After reading posts I was set on keeping my factory radio installed, until I came across the website OemCarGps.com. They are selling a Command Widescreen GPS Head Unit w/ touchscreen/DVD/bluetooth/ipod connection/Tv Tuner ready/ Rear Back up camera ready/USB connection/Mini SD slot/Steering wheel controls capable and Wood Grain Kit. Below is Pic from website. Ill post more when I install mine as soon as I return from Iraq.

http://www.oemcargps.com/mercedes-be...em-p-1171.html

 

looks great does it come with the wood kit? the website says you can name a price, how much did you pay?>

 

hi pls let me know how it fits and the performance,cost.does all the steering wheel control works .
thanks jimmy

 

looks awesome! Has anyone here actually got this yet?

 

I plan to purchase and Install when I return from Iraq. I will post pics as soon as I install. It does come with wood kit.

 

I plan to detail everything from purchase to install. The website says that the steering controls will work.

 

yes, let us know. and how much was it?

if it works out for you, I would probably get one

 

 

oh WHAAAAT!! For the w215 CL too?!

 

So these guys are selling brand new units that only " supposedly fit and communicate " with the other parts of the Benz , is this correct ? well it looks quite interesting BUT I do worry about anyone offering " name your price " option on the net .. also about the quality of the sound and proper integration !
Having said that , it is till a very tempting offer specially given the insane pricing and complexity from MB !

 

I have installed that exact unit in my CL65 let me tell you not plug and play and not I repeat NOT easy to install!!! They will tell you it is and promise you but no no it is not. They will include a harness to run from the head unit to the rear sound amp area but the connectors are all wrong you will need a wiring schematic and splice in all the speaker wires in!! Next problem its only a 4 channel radio so you can not power up the center dash speakers OR rear subwoofer with the tweater in it correctly without running a another amp in your trunk. Furthermore you need to run a new antenna from the headunit to the trunk and tie that into the factory combar antenna which you then need to run a 12v hot wire to the combar to have that be powered after you remove your factory stuff. Also no other factory equiptment will work no disc changer, voice control, factory blue tooth "obviously", teleaid if digitally converted, and NO display in the instrument cluster just dashes where your audio, navigation, or satellite would be displayed threw the menus. What really is a pain is the steering wheel buttons act erratic volume has to be pressed repediatly not just press and hold to change the volume and the station seek works but the menu your switch also changes the stations so you cant scroll threw the menus without the stations changing. THE GOOD navigation is great easy to use 3d easy to find POI's really a nice part of the unit. BAD- Voice cuts out sound "radio" and takes a few seconds to cut back in after done speaking really annoying I just turned the voice off. Cannot control volume with steering wheel while in navigation. SD card will play music, videos, and pictures really nice. Blue tooth is garbage mic on unit is terrible. Bluetooth audio streaming works fantastic. IPOD also works great. BAD only 24 hour clock on radio, ALSO ONCE YOU INSTALL THIS UNIT YOU CANNOT set your clock on the instrument cluster, I spent about 4 hours in developer mode with the sds and did though figure out how to control the clock threw the cluster not really a viable option though for most installing this in there car. Touch screen works well, colors of button illumination is red doesnt really go with inside of vehicle. So to sum this all up if you are a hard core DIY'er and literally have an extra 1000 to spend and no joke about 9-16 hours to spend installing and then correcting the issues you have with the unit its worth messing with if you HATE the factory unit but this is by no means a good alternative again it kills the MOST fiber optics its gone......I installed a back up camera on mine and that part work phenominal, and the factory look is great just is missing refinements what you'd expect from china honestly. Hope this helps!

 

I figured that this would not work well with MB. I would not be able to have something like this if it kills allot of other important features in the car. Personally the factory unit sucks but from reading this post I can see that this new unit is garbage and probably will break real soon.

Thanks for the post

 

Bummer ! I was getting quite excited reading the post until I got to the bottom.
Had a similar problem with soundstream who offer a large extendable screen.
But when tried installing the darn thing all sorts of problems arose !
And the bluetooth was major piece of garbage - PARROT BLUETOOTH ?
Maybe STUFFED PARROT Bluetooth more likely !

