Head Units for Focus from China Review

imaz · 08-10-2011, 02:46 AM

Hi,

I thought I better start a thread even though I have briefly discussed here and there about car audio.

Here is the outcome of the chinese products I purchased online for a total of $500 inc of shipment.

Before purchasing the HU in April 2011 I heard many negative feedback that the cheap units take a while to start up from cold and even hot boot. This particular unit I got is NOT. If anything the radio/DVD/DTV etc boots up instantly from key OFF/ACC. A good example I went all out and recently purchased headrest monitors and reverse camera's too. A good example of how fast the unit starts up from OFF, I start the car, put the car into Reverse and the camera is already displaying the video image of the back before you can turn your head.

GPS on the other hand takes about 30seconds to load depending on your maps and app used(garmin, igo, tom tom etc). I'm running igo Primo which is really intensive so 30seconds for me which is fine. During this time your radio etc is already playing..

Anyway there isnt anything these units dont do so I can't stress out anymore details a factory premium unit can compare.

HU Features:-
-Rear USB for reading Thumbdrives(not usb HDD)
-Micro SD card reader
-GPS Micro SD Card Reader for maps
-Front Mini USB port
-Rear IPOD connectivity via cable included
-Bluetooth for calls
-Bluetooth for audio streaming and control via HU touch screen
-Reverse camera input
-Video out(x2) for rear monitors
-60wx4 Powerfull!!
-DSP/EQ
-Speaker outs
-Pre Amp Outs for LF/RF/LR/RR/SW
-Analogue TV Tuner(I opt for the Digital TV Tuner)
-IR Remote Control
-GPS Module itself is running on WinCE(you can do whatever with this) - This is completely a seperate component to the TV/Radio interface thats why the unit is very fast to boot.
- Radio has RDS feature.
-Dual Zone, you can play a movie in the rear monitor and the front HU can be used for the GPS. (GPS voice navigations can take over the front speakers while the rear speakers play the movie etc.)
List goes on.

Enjoy the pics.

brismike · 08-10-2011, 03:02 AM

Very nice setup . . well done Imaz.

Franco Cozzo · 08-10-2011, 09:31 AM

Wow thats real nice, do they do anything for LV Focus?

**DJM83** · 08-10-2011, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Wow thats real nice, do they do anything for LV Focus?

http://www.chinacargps.com/ford-focu...nal-p-606.html
A mate of mine had a Chinacar unit in his XR5 and transferred it to his RS, but it started doing things on it own accord after a while so he put the factory one back in.

imaz · 08-10-2011, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Wow thats real nice, do they do anything for LV Focus?

Yeh there are heaps, in particular lsqstar business make a lot for other car makes as well.

You need to find one that uses WinCE ONLY for the GPS component and not WinCE for the whole unit(ie radio/TV etc).

This way your WinCE is purely on a separate board, whilst your main functions remain on a separate chip/board and never changes or fails to function.

I think people have issues if their whole unit runs off WinCE - as you can imagine anything in WinCE can change then your whole system goes haywire.

A mate of mine purchased from FlyAudio who make OEM HU for Toyota($1k+) and his system goes haywire because the whole unit drives off WinCE. ie he no longer can play mp3 off USB or ipod anymore. Also units like this also take like 40Seconds to load at the key OFF/ACC everytime. And FlyAudio make OEM units that Toyota Sell at the Dealers!.

I purchased from here http://www.lsqbusiness.com/qqxx/enindex.asp

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-gs...ck_to_detail_a

I also took apart the unit

because I was curious to see how good the workmanship was (thought i was going to find a lot of hand soldered components) but I was wrong - it actually looks pretty damn impressive in the unit. It looks like professionally made or should i say machine made.

Franco Cozzo · 08-10-2011, 11:57 AM

Interesting about the WinCE comment as we are involved in WinCE powered touch screens to control all the functions inside our Ambulances at work and they have some ocasional issues with it crapping itself.

Are there any models which explicitly state they only use WinCE for the GPS?

Russ · 08-10-2011, 01:22 PM

I hope it continues to function well for you. I had a similar unit in my VW Golf (also ran on WinCE) it went well for a few months and then it $#it itself, the eBay seller was good and sent me new firmware for it but it was still very touchy and a bit unpredictable at times. Maybe this one will be better, be interesting to hear how it's performing in 6 months or so

imaz · 08-10-2011, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ

I hope it continues to function well for you. I had a similar unit in my VW Golf (also ran on WinCE) it went well for a few months and then it $#it itself, the eBay seller was good and sent me new firmware for it but it was still very touchy and a bit unpredictable at times. Maybe this one will be better, be interesting to hear how it's performing in 6 months or so

Sorry for not being clear enough - my GPS unit module board runs the WinCE ROM! but the rest of the Head Unit does not run off WinCE.

