Nav/Multimedia Stock Sized Replacement - Review

[351carlo]

As promised, here's the review on the "Koolertron" Stock sized replacement All-in-one Navigation/Multimedia center.

At $400+ Shipping it was a high risk high reward situation I had to try. I ordered on a Thursday and had it on Monday, quick shipping. Initial impressions from the box were, "Oh shoot, it's a junk white box no brand Chinese POS."

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Luckily I opened the box up and was pleasantly surprised with the actual faceplate design (I'll show these installed later). The back end was another reminder that it was a cheap knockoff though.

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And of course a ton of extra stuff, including the cables for camera inputs and amp outputs, the microSD card with NAV software, remote, stylus and the adapter harness (Pay attention to the section on this later)

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The stereo did not line up with the guide pins, the top of the radio interfered with the opening. In order to clear the opening, the plastic support needs to be trimmed by approximately 3/16". This took all of 3 minutes with my Fein Multi-tool and the all purpose cutter.

You can hardly tell, but the square opening for the stereo has been trimmed on top.

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The stereo now fits fine.

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Connects to my Droid-X via bluetooth, makes calls (External MIC is required, and is supplied. Built in MIC does not work with this), and seamlessly plays the audio from my phone over bluetooth. The iPod hookup works, although it does not charge the iPod and is the cheaper serial style hookup. I haven't yet figured out how to access my phonebook, or if it's even possible. The DVD player requires the parking brake cable be grounded out; the easiest route is to solder the parking brake cable to the adapter harnesses ground connections, keeping everything plug and play and simple.

Major problems: GPS does not find the receiver. It appears the Chinese forgot to put the port and baud rate settings in the sys.txt file. This takes all of 10 minutes to modify, but is a pain and luckily I'm a half decent geek. I can provide the steps for others if people need this.

Voila GPS works:

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Major Problem #2: No bass from the sub. None. Sounds awful. Figured out that Chrysler used a +--+ Wiring convention for both the front and rear speakers, meaning their stock radio outputs sandwiched the negative terminals for left and right speakers between the positive terminals. When China made their adapter harness they simply used traditional convention of +-+- and this causes one side of the car to be out of phase. Since the sub feeds off both rear channels, the in and out of phase sides caused the sound to cancel out at the sub. This requires 4 wires to be resoldered or crimped. Reinstalled the harness and the stereo actually sounds great now. Quite impressed with the quality considering how cheap the setup is.

Well now here's a night shot-

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A random menu in the iGO Primo software (Which contrary to other commentary is a great piece of software and very user friendly, as well as highly customizable and sophisticated, huge support and the Pioneer AVIC line uses an older version of this software):

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I really think this was a great bargain buy with a ton of options at a cheap price. No it is not the quality of an OEM headunit, but for a factory fit and finish there is no greater economical value with the extra options this comes with.

And most importantly, my 3 month old nephew approved.

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[345s-bspinnin]

Thanks for taking the time to write/document this install. It does look way way better than that minivan OEM unit, and apparently functionality is not too bad either.

 

[SRT8&10]

Thanks for the excellent write up, man. I do have a few questions, though. So the only modification that you had to make to the console was taking just a bit off the top of the inside opening? can you use an sd card with music in the front acess, or is that just for the nav? If so, have you used the sd function, and is it quick to boot up? Have you used a thumbdrive in the front usb port? I am not an electrical person, how much trouble do you think the average install shop would have with this?

Thanks again.

 

[DeceptioN]

Tempted to trade out my RB1 Nav for this. I didn't research first and thought it played DVDs since it says "DVD" on it, didn't know it was just for the Nav DVD.

 

[351carlo]

Tempted to trade out my RB1 Nav for this. I didn't research first and thought it played DVDs since it says "DVD" on it, didn't know it was just for the Nav DVD.

It does play DVDs, the Nav is stored on a MicroSD card.

There is another MicroSD slot for music storage as well. I have not used this or the USB hookup yet, the streaming Bluetooth media was most attractive to me.

I do not believe any competent installer should have an issue, but they would certainly need my instructions for what's wrong otherwise they'd have a hell of a time diagnosing it. The GPS program modification would be easiest for you to do yourself with some step by step instructions, which I'd be glad to write up and likely will soon.

 

[Jay M]

That looks awesome, I wish I had known about that before I installed the double DIN unit in my car.

~Jay

 

[Randomaccess]

Thanks for sharing. Where did you pick this up for $400?

Will it work on all models?

 

[351carlo]

Thanks for sharing. Where did you pick this up for $400?

Will it work on all models?

They seem to have raised the price in the past two weeks. $450 now.

http://www.amazon.com/Koolertron-Navigation-1999-2004-Cherokee-Chrysler/dp/B005LFV5Y4

Don't see any reason it wouldn't work on all Gen3/4 cars, as to the best of my knowledge they are all the same.

 

[Sonoman]

Major problems: GPS does not find the receiver. It appears the Chinese forgot to put the port and baud rate settings in the sys.txt file. This takes all of 10 minutes to modify, but is a pain and luckily I'm a half decent geek. I can provide the steps for others if people need this.

