jmartinacevedo

My deepest thanks to my peeps Sammy, the mbdoctor (www.mbdoctor.com), for his superb job in retrofitting a US Spec DVD Comand on my 2005 230 Sport Sedan. I purchased the U.S. Spec DVD Comand and DVD navigation disk from mbdoctor.com and had it installed at his place in Brooklyn New York. His work and customer service were impeccable. While I was there, I decided to have the AUX IN installed too. Like the Comand, the Aux in works flawlessly. Having enjoyed and played with the system for a while, I have the following thoughts.

NAVIGATION
I found the system fairly intuitive and extremely helpful; the "recalculating route" feature, in case you take the wrong exit or a detour, worked flawlessly. Too bad the system does not offer a "birds' eye view" display option. I found the woman's guidance voice pleasant.

CD/CD CHANGER PLAYBACK
I have the HK system. Sound from the CD and CD player (and for that matter, from the AUX IN) was solid and sonically pleasant even when listening at fairly high volumes and different musical genres. I tend to leave the sound on the LOGIC 7 setting for all sources. The lack of MP3 playback is somewhat appalling, in a day and time when even a Suzuki reno has a MP3 playback capability. In terms of CD title artist info display, the system recognized factory CD-text as well as text I embedded in home-made CDRs I burnt in my computer.

SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO & MOTOROLA V60 PHONE INTEGRATION
I've had these systems prior to the Comand and, of course, their integration and operation using the COMAND unit makes their use even more pleasurable. In the context of the Satellite Radio, one can scan throughout the different "streams" or channels within one particular programming category (i.e., all channels within "ROCK"), but cannot scan throughout the saved presets, access to which must be had only via the keypad (numbers, 1 through 0). While it is great to have artist, title and channel info in one single screen (just press "info"), this feature does not work when scanning through channels. Instead, you'll only see the particular scanned channel's name, without the artist or title info. Predictably, the sound quality of the Satellite Radio is, IMHO, more in tune with what "Digital FM" sounds like, and falls short of the sonic quality of cd playback, though, interestingly, some Sirius streams have much better sound quality (higher bitrate? Less compression?) than others. Unfortunately, most of the streams or channels I listen does not seem to be within the category of "very good sounding" channels. I must confess that the sound I used to get out of my XM Roady (hardwired into my old c240 4matic's non HK stereo) tended to be crisper and cleaner than Sirius' sound quality. This, of course, is a very subjective judgment and disagreements exist amongst users.

INTEGRATED PHONE
When I traded my 2003 C240 4 Matic for my current car, I kept the factory V60 Motorola that came with it, to use in my C230K. Of course, in order to integrate the phone into my C230k, I first had the dealer install the MOST module and cradle in my C230K. I did this shortly after I took delivery of the car in the fall of 2004. Naturally, having Comand makes operating the integrated phone a more pleasant experience. The phone book display feature is one of my favorite features. I am, however, disappointed that there is no "envelope" icon to warn you of new voicemail messages. The envelope icon you see in the attached pics is for text messages only. If, however, you receive a phone call while you're out of the car, the next time you start the vehicle the screen will show a "missed call" announcement.

COOL FACTOR
This US DVD COMAND is, without a doubt, the ultimate toy and mod. The motorized face is really cool. Now, if it only played movie dvds... :p

jmartinacevedo

Here's a few extra pics.

jmartinacevedo

Final Set of Pics.

jmartinacevedo

And sender info.
Also night pic.

caliboy

Looks great How much did you pay for the Command retrofit on your car overall?

nlpamg

that's awesome! how much did you pay for the command and then for the installation? thanks!

Belle the Benz

Yes please do tell........

gaogi

How difficult was the install? Was it pretty much plug and play, or did you have to buy a bunch of harnesses, antenna, etc? Looking at their site, they only have a '05 CLK COMAND which looks like it would fit into the C-Class as well...$1,500.00, I'm tempted!

CitronC230K_03

sweet!

i thought the 203 and 209's shared the same type of COMAND.

jmartinacevedo

Thanks for the comments guys. I bought a whole bunch of things from mbdoctor.com and drove down there to pick them up and have them installed so I got a special "package price." Email or call him for an exact price with or without installation, though the price mentioned for the W209 US Spec Comand appears accurate.

Gaogi, it was essentially plug and play. Sammy, the owner of mbdoctor, knows exactly what he's doing, and had the necessary Stardiagnosis computer at hand.

Also, the W209 US Spec Comand you are referring to will indeed fit and work properly in a 2005 C Class (it did in my car). As you correctly noted, however, width-wise the the units (W209 and W203) are different. When you put the W209 unit in the W203, there will be a gap of approx. one half inch on each side. The untrained eye will not notice the difference and, at that price, i believe it's a steal. My recollection is that the mbdoctor may have 1 US Spec DVD W203 Comand left, but, by now, it may be gone. Your best bet is to call him and inquire.

Any other questions please feel free to email me.
M-

jmartinacevedo

Yes, you will need a GPS antenna too, which you can buy from him too.

nlpamg

I thought that the car had a built in antenna... Where did they place the antenna? thanks!

MJ50

looks awesome!

jmartinacevedo

Thanks again.

Yeah, my car did not have a GPS antenna. I believe the little rubber-duckie antenna atop the rear glass is cellular only.

Martin-

NO_WUR_E

That looks awesome!!! I didn't get a NAV setup when i bought my car a few weeks ago. Now I want one done. Being from Nor Cal, I have to find a reputable place to get one installed. How much did you approximately pay for your setup?

jmartinacevedo

Email Sammy at info@mbdoctor.com or check out the website (www.mbdoctor.com) if you want a US SPEC DVD Comand. As I noted initially, I bought a whole bunch of stuff from the store so I got a package price, so to speak. His price of the US SPEC DVD Comand is very competitive.
Feel free to PM or email me if you any questions.

jmartinacevedo

What I meant to say in my prior post is that you will get explicit installation directions with your order and telephone support if needed too. The installation is, for the most part, fairly uncomplicated.

TwofourT

Looks Great! I will probably give mbdoctor a call, although it looks like that chrome line on top of the unit is gone? I know my radio unit now has chrome bars on the top and bottom...