Another type of Chinese double din

[CDTi]

Some of you may be aware that I recently sold the double din that I purchased from Sean (Radioguy) because I intended to build a carputer.

A few days after I sold my headunit, I came across this system by Hualingan. This has been mentioned on here before and the general feeling was that it was not worth a punt due to its single din size (at the rear), no USB mod possible (probably) and the fact that its an unknown quantity with almost no back up, unlike the excellent support that Sean gives on his stuff.

The Hualingan unit is actually a BMW unit and I discovered that there is a lot of info out there on BMW forums about it. The general feeling is that its as good as any other Chinese DD at the same price, if not better. So my terminal curiosity got the better of me and I purchased one. Price was £330 plus shipping from the UK.

I have it for a few days now and have tested it extensively on the bench and its now installed in my car. I have to say that I am extremely impressed by its quality and appearance. It is obviously very different to Sean's unit on here. Here are some of the things I've found so far:

- much nicer GUI IMHO and it can be customised
- much better radio screen with the RDS name as part of the screen - not an add on
- iPod improvements - better iPod screen, remembers the last song and iPod switches off
- different coloured button lights (red, blue and purple)
- Tomtom audio clipping is fixed!!
- excellent radio reception
- phonebook, but its very fiddly


There is also a possibility of firmware updates from Hualingan to address little problems. There has been at least one update since the unit came out and I understand there is another in the pipeline.

Complaints so far - nothing big but...

- I had to give the top mounting lugs a shave as it wouldn't fit the dash
- Hualingan haven't made a proprietary front trim for the Rover version of the headunit. They just (literally!) hacked off the mounting lugs. Its not really a problem and can't be seen when fitted.
- iPod cable is very short
- there is an annoying button-press beep that can't be turned off. If I was keeping this system, I would have to disable this.
- cannot change the boot logo (yet!!) but the stock one isn't too bad with the Rover and MG signs
.
There is analogue TV and no TMC on mine.

I have tried iGo, Primo and TT on this and they all work fine.

I have taken some pics this evening to show the system installed. Please note that I have left the protective plastic on the screen as I will probably sell this headunit on again. I have already purchased the basis of my carputer and it was never my intention to keep the Hualingan.

I hope to do a vid tomorrow to show it in action but have a look on youtube for "E46 Hualingan" and you will find lots of stuff.

Of course, the biggest concern with this system is the fact that we have no "Radioguy" supplying them. Sean may look into this, but at the moment most of these come from China and we all know the difficulties that can arise when dealing with a Chinese Seller.

As previously mentioned, I will probably sell this next in a few weeks once I have played with it. But I have to say I am very impressed with this Hualingan.

























Edit: I have added an external mic to this unit - see here.