So here is my AVIN 9” 1 week review. Still early but I thought I give you guys an idea. Mind you the ML550 is now with my wife and her daily driver. So, I have taken it out say 5 times.

Now I did not do the install. I don’t have the patience for that anymore. And I am in no way affiliated with the supplier or AVIN. They charged me 3hrs for the install.

Our ML 550 comes with the full fiber optic and Harmon/Kardon system.

I ordered:

1) Most fiber optic adaptor.
2) Factory rear view camera adapter.
3) Factory backup camera adapter.
4) Factory microphone adaptor.
5) Factory GPS antenna adaptor.
6) Factory radio adaptor.
7) Wireless CarPlay dongle.

Pros:

1) CarPlay connects within seconds.
2) Streaming of any kind is perfect.
3) GPS can be online through Google Maps, Waze or any other app. They also offer an offline GPS app which I have not tried. But Waze and Google Maps is perfect.
4) Phone Quality is solid.
5) CarPlay Works perfectly like it does in my SRT which came from the factory with it.
6) Comes with a USB dongle you can use a phone charging port. Mine was installed in the glove box. With CarPlay now installed I can just throw the phone in there and charge.
7) Steering wheel volume controls work perfectly.
8) Sound quality for streaming on Spotify or YouTube is exactly the same. That said read the cons about radio stations.
9) The headunit can run off your hotspot. So you can watch YouTube or other apps on it.
10) Backup camera works amazing. Better than before.
11) There is no doubt this system modernises the vehicle when it comes to infotainment systems. Definitely brings it on par with the current 20’s vehicles and offerings.

Cons:

1) It took me about 20 mins and 20 tries to connect my Apple 13 iPhone to CarPlay the first time.
2) While now my phone connects within seconds to CarPlay 2/10 times you might need to reconnect through Bluetooth. Not a big issue. Takes 10 more seconds.
3) The radio reception. I’ve heard/read of this before with this unit. Even though I purchased the Factory antenna adaptor. My installer said he found all reception very weak. He said he did some custom hack job that did improve things. Some stations sound great. Others no. I’m not a big music guy while I drive. I love listening to the sound of the car and the road instead. But there is always Spotify or YouTube if needed at pristine quality.
4) You cannot sink the headunit clock with the clock in the driver’s dash. Thoughtfully my installer did not pull the battery. So, both of mine are in sink at the moment.
5) The central drivers display if you used that option will no longer show GPS directions. So you can only rely on what the Voice instructions and the new headunit display.
6) Phone calls. While on the steering wheel you can answer or hang up. Plus volume work. It doesn’t show who is calling or contact info om the small drivers display but does on the new headunit. Then again. That’s what car play is for now.

Other observations:

1) My installer said I didn’t need the remote CarPlay dongle. The unit comes with it built in. Who knows. It works.
2) For sure there are other options on Amazon/Ebay. I didn’t want to risk it. Considering mine was a fully equipped model.
3) It is a Chinese made product shipped out of Hong Kong. Although AVIN advertises themselves as an US company and are advertising it on their site as such. I can’t say how and if they have come into place, tariffs will impact the price, maybe? I’m in Canada. I didn’t pay any duties or tariffs. Total cost was around $750 USD. Not cheap. But did it for a piece of mind and hopefully aftermarket support.

Next project. To wrap that nasty wood trim.


4) BTW only reason I bought this was because our factory system bit the bullet. Otherwise, I would have not gone through all this. But sort of happy it all played out this way. Happy wife. Happy me.

 

Great write up! Thanks for sharing. It looks like a pretty great upgrade.

 

I installed a similar unit from Amazon, they are more or less the same. Radio reception is spotty, but I only use CarPlay with it, boots up and connects instantly with the sleep mode.
No battery drain issue so far, sounds better than the factory unit (not HK).

 

Minor update. I still haven't figured out how offline navigation functions. Or doesn't function in this case. Waze, Google Maps Apple maps all good. But going on a long 4-10 hr trip. Dont need my boss complaining about data usage.

 

Thanks for the description. I did an upgrade on a 2010 MB B180 with essentially the same factory system less the fibre optics. Radio reception on that was poor after the install and until I ensured there was a power feed going to the antenna connection. I had to splice into a power line and connect it and the radio reception went from awful to very good..Sometimes it still gets poor FM reception but it's not too bad abd quite infrequent. I think from memory the factory antennas have a booster somewhere that needs a power feed.