I could basically take out the GPS module board and the WinCE part is also removed from the Head Unit - and the rest will still function, bluetooth, RDS Radio Tuner, Digital TV, CD Player, USB/MP3/4 and Ipod etc.

So what I am trying to say the GPS component runs off WinCE 6.0 which is entirely a separate part of the whole head unit.

There are models you can also purchase without GPS and this solely has no WinCE in it.

What I am leading to say is anything WinCE has or will eventually slow down or crap itself just like a PDA(which is what your mate probably has) - but as with units like mine, you ONLY run your GPS apps and maps for. Unlike the unit your mate has it probably is a fully WinCE unit to drive GPS, RADIO, TV etc so if the WinCE parts starts to stuff up, so does everything else with it, RADIO etc.

imaz · 08-10-2011, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Interesting about the WinCE comment as we are involved in WinCE powered touch screens to control all the functions inside our Ambulances at work and they have some ocasional issues with it crapping itself.

Are there any models which explicitly state they only use WinCE for the GPS?

To avoid the use of WinCE, your device manufacture has to write their own code/most likely linux based and written to ROM - eliminate the use of WinCE. Of course it takes a developer to engineer such unit.

Doesnt say it specifically but the link above shows the line
- Build in GPS system CPU: 533MHZ,RAM: 128MB ( and this is the GPS board which has WinCE ROM).

Russ · 08-10-2011, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by imaz

Sorry for not being clear enough - my GPS unit module board runs the WinCE ROM! but the rest of the Head Unit does not run off WinCE.

I could basically take out the GPS module board and the WinCE part is also removed from the Head Unit - and the rest will still function, bluetooth, RDS Radio Tuner, Digital TV, CD Player, USB/MP3/4 and Ipod etc.

So what I am trying to say the GPS component runs off WinCE 6.0 which is entirely a separate part of the whole head unit.

There are models you can also purchase without GPS and this solely has no WinCE in it.

What I am leading to say is anything WinCE has or will eventually slow down or crap itself just like a PDA(which is what your mate probably has) - but as with units like mine, you ONLY run your GPS apps and maps for. Unlike the unit your mate has it probably is a fully WinCE unit to drive GPS, RADIO, TV etc so if the WinCE parts starts to stuff up, so does everything else with it, RADIO etc.

I understood what you were saying about WinCE running the GPS side of things ( The unit I had was the same) the main processor was Samsung. The actual GPS worked well but the rest of the system was very unreliable and even though the firmware upgrade improved it overall, it was still a little bit unstable and wouldn't always do as it should. I ended up selling it back on eBay and bought an OEM (RNS510) VW head unit from O/S, it worked perfectly as expected and was fully integrated with steering wheel, MFD (multi function display) etc...

SpasticBus · 10-10-2011, 01:58 PM

Nice. I'm thinking of doing this to my LT TDCi. A few questions:
- Does it integrate well with the steering wheel column controller?
- Does the unit come with the keys to remove the factory stereo?
- How are the headrests wired in?
- How much was everything? And where did you buy it from?

imaz · 10-10-2011, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpasticBus

Nice. I'm thinking of doing this to my LT TDCi. A few questions:
- Does it integrate well with the steering wheel column controller?
- Does the unit come with the keys to remove the factory stereo?
- How are the headrests wired in?
- How much was everything? And where did you buy it from?

1) Its suppose to integrate, infact should be plug and play but my LS was SA built and was different to the Euro releases of LS so the harness was a different change. Never the less I just soldered the wires in which was straight forward. Because of the difference, I needed a canbus I think so I ignored the steering colum remotes for now as canbus is about $150.

But for the rest of the models, LT etc it should integrate fine including the harness should be plug and play out of the box.

2) No, I bought the key from ebay for about $3 and their very handy! - Well you need them. In my LS, I had to reuse the original brackets from the original factor unit and just fit them onto the new HU. No brainer for this one.

3) Headrests were a separate purchase, and come complete with the cusion, poles monitors etc. Wiress are all complete and slide through the poles. Infact the place I bought the headrests online came with a 6 channel video out booster. I used it, but probably didnt have to because my HU had dual Video outputs to suppose two additional monitors. Headrests has a Negative, 12V(which I hooked to ACC), Video-IN, Audio-IN(did not use). Thats it. Also has another 12V plug for direct plug in to a cig lighter which was optional.

