After almost buying a Euro Comand on ebay(a Steve post indicated they're likely stolen and swayed me)

I'm considering buying a in-dash dvd pop out system, either Alpine, Pioneer, or Kenwood.
The Comand system is loaded with buttons as it is, it seems this might be a nicer option.
Apparently the MB Nav sucks, the Comand isn't touchscreen, and these in-dash drives are a grand or more cheaper.

Anyone done this yet? some website has a kit that is shaped like the comand and allows pop out dvd dash players and the whole screen itself.
I've seen 6.1 supporting dash players - anyone have a sound reason as to not do it? I know the steering wheel controls are likely gone, and possibly even the Cd Changer. Any thoughts or tips on my idea would be great.

 

What a mess you're gonna make. You can't graft a chicken wing onto a woman and think you've made an Angel.

 

You cant put a glass bead on a gold band and call it a diamond ring .....

any other slogans out there ?

 

Everything in your car that depends on the head unit will be disabled. Teleaid, phone, voice control, CD stacker, SDARS. Maybe you should have bought a 1986 Ford and pimped it.

 

lol a mess... i hope not.
Anyway...what the kit is going to do is replace the area covered by the comand with the same high quality black plastic that the mercedes comand external has.

I was considering getting this (Scosche.com)
It's got cutouts...doesnt look so bad or does it? I've attached the photo of it.


but i'm not so sure I want to do it, i was hoping i'd get suggestions for or against it. So far nothing but bored people and their slogans.
Oh and making fun of cars is real cute.

You can pop out the middle black bar to put a full size screen in there, or put a thin dash in the top or bottom.
There is bluetooth phone and bluetooth audio stream support on most of the high end alpine, pioneer, and kenwood dashes. Plus A+V inputs, voice navigation that is apparently better than the MB Nav which I've heard nothing but complaints about, oh and touchscreen is nice. The dashes have quick searches on artists/songs/albums of cds put inside...The new pioneer even has DiVX playback, and all of the brands play almost every type of DVD(non bluray/HD) and CD out.
How big is the MB screen anyway? is it 7" or bigger?

I was eying my Comand, I'll miss the nice orange glow of the Comand, I sure as hell wont miss the ridiculously large amount of buttons on it though. I'll probably get wood put over the black plastic part of the kit, that'd make the Dash look nice...wood all the way through from the cupholder to the climate controls (I've got an E500 by the way don't know if there's a difference with the other E's)

 

I sell Kenwood, I had a DDX6019 2-Din touchscreen with Navigation / bluetooth / TV Tuner / Sirius and HD Tuner in my past car (350Z) and loved it.

I decided against it because I really did not want to mess with the systems in this car, plus I would hate to mess with the nice OEM look which I particularly like. I am usually up to challenges, but I could not find a kit for the wheel controls (yeah, yeah, I also read there are some, but WHERE nobody says), plus it would probably entail a complete system with amps, crossovers (otherwise, how can you plug the head unit into the gateway to drive the existing speakers), changing speakers, running new wiring, breaking the MOST loop at some point, who knows what gremlins it could unleash.

So I opted for the Euro comand with the Navi drive and will be installing a 12" doual-voice-coil sub with a custom box on the rear shelf with a class D mono amp & remote. That should suffice, I am not looking to win any sound competitions and the system that's there is good enough for me. I saw a similar installation at the Rockford booth at CES last week on a E55 and looked sweet, I should have taken a picture but did not. That's my opinion.

Cheers

Edward

 

Interesting tshakes, didnt consider crossover issues with gateways etc.
I wasn't even planning on doing it myself, but i'll let my installer take a look at the car before I go buy something(which i'm not still not sure of doing)

Dolby LogicII, ipod touchscreen music selection, general USB music connections, Many come with remotes - offsetting to some degree the steering wheel controls disablement...the options on these dashes are pretty appealing.
Where'd you hear that there are steering wheel compatible dash systems?

Whats your personal opinion on the MB Nav?
And does anyone have an idea of the MB screen size? also the resolution? i've heard good things about the pic quality...

 

Can't make a b**** into a housewife...

 

Its not the physical fit. Its the electronic compatability with so many systems already in the car. Have you noticed that there are virtually NO aftermarket suppliers for MB cars when compared to other makes and models. Thats because of the complexity and tight integration of the systems as designed by MB.

