Dynavin .. Yay or Nay ?

Ive been hearing a lot about this Dynavin unit. Ive tried searching on here but all I see is 20+ pages of complaints regarding the unit itself, the install procedure, customers never receiving the product, etc.

What is Dynavin?
What are its features that make Dynavin so special?
Who currently distributes them?
Are they still shipping out empty boxes with newspaper in them?
Is it really worth the money?
Have all the bugs been corrected?
Does it come with an ipod cable? Are all of the tracks, artists, playlists, etc viewable via Dynavin screen?
Warranty info?
Does it play dvds and mp3s?

My apologies in advance for the questions. Im sure this thread will benefit other members who know little about this product.

Thanks in advance.


Edit: Please participate in the poll if you ALREADY have the Dynavin unit.

Dibs on your tape deck nav!

I updated that thread last week

voted... I am now at $700+ of installation costs on top of the $650 I paid for the unit and I still don't have 100% functionality... I guess I did have a more complicated situation (factory nav, aftermarket speakers and sub, aftermarket 4ch and mono amps) but I'm pretty frustrated at this point.. I really wish I had just sprung for an AVIC and the double-din surround

first of all.....you should read the dynavin info thread.....particularly the first couple paragraphs.....the whole reason I wrote it is because of what your post says.

Budfox4life...situations like yours are why I am now a dealer.....what happened to you shouldnt happen with a good dealer and a good installer, actually with the equipment you have it should have been EASIER....your dealer failed to supply you with all the parts you needed and the installer failed to understand how you system is put together and install it correctly.

Most if not all issues have been addressed since version 3 and from reading the problems some post, I'd say that 99.9% of issues are due to bad installs, bad dealers, not adjusting the settings properly and most importantly not reading the existing Dynavin threads, especially Jeff's thread.

I have the second gen installed and everything works fine. I've pulled it once to install a line loc, which you'll get with the new gen. Both times it took less than an hour to install it.

With Jeff's sales and support, now, this unit is a no brainer and if you want OEM looks, this is a great system.

BTW, I doubt seriously that the "No" voters on the poll actually have or had the unit installed.

Originally Posted by jeffb325@DynavinSolutions

first of all.....you should read the dynavin info thread.....particularly the first couple paragraphs.....the whole reason I wrote it is because of what your post says.

Budfox4life...situations like yours are why I am now a dealer.....what happened to you shouldnt happen with a good dealer and a good installer, actually with the equipment you have it should have been EASIER....your dealer failed to supply you with all the parts you needed and the installer failed to understand how you system is put together and install it correctly.

First of all I wrote this thread because of the FAQ's (frequently asked questions) that others have about this unit. Ive had a lot of people that asked me about Dynavin personally and they're not on the forum very often. Ive actually heard very good things about the units youve sold and the customer service you provide. Based upon what I've read, I encourage everyone to buy the unit through you. Good luck

Have all of the issues been resolved in regards to the unit itself? Is it ready to go or are there still some issues that need to be corrected still?

Thanks in advance.

By reading the forum I pulled my Headunit at least 4X now and it wasn't that difficult. Finally got some (2) USB extension, and connect the IPOD cable. My only issues are the NAVI speaks to turn here not the streets name and I have only one radio station. Yes it was pre-set to my Region (USA) clicked the bottom right and it shows all the station but like I said only one station works. At least i can play my USB music. All in all it was better set up than my Business CD. BTW I can play DVD movies too.

Originally Posted by DropTopKingM3

First of all I wrote this thread because of the FAQ's (frequently asked questions) that others have about this unit. Ive had a lot of people that asked me about Dynavin personally and they're not on the forum very often. Ive actually heard very good things about the units youve sold and the customer service you provide. Based upon what I've read, I encourage everyone to buy the unit through you. Good luck

Have all of the issues been resolved in regards to the unit itself? Is it ready to go or are there still some issues that need to be corrected still?

Thanks in advance.

if you look at all the posts involving real problems, they are all 6 months old, all of the current issues are install or setting related....not hardware related. Its not perfect but it is a pretty good solution for combining all the devices in an E46 in an economical package.....even though Im a dealer now, I still stand by my evaluation on the Dynavin Info thread, both the good and the bad.

Originally Posted by reynaldo

By reading the forum I pulled my Headunit at least 4X now and it wasn't that difficult. Finally got some (2) USB extension, and connect the IPOD cable. My only issues are the NAVI speaks to turn here not the streets name and I have only one radio station. Yes it was pre-set to my Region (USA) clicked the bottom right and it shows all the station but like I said only one station works. At least i can play my USB music. All in all it was better set up than my Business CD. BTW I can play DVD movies too.

I don't have my Dynavin yet, however, I do have a Chinese WinCE based 2-din nav in my wifes jeep, which is what the insides of the Dynavin are.

