i spent the day surfing the web for a new car stereo (and a new car to put it in)

 

i'm looking either at a 2din touch screen all in one CD, sat nav, ipod control, bluetooth phone headunit

 

or an in dash PC/headunit hybrid that will act like a headunit (CD/radio), do sat nav, bluetooth, Itunes, wireless conection to my house and run conzult

 

I've looked at expensive ones and i've looked at cheap ebay imports, the problem is i'm not sure if they do what i want or wheter i will need to buy lots of add on bits or wheter the user interface is any good. most of the carPC adverts talk a load of geek but dont actually tell me what it does in english

 

what i really want to do (being old fashioned) is go into a shop that sells a range of both types and try them and ask questions etc.

 

can anyone recomend a shop in the south east or london that sells both car stereos and car PCs as i cant find one on internet

 

alternativly any one who has already researched / bought something similar suggest products to look at / avoid

Dublove has an amazing pc in his car, ask him :)

an In-car PC will do more (depending on spec), far more flexible in terms of add-on functionality, but they are more complicated to use and more prone to issues. They are very dependent on the front-end software in use.

 

As well as building and selling quite a number of In-Car PC's I ran my own for a number of years and was continoully developing it.

 

It had just about every piece of functionality available, but in truth I would'nt do one again! Too much of a headache to set it all up and despite constant improvements its never going to be as straightforward to use a all-in-one system.

I have started installing the cableingor the carputer, but useing a headunit as well, so best of both worlds. i ave an aux input for the stereo that the RCA cable from the computer will go....

 

the reason fo the computer... GPS, Films ,massive storage for pictures and MP3, wireless internet, Datascan. but still wanted the functionality of the headunit... insert cd play music, turn on radio.. no problems....:D

 

Neil

Edited March 10, 200916 yr by Darkside TT

thats why i was looking at combined pc head units, where the radio and cd are ready instantly then the PC boots

 

looking at :

 

infill G4:

http://www.parkmyauto.co.uk/jkm-infill-g4-in-car-uk-computer-double-din-dash-windows-pc-touch-screen-nav-blue-tooth-multi-media-693-p.asp

 

infill T3:

http://www.navigadget.com/index.php/2006/10/13/infill-t3-with-streetdeck

 

lilliput:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/T2000-Lilliput-Car-PC-DVD-Player-w-7-VGA-Monitor-Combo_W0QQitemZ280320537446QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Audio_TV_Electronics_In_Car_Entertainment_GPS_In_Car_Audio_Players_PP?hash=item280320537446&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1683%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

 

revosys:

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BRAND-NEW-2008-X300-Double-DIN-CarPC-Car-PC-Carputer_W0QQitemZ130292052854QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item130292052854&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1689%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

LOL at those prices.. i could build one for like 500 quid

i bought mine for £250! not a pretty gui but works well enough

LOL at those prices.. i could build one for like 500 quid

 

ok , i'll have a double din (2.3 din ideally) touch screen headunit , 4x50w amp,5 pre amp out, RDS tuner, MD, CD, DVD and DAB, ipod interface with full control, hands free (wired) connection for a nokia 6233. with a PC to run Conzult, run outlook and itunes and wireless connection . how do you want paying?

i bought mine for £250! not a pretty gui but works well enough

 

what make / model / ebay link is it?

Why not buy the super small ones for like 300quid (a real mini laptop) strap it somewhere (under seat or glovebox) and also get a Touchscreen hook it up make a power switch by the Steering wheel and there ya go!!A real Computer in your car!! will try and find some of my mates job!! cost him like 300quid in total for a new laptop and used 10' screen!

what make / model / ebay link is it?

 

xd-7258 all over ebay!

I'm in agreement with Legrath here. I thought it was a great idea at first so I did it. BUT and the biggest but for me is the software. I paid $314 dollars for 'Centrafuse' car interface system and it is crap. Sure it looks good but it's so buggy. The company release updates which fix one thing yet introduce another issue. For example: sat nav worked fine with Centrafuse v1. Yet with v2 it lags 300yards behind my realtime position. Developers say Centrafuse is not at fault, but it is funny because the only thing in my system that change is Centrafuse! Shit coding if you ask me but hey...

 

If I was to do an incar pc again I would use a small laptop hooked up to the dashboard touchscreen lcd. Create a power supply for it (custom because of the laptop input voltage). Then again another hurdle is rigging it to the ignition for shutdown/startup.

 

Saying that though I won't be doing another car pc again. I would rather now just save myself the hassle and fork out the £900 for a Pioneer double din does everything unit. Instant on/off too which you can never have with the car pc.

 

 

Not to put you off or anything :)

Edited March 11, 200916 yr by dublove