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      05-02-2016, 03:12 PM   #1
Singuy
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Installed a San Hai (no name) Chinese iDrive Navigation System

Hopefully what I post here is of some help to those in need for any type of information for these aftermarket idrive systems from ebay. I know I tried to find some info on these but couldn't.

The system I installed is the "8.3 HD TFT Car DVD Player GPS Navigation 2 Din Bluetooth video for BMW X1". This system claims that it fits the 2012-2013 models but I don't see why a older or newer models will not fit. Mine is a 2013 X1.

The total cost of the system is ~300 USD shipped from China on Ebay. This is a stock image of the system.



The installation was very straight forward. The entire unit was plug and play. Of course you cannot trust all the description from the Chinese advertisers so here are some of the things I have noticed.

1. Bluetooth connects with no problem via Andriod and Apple. It downloads all your contacts into the system as well. The bluetooth call quality is the same as the original OEM stereo. The microphone works really well(perhaps using the original BMW mic here. I still have yet to get bluetooth streaming of music to work on Andriod, ymmv with an Apple product. Pandora just says "headphones disconnected" and then the next time you press play, the phone speakers kick in. My phone under bluetooth connected to the car claims that bluetooth phone calls and media is enabled.

2. Backup camera function works. The min you put the lever to reverse, the backup camera function kicks in. I have to return my camera because it's either faulty or it's incomparable. I believe the system uses PAL and mine is stuck on NTSC. I will see a clear image for 5 seconds and then the image goes crazy as if it's a NTSC-PAL incompatibility. I will update this once I find the answer.

3. GPS is very accurate, using IGO. GPS antenna was installed under the upper dash. Antenna must face the right direction or else GPS will not work.

4. Can't get USB audio streaming to work with the included USB/Aux unit(replaces old unit). Maybe be a setting in andriod I can't figure it out. The USB will however charges the phone.

5. The idrive controller is kind of cheap so the round turn knob sticks a little every time you press it down.

6. The idrive controller and the radio unit all have appropriate ambient lighting. The idrive controller is a nice red color but the radio unit has a lighter red almost orange color.

7. Touch screen works pretty well, but it's a resistive touch screen.

8. You will lose HD radio and satellite radio, if these two things are impt to you then skip this unit.

9. Everything sits flush and looks completely OEM. But the bottom of the screen unit is kind of cheap and causes a small rattle going through very bumpy roads.

10. The radio unit gets pretty toasty, but I here ticking sound inside (hopefully a fan). We'll see how long this entire unit lasts under the Floridian sun. This was with the unit out of the dash, you will not here a ticking sound when it's in the dash.

11. The screen's brightness is pretty decent, also it has an ambient light sensor.

12. The unit forces my a/c and all dash read outs to show imperial units. We set it to metric but with every restart all the units change back. We are still trying to figure this out.

13. The sound quality coming out of the unit is pretty good (or similar to the stock unit). I noticed a small dip in bass but I haven't messed with the equalizer on the unit.

14. The unit has its own PC speaker that gives out a high pitch Dee Dee Dee noise when you don't have your seat belt on. It is extremely annoying and the noise also lose pitch at times as if it's breaking.

15. So far I haven't figured out where the SD card for the navigation is stored because I don't see one in the media compartment. I inserted my own SD card with an updated IGO map but the system can't seem to find my own SD card.

16. The screen is a little bit too big for the plastic surroundings. You will notice the letters on top of the screen a little cut off when running the GPS.

17. The idrive interface is pretty speedy. Once the GPS app loads up, switching between radio and gps is really snappy. The GPS must load from scratch every time the car is booted up. It takes about 15 seconds for the GPS software to boot up. Once it is booted, it will stay in the cache.

18. The system boots up pretty fast, and goes into reverse camera mode pretty quickly.


That is all I can think of, but feel free to ask any questions if you are thinking about retrofitting your bmw x1. I highly recommend it!(currently ..who knows if it'll one day break on me).

Last edited by Singuy; 05-02-2016 at 04:04 PM..
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      05-03-2016, 12:03 PM   #2
4llr
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Would be cool if you can post pics
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      05-03-2016, 11:55 PM   #3
Singuy
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Here are some photos.

As of right now, I AM NOT RECOMMENDING THIS SYSTEM.
The system failed to boot up today when the car was under the sun for 4 hours at 90 degrees in FL. I thought the system broke, but upon testing it 11pm at night, the system booted up without a problem. All my radio station have reset itself so I'm assuming the entire memory was wiped due to an internal reset. Will update further to see if the system will continue to do this.







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      05-04-2016, 02:49 AM   #4
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At first I thought you were joking around!

Thanks for sharing and propa for the diy. Hope you get things sorted out.

Also, i would suggest caution with the car's electronics. For example hopefully it won't draw too much power from the wiring and cause a short. (An example of quality control risk is that Google enginee whose phone and laptop got toasted by a usb cable that was incorrectly made.
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      05-04-2016, 09:18 AM   #5
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Thanks for the review and the update. Hope this ends up working out for you, but I would be cautious with the quality control and perform some tests myself with the system out - plug it in to a 12V power supply and see how much current draws while playing music, running navigation, at startup, sitting still but being on, and at standby. If you end up taking it out would be interesting to see....
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      05-05-2016, 11:06 AM   #6
blackhole
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Thanks for this.
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      05-14-2016, 11:56 PM   #7
Singuy
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2 Weeks update

So far the white screen of death haven't happened and it has been in the 90s in FL.

The navigation software seems to be installed into its internal memory. I can't get the system to read my 4 gig SD card so as of right now, I don't know how to update the navigation software

Music via USB is not working either..in fact the system doesn't do anything when I enable usb with phone

Backup camera system is PAL..will get a backup camera that is compatible soon, but from the moments I do get picture via NTSC, seems to be working fine
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      07-11-2016, 12:32 PM   #8
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Chinese Idrive system

Hello,
Just fitted this kit to my 2012 xdrive 18 msport.
No longer have reversing sensors, any ideas
Thanks
Mike
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      07-13-2016, 01:42 PM   #9
mikem
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mick-h View Post
Hello,
Just fitted this kit to my 2012 xdrive 18 msport.
No longer have reversing sensors, any ideas
Thanks
Mike
This is what's stopped me pulling the trigger. I looked at replacing the head unit on my E90 a few years back and the PDC wouldn't work without the factory unit at the time.
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      07-20-2016, 07:53 PM   #10
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So anymore info on how it's going? Get all the bugs out?I am very curious how this works. May hire you to put it in mine.
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      08-11-2016, 12:59 AM   #11
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That's a pretty good looking system! Also considering getting one for my 2.3D. Chose paddles over satnav and regretted it from day 1!
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      12-22-2016, 02:16 PM   #12
digirebel
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Did you replace an existing system or was this an X1 that had the storage compartment where the NAV usually goes?
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      12-23-2016, 02:01 PM   #13
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Be honest now you bought it because of that asian chick sprawled across the screen!
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