Review of the AVIN Avant-2 for W164/X164 Reverse Camera issue solved
07-13-2015, 05:23 AM
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2007 Mercedes GL320 CDI
Review of the AVIN Avant-2 for W164/X164 Reverse Camera issue solved
I recently bought a 2007 Mercedes GL320 CDI which had the old radio and CD stacker unit in it without BT. After doing a bit of research came across the AVIN 2 which seemed to have some good reviews and was well priced for what it said it does. I decided to have a closer look and after searching the AVIN 2 website a chat was opened with Tommy who has turned out to be very friendly, extremely responsive, knowledgeable and true to his word person. Most places are happy to be best customer service reps while trying to sell you something, well I can tell you Tommy has had a ton of queries from me after I received the unit as I am new to Android and had an issue with the reverse camera which I will update you below. Tommy was extremely helpful and very patient with me. During the sales negotiation, Tommy did a great deal for me while we chatted. The unit is full Android and very fast with extremely good quality sound and graphics.
Deciding whether my unit required the MOST unit or not was the most difficult and everything pointed to having needed it, but it turned out the MOST unit was not needed. The unit fits perfectly and looks fantastic, extremely good quality in sound and display. I had one installation issues and that was with the reverse camera. I had a mobile installer I had used before come install the unit and once installed all seemed to work. The camera worked when in reverse but when you switched on the car the screen had lines or went black with a car symbol. My first thought was it was the unit or camera at fault. Tommy tried to work out what the issue was and had not had one before, but after calling my installer he immediately said, that most VW and some MB have this common issue and is easily rectified. Apparently when the engine starts the car limits the power to some parts of the car and in this case the camera was not getting full power so a relay (see pic below) needs to be installed near camera so the camera can get full power see pic below. The reverse now works brilliantly and even the quality of the picture is fantastic. Another issue was I bought the 64GB SD card for music and videos and car did not recognise the disk, Tommy pointed out that it needs to be formatted FAT16, FAT32, NTFS format and stupid me had formatted it as exFat which is the default, so once formatted as NTSF it was perfect.
I did find that some of the apps that came with the unit were a little dated so have refreshed most and things such as Torque was better if I replaced with the Pro version for a couple of bucks. I also bought Sygic Premium which works like a dream on the AVIN 2. I have had very little success in the past in finding a quality aftermarket unit but must say this is an outstanding unit and Tommy is the best after sales customer service person I have ever had to deal with. Reliable, honest and very patient. Dont be shy to ask for a good deal. I am still working my way around all the features of the unit but so far music, BT, DVD, GPS and Radio all work seamlessly.
I also have a 4G router hotspots I use for my kids to connect to when we are out so they can enjoy playing on their phones, the AVIN has Wi-Fi built in and automatically connects to this router of mine when I switch it on, so I am able to watch Netflix and get services that require online content while driving. Only thing I would love is if the unit could make a good cuppa coffee, but that may be asking for too much.
Below is a sample of my plugs which did not need the MOST unit if you are wondering, also the relay connected to the line for the reverse camera. Thanks AVIN and Tommy for a create product that is upgradable.
If you have this configuration shown in this pic below, you may not need the MOST unit as speaker wires are incorporated in the plug harness. In my case the fibre cables do not go to an amp but to Bluetooth and CD Stacker.
Deciding whether my unit required the MOST unit or not was the most difficult and everything pointed to having needed it, but it turned out the MOST unit was not needed. The unit fits perfectly and looks fantastic, extremely good quality in sound and display. I had one installation issues and that was with the reverse camera. I had a mobile installer I had used before come install the unit and once installed all seemed to work. The camera worked when in reverse but when you switched on the car the screen had lines or went black with a car symbol. My first thought was it was the unit or camera at fault. Tommy tried to work out what the issue was and had not had one before, but after calling my installer he immediately said, that most VW and some MB have this common issue and is easily rectified. Apparently when the engine starts the car limits the power to some parts of the car and in this case the camera was not getting full power so a relay (see pic below) needs to be installed near camera so the camera can get full power see pic below. The reverse now works brilliantly and even the quality of the picture is fantastic. Another issue was I bought the 64GB SD card for music and videos and car did not recognise the disk, Tommy pointed out that it needs to be formatted FAT16, FAT32, NTFS format and stupid me had formatted it as exFat which is the default, so once formatted as NTSF it was perfect.
I did find that some of the apps that came with the unit were a little dated so have refreshed most and things such as Torque was better if I replaced with the Pro version for a couple of bucks. I also bought Sygic Premium which works like a dream on the AVIN 2. I have had very little success in the past in finding a quality aftermarket unit but must say this is an outstanding unit and Tommy is the best after sales customer service person I have ever had to deal with. Reliable, honest and very patient. Dont be shy to ask for a good deal. I am still working my way around all the features of the unit but so far music, BT, DVD, GPS and Radio all work seamlessly.
I also have a 4G router hotspots I use for my kids to connect to when we are out so they can enjoy playing on their phones, the AVIN has Wi-Fi built in and automatically connects to this router of mine when I switch it on, so I am able to watch Netflix and get services that require online content while driving. Only thing I would love is if the unit could make a good cuppa coffee, but that may be asking for too much.
Below is a sample of my plugs which did not need the MOST unit if you are wondering, also the relay connected to the line for the reverse camera. Thanks AVIN and Tommy for a create product that is upgradable.
If you have this configuration shown in this pic below, you may not need the MOST unit as speaker wires are incorporated in the plug harness. In my case the fibre cables do not go to an amp but to Bluetooth and CD Stacker.
