nubiankg

Has anyone heard of or installed Double Din Mercedes Benz E-Class W211/G-Class W463/CLS W219 DVD Navigation as a replacement to w211 Comand unit?

http://www.cars-electronics.com/doub...rol_p1329.html

It appears to be designed to replacement Mercedes Comand unit perfectly. It has CD/DVD/NAV & Bluetooth built-in among other things for around $750. It looks almost too good to be true.


Nubiankg@***.net

Cartronics

It is.... we ordered one of these to test. It EVENTUALLY came (about 9 weeks wait from China), and was missing everything, including Nav software, cables, CAN controller....just about everything. It was simply a raw head unit and it took our engineer about 4 hours to just get it in a position to fire up. Once we did it was for PAL, which did not help us in North America. Needless to say, we were very disappointed but also relieved that the one we already helped develop was still priced correctly.
BTW, if anyone wants a big project...we have one for sale!

nubiankg

It is.... we ordered one of these to test. It EVENTUALLY came (about 9 weeks wait from China), and was missing everything, including Nav software, cables, CAN controller....just about everything. It was simply a raw head unit and it took our engineer about 4 hours to just get it in a position to fire up. Once we did it was for PAL, which did not help us in North America. Needless to say, we were very disappointed but also relieved that the one we already helped develop was still priced correctly.
BTW, if anyone wants a big project...we have one for sale! __________________
Cartronics
"we don't rest on our expertise, we grow it every day"
http://www.Cartronics.com
678-528-3443

Huge Thanks!!!!

bacnberger

I think I saw that this unit only works with wiring for the regular audio unit and not as a replacement for comand since comand has the audio gateway in the rear and all of the speakers and components wired to the trunk area.

nubiankg

Question... Understanding all the missing parts and the fact that the device's DVD format is PAL instead of NTSC, did the other components like bluetooth for phone, navigation, steering wheel controls and cd changer controls work??

Just curious... Thanks

Mackhack

Picture?

HIGHMILE E55

Hi Cartronics,
been eyeing your aftermarket headunit and I have been wondering why the huge price discrepancy.. What features will be lost when the stock comand headunit is swapped with yours? The CD Changer is probably a given but what else? Or are you saying that it will have all the same features as the OEM unit - and then some??

Thanks in advance!

Cartronics

The price of ours is because it is engineered in Germany by an ex-Mercedes engineer. It has all the factory functions plus touch screen, bluetooth, Video, backup camera, CANBUS and much more.. PLUS, on the E and CLS you DO NOT give up the fiber optic system. You retain the amp etc.
The one we tested from China was basically just a radio shaped like a Mercedes radio, but you did not retain the CANBUS (steering controls) or any part of the fiber optic system. And the controls just felt cheap and plastic (not a "Mercedes" experience at all)

Mackhack

Link to the cartronic version of the COMAND?

Cartronics

Note: this link is for the E/CLS version only http://cartronics.com/MBMost.html?MBClass=E&VIM=1

The base link to choose the proper vehicle is at http://cartronics.com/MBcompatibility.html

Mackhack

Does your night vision system work in W211s, too?

Cartronics

That works in any MB with COMAND and a Video In Motion module, or OEM replacement system.

HIGHMILE E55

Thanks Cartronics! Your explanation makes absolute sense.

Would love to see it in action though.. by any chance do you have any pictures or videos of an installed unit? like your other videos on the site?

Cartronics

We have a video scheduled for late next week!

Mackhack

How much for the night vision system? Where does the camera go? Any installation pdf to see more about the system you can provide up front? That would be much appreciated.

Cartronics

We generally don't post prices on the forum, as they do change from time to time. So please visit our site for prices.
Since the unit is protected by US export law, we are not allowed to publish or transmit PDF on the FLiR camera (it is of military grade).
But basically it gets mounted in the hood, behind the grill and the video is simply routed to the cabin and plugged into our VIM kit.

dvmak

Just had a similar thread over on benzworld as one of the posters was looking at the chinese units which claim to have bluetooth, nav, video (NTSC or PAL) etc..

I think he's ordering one so hopefully we can see if they have the features.. appears there are several versions coming out of china ..

The cartronics version looks good but $750 vs $2800 .. I'll wait for the final verdict.

Cartronics

A HUGE difference, is the Chinese units do not have MOST built into them (or steering CANBUS either). So to use a chinese unit (they are all coming from one place, with several chinese distributors selling them..and they are of dubious quality) you will have to abandon the fiber optic system all together, rewire the car and either use the low power amp in the unit (VERY low power) or rewire still and put in your own amp. That adds to the cost too.

cardvdnavi

Hi everyone, I'm Linda from cars-electronics.com - the seller of Double Din Mercedes Benz E-Class W211/G-Class W463/CLS W219 DVD Navigation, it comes with can-bus decode and can support steering wheel control, needless to say gps, bluetooth, radio or any other basic functions, if you have any questions, we welcome you to send an inquiry to sales#cars-electronics.com

Mackhack

What about these ones?

http://www.dynavin.com/products/product_dnv_mbe.php

I'm not sure if you guys are talking about these or not though.

In the end I only go OEM and that is the Harman Becker COMAND.

dvmak

Does anyone know what the amp output is for the HK Comand amp?

dvmak

Well looks like the aftermarket options are evolving!

The cars-electronics unit does NOT work with MOST so you will have to wire directly to the speakers and loose the existing AMP .. poor integration IMHO.

The Dynavin unit looks promising. They have a unit that DOES plug & play with the MOSTS system and will use the amp in the trunk (for those with the HK sound system)

http://www.dynavin.com/products/prod...v_mbe_most.php

I'm still waiting for additional answers from Dynavin and will post once I have the replies but the Dynavin with MOST integration is priced at 650 euro's .. about $910. Seems to have all the functionality of the Cartronics unit but for less than half the cost ..

Cartronics

Dynavin is a pretty good company. We have worked with them before. However, they can not sell to end users (according to them) in North America (i think it is a licensing issue). They are not in the US and support and everything else is problem on that.

BTW, a BIG part of each of our units goes to paying the licensing fees. So even though our unit costs more than the Dynavin, it comes complete. The others mentioned have lots of "options" - and the one mentioned at the start of this was just a piece of junk IMHO.

AATA

Has anybody actually tried this unit in the U.S. Any feed back would be great. I'm buying a E500 this weekend and would like to add something like this. I read on Ebay that it can't replace Comand. Only Audio 20. Anyone experience it or replace Comand?

Thank you!

Mackhack

Why even doing it? I wouldn't. There is so much more around the COMAND. It's an integral part of the entire system. COMAND NTG1 is technology from 2000. If one buys a W211 in 2011 he has to acknowledge that fact. What was state of the art and technologically possible back then is what we got in our cars. If one can't live with it, there is a W212