4) HU cost about $340 inc DHL express shipment complete with GPS antena and TV antena. I opt for a digital TV tuner for another $30.

Headrest complete cost about $160 for the pair inc express shipment.

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-gs...olesalers.html

rand0mn00b · 10-10-2011, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by imaz

1) Its suppose to integrate, infact should be plug and play but my LS was SA built and was different to the Euro releases of LS so the harness was a different change.

...

But for the rest of the models, LT etc it should integrate fine including the harness should be plug and play out of the box.

sorry just hoping to clarify this

apart from the XR5, the australian LT and LV Focus were also built in South Africa

are you saying that the harness for the LT is different to that of the LS?

as far as i am aware the LT and LS used the same head unit. it was the LV that got an upgrade

LordFordNZ · 10-10-2011, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Wow thats real nice, do they do anything for LV Focus?

I just replaced my header in my LV and would say that I am about 90-95% happy with it. A few niggly issues, though since i got it for a rally good price off ebay, I can live with it. The biggest problem is that while it is supposed to work with the steering wheel controls, it doesnt. I have the canbus for it, so it should..or so i think it should. My one has a digital TV built into it - can pick up all SD/HD channels, though will only decode SD ones. The areial is a poeky little thing I keep in the glovebox, and its a magnetic base I just stick on the roof if I want to watch TV. GPS works well (igo), radio goes well, though doesnt have RDS, bluetooth is ok, havent hooked up the rear camera yet. System has DVD/TV/GPS/Ipod/Aux control and all works as expected. For $170 landed, all seems to be as expected. Time will tell if its lasts.

imaz · 10-10-2011, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rand0mn00b

sorry just hoping to clarify this

apart from the XR5, the australian LT and LV Focus were also built in South Africa

are you saying that the harness for the LT is different to that of the LS?

as far as i am aware the LT and LS used the same head unit. it was the LV that got an upgrade

Dont know - one way to find out is take the factory HU out and take a picture of the plug. The one in my LS had one wide smaller harness, where as the EURO release/built had a BIG SQUARE looking single harness.

It is really no issue, as you just cut/tap and join the wires yourself. You are looking at negative/12v+/Acc/ILL/Steering remote(2 wire)/8 Speaker(+/-) wires. I have written down the wire colour code if anyone needs it.

Original Euro LS Focus/XR5 etc(china HU harness are like this too)

In My LS /SA built

imaz · 10-10-2011, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LordFordNZ

I just replaced my header in my LV and would say that I am about 90-95% happy with it. A few niggly issues, though since i got it for a rally good price off ebay, I can live with it. The biggest problem is that while it is supposed to work with the steering wheel controls, it doesnt. I have the canbus for it, so it should..or so i think it should. My one has a digital TV built into it - can pick up all SD/HD channels, though will only decode SD ones. The areial is a poeky little thing I keep in the glovebox, and its a magnetic base I just stick on the roof if I want to watch TV. GPS works well (igo), radio goes well, though doesnt have RDS, bluetooth is ok, havent hooked up the rear camera yet. System has DVD/TV/GPS/Ipod/Aux control and all works as expected. For $170 landed, all seems to be as expected. Time will tell if its lasts.

Wonderful! damn cheap too...

My antenna is good, like a small strip with double sided tape. Came with the unit. I stick it on the windscreen, running the wire up the A pillar. I ran the magnetic GPS antenna on the other side of the car's A pillar so it doesnt interfere with the TV reception.

Update your Igo to Igo Primo mate! much much better! I can give you a link if you need it - Are you savy with GPS and free maps?

With the Steering remote, mine has two wires from the column - Both sends pulse, negative pulse I believe... In turn once connected you can configure what pulse does what function within the HU itself. My HU detects the pulse, but there's just something I'm not doing rite.

LordFordNZ · 11-10-2011, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by imaz

Wonderful! damn cheap too...

My antenna is good, like a small strip with double sided tape. Came with the unit. I stick it on the windscreen, running the wire up the A pillar. I ran the magnetic GPS antenna on the other side of the car's A pillar so it doesnt interfere with the TV reception.

Update your Igo to Igo Primo mate! much much better! I can give you a link if you need it - Are you savy with GPS and free maps?

