Hualingan Replacement Headunit (Tested)

[Sanj]

So back in December of last year I got in touch with a dealer for this unit and offered to test the unit out – with a view to buy. We spent the last 3 months testing the unit to eliminate any issues.

I tested the newest Gen 3 Hualingan unit – what’s that? Well, it’s an OEM alternative head unit (from China) to give you more versatility and a touch of updating to the OEM kit.

Ideally this is a replacement unit for those that DO NOT have the SatNav screen as OEM. We decided we’d try it on my car that DOES HAVE SatNav as OEM.

Differences are that the quadlock this unit uses to plug into your car is located in the back – in the RCM under the compressor, etc. The harness is plug-and-play. No need to splice existing wires. You don’t need this harness if you have just the flip-up cassette unit up front (one without the screen). The quadlock is right behind the dash and the new unit comes with the shorter version. Flip-slide here is fitting the unit to the dash, no issue if you’re replacing the OEM screen, it will slot straight in BUT you have to make some cuts to get it into a car which has the radio/cassette setup from OEM.

So what do you lose:

1. The Computer functions – most options available on the dash display
2. The ability to change the time – you have a new clock on the unit
3. The aux heater timers

The unit has 4 speaker outputs (one for each corner). These will be of no issue if you have a standard 6 speaker setup. There IS an issue if you have the 10-speaker setup with the Harmon Kardon amplifier. I have it my car and the OEM amp will cause alternator whine and possible loss of amplification to the rear left output. It has to be by-passed. You’ll need to use a pair of 2-way crossovers for the rear doors (woofer and tweeter) and a pair of 3-way crossovers for the front doors (woofer, midrange, tweeter).

Beware this unit will not support cars that have DSP currently.

What’s the Gen 3 Hualingan unit then? Essentially the most up-to-date units now support CDC – CD Changer and iPhone4 charging (older gen’s did not) and you get new chipsets inside (trust me, we have ‘played’ with this) and the latest Digital antenna connection for mpeg4 compatibility. Its foot print is to mimic an OEM unit, fit is good and quality not bad. Nothing too tacky...



The unit is touch-screen based. You get everything shown on the home page – 5 favourites across the top and the rest underneath that you can drag up to the top level and replace those you don’t want in the favourite area. Graphical interface for these is good.



Annoyances:

1. Currently relate to the iPod interface, the display is small and hard to navigate. Selecting a song needs a double-click; this is VERY difficult if you’re on the move! A software update to make the right rotary button have control to scroll the list and a select by depressing this button would be similar to how the iPod is worked now. But this is currently not the case.

2. Also there is a home page to this iPod interface which is still in Chinese (possibly you’ve read this on other threads/forums), but again not difficult to get over, 1 is Playlists and 3 is Albums – sure this can be sorted with software updates (if they do them).

3. Another annoyance is the dated look to the CD and SD interface BUT these have the rotary button functionality and work well, so a personal issue of how much it bothers you!


What’s good:

The shear volume of flexibility:

SD card
AUX inputs and outputs
DVD slot for CD, DVD, re-writable discs, movies, pictures
Digital TV (OK not great on the go but there should you want it)
iPod connectivity
Radio
Rear-view camera install
A2DP (Bluetooth streaming from your phone)
Bluetooth (picks up my iPhone)
iGo8 SatNav (very good – the best feature of this unit, IMHO)


The unit runs on Windows CE platform so it’s customisable, dealer is working on an iDrive looking GUI interface.

In summary, it looks good, better than the Dynavin option for the E53 and for this price a good alternative (especially if you don’t have the OEM screen setup). It is a ‘better’ setup and only let down by being so new at the minute.

Prices and contact:

Talk to John and Vicky at CarVision, they are best placed to advise on pricing. They can get the units fairly quickly (week usually) and you need to budget for a harness (if you have OEM SatNav), the TV antenna (upgraded version, if you don’t use the one provided) and the unit itself. Everything else comes with it.

John has been faultless throughout my experience with this unit, always happy to help. Wouldn’t recommend him otherwise. Honest chap who won't rip you off.

http://car-vision.co.uk/bmw-navi-dvd/32 ... 2007-.html

Speak to them about price and availability.

Install is DIY – happy to help/advise if need be.

I have no affiliation with CarVison, just sharing my experience.

Some more pics (limited)...

A box


Unit


And everything else, including a remote!?!


Input/Output options


CDC, iPod, TV connections


GPS connection

[lordviper]

thanks for this.
ive been toying with replacing my OEM sat nav, but it really is an expensive proposition.

oh well.... i can dream!

[BL02WAS]

Not really that expensive if you sold your screen, and nav unit in boot, if it's mark 4 unit they fetch excellent money, and screen should net a good price too!!!

[squeaky2]

Hi Sanj

Couple of questions.......do you find that you miss the OBC on the headunit.

