Review: Xtrons PB7646BAP Android 6.0 Head Unit - Pic Heavy

[Dirt McGirt]

Alright, I've spent my entire 4th researching head units. @ZHPizza, how has it been living with the Xtrons 8.0? Any glitches, frustrations, etc?

[ZHPizza]

Alright, I've spent my entire 4th researching head units. @ZHPizza, how has it been living with the Xtrons 8.0? Any glitches, frustrations, etc?

A few lockups with the backup camera and the common issue of the headunit starting up in a random app (usually radio), but it's noticeably faster than the 6.0 unit so I'm going to try to make it work. I've been researching some custom firmware that a guy makes but don't yet understand it enough to make the change. I'm hoping that will alleviate the startup issue.

[Dirt McGirt]

BP, question for you. How has it been living with the Avant 3? I asked @ZHPizza the same thing re: his Xtrons 8.0 unit. After a painstaking day of research, I've narrowed it down to the Avant 3 and the Xtrons 8.0. With the new 8.0 Xtrons, I am wondering if they alleviated the issues you had with your 6.0 unit. Can you provide any more color on the Avant 3 interface, start up, reliability on trips etc? I am essentially trying to justify spending 2x the amount for an Avin unit that is running an OS that is 2 generations old. Does Avin have any plans of rolling out an update any time soon? Plus, Xtrons offers a free backup camera (that IMO looks better than the Avin version).

This really is a question to both you and @ZHPizza. My head is spinning and I need answers.

[az3579]

The Avin unit itself has been very good to me. It has been super reliable, and I don't have ANY of the weird glitches I had with my Xtrons and Eonon units.

The extra money you pay really does make a difference. It seems they focused all of their effort into creating an environment where everything just works. Eonon and Xtrons don't put nearly as much effort into "engineering" and it shows in the price point.

Yes, it costs a lot more and may be a bit behind in it's OS. I did ask up front about whether they planned on releasing Oreo for it and they said yes. I haven't followed up on that.

The accessories are lousy, at best. I have the TPMS, DVR, backup camera, and microphone. The mic doesn't work half the time, the TPMS always had at least two sensors that don't communicate, and the DVR has atrocious video quality.

I keep dragging my feet on writing up a review on this thing because there's quite a lot to talk about. I love the unit itself, and feel the heavily discounted price I received was worth it, but even at that price it is significantly more than the competing products.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[BMWCurves]

I like my Xtrons unit. My only real gripes are that the unit:

• Does not autodim the screen in some fashion based on time or the headlights being on.
• Does sometimes takes a while to connect to WiFi
• It won't maintain my late-night viewing app, so I have to open it every time I'm driving at night.
• The quietest volume setting is on the loud side.

[ZHPizza]

I like my Xtrons unit. My only real gripes are that the unit:

• Does not autodim the screen in some fashion based on time or the headlights being on.
• Does sometimes takes a while to connect to WiFi
• It won't maintain my late-night viewing app, so I have to open it every time I'm driving at night.
• The quietest volume setting is on the loud side.

Yeah that sounds about right. For the last bullet about the volume, you can adjust that. You definitely want to if you have the HK system. Go into factory options, last page, scroll down and find something like about the amp or output or some shit. I can look and see what exactly it is tomorrow, but change it from 0db to -9db. It reduces the signal going to the amp so you don't have the volume issue you described.

[BMWCurves]

Yeah that sounds about right. For the last bullet about the volume, you can adjust that. You definitely want to if you have the HK system. Go into factory options, last page, scroll down and find something like about the amp or output or some shit. I can look and see what exactly it is tomorrow, but change it from 0db to -9db. It reduces the signal going to the amp so you don't have the volume issue you described.

I'm not a particularly smart man, nor am I particularly stupid, but this seems far too logical after the effort I spent trying to find a solution. I am now in denial and do not believe you until you confirm / I have access to my car.

[Dirt McGirt]

The Avin unit itself has been very good to me. It has been super reliable, and I don't have ANY of the weird glitches I had with my Xtrons and Eonon units.

The extra money you pay really does make a difference. It seems they focused all of their effort into creating an environment where everything just works. Eonon and Xtrons don't put nearly as much effort into "engineering" and it shows in the price point.

Yes, it costs a lot more and may be a bit behind in it's OS. I did ask up front about whether they planned on releasing Oreo for it and they said yes. I haven't followed up on that.

The accessories are lousy, at best. I have the TPMS, DVR, backup camera, and microphone. The mic doesn't work half the time, the TPMS always had at least two sensors that don't communicate, and the DVR has atrocious video quality.

I keep dragging my feet on writing up a review on this thing because there's quite a lot to talk about. I love the unit itself, and feel the heavily discounted price I received was worth it, but even at that price it is significantly more than the competing products.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

| It seems they focused all of their effort into creating an environment where everything just works. Eonon and Xtrons don't put nearly as much effort into "engineering" and it shows in the price point.

Honestly, I do not mind the upcharge if it just works. I value peace of mind. I reached out to Avin and there were 2 things I liked:

1. They got back to me almost immediately, on a holiday..
2. They told me what they told BP. Avin will be rolling out an updated OS and will offer it free to their customers.

He said the new OS is at least 6 months out. So if you've been looking to get an Avant 3, there is no reason to wait. Plus, I like that they offer the free software flash. The way I see it, if I go with Xtrons or something similar, I'll eventually want a new OS. And have to go through the sale of the old one, and then installation of the new.

One more thing, BP - how is their backup camera? There doesn't seem to be a no-brainer, flush-fit cam out there. But Avin seems to have a focus on quality, so if it's good enough I suppose I'll pull trigger.

2 cents,
Dirt

[az3579]

One more thing, BP - how is their backup camera? There doesn't seem to be a no-brainer, flush-fit cam out there. But Avin seems to have a focus on quality, so if it's good enough I suppose I'll pull trigger.

I didn't install the backup camera when I realized it's not totally plug and play. The connector for the actual backup camera functionality is P&P, but there is a wire I'd have to solder/crimp to an existing wire for something. I don't know what it's for, but I'm guessing it has something to do with reverse. When I plugged the camera in to test it, the only way I could get it to come on was if I turned on the DVR software, which records both front and back cameras at the same time. I could not get it to come on with reverse, so I'm guessing this extra wire is for that. I couldn't be bothered to figure it out, so it's still sitting in the box.

With all that said, I'm confident that if I was to message support, they'd have an answer for me very promptly. Their support has been phenomenal from purchase questions to actually supporting the product once it was in my hands.

Regarding the camera quality -
If I had to take a guess judging by the quality of the other accessories, I'd guess that it's quality is poor. The other accessories weren't very good. But, I haven't installed it so I can't really comment on its true quality.

[ZHPizza]

I'm not a particularly smart man, nor am I particularly stupid, but this seems far too logical after the effort I spent trying to find a solution. I am now in denial and do not believe you until you confirm / I have access to my car.

Factory settings (password is 126) > other > scroll down to "Amp volume" and set it to -9db or whatever works best for you