With the Steering remote, mine has two wires from the column - Both sends pulse, negative pulse I believe... In turn once connected you can configure what pulse does what function within the HU itself. My HU detects the pulse, but there's just something I'm not doing rite.

Thanks - is the TV analogoue or digital in your HU?....would be interested to see how it works if its digital. I was going to mount mine up front in the radiator area, though seems to work best when mounted highest on roof. The GPS antenna is totally different - its just a little black box on the end of the cable. i mounted this internally above the mirror mounting and silconed it to the windscreen. Looks OE. Wife didnt even have a moan about it, so must be good!

I would like to try the Primo upgrade...while havent done any updates with free maps before, from what I have seen, I need to download a RAR file and place all the files on an SD card, and teh system will look for the exe file?....overly simplified I expect, though would love that link! thanks

Riksta · 11-10-2011, 09:28 PM

I'm looking for one of these units with the following stipulations:

- Awesome iPod control, where I can lock the iPod in the glovebox, forget its there, and control the whole thing from headunit.
- A wireless that has DAB and not just standard AM/FM
- DVD/DivX playback (for when I'm stopped of course)!
- A decent GPS that I can change to TomTom or something like that with all the fun celebrity voices for directions.
- Bluetooth that actually looks at the number calling from my phone and caller ID's with name from phone book instead of just their number.
- One which seamlessly integrates with steering wheel controls.

TV isn't that important to me. Neither are headrests at this stage.

imaz · 12-10-2011, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LordFordNZ

Thanks - is the TV analogoue or digital in your HU?....would be interested to see how it works if its digital. I was going to mount mine up front in the radiator area, though seems to work best when mounted highest on roof. The GPS antenna is totally different - its just a little black box on the end of the cable. i mounted this internally above the mirror mounting and silconed it to the windscreen. Looks OE. Wife didnt even have a moan about it, so must be good!

I would like to try the Primo upgrade...while havent done any updates with free maps before, from what I have seen, I need to download a RAR file and place all the files on an SD card, and teh system will look for the exe file?....overly simplified I expect, though would love that link! thanks

Yeh I opt for digital and its superb! most times whilst driving it is damn crystal clear too! I would mount your TV antenna on the windshield where theres less interference as opposed to radiator!

My GPS antenna is square too with a strong magnetic back which I stuck in the roof lining!

YEH that GPS maps or apps is completely upgradable to whatever you want. I found the newest primo the best!

I'll take some more photos where I have the antenna's and the clear receptions when I have some time..

imaz · 12-10-2011, 01:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riksta

I'm looking for one of these units with the following stipulations:

- Awesome iPod control, where I can lock the iPod in the glovebox, forget its there, and control the whole thing from headunit.
- A wireless that has DAB and not just standard AM/FM
- DVD/DivX playback (for when I'm stopped of course)!
- A decent GPS that I can change to TomTom or something like that with all the fun celebrity voices for directions.
- Bluetooth that actually looks at the number calling from my phone and caller ID's with name from phone book instead of just their number.
- One which seamlessly integrates with steering wheel controls.

TV isn't that important to me. Neither are headrests at this stage.

Apart from DAB, I think I have answered the above.

I play all my downloaded movies fine - apart from mkv's. Heck mine dont even have a parking brake cable to stop you from watching movies...

The unit above comes with the Rear USB cables and Rear IPOD cables which I leave hanging inside the glovebox. I leave my spare iphone and thumbdrive connected in there.

sneeky · 12-10-2011, 10:04 PM

I don't often post here but I did own this exact unit model Audio Sources AS-8606 was how mine was branded (now sold), probably branded a few ways out of the same China factory, it's pretty good but I think a better bet for those looking at such HU's is the Eonon D5105 which I currently own two of, one installed into a Focus the other a Fiesta, build quality is better, I prefer the look as well. Excellent feature set for the money, customer support and warranty is spot on.

Riksta · 12-10-2011, 10:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by imaz

Apart from DAB, I think I have answered the above.

I play all my downloaded movies fine - apart from mkv's. Heck mine dont even have a parking brake cable to stop you from watching movies...

The unit above comes with the Rear USB cables and Rear IPOD cables which I leave hanging inside the glovebox. I leave my spare iphone and thumbdrive connected in there.

Awesome cheers. Don't think much will play MKV's even in home setups yet, so no biggie there.