Thought about one of these units last year but cant decide whether i would miss the computer or not.

[gareth82]

I am strongly considering buying this and wring the OBC into the glove box, Thanks for the excellent write up, I wonder if a group buy was arranged would be a good discount?

[Sanj]

OBC I never use, but yes, can be missed. Remember though, you get the display on the dash too.

As for group discount, talk to John, see if you can negotiate a discount, sure he'd be willing to do business. Tell him you've seen this thread, that might help...?

[squeaky2]

[quote=""gareth82""]I am strongly considering buying this and wring the OBC into the glove box, Thanks for the excellent write up, I wonder if a group buy was arranged would be a good discount?[/quote]

Interesting thought. I am assuming the OBC is located elsewhere anyway and that the front is just the user interface......i wonder if it can be condensed down into something that was just the screen and twirly knobs

Anybody any thoughts?

[Rusty]

Sounds feasible to me.
I haven't looked inside so I'm not sure what boards are in there, but I can imagine you could get a 3-4" screen to work off the RGB input.

Looks like you may have an interesting project ahead of you.

I shall keep an eye on this one...

Sent from my mobile device using Tapatalk

[gareth82]

Hi on the carvision website its says X5 2002 - 2007, mine is late 2001 does this mean I will need an adapter or is it slightly more complicated than that for older than 2002?

thanks

[AW8]

Sanj,

Many Thanks for sharing such useful info...........Sorry I didnt get to see unit in person

I can see the appeal - perhaps more so for those without comms who want a bult in screen unit.

[Sanj]

[quote=""gareth82""]Hi on the carvision website its says X5 2002 - 2007, mine is late 2001 does this mean I will need an adapter or is it slightly more complicated than that for older than 2002?

thanks[/quote]

No it should just mean you have the 17-pin quadlock rather than the 40-pin and that's included in the box - perfect if you don't already have a screen I'd just call John to get confirmation - he'll see you right.

[quote=""AW8""]Sanj,

Many Thanks for sharing such useful info...........Sorry I didnt get to see unit in person

I can see the appeal - perhaps more so for those without comms who want a bult in screen unit.[/quote]

Totally agree, great upgrade for non-Comms pack cars. Not to worry you never saw it in person. Next meet and we may have a few more people with the unit.

[AW8]

[nujon]

[quote=""Sanj""]So back in December of last year I got in touch with a dealer for this unit and offered to test the unit out – with a view to buy. We spent the last 3 months testing the unit to eliminate any issues.

I tested the newest Gen 3 Hualingan unit – what’s that? Well, it’s an OEM alternative head unit (from China) to give you more versatility and a touch of updating to the OEM kit.

Ideally this is a replacement unit for those that DO NOT have the SatNav screen as OEM. We decided we’d try it on my car that DOES HAVE SatNav as OEM.

Differences are that the quadlock this unit uses to plug into your car is located in the back – in the RCM under the compressor, etc. The harness is plug-and-play. No need to splice existing wires. You don’t need this harness if you have just the flip-up cassette unit up front (one without the screen). The quadlock is right behind the dash and the new unit comes with the shorter version. Flip-slide here is fitting the unit to the dash, no issue if you’re replacing the OEM screen, it will slot straight in BUT you have to make some cuts to get it into a car which has the radio/cassette setup from OEM.

So what do you lose:

1. The Computer functions – most options available on the dash display
2. The ability to change the time – you have a new clock on the unit
3. The aux heater timers

The unit has 4 speaker outputs (one for each corner). These will be of no issue if you have a standard 6 speaker setup. There IS an issue if you have the 10-speaker setup with the Harmon Kardon amplifier. I have it my car and the OEM amp will cause alternator whine and possible loss of amplification to the rear left output. It has to be by-passed. You’ll need to use a pair of 2-way crossovers for the rear doors (woofer and tweeter) and a pair of 3-way crossovers for the front doors (woofer, midrange, tweeter).

Beware this unit will not support cars that have DSP currently.

What’s the Gen 3 Hualingan unit then? Essentially the most up-to-date units now support CDC – CD Changer and iPhone4 charging (older gen’s did not) and you get new chipsets inside (trust me, we have ‘played’ with this) and the latest Digital antenna connection for mpeg4 compatibility. Its foot print is to mimic an OEM unit, fit is good and quality not bad. Nothing too tacky...



The unit is touch-screen based. You get everything shown on the home page – 5 favourites across the top and the rest underneath that you can drag up to the top level and replace those you don’t want in the favourite area. Graphical interface for these is good.



Annoyances:

1. Currently relate to the iPod interface, the display is small and hard to navigate. Selecting a song needs a double-click; this is VERY difficult if you’re on the move! A software update to make the right rotary button have control to scroll the list and a select by depressing this button would be similar to how the iPod is worked now. But this is currently not the case.

