh.