[MattVWT5]

Hi All,

I'm new to the forum even though I have had my van from new!(2006 Kombi)

Since the loss of wifey's company car the T5 is now our family vehicle...I've been trying to make it a slightly nicer place for us and the kids to be so following reading a few posts on the forum I embarked on sound deadening the rear and middle of the van with silent coat and adding Pioneer TS-G1733i's to the upper rear panels. This went really well but the next stage is to upgrade the head unit.

Again after reading a couple of posts on this subject I have the following head units in mind.

Pioneer AVH-X3600DAB which has probably more functions than I need and no front facing Aux or USB so these would have to be routed to somewhere on the dash? or into the glovebox.....? What have others done? I have found this unit new at just over £200 which seems like a massive bargain.

The other choice is the Kenwood DPX-406DAB which is looks pretty solid and I quite like the layout and physical buttons plus the Aux and USB are front mounted which makes it a simpler self install..

Do any of the forum members have experience of the above models or suggestions of other DAB & Bluetooth units around the £200-£250 mark?

Cheers, Matt

 

[wildjetskier]

Personally I would speak to the guys at absolut5-very helpful

 

[Absolut5]

Hi All,

I'm new to the forum even though I have had my van from new!(2006 Kombi)

Since the loss of wifey's company car the T5 is now our family vehicle...I've been trying to make it a slightly nicer place for us and the kids to be so following reading a few posts on the forum I embarked on sound deadening the rear and middle of the van with silent coat and adding Pioneer TS-G1733i's to the upper rear panels. This went really well but the next stage is to upgrade the head unit.

Again after reading a couple of posts on this subject I have the following head units in mind.

Pioneer AVH-X3600DAB which has probably more functions than I need and no front facing Aux or USB so these would have to be routed to somewhere on the dash? or into the glovebox.....? What have others done? I have found this unit new at just over £200 which seems like a massive bargain.

The other choice is the Kenwood DPX-406DAB which is looks pretty solid and I quite like the layout and physical buttons plus the Aux and USB are front mounted which makes it a simpler self install..

Do any of the forum members have experience of the above models or suggestions of other DAB & Bluetooth units around the £200-£250 mark?

Cheers, Matt

Hi Matt

The AVH X3600dab has long been replaced with 2 new models since, it is now the AVH X3800dab which has a far better user interface.

The Kenwood DPX406DaB is a cracking unit for the money, but the display is quite poor and easily gets affected by the high angle dash, however they are about to release to another very similar unit which has a bigger screen, so I would suggest waiting a while and it has a price around the £200.00 mark

 

[MattVWT5]

Hi Matt

The AVH X3600dab has long been replaced with 2 new models since, it is now the AVH X3800dab which has a far better user interface.

The Kenwood DPX406DaB is a cracking unit for the money, but the display is quite poor and easily gets affected by the high angle dash, however they are about to release to another very similar unit which has a bigger screen, so I would suggest waiting a while and it has a price around the £200.00 mark

Hi Absolut5 and thanks wildjetskier,

I had a look at the Kenwood site this morning and there is a new model which looks like the 406DAM but with a bigger screen called the DPX-7000DAB could this be then new model you mentioned in your post or an in-between model and there is an even newer one imminent?

Kenwood link below.
http://www.kenwood.eu/car/receivers/all/DPX-7000DAB/

Looks pretty good and it says it has a DAB antenna included.. should save a few ££'s

Any thoughts on the above would be much appreciated, have kind of abandoned the idea of touchscreen as the kids have tablets, I have rear parking sensors and got satnav last fathers day!http://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif

Cheers, Matt

 

[Absolut5]

Hi Absolut5 and thanks wildjetskier,

I had a look at the Kenwood site this morning and there is a new model which looks like the 406DAM but with a bigger screen called the DPX-7000DAB could this be then new model you mentioned in your post or an in-between model and there is an even newer one imminent?

Kenwood link below.
http://www.kenwood.eu/car/receivers/all/DPX-7000DAB/

Looks pretty good and it says it has a DAB antenna included.. should save a few ££'s

Any thoughts on the above would be much appreciated, have kind of abandoned the idea of touchscreen as the kids have tablets, I have rear parking sensors and got satnav last fathers day!http://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif

Cheers, Matt

Hi Matt

Yes that is the new one, but no stock available yet from Kenwood, but very soon, T:

 

[captainpk]

Matt, i have a 2013 VW would the DPX-7000DAB fit with no real problems? Keen to hear what price you would charge including postage and a DAB aerial.

Paul

 

[Absolut5]

Matt, i have a 2013 VW would the DPX-7000DAB fit with no real problems? Keen to hear what price you would charge including postage and a DAB aerial.

Paul

You need a Facia, dab aerial, fm adapter and wiring harness, (harness depends on if you want a plug and play solution, and if you have a MFSW, or intending to fit one)

 

[julianashcroft]

I have a 2006 Transporter and recently fitted a Pioneer AVIC-F980DAB Unit, it was great for a little while and then the Sat Nav wouldn't start. I updated the firmware and everything seems okay again. I got that particular unit mainly for the Sat Nav, DAB Radio and Reversing Camera input. Don't really use the car play features. The only thing that it's missing is the ability to record from a front facing camera as my last Chinese (but a bit flaky) Unit was able to do so.

 

[captainpk]

Matt, i have a 2013 VW would the DPX-7000DAB fit with no real problems? Keen to hear what price you would charge including postage and a DAB aerial.

Paul

You need a Facia, dab aerial, fm adapter and wiring harness, (harness depends on if you want a plug and play solution, and if you have a MFSW, or intending to fit one)

Hello, quick update. I have a 2003 van and not a 2013 T5 (my mistake), I bought the Kenwood and it was easy enough to install, with no extras needed. The FM radio did not with, but the Dab worked a treat, so I did not look further into the FM. I had to remove the glovebox to feed the aerial up the side Piller then on to the windscreen. If I did it again I would make a better job of sticking the aerial to the windscreen. But it worked fine.

One thing that took me a while to work out, I had to switch two of the leads (easy to do, you just pull them out and swap over), that cured the issue with radio not keeping the memory of the channels and date and so on.

It is dreadful in the sunlight though!

The connection to my android phone is a bit temperamental, so I think I need to move the microphone to above my head!

 

[Hoovie]

A few people have made up a sun visor to fit over the head unit as a screen. Might be worth looking at that?

Seems the Kenwoods suffer from the reflection problem more then say the Pioneers (not had this issue with my Pioneer in bright sun, but then I do live in Scotland )

 

[AdelaideT5]

A few people have made up a sun visor to fit over the head unit as a screen. Might be worth looking at that?

Seems the Kenwoods suffer from the reflection problem more then say the Pioneers (not had this issue with my Pioneer in bright sun, but then I do live in Scotland )

Wonder if an anti-glare screen protector for a smartphone would do the job?