[hogweed]

OK, a month on… time for a summary I think. I know there’s at least one other poor sap reading these posts, wondering about going down the same road, so here’s how it’s gone so far.


There’s not nearly as much info out there on how to choose, then fit a DD Android unit as you might expect, so I’ve been on a fairly steep learning curve. My experience is with an ERISIN unit which, on the face of it, gives you a lot for your money, but beware…


If you’re an expert at these things, maybe you’d have an easier ride, but although I used to fix laptops for a living, I’ve found it all pretty challenging so far. The unit arrives with a joke instruction manual, of the “If want listen radio, turn radio on” variety. Technical support is very poor. They pretend they’re in the UK, but they’re in China.


First problem: take your old unit out (don’t drop the screws down inside the centre console), offer the DD up, and it won’t fit. Not even close – you may have to hack bits of your dash out to have a fighting chance, and you will DEFINITELY have to saw part of the DD off (lugs at the top). Even then, it's a bit of a struggle. The remaining lugs at the top won’t line up. Others have bent them over to fit – but, honestly, if I don't end up chucking the thing in the bin, it’s such a tight fit in the hole I’ll probably just rely on it being a good interference fit to stay in place.


After ordering the “Rover-compatible” version, you’ll be told you then need to buy a Rover-compatible cable, at extra cost. This will have to be shipped from China, taking 3-4 weeks. Your aerial cable will not fit – you need a FAKRA adapter (buy it on eBay – it’s cheaper).


Connect the adapter cable and the aerial, stick it ¾-way into the hole, and turn the ignition on. 45 seconds later, you’ll get the launcher screen, with various apps including navigation and radio. It looks really nice, but here’s where the fun stops. I don’t think I’m exaggerating too much when I say that pretty much nothing works – at least, not how you’d like.


Radio – good sound, nice display. Except that, each time you power it up, all you get is a hiss at 87.50 (bottom of the FM range). Scan for stations, and save your favourites – great. Till you turn it off, and they’re all lost. Eventually you’ll discover a secret menu in Factory Settings, accessed with a code (3368), and activate a Memory function, which will retain the stations on power down. However, every time you boot the head unit, you’re back to 87.50 again, and will have to select one of the favourites manually. Also, if you're planning on actually driving around anywhere, you’ll have to manually activate the RDS on each boot too, as it switches off every time.


If you spend enough time on YouTube, you may eventually discover one guy who reveals that there’s an even more secret menu, accessed with code 0000120/1/2, which allows you to select “Sleep Mode”. This is supposed to keep the unit alive when powered down, for a time you specify (a few minutes to a few hours). You can't keep it alive all the time, or it’ll flatten your battery eventually. So set it for a few hours, and it should come back to life immediately when you turn your ignition on, rather than that 45 boot, loss of station, RDS etc. Joy!


Except… remember what I said above about “nothing works”? So this doesn't. Enabling/disabling has no effect; it still loses everything and takes 45 seconds, every time. I checked permanent & switched +12V to the unit were both OK. So I have no idea where to go from here.


Next challenge was the satnav. The unit comes with a cut-down version of iGo, which is a bit basic, but kind of works. I tried a full version which somebody was kind enough to send me, but it couldn’t find any of its maps no matter what I did, so I gave up on that one. Google Maps seemed an obvious solution, so I tried that – but it was so slow as to be unusable, didn’t respond to commands etc etc. Some have suggested other apps, which I may try if I can get anything else to work properly.


So I thought I’d try and hook my phone up via USB. When I occasionally hire a modern car, it prompts me to do this, then seems to use Google Maps from the phone on the car’s screen.


When I get in the Rover, my phone starts “looking for Android Auto”, but never ever finds it. I assumed that using USB would cure this, but it makes no difference. Again, I’m in that kind of limbo where I have no instructions, and can't find anything much on the net to help, so add it to the list of things which don’t work.


Steering wheel controls – no chance, the wiring in the “special Rover cable” is different from what the Erisin technicians say it is, but pointing this out to them produces only the usual silence. Fortunately, with the help of Coolcat, I have figured out how to rewire what I’ve got – haven't done it yet, so for now, that doesn't work either.


I could go on at length about getting the video cable to the rear boot lid – that was a challenge in itself (at least to do it with no wires showing anywhere), but that would of course be the case with any DD unit. Haven't received the camera yet (hey, it’s only been a few weeks) so can't say if it will work or not.


To be continued… unless I lose the will to live…