herbert68

Does anyone here have experience with these Chinese touch screen screen replacements, found on aliexpress.com? Here is an example that looks very intriguing, at least on paper.

I asked my BestBuy installer and he was hesitant to recommend to buy it without knowing much more about how this would integrate into the existing electronic. Also, where will the DVD player go, currently there seems to be no space for that? My car already has navigation, can that show up on the new screen? What if something doesn’t work, can I send it back for a refund?

Would be cool though to make something like this work ...

Alfadude

Ie the display is a very wide format, yet it says it is 6.95", which is the size of the current COMAND system if I am not mistaken. Then below under the specifications they state " Monitor: 9 inch digital LCD with touch control". Then below under Package Details it shows a 6.95" screen. It also shows two "touch pens", which I am thinking would be used for the touch screen, but I wonder if it is even a touch screen because all it says is "touch control". Maybe that is just a translation quirk.

So, if all you are getting is the same sized screen, why bother? If it is because it is a touch screen, I wonder how much of an improvement that would be. The placement is very far away from the driver and the display is not designed very well for use as a touch screen with all the controls being so small and close to the very top or bottom. And if it IS a touchscreen and it is a resistive type and you would use those pens on any kind of a regular basis I would guess it would fail in a relatively short period of time. If it was a projected capacitive type with a glass finish, that would be a better option, but would probably be very hard to read in the daylight. I sell touch screens for a living. Where the display is located I don't think a touch screen is that great of an asset.

Can you return it? I guess you did not read the return policy under the FAQ section. Read it.

Under the About section they are not very specific about anything other than showing a test lab with some equipment. No mention that that they are even ISO certified or how long they have been in business. Plus, they do not mention what the cost is. This might be a perfectly fine product, but just seems too scary to me. Up to you.

herbert68

Thanks Alfadude. Yes, it's a bit scary indeed.

BTW, the current screen in my car is 5.8''. And yes, of course I've read their return policy, but still wanted to ask this question directly to them. Here is the aggregated conversation we've had since about 24 hours, the return policy confirmation is in the last two lines below:

On Dec 27, 2016, at 8:27 PM, Yanzi Zhong <yanzi@oecaraudio.com> wrote:

Hi Herbert
The price for one full set including shipping is US$480, please note. If you can confirm the order within these 2 days, I will ask a discount of US$20 to you, so the price will be US$460. We will ship goods by DHL, it will takes around 4-5 days to your home.

There's one customer in USA buying the C Class 2014 each month regular from us since last year, he never feedback there's any compatible problem with our device, (his website is: http://www.autoccessories.com/), so I think you don't have to worried about our device can not use in your car, as long as you are sure the factory LCD is 5.8'', not 6.95''. I am not quite sure what is their business range, but he is buying from us regularly each month though not big quantity. Also they are contacting with us via autoccessories@gmail.com email.

The DVD will be stick in the glove box on right hand side of the drive room. Our device will not effect any functions of the car already has, just replace the LCD, and add dvd, usb/sd to it, the navi will show in our screen, Also you can use the SWC or Command system to control our system. Our system also with the same style UI as original radio system. We process with our order by Paypal, if there's any problem of our device, you can send it back for refund. Otherwise you can issue a case in Paypal to get your payment back.

Adi-Benz

Buying from Aliexpress is REALLY hit or miss. They're usually meant to be bought in bulk, and that said there will be quite a few lemons.


Their ad is decent quality though and their English is not too bad.

BUT if you do get a lemon, don't expect to get your money back; and you won't like the shipping costs if you decide to return it.

You could do a lot to your car for $500, its just a matter of personal choice. Putting them towards something you know is reliable will feel better. If you do manage to get a hit, then make sure to let others know; it will also be pretty rewarding.

Like I said though it is a big risk.

Edit: Just saw that ad is not even from aliexpress, my bad.

herbert68

That's exactly why I'm asking here if anyone has had experience with this Chinese product, I'm not yet that desperate about the tiny screen in my car that I would risk $500 on a 50:50 chance.

Beats me why MB would opt for such small screens in such expensive cars in the first place.

PortC43

Personally, I wouldn't put anything Chinese on my car. Nor my body! My two cents

herbert68

@PorC300, could you please explain a bit more why you feel like that? Did you have bad experiences with buying Chinese car products before?

Colin G

I bet at least half if not more of the electronic and other bits in your car are made in China then assembled into larger items in Germany ect.


Resistors, capacitors, especially in the audio system more than likely made in China.

Adi-Benz

Well here's the reality of it:

Lets say it all fits, works, easy install, whatever. The biggest thing for me is this:

While you would get a larger screen, yes, and you might get a few extra functions (dvd, mp3 idk what else whatever), you would be stuck with their interface.

Which means instead of driving around in a benz with a high quality (say apple ipad) display, you're going to be driving around with those $50 cheap chinese knock off tablets.

So its really up to you, in my opinion for your generation car its not a big deal.

herbert68

Thanks all, I guess based on all your input it's better I'll live with my current small screen. The change to a smaller screen is a bit hard for me, I just sold back to VW a 2013 Passat TDI (Diesel) and this car had a 8" capacitive touch screen which was really useful.

Alfadude

When you were shopping for your Mercedes why didn't you get one with the bigger screen if that is something important to you?

herbert68

Valid question Alphadude. I bought this car four weeks ago, and as with many previous cars I've bought where it was fairly easy to upgrade an older head unit, I made the assumptions this should be easy here as well. Apparently that's not the case with MB.

Alfadude

Sorry to hear that. If it is that important to you and you bought it from a Mercedes dealer see what it might take to trade it in for one that has the bigger screen. Maybe they would help mitigate the cost.

Pabla

i bought a china made head unit and it was utter garbage, i will never recommend that anyone buy this.

herbert68

Thanks Pabla. I have given up on my quest to get a larger screen into the dash of my new ride. What seemed to be a rather innocent and simple request turned out to be a mission impossible.

Back to focusing on more important things in life.

Happy New Year to you all!

lpjz50

I don't see why anyone's opinion should dissuade you from doing what you like. If you wanna cough up the labor costs and have a professional do it for you, you can have your 7" screen. I am 3 weeks into my Benz and am finding things I wanna do to it just as you are, and if you really wanna be unique then go ahead.

Adi-Benz

Rims for that $$$