Might hold out until one with DAB comes out though, really would like to be able to get Cruise 1323 in decent stereo instead of the normal AM "tinny" sound!!!

imaz · 12-10-2011, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sneeky

I don't often post here but I did own this exact unit model Audio Sources AS-8606 was how mine was branded (now sold), probably branded a few ways out of the same China factory, it's pretty good but I think a better bet for those looking at such HU's is the Eonon D5105 which I currently own two of, one installed into a Focus the other a Fiesta, build quality is better, I prefer the look as well. Excellent feature set for the money, customer support and warranty is spot on.

Looks like its the same unit, with a different name.

So you've had good experience with eonon? I'm suppose to fit a half din DVD player only into my other car this weekend, together with a million 10" roof monitor. Have delayed the project because I'm still cutting out some facia's out of MDF, and the fact I need to drop the roof lining puts me off.

imaz · 12-07-2012, 01:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ

I hope it continues to function well for you. I had a similar unit in my VW Golf (also ran on WinCE) it went well for a few months and then it $#it itself, the eBay seller was good and sent me new firmware for it but it was still very touchy and a bit unpredictable at times. Maybe this one will be better, be interesting to hear how it's performing in 6 months or so

It has now been 8 months and still solid, all components including the rears and backup camera.

What's been edgy I was about to trade in the car with all the bells and whistles. Will hold onto it for a while longer.

Russ · 12-07-2012, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by imaz

It has now been 8 months and still solid, all components including the rears and backup camera.

What's been edgy I was about to trade in the car with all the bells and whistles. Will hold onto it for a while longer.

That's good to hear, I am tempted to get one of these for my LV, how do you find the sound quality compared to the stock HU. I have the Sony unit in my Zetec and the sound quality is quite impressive so I'd hate to compromise that :(

imaz · 12-07-2012, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ

That's good to hear, I am tempted to get one of these for my LV, how do you find the sound quality compared to the stock HU. I have the Sony unit in my Zetec and the sound quality is quite impressive so I'd hate to compromise that :(

The sound definitely was better than my stock hu(non sony model). I'm not sure what the sony is like, but the china hu is flexible with the eq and with all those outputs, certainly asking to be connected to an amp. eq and loud khz settings on the china is definitely a better option than my stock hu bass/treble.

I was looking at a jeep gc, but the satnav option was like 3k alone. Luckily LSQ china have the alternate for the Jeep GC! and looks stock as well... I'm sure they would be selling them for under $500!

SpasticBus · 12-07-2012, 11:38 PM

I just finished my install of my chinese dvd unit. mixed feelings. Did a quick install to test it all out but had to pull it out to wire the handbrake control in. Didn't want to come out. Took hours and a lot of cursing to eventually get it free. But actually it's all sorted now i think. Looks and sounds great. Can't believe how quickly the GPS synchs up to satellites!

Franco Cozzo · 13-07-2012, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpasticBus

I just finished my install of my chinese dvd unit. mixed feelings. Did a quick install to test it all out but had to pull it out to wire the handbrake control in. Didn't want to come out. Took hours and a lot of cursing to eventually get it free. But actually it's all sorted now i think. Looks and sounds great. Can't believe how quickly the GPS synchs up to satellites!

Handbrake control for DVD playback? As in won't play DVDs unless it gets a signal from the handbrake wire?

SpasticBus · 14-07-2012, 06:51 PM

To be honest, i didn't really try playing a dvd/video file before doing the handbrake wire, but there would be a message that always came up about "handbrake is ON, no video playback possible". I believe that it's really meaning to say "handbrake 'lock' is ON, no video playback possible". But after sorting out the wire, it no longer has that message. Unsure if there is a 'soft' bypass of this if you don't do anything with the wire.

It is a safety mechanism such that you can't have video in view of the driver's seat when you're driving, i.e. it's a distraction. Hence, videos can only be played with the handbrake is on. But i don't believe there is any specific legislation about video player installation in cars 'yet'.

Franco Cozzo · 15-07-2012, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpasticBus

To be honest, i didn't really try playing a dvd/video file before doing the handbrake wire, but there would be a message that always came up about "handbrake is ON, no video playback possible". I believe that it's really meaning to say "handbrake 'lock' is ON, no video playback possible". But after sorting out the wire, it no longer has that message. Unsure if there is a 'soft' bypass of this if you don't do anything with the wire.

It is a safety mechanism such that you can't have video in view of the driver's seat when you're driving, i.e. it's a distraction. Hence, videos can only be played with the handbrake is on. But i don't believe there is any specific legislation about video player installation in cars 'yet'.

Yeah, what we did at work was wired his headunit handbrake signal into ignition for one of the guys, so it works when the handbrake isn't up, lol.