Phoenix Gold Phorum

Been researching around and the quality overall seems to have improved leaps and bounds from 5-10 years ago when most of it was crap. Now probably only 1/2 of it is crap. This brand gets decent reviews, in the videos the units seem very quick and responsive, not just the vendor but owners videos as well. Price is right, sub $300 and being Chinese they don't give a crap about safety features so I can install any app I want. Compare this to Pioneer/Alpine/Kenwood HU's which are about $1500 for the equivilant and they control the apps you install. Really I just want google maps running in dash and couldn't care for much else but I'm sure there's a few other apps I'll enjoy.

Anyone tried out any of the new-ish Chinese HU's in the past year or two ?




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbnfk98uhJM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QUaVJfPv8M

I had one in my VW and now I have a $1100 pioneer in my car. The Chinese unit felt cheap. The buttons had wiggle to them, the country was slow and the sound quality was low. They also claimed that it did mirroring but hahaha no can do. Never worked right. The pioneer has crashed a few times and sometimes gets hung up, but it feels much nicer and the sound quality is clearly better.

It's up to you but you get what you pay for. The big brands might be overpriced but the quality is much much better.

I'm not expecting say Alpine quality but at the same time, $300 vs $1300 is a huge difference. Regardless I'll be brutally honest with a review on the product, from what I'm reading the quality is light years ahead of what they used to sell even 2-4 years ago.

I would take any reviews with a big grain of internet salt. So it could be meth... Last year I got a pneumatic tool that after shopping around and looking at all the reviews I was sure would work for me and last. 8 months later after light use it stopped. I was pissed because I was in the middle of a project I wanted to finish and needed that tool to do it(on a saterday night now) and knew it just screwed up my whole weekend since I would not even be able to begin to replace it till Monday. I was sure to put a review on the site saying all of this and not sure if I was all that surprised that to this day it still has not posted for that tool, but 3 other glowing reviews has. Since then the only reviews I really put any weight on are only from people I know that have used it.

Personally I would roll the dice with a used name brand before praying that this doesn't do what we all expect it to do. But it might not implode..... Also remember that it sounds nice that they do not limit any apps you can run on it but also remember they probably do not limit ANYTHING that is on it. So now you connect your phone to it and I am sure allow it complete access to anything in it and in its not out of the relm of possibility of something malicious being put on it....

the rydeen piece was the best one I seen. full android support.

also the new kenwood deck does android auto.. you may want to look into that. voice activation as well as full mirroring of your droid phone.

aloha

Like Brenz mentioned, check out the Kenwood Excelon DDX9902S. Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, on a MUCH higher-quality 7" motorized touchscreen and a good sounding Excelon unit at $750 retail is tough to beat.

Me-262 wrote:Been researching around and the quality overall seems to have improved leaps and bounds from 5-10 years ago when most of it was crap. Now probably only 1/2 of it is crap. This brand gets decent reviews, in the videos the units seem very quick and responsive, not just the vendor but owners videos as well. Price is right, sub $300 and being Chinese they don't give a crap about safety features so I can install any app I want. Compare this to Pioneer/Alpine/Kenwood HU's which are about $1500 for the equivilant and they control the apps you install. Really I just want google maps running in dash and couldn't care for much else but I'm sure there's a few other apps I'll enjoy.

Anyone tried out any of the new-ish Chinese HU's in the past year or two ?




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbnfk98uhJM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QUaVJfPv8M

its all from China now a days I don't have this but im happy with my cheap oem replacement deck works great plays movie gps etc

I am not downplaying the origin of manf just the quality of it. Anyone in ANY electronics industry wants nothing more then to make their brand a big name that can get more money for it. When they do not want to put their brand on it, something is wrong...... Take into account that a car is really a bad place for electronics with the bumps/temp changes/dust/dirt and from what I have seen you get what you pay for %90 of the time.

ttocs wrote:I am not downplaying the origin of manf just the quality of it. Anyone in ANY electronics industry wants nothing more then to make their brand a big name that can get more money for it. When they do not want to put their brand on it, something is wrong...... Take into account that a car is really a bad place for electronics with the bumps/temp changes/dust/dirt and from what I have seen you get what you pay for %90 of the time.

very true scott but you need to think how long you plan to keep it and were you live
Calgary suck one day its plus 30 next it snows

that is exactly what I was thinking about. If they do not even want to put their name on it I can't imagine they are making it for a good long term product. I could see getting one of these to put in my car to sell but I would not expect to really use it for longer then the 90 days the manf probably expected it to last.