Hi Guys, I'm looking for a stereo for my Kia Sorento 2006 and was wondering if anyone has any experience with those cheap Chinese stereos of eBay and such. Mainly wondering how the GPS/maps are but anything that you can tell me would help.
I am after something that has maps, reversing cam, and preferably apple carplay in double-din.
Something like this
eBay Link
I'm mainly replacing it as the stock radio in the car drive me nuts. I have to switch FM bands across to access different radio stations in Sydney.
It wouldn't be that bad except that the favourite buttons are linked to each band, so no matter what I have to switch between all 3 to change stations.
GPS shouldn't really be an issue if it has carplay, then it should just use apple maps. Although I'm not sure which antenna it would use (Phone/Car).
How long ago would you have bought it? Just wondering if there might be some differences with newer ones.
I'd agree with above, I've seen them after a year or 2 and they just don't hold up. Considering it's something that you want to just 'work' from the get-go, with quick bootup into your music, it's worth spending the extra for a name brand.
Wait for a JB car audio sale and buy a name brand, it's just worth it
If you do go cheap then make sure you can switch radio stations the way you like. I listen to a bit of AM as well and it used to be frustrating to go FM1,FM2,FM3,AM1,AM2 to change between 2 stations. My current one has a direct AM and FM selector on the radio screen.
Having 24 favourites is pretty much pointless when you only listen to 2 main ones and about 6 stations.
Sounds like it might just be worth the investment to get a better quality one.
I would prefer something with wireless carplay but there only seem to be one aftermarket one from alpine.. perhaps some more will come out soon.
I fitted a "cheap chinese" LOL… unit to one of our cars about 2 yrs ago. It is a Joying brand, paid around $250 back then.
I cannot fault it in any way… sound is brilliant, radio reception is fantastic as is every other function of the unit.
I was expecting some shortcomings as you do with such things from china but it is quite the opposite.
Last time I looked Joying had a warehouse in Sydney which stocked popular units.
I contacted Joying twice for advice & assistance and both times they replied fast with positive help.
Recently we bought a new car and paid $800 for an audio unit upgrade (JBL). Sadly the Joying unit makes it look and perform like junk.
With these things it is not how much you pay.. it is the product.
There are similar looking units but beware.
Something like this
OP that one is $170,
Go to JB and have a look, you can get a brand name for about $300 that does apple car play and android auto, double din. Seem them the other day. Yes twice the price, but at least you can play with it before you buy and you know it'll be half ok.
Honestly didn't even think of JB.. my mind was still stuck on Strathfield car radios :p
I'll check them out.
there are some units are under 100$ there are some review on youtube which go thru how the unit work. these cheapy model omitted the cd drive and they almost look like android tablets panels, to bring down cost i suppose.
https://www.ebay.com.au/p/GPS-Navi-7-Double-2-DIN-Bluetooth-…
I watched all I could find on youtube, they really just kinda do unboxing or get carried away with some random thing I don't use (like the fact that he got Australian maps in Austria).
But I'll dig in a bit deeper tonight and see if I can't find something.
i purchased the nuevo one a few years ago for about 250$, it's now 120$ pretty good 7 inch screen.
the dvd player not bad but trying to convert movies to run off sd cards is a nightmare, could never get the setting right (used handbrake to convert dvd rips).
Cheap 7 Chinese stereo….?…doesn't sound really good does it??
I've had a few over the years, Windows CE models. (4 I think now) They seem to work OK, but were buggy, slow and not very user friendly. The radio can be a bit ordinary too. The GPS worked mostly ok, but i needed to keep a backup as one kept crashing and another the software died and it wouldn't work again until I loaded software from a different one. I mainly purchase for reverse camera screen and figured the extra features might be worth it. At the time they were a LOT cheaper than mainstream gear, that has changed over time.
Overall I got what I paid for. Cheap. If I buy another it is more likely to be a brand name one.