 

Thanks for letting us know. I hate the factory radio, It sounds good, it just looks and feels prehistoric! I was hoping not to loose any of the original functionallity, but I think I can live with the loss of Telaid,but not the screwed up display function and the steering controls not working properly.... I was also hoping the SDS would beable to correct software issues. Oh well, i think I still might give it a try.

 

Looks like this is the same thing.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/180738238989...84.m1438.l2649

I like the sound from my stock radio. But not much else.

 

i think i might just do the conversion and document the install for everyone here for reference, i plan on utilizing the 16:9 aspect ratio and hopefully my electronic buddies can install a ps3 slim and my mobile intel atom pc with solid state drives for storage (i hate music/movies skipping.)

it should cost around 1k to do it, i will be selling my original comand 2.5 with aux-in mod very soon, thanks to cartronics for installation and pictures!! i soldered female 3.5mm stereo jack and works flawless, the wire though is about 10ft so whatever device in the car, u could broadcast using mercedes bose system lol.

what do u guys think? i have the wiring diagram, its a few wires in the "C" connectors..

 

Hey Classy, I have the 03 in my 00 and I have the speed signal converter and it all works great, but I would like to add the Aux in too.. I was told as soon as I add it and the radio detects it the blank button will start working.. anyway, I tried to get one at Radioshack with a female end to bare wire but they only had MONO.. do you know where I can get a stereo 3.5 jack, female to bare wires? Thanks!

 

Let's be honest here.....many of us want a factory looking, true plug and play option for our Comand unit with all upgraded features but no loss in ANY operation of anything in the vehicle.. When will someone get on board with this option?
Come on Cartronics! I know you can do it!

 

We have cost of build this many times. Every time a supplier comes out with a new sub board, we do it again. The reality is that the typical S Class owner is just not interested in this. I know I am, and you guys are, but just to break even on our last cost sheet, we would need to sell about 1800 units (before making a profit - unless the price was simply ridiculous) - we have polled our client club list a couple of times, and got a grand total of 42 clients interested. That is the real reason it probably won't be done....BUT.... stranger things have happened.

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

 

It's sad because with my E46 BMW I was able to buy the Dynavin unit which was absolutely wonderful. It was plug and play, wheel controls worked, bluetooth was good, navi was good, all was great. Unforunately it seems all the aftermarket units for MB are junk.. I just don't understand how they got it right with the BMW and so wrong with MB, unless the cluster was too hard to master, or they spent more to develop the BMW versions.. I spent all this money to update my car to the 03 and it works great, and I am very happy, but it would be nice to have a more recent navigation.. this one tells you what street you are on but not the names of the streets around you..

 

Easy - the BMW radio is just that, a radio - very easy to replace. However, in a MB the COMAND also serves several computing functions in the car as well as all the audio functions.

Also, our market research concurs with most aftermarket product manufacturers, that MB owners as a whole (I know there are enthusiast exceptions) are loath to visually modify the car. We also checked with cars.com and nada.com and found that aftermarket sound systems LOWERS the actual resale value of the MB by as much as 20%!!! The owner starts off asking more because it has aftermarket (thinking he has increased the car's value), only to find he has to sell it for much less. It is just the mindset of the buyer for these cars. So as an aftermarket supplier, we have to pay attention to these things before committing resources to development or marketing of a product.

That is why we specialize in "improving" the stock system with most all the modern conveniences (all hidden of course) without changing the stock system.

 

Damn you Cartronics..... I hate hearing the truth about how we're stuck.
Ah well, you make a ton of other very cool stuff that I want to buy anyway.

But I will be waiting non-the-less........

Do newer (08 & up) S/CL/SL class models have a better (upgraded) Nav function?

 

It is a "different" Nav system, but functionally very similar to the 04-06

 

I am very interested , actually, to install a original COMAND /NAVY system because I would like to have a wide screen . I mean 2003 and up units. Now , my question is : is this the original unit from 2003 and up very expensive to modify or difficult ?

 

I am driving a S 430, 2001.