Well, for better or worse today I took the plunge and ordered a Dynavin. It won't come for about a week, so I guess this is going to be a very drawn-out teaser/review thread
**Edit: Review Posted**
Dynavin V5 Review
As you may know, a while ago I took the plunge and ordered a Dynavin V5 navigation system from Jeff. As a reference point, I’m not someone who’s into a ton of bass, or even really super-loud music for that matter. I’d consider myself a novice audiophile, but I’m really not that picky. (Although it did take me the better part of a year to find in-ear headphones I liked.) So, to justify purchasing this I told myself that I could sell my GPS, my business head unit, and my cd changer and come out of it all somewhere close to even. Considering that, the Dynavin really isn’t that bad of a deal. Still considering that though, it certainly isn’t without its faults.
I received the unit around the beginning of March. So first I’d like to apologize for my tardiness in getting a decent ZHP Mafia-exclusive review up here for you guys. I’ve been out of town quite a bit recently, but that’s really just an excuse for my laziness (and it sounds very similar to my excuse for not finishing my taxes until the last minute…)
My intent here is to help you-all decide if this is something that you’ll be happy owning. Navigation units seem to be the highly-desired holy grail of the interior-modding world. (maybe if just to some…) They just seem cool and cutting edge. And I’ll be the first to admit I fell victim to this falsity. I found out they’re pretty sweet, but by no means a necessity; the BMW Business head unit was actually really solid. Hopefully my experience will save you some money if the Dynavin turns out not to be something you’re interested it!
Installation
We’ll start out with the straightforward part of this review. Jeff promptly shipped my unit, and there were no problems/defects at all with it. There’s a slight problem with the radio cutting in and out, but I think I may have slightly dislodged the antenna wire when I shoved the unit in the really pretty small space) He emailed me instructions on how to install it while it was in transit, and it’s a process I’m confident any of you could undertake on a Saturday afternoon. I printed out the instructions during the week, and tore apart my dash the following weekend! To sum it up, you’re basically going to have to pop off your trim, unscrew your head unit, unplug some cables, and shove the Dynavin in the now empty space. And I say “shove” intentionally. It really does not fit very well, and getting it in that tiny space was easily the hardest part of the process. Just keep telling yourself that other people got it in there - you can too! lol. Pro tip though – tape down half of the cables to the left, and half to the right. I’ve heard that makes it easier. Before you shove it all back there you’ll want to run your reverse camera cables, iPod connection, and any other inputs you’ll be using. The instructions will detail out all that though – not really my intent to write a diy here. Then you really just put everything back together and you’re set.
As a side note, I didn’t use the special carrier for the climate controls that you’re supposed to get. So far I’ve been fine without it, but if you’re comfortable throwing $50 at it go for it. I might order it soon – we’ll see.
Customization
The GPS side of the Dynavin unit requires a lot of customization. Everyone on the forums says to get iGo Primo, but honestly I haven’t figured out where to find it yet. Maybe someone can help me out on that front… Regardless, you’ll have to change the settings so it doesn’t annoy the crap out of you for telling you you’re over the speed limit, etc. Once you get used to how it works, the iGo 8 that it comes with actually seems pretty good – I like it more than the Garmin I retired. It updates at a really quick frame rate, but it isn’t always incredibly obvious where you should be turning, etc. Driving in the city where there are exits a quarter mile apart was fairly confusing, but out in Indiana it was flawless.
Problems
It isn’t refined. That pretty much sums it up. I’ll try and be a little more specific for you though!
Interface: Where you tap isn’t always obvious. For example, on the main screen tapping on the icon for say the radio, the iPod, etc. does nothing. You have to tap on the actual text of the item. So you tap “iPod” instead of the icon. Weird, and it creates a smaller hit area, making you be more specific on where you tap. Not good when you’re already distracted with the whole driving thing. There’s also these stupid transitions it uses. It’s like a bad PowerPoint presentation when it goes back to the main screen from the radio or something. I don’t remember what it was called – blinds or something? Maybe there’s a way to turn it off, but I haven’t figured it out yet. Oh, and the clock is stuck in military time. I guess that might be a bonus for some of you guys though!
Reverse Camera: I just hooked this up this weekend. The camera was a dud, so another is on its way. I have it working and wired besides that though, so whenever I put it in reverse the input changes to “Backup”. The weird thing though is the sound cuts out. I’ve never driven a car with a stock backup camera that turns off the sound from the radio, etc. when the camera comes on. That’s just silly and probably them being lazy when they made the thing.
Hardware: THERE’S NO POWER BUTTON! Huh?? I can mute the sound, skip to the next track, pause a CD, or change the “Mode”. But I can’t turn the stupid thing off. Sometimes at night I just want the screen to go away. That’s not possible though… Also, there’s a problem with ventilation. If you have the GPS running for half an hour or so (and the GPS is always running, although I think I figured out if you don’t leave it on the map screen this doesn’t happen) a slightly audible fan can be heard trying to cool the thing off. If you’re listening to any audio at all, you won’t hear it. But if you’re just trying to chill while being directed where to go, you’ll notice it.
Steering Wheel Integration: It works, but navigating the iPod interfaces it tedious at best. Also, changing the volume takes one push of the volume button to initiate the volume control, and then another press to actually change the volume. So, for example, if you want the volume four levels down, you’d actually press the down button on the steering wheel five time. You get used to it, but honestly that’s just a stupid design.
iPod Interface: My goodness does this suck. It’s the worst interface (for anything) I’ve been exposed to in years. Tapping on a song name doesn’t really work most of the time, it takes forever to scroll to anything, it looks like crap, and it’s just terrible. I’ve seen YouTube videos of previous versions of the Dynavin unit and the iPod interface looks to be pretty good. Where the heck did that go??
Conclusion
It’s pretty sweet. It looks OEM, has a red color theme, and more or less does what it’s supposed to. There’s a ton of inputs for backup cameras, game systems, or whatever you want. There’s a TV tuner (that you have to purchase separately), and it’ll integrate with you iOS devices and still have an input for a regular Aux device. Plus it plays DVD’s if you have kids that need to be distracted! It's still a big purchase, although it is less than pretty much any other similar offering. Sometimes I wonder if it was the right decision, but I think I'm usually pretty glad I got it! (especially once I get this backup cam working...)
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