With that said, the reason your Nav doesn't say the street names has nothing to do with the Dynavin, or the hardware, it's because you need additional modules with iGo8. Find a good Nav forum with good iGO8 support, and you can learn how to make it do many cool, things, like say street names, alert you of redlight cams, show 3D views of buildings, POI's, and cities, have an M3 as the cursor instead of the triangle, and much more. But that is all iGO8 and has nothing to do with the actual hardware.

Originally Posted by Darkoz

Most if not all issues have been addressed since version 3 and from reading the problems some post, I'd say that 99.9% of issues are due to bad installs, bad dealers, not adjusting the settings properly and most importantly not reading the existing Dynavin threads, especially Jeff's thread.

Well said.

Originally Posted by Str8down

I don't have my Dynavin yet, however, I do have a Chinese WinCE based 2-din nav in my wifes jeep, which is what the insides of the Dynavin are.

With that said, the reason your Nav doesn't say the street names has nothing to do with the Dynavin, or the hardware, it's because you need additional modules with iGo8. Find a good Nav forum with good iGO8 support, and you can learn how to make it do many cool, things, like say street names, alert you of redlight cams, show 3D views of buildings, POI's, and cities, have an M3 as the cursor instead of the triangle, and much more. But that is all iGO8 and has nothing to do with the actual hardware.

that is great information. thank you.

Now with the V4 Units shipping you also have the benefit of getting OE looking knobs (as well as some additional software improvements).

V3 here and worth every penny to me. I got it for about $625 shipped if I remember. Installed it myself.

Also, Jeff's thread and help is awesome. I have had zero problems with my Dynavin so far. I think some people expect way too much out of it. For $600 and something that looks OEM, you can install yourself.....find a cheaper better option than that.

Yes carcus.....I think it is important that people keep their expectations in line with reality......I was straight up honest in my original review (and wrote it long before becoming a dealer was even a remote possibility) and I gave it a 6 out of 10. Now that Ive tweaked it to my liking and have every setting optimized I give it a 7 out of 10. But in all reality, not much has changed since then (except the knobs!)

So if you are expecting the greatest stereo system ever made.....good luck with that......but if you are expecting an all in one answer to integrate your bmw with all your modern toys, that you can install yourself on a Saturday afternoon, that looks oem, and can be had for a reasonable price....look no further.

Originally Posted by carcus

V3 here and worth every penny to me. I got it for about $625 shipped if I remember. Installed it myself.

Also, Jeff's thread and help is awesome. I have had zero problems with my Dynavin so far. I think some people expect way too much out of it. For $600 and something that looks OEM, you can install yourself.....find a cheaper better option than that.

Yeah, I think that's what you paid given our discounting.
the V3 is now lower priced while the V4 remains at the V3 price point from before. largely the knobs are the only real difference that users will see.

I absolute agree that you cannot find a perfect OEM headunit like DYnavin. Sure there are some external factors involved but OEM fit and upgrade I can't complain. My issues are how to change the skins etc. Other than that this is a better upgrade for under $600.00. Just my 02cents...

Originally Posted by jeffb325@DynavinSolutions

Yes carcus.....I think it is important that people keep their expectations in line with reality......I was straight up honest in my original review (and wrote it long before becoming a dealer was even a remote possibility) and I gave it a 6 out of 10. Now that Ive tweaked it to my liking and have every setting optimized I give it a 7 out of 10. But in all reality, not much has changed since then (except the knobs!)

So if you are expecting the greatest stereo system ever made.....good luck with that......but if you are expecting an all in one answer to integrate your bmw with all your modern toys, that you can install yourself on a Saturday afternoon, that looks oem, and can be had for a reasonable price....look no further.

Jeff can I make a suggestion? do you mind sharing your tweaks and settings to your (potential) customers? How about putting together a 1 or 2 pager addendum to the user guide for new customers; and email them out to those who already have had received their units?

Yeah, not a bad idea since i have answered indivdual questions about various setup options a million times.... Ill put something together for future customers.

Yes i love my unit but there are so many options on the nav side. I would love a thread dedicated to just how to set the nav and exactly what all the buttons are for. I popped up the quick menu and almost **** my self what to i make of all this, I search some igo sites and watched some youtube videos and still did not get much out of it.

Originally Posted by Mulatto325

Yes i love my unit but there are so many options on the nav side. I would love a thread dedicated to just how to set the nav and exactly what all the buttons are for. I popped up the quick menu and almost **** my self what to i make of all this, I search some igo sites and watched some youtube videos and still did not get much out of it.

the best way is to just spend an hour or two messing around with it, The version you have has a TON of features, you just need to familiarize yourself with them, just takes time...