So it was my birthday last week and instead of getting a pair of LED headlights for my Corolla I decided to get a cheap Chinese 7 inch touchscreen stereo to replace the AM/FM/cd player in my car, specifically this one. SInce all my music is stored digitally and I have no need for a cd player I thought it would make a nice upgrade. Only slight drawback is that the only place to mount a double DIN head unit in my car is down low, right in front of the cup holders.
Anyone have experience with Chinese stereos?
- Thread starter 55Test
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Is it an Android based system? An older WinCE based AV player? Or something more basic?
If you are installing a system with a touchscreen, you should expect it to do more than just be a basic music player. I would select an Android based system, since it has a hope of being updated.
If you are installing a system with a touchscreen, you should expect it to do more than just be a basic music player. I would select an Android based system, since it has a hope of being updated.
It does kinda look like something running Android but there's no info that I can find regarding it. That unit will do AM/FM, mp3, video files, pictures, bluetooth cell phone calling..everything that I would need. I don't need it to do GPS since I have a standalone Garmin unit already
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I installed this but it is a brand name and I paid more than double the price of what you would be paying. I think mine is NOT made in China and the company is actually in USA and has USA based tech support.
My suggestion is to purchase the wiring adapter for your car and go for the chinese one. You don't have much to lose.
My suggestion is to purchase the wiring adapter for your car and go for the chinese one. You don't have much to lose.
Originally Posted By: 55Test
So it was my birthday last week and instead of getting a pair of LED headlights for my Corolla I decided to get a cheap Chinese 7 inch touchscreen stereo to replace the AM/FM/cd player in my car, specifically this one. SInce all my music is stored digitally and I have no need for a cd player I thought it would make a nice upgrade. Only slight drawback is that the only place to mount a double DIN head unit in my car is down low, right in front of the cup holders.
Being a professional installer myself for the last 12 years, I have installed many of those cheap Chinese radios. In my opinion, they are almost always junk. Many of them are broken right out of the box. I suggest sticking with a good name brand like pioneer, kenwood, alpine, JVC, clarion etc.
So it was my birthday last week and instead of getting a pair of LED headlights for my Corolla I decided to get a cheap Chinese 7 inch touchscreen stereo to replace the AM/FM/cd player in my car, specifically this one. SInce all my music is stored digitally and I have no need for a cd player I thought it would make a nice upgrade. Only slight drawback is that the only place to mount a double DIN head unit in my car is down low, right in front of the cup holders.
Being a professional installer myself for the last 12 years, I have installed many of those cheap Chinese radios. In my opinion, they are almost always junk. Many of them are broken right out of the box. I suggest sticking with a good name brand like pioneer, kenwood, alpine, JVC, clarion etc.
Originally Posted By: 60ampfuse
Originally Posted By: 55Test
So it was my birthday last week and instead of getting a pair of LED headlights for my Corolla I decided to get a cheap Chinese 7 inch touchscreen stereo to replace the AM/FM/cd player in my car, specifically this one. SInce all my music is stored digitally and I have no need for a cd player I thought it would make a nice upgrade. Only slight drawback is that the only place to mount a double DIN head unit in my car is down low, right in front of the cup holders.
Being a professional installer myself for the last 12 years, I have installed many of those cheap Chinese radios. In my opinion, they are almost always junk. Many of them are broken right out of the box. I suggest sticking with a good name brand like pioneer, kenwood, alpine, JVC, clarion etc.
Cant agree more, only well known brand from China is good..like Xiaomi, Haier
Originally Posted By: 55Test
So it was my birthday last week and instead of getting a pair of LED headlights for my Corolla I decided to get a cheap Chinese 7 inch touchscreen stereo to replace the AM/FM/cd player in my car, specifically this one. SInce all my music is stored digitally and I have no need for a cd player I thought it would make a nice upgrade. Only slight drawback is that the only place to mount a double DIN head unit in my car is down low, right in front of the cup holders.
Being a professional installer myself for the last 12 years, I have installed many of those cheap Chinese radios. In my opinion, they are almost always junk. Many of them are broken right out of the box. I suggest sticking with a good name brand like pioneer, kenwood, alpine, JVC, clarion etc.
Cant agree more, only well known brand from China is good..like Xiaomi, Haier
If that no name ”stereo” has issues, you might really have some problems that go well beyond infotainment. So much is integrated into these head units now, this is an area I would NOT be trying to pinch pennies if I were to get into it.
Save some pennies and look for Becker or Nakamichi.
Originally Posted By: 60ampfuse
Being a professional installer myself for the last 12 years, I have installed many of those cheap Chinese radios. In my opinion, they are almost always junk. Many of them are broken right out of the box. I suggest sticking with a good name brand like pioneer, kenwood, alpine, JVC, clarion etc.
Youtube reviews of these cheap off brand Chinese car stereos suggest this as well. I have seen one where they even take it apart.
Being a professional installer myself for the last 12 years, I have installed many of those cheap Chinese radios. In my opinion, they are almost always junk. Many of them are broken right out of the box. I suggest sticking with a good name brand like pioneer, kenwood, alpine, JVC, clarion etc.
Youtube reviews of these cheap off brand Chinese car stereos suggest this as well. I have seen one where they even take it apart.
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Originally Posted By: 60ampfuse
Originally Posted By: 55Test
So it was my birthday last week and instead of getting a pair of LED headlights for my Corolla I decided to get a cheap Chinese 7 inch touchscreen stereo to replace the AM/FM/cd player in my car, specifically this one. SInce all my music is stored digitally and I have no need for a cd player I thought it would make a nice upgrade. Only slight drawback is that the only place to mount a double DIN head unit in my car is down low, right in front of the cup holders.