2. Also there is a home page to this iPod interface which is still in Chinese (possibly you’ve read this on other threads/forums), but again not difficult to get over, 1 is Playlists and 3 is Albums – sure this can be sorted with software updates (if they do them).

3. Another annoyance is the dated look to the CD and SD interface BUT these have the rotary button functionality and work well, so a personal issue of how much it bothers you!


What’s good:

The shear volume of flexibility:

SD card
AUX inputs and outputs
DVD slot for CD, DVD, re-writable discs, movies, pictures
Digital TV (OK not great on the go but there should you want it)
iPod connectivity
Radio
Rear-view camera install
A2DP (Bluetooth streaming from your phone)
Bluetooth (picks up my iPhone)
iGo8 SatNav (very good – the best feature of this unit, IMHO)


The unit runs on Windows CE platform so it’s customisable, dealer is working on an iDrive looking GUI interface.

In summary, it looks good, better than the Dynavin option for the E53 and for this price a good alternative (especially if you don’t have the OEM screen setup). It is a ‘better’ setup and only let down by being so new at the minute.

Prices and contact:

Talk to John and Vicky at CarVision, they are best placed to advise on pricing. They can get the units fairly quickly (week usually) and you need to budget for a harness (if you have OEM SatNav), the TV antenna (upgraded version, if you don’t use the one provided) and the unit itself. Everything else comes with it.

John has been faultless throughout my experience with this unit, always happy to help. Wouldn’t recommend him otherwise. Honest chap who won't rip you off.

http://car-vision.co.uk/bmw-navi-dvd/32 ... 2007-.html

Speak to them about price and availability.

Install is DIY – happy to help/advise if need be.

I have no affiliation with CarVison, just sharing my experience.

Some more pics (limited)...

A box


Unit


And everything else, including a remote!?!


Input/Output options


CDC, iPod, TV connections


GPS connection
[/quote]

If you have the 16:9 OEM OBD, surely you lose the entire trip computer system by fitting this unit 'cos the alphanumeric at the bottom of the dash is a 'slave' to the OBD - you can only select display options, set / reset/ recalibrate etc. from the OEM OBD ?

[fenj66]

yes, just as mentioned at the start of the thread

[quote=""nujon""][quote=""Sanj""]So back in December of last year I got in touch with a dealer for this unit and offered to test the unit out – with a view to buy. We spent the last 3 months testing the unit to eliminate any issues.

I tested the newest Gen 3 Hualingan unit – what’s that? Well, it’s an OEM alternative head unit (from China) to give you more versatility and a touch of updating to the OEM kit.

Ideally this is a replacement unit for those that DO NOT have the SatNav screen as OEM. We decided we’d try it on my car that DOES HAVE SatNav as OEM.

Differences are that the quadlock this unit uses to plug into your car is located in the back – in the RCM under the compressor, etc. The harness is plug-and-play. No need to splice existing wires. You don’t need this harness if you have just the flip-up cassette unit up front (one without the screen). The quadlock is right behind the dash and the new unit comes with the shorter version. Flip-slide here is fitting the unit to the dash, no issue if you’re replacing the OEM screen, it will slot straight in BUT you have to make some cuts to get it into a car which has the radio/cassette setup from OEM.

So what do you lose:

1. The Computer functions – most options available on the dash display
2. The ability to change the time – you have a new clock on the unit
3. The aux heater timers

[nujon]

[quote=""fenj66""]yes, just as mentioned at the start of the thread

[quote=""nujon""][quote=""Sanj""]So back in December of last year I got in touch with a dealer for this unit and offered to test the unit out – with a view to buy. We spent the last 3 months testing the unit to eliminate any issues.

I tested the newest Gen 3 Hualingan unit – what’s that? Well, it’s an OEM alternative head unit (from China) to give you more versatility and a touch of updating to the OEM kit.

Ideally this is a replacement unit for those that DO NOT have the SatNav screen as OEM. We decided we’d try it on my car that DOES HAVE SatNav as OEM.

Differences are that the quadlock this unit uses to plug into your car is located in the back – in the RCM under the compressor, etc. The harness is plug-and-play. No need to splice existing wires. You don’t need this harness if you have just the flip-up cassette unit up front (one without the screen). The quadlock is right behind the dash and the new unit comes with the shorter version. Flip-slide here is fitting the unit to the dash, no issue if you’re replacing the OEM screen, it will slot straight in BUT you have to make some cuts to get it into a car which has the radio/cassette setup from OEM.

So what do you lose:

1. The Computer functions – most options available on the dash display
2. The ability to change the time – you have a new clock on the unit
3. The aux heater timers[/quote][/quote][/quote]

But non never mind most of the trip computer options are available from the dash lower display - never were - only selectable from the MID or OBD (dependant on what you have as OEM) if you swap out the OBD or the MID for this head unit - surely you have totally lost your trip computer?