You can make parts to make anything physically fit into the car, but you are going to create a mess that no one will be able to look at charts and repair, and you will make the resale value of you car equal to body parts salvage only. No one will want the mess as a resale customer you are willing to create in that car. The car is not a Scion, or a Mitsu, that you can simply take to the neighborhood hack to throw a Fart Can on & some colored lights along with an entertainment center sized spoiler & think you've made an F1 car out of it.

Be very careful of the electrical mods you choose to make. The electronics systems on these E Classes are very fragile and delicately & poorly balanced in everyday use.

How's that for a "bored person's slogan"? ...But Hey, its your car.

 

unless youre doing the WHOLE THING(think upwards of 7k) its not worth the trouble. Buy the euro command from Steve or even another user on this board is parting out his car and is selling his as well...

otherwise get a tom tom and call it a day, you dont want the nightmare, and if you have any warranty left, you can throw that out the window, as they will say removing the command caused all your problems

 

The steering wheel module issue has been discussed several times on the Audio & Electronics forum, just do a search. You will find that there are some that say they have done it, but never respond as to exactly where they purchased it and how it was installed.... odd.

The navigation plain sucks. The Kenwood I had was far superior, the touchscreen alone kicks ***. The graphics on the MB are dated and no birds-eye view, plus the POI's are outdated and more difficult to find. It is a good system to take you from point A to point B, and pretty accurate, but nowadays, manufacturers need to add some bling to their product, and this one is just plain bland.

The picture quality on the COMAND is very good, I like it. The size looks like ~6-6.5 inch, I would need to measure it.

Cheers.

Edward

 

That's a good reply to my question Barry. It's not a bored person's slogan - it actually responds to the idea in the thread, and very well

I was hoping my semi-insulting comments would stray the thread away from bored people and their slogans, I see a bunch of threads that always stray off-topic(which is fine, except many of the topics aren't even car related)

Thanks for all the input everyone, I decided I'll stay away from the aftermarket option. I definitely don't want the dealership to have the ability to complain about the Comand removal and negating warranty stuff.

 

It CAN be done... not by any amature by any means... a generic kit was released by a company, soundstream or streetwires, the name eludes me as its been a couple years since I was an installer...the way the kit works is that a module needs to be wired to the buttons on the wheel. Then using your aftermarket radio's existing remote you program each steering wheel button to duplicate the function of the remote control. so basically you program the +/- button on the steering wheel to duplicate the + volume and - volume functions from the controller. The control module also has an LED output to imitate using a regular controller...

sorry if this seems confusing Im writing it at work and have gone and come back to it about a dozen times so my thoughts are jumping around...

 

my post is regarding the steering wheel control modules

 

55fan -
Yeah I've heard thats the basic method to get the steering wheel controls to work with an aftermarket unit. I'm pretty set on staying away from that albeit those units have some ridiculously nice features.

The main issue I have with aftermarkets is so far I think Pioneer has the most multi-channel unit (6.1) and I've got the HK System which I know is 7.1

By the way, how many speakers does the car have? and where the hell are they - I've never taken the time to look...
Also is there anyway to visually identify whether or not my car is "Pre-wired" for Navigation?

Has anyone been able to hook up things with A/V outputs to the euro comand? if it plays DVDs(All Euro Comands do, right?)
I hope there's a way to play external things...that'd make it nicer.

 

For those interested, its:
"You can't make a hoe a housewife"
It's on Chronic 2001(Dr.Dre) Kurupt's Chorus in the "housewife" song.

I hope I don't revive the wildly spectacular wits of the slogan makers

 

yes the euro command also has video inputs...

 

Where so? A euro comand I'm considering getting doesnt has only two slots on the rear of the right,
like this - the picture is attached, the comand is on the bottom; Nav drive on Top.

I hope I can get the nav drive to work although my car is likely not pre-wired for nav
Anyway, Do all Euro Comands play DVD Videos and Mp3s?

 

Which part of .... "nothing inside your car will work" did you find irrelevant ?

 

The COMAND unit in your photo looks like model 7039 which does not have any video outputs at all (for headrest screens or rear centre console screens). Model 7039 only plays DVDs on the COMAND screen itself, if I recall.

If I recall.

 

yes, every comand on ebay is stolen.. please.. *rolls eyes*


Do a search on euro comands, I have posted so much info on the w211 forum about them. Everything you need to know can be found if you search under my username. PM me for more questions.