Being a professional installer myself for the last 12 years, I have installed many of those cheap Chinese radios. In my opinion, they are almost always junk. Many of them are broken right out of the box. I suggest sticking with a good name brand like pioneer, kenwood, alpine, JVC, clarion etc.
+1
Originally Posted By: 55Test
So it was my birthday last week and instead of getting a pair of LED headlights for my Corolla I decided to get a cheap Chinese 7 inch touchscreen stereo to replace the AM/FM/cd player in my car, specifically this one. SInce all my music is stored digitally and I have no need for a cd player I thought it would make a nice upgrade. Only slight drawback is that the only place to mount a double DIN head unit in my car is down low, right in front of the cup holders.
Being a professional installer myself for the last 12 years, I have installed many of those cheap Chinese radios. In my opinion, they are almost always junk. Many of them are broken right out of the box. I suggest sticking with a good name brand like pioneer, kenwood, alpine, JVC, clarion etc.
+1
It's paid for and shipped via DHL 3-7 day shipping. When I get it installed I'll post up some pics
Good luck. It sounds like you had your mind made up before asking for opinions.
I hope it works out.
Who goes to a professional installer to install $57 stereo? The only thing that Chinese radio has to do is to not burn the car while it is in the car! Anything more than that is pure gravy.
Only a real moron will pay a professional to install cheap radio. It makes no sense.
Only a real moron will pay a professional to install cheap radio. It makes no sense.
I must be out of the stereo game too long. I put a Soundstream unit in my wife's matrix.
The brand has changed it is total junk.
I put it in, but don't like it.
I used to have the real soundstream stuff from the 80's and 90's it was nice. I hope the guy who stole it out of my pickup is still enjoying it.
The brand has changed it is total junk.
I put it in, but don't like it.
I used to have the real soundstream stuff from the 80's and 90's it was nice. I hope the guy who stole it out of my pickup is still enjoying it.
It's not clear if the OP really had any questions in the post. :^)
It's not clear if he simply bought a 7 inch touchscreen to use as a music source (to plug through a 1/8" jack usually to an existing head unit) OR bought a chinese DIN head unit that had a built in touch screen.
I'd be much more curious about the latter. I would think if it's just an android tablet it should work fine as a music player - assuming the touch screen itself isn't shoddy, at least it doesnt have dozens of little buttons which seem to be what breaks worst of all on the chinese stuff every one being a failure point. With a touchscreen it's all or nothing/the screen works or it doesn't. Need to replace the JVC DIN unit on my daily driver whose volume control is finally going wonky, the one in the girlfriends car, the one in the backup car...
If there's somewhere online the various chinese actual radios and DIN head units are reviewed, compared, and discussed honestly i'd like a reference though - i'll be looking for several in the next year and i'm tempted by the money savings too. Especially when nearly all brands japanese and other are made in china now anyways.
It's not clear if he simply bought a 7 inch touchscreen to use as a music source (to plug through a 1/8" jack usually to an existing head unit) OR bought a chinese DIN head unit that had a built in touch screen.
I'd be much more curious about the latter. I would think if it's just an android tablet it should work fine as a music player - assuming the touch screen itself isn't shoddy, at least it doesnt have dozens of little buttons which seem to be what breaks worst of all on the chinese stuff every one being a failure point. With a touchscreen it's all or nothing/the screen works or it doesn't. Need to replace the JVC DIN unit on my daily driver whose volume control is finally going wonky, the one in the girlfriends car, the one in the backup car...
If there's somewhere online the various chinese actual radios and DIN head units are reviewed, compared, and discussed honestly i'd like a reference though - i'll be looking for several in the next year and i'm tempted by the money savings too. Especially when nearly all brands japanese and other are made in china now anyways.
Ok, so I got the unit a few days ago. I guess it was selected for 'extra screening' upon arrival in the country so it took a few days more than I was expecting. I wired it up all by myself but had a hard time getting it to fit in my dash as the center stack in my Corolla was not designed to fit a double DIN unit. I had to take out my cup holders and my nice storage bin and literally jammed the unit in that space. As for the unit itself:
The screen on its default settings looked a bit washed out and kinda grainy. Not a lot of audio adjustments, just basic bass/treble/fader and balance. Sound quality thru bluetooth or when playing mp3 or video files is a bit weak, although that could jus be because of my speakers. Making adjustments to the FM radio tuner is dumb, you have to drag your finger across the screen to make fine adjustments to the station tuning, otherwise it goes by whatever stations it picks up automatically. Video player seems to have trouble with scenes with fast motion, also the audio/video will go out of sync if you skip ahead or back a lot.
TL;DR..For a sub-50 dollar (currently $44.37 US) entertainment unit that can do everyting (EXCEPT cd's) the price is quite fair indeed. , Now, some pics
The screen on its default settings looked a bit washed out and kinda grainy. Not a lot of audio adjustments, just basic bass/treble/fader and balance. Sound quality thru bluetooth or when playing mp3 or video files is a bit weak, although that could jus be because of my speakers. Making adjustments to the FM radio tuner is dumb, you have to drag your finger across the screen to make fine adjustments to the station tuning, otherwise it goes by whatever stations it picks up automatically. Video player seems to have trouble with scenes with fast motion, also the audio/video will go out of sync if you skip ahead or back a lot.
TL;DR..For a sub-50 dollar (currently $44.37 US) entertainment unit that can do everyting (EXCEPT cd's) the price is quite fair indeed. , Now, some pics
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