My After Market Radio upgrade

[rtmoose73]

Hey Guys & Gals,

This is my first post and I wanted share my experience. I wanted to upgrade my 06 Passat stereo with something that had an "aux" port. After much searching I decided that if I was going to do an upgrade I should go with a double din video unit. I search all over and researched every unit I could find and I settled on the Jensen VM9022.

My desirements:
- Full double din
- 6.5" or 7" video
- iPod intgration
- DVD
- Nav upgradeable
- Bluetooth
- Backup Camera
- Aux video input
- USB support
- MP3 support
- RDS
- "Knobs" for volume control
- Minimize the number of extra boxes behind the dash
- Sat radio
- cost around $400

For many reasons I can go in to later, I did not like the units by Alpine, Eclipes, Kenwood or Pioneer. In fact I saw no major advantage to any of those other units and most were 2x or 3x as costly. I purchased the HU from cartronixplus.com and thier prices were awesome. The HU, adapter kit and wire harness came to ~$430.00. The install was super easy and looks perfect.
I am now installing the backup cam which I bought on ebay for $25. It looks really good and has great night vision. I am also considering buying a media drive to hold most of my movies.

Here are some links to the stuff:
Jensen VM9022

Backup Camera

Media Drive

[james_tiger_woo]

Have you got any pictures of your installation? How does it sound, how does it work, how does it fit and how do you get DVDs in it?

When I changed my stereo, I kept it simple and went with this, it has an AUX port, plays MP3 cds, and has full ipod control via a USB port in the back which can also play USB memory keys, lets me use my portable DAB and can be expanded for about £30 with a bluetooth adapter (but I've got a parrot kit). I chose Clarion as they're a recognised, reliable brand - for the same money, I could have got something a lot better from ebay, but I opted to keep with a "named" product.



However, stereos here in the UK are a lot more expensive and at current exchange rates, my installation probably cost approx $420

PS, that link to the stereo doesn't work, do you really need a reversing camera and is that just a USB caddy or does it come with a 2.5" HDD?

[james_tiger_woo]

RTMoose73's Stereo (according to the website):

[mihaimihai]

Nice upgrade @rtmoose73! The specs and the price are excellent! What is your feedback after using it, how it performs? Can you put some pictures to see how it looks in the B6 dashboard? I am very tempted to buy one for my new 2008 B6 140CP CR DSG Highline beauty that will be delivered to me next week!

Cheers,
Mihai

[rtmoose73]

I am very happy with the unit. First off, the face plate drops down to allow access to the DVD drive and SD card. Movies look great. The display is crisp and has a high resolution. The SD card controls are very clear and easy. I do not think it will play Divx from any other device besides a disc. USB will support thumb drives and hard disks, however the controls are good but can be difficult with thousands of files. The iPod interface is also excellent and works with the iPhone.
The media drive I am buying is to over come the divx limitation on non-optical drives. The Bluetooth hands-free works great and mutes calls and will return to programming after the call has ended. I am planning on putting a center channel speaker in the center roof console and a small sub in the trunk.

I am very happy with the whole set up. The guys at CartronixPlus were great and I am sure they would ship to the UK where this set up would be about £225. I will post some pics soon.

[rtmoose73]

Here are some pics.

[james_tiger_woo]

Looks good - I wonder how the device would work with PAL DVDs and how would you go about getting a UK Sat Nav?

Must. Not. Be. Envious.....

Nice one

[SuperCharger28]

Hmmm nice does this have a sat nav built in?

[rtmoose73]

The unit is nab capable but requires a seperate small box and antenna. But at $175us it is cheap. Woo, don't sucome to envy, I went the cheap route. But it is cool!
:-)