I'm interested in this... so the GPS doesn't work without modifying a sys file? 351Carlo, when you have the time, could you give a quick how-to on setting the port and the baud rate?

 

[351carlo]

Surely. Let me take a few screen grabs this week and put it together. The modification isn't difficult, just copy and paste a few lines into a file with notepad, then resave the file and pop the MicroSD card back in. Just diagnosing the problem that was troublesome, and finding the correct settings.

 

[SRT8&10]

Surely. Let me take a few screen grabs this week and put it together. The modification isn't difficult, just copy and paste a few lines into a file with notepad, then resave the file and pop the MicroSD card back in. Just diagnosing the problem that was troublesome, and finding the correct settings.

You are a better man than me here. Not being a computer guy, I would have taken a sledge hammer to the damn thing. However, I am gald you didn't do what I would have done.

 

[MoreBeer]

You're a man after my own heart, 351carlo! I'm running a highly modded AVIC F series in my truck. Oddly enough the Viper is the first car I've ever owned that I have no desire to put a stereo in... And I used to compete in car audio! There's something about the 5-channel stereo sound I get when I step on the GO pedal that makes me forget about the crappy stock stereo. (and mine is even slightly crappier than stock, with a blown sub and missing front left stage highs). Well done though! Great writeup as well.

I'm assuming the unit runs winCE? Are you able to boot it into 'testmode' with a full windows CE desktop, or are all the iGo files (maps and runtime) stored on the MicroSD?

-mb

 

[351carlo]

You're a man after my own heart, 351carlo! I'm running a highly modded AVIC F series in my truck. Oddly enough the Viper is the first car I've ever owned that I have no desire to put a stereo in... And I used to compete in car audio! There's something about the 5-channel stereo sound I get when I step on the GO pedal that makes me forget about the crappy stock stereo. (and mine is even slightly crappier than stock, with a blown sub and missing front left stage highs). Well done though! Great writeup as well.

I'm assuming the unit runs winCE? Are you able to boot it into 'testmode' with a full windows CE desktop, or are all the iGo files (maps and runtime) stored on the MicroSD?

-mb

I just hate the look of the stock radio to be honest. I don't really use anything other than the auxiliary input for streaming music from my phone, so the Bluetooth was a great touch.

The unit I'm sure runs winCE but I haven't yet gotten it to boot into the desktop or figured out the backend passcode (There is a system features menu which is locked out). The iGo files are ALL stored on the MicroSD card, and the "Navi" button seems to just execute whatever .exe file is in the top directory. Easy exploit there, but I'm just too content with everything to risk screwing it up. The CD, Radio, iPod, etc interfaces could really use a few hacks or an interface swap from an AVIC setup.

The last bug I have to chase is the iGo Primo causing a volume clip every time a button is pushed, even with the sound muted.

After all this I think the makers should send me a second one for free!

 

[Randomaccess]

Surely. Let me take a few screen grabs this week and put it together. The modification isn't difficult, just copy and paste a few lines into a file with notepad, then resave the file and pop the MicroSD card back in. Just diagnosing the problem that was troublesome, and finding the correct settings.

Hey carlo... Did you get to posting this up somewhere? Thanks for the writeup! I think I'll be picking one of these up.

 

[Ghoust]

How much would labor install costs be on something like this based on your experience? definitely interested.

 

[MoreBeer]

The last bug I have to chase is the iGo Primo causing a volume clip every time a button is pushed, even with the sound muted.

After all this I think the makers should send me a second one for free!

The AVICs had this problem as well. If I remember, it was the 'button press' WAV file. Either deleting it or replacing it with a zero byte file fixed it. Worth a shot?

Maybe you can try grabbing the WinCE 'testmode' files from AVIC411.com ... all you do is put them in the root of an SD card and insert that at boot-time. Since you have 2 SD slots, I'm not sure if it would work on the "user" one or the GPS one. Very cool though, these things are a blast to play with!

-mb

 

[351carlo]

Hey carlo... Did you get to posting this up somewhere? Thanks for the writeup! I think I'll be picking one of these up.

I haven't yet, but I will. I just haven't made the time.

How much would labor install costs be on something like this based on your experience? definitely interested.

I have no background with install costs. I can't imagine what anyone would charge. With my writeup it shouldn't take much longer than a normal install, maybe an extra half hour to an hour tops.

The AVICs had this problem as well. If I remember, it was the 'button press' WAV file. Either deleting it or replacing it with a zero byte file fixed it. Worth a shot?

Maybe you can try grabbing the WinCE 'testmode' files from AVIC411.com ... all you do is put them in the root of an SD card and insert that at boot-time. Since you have 2 SD slots, I'm not sure if it would work on the "user" one or the GPS one. Very cool though, these things are a blast to play with!

-mb

I fixed the button push cutting sound. Had to edit a file but it was easy. I have not yet messed with the WinCE boot hacks, but I'm sure this winter I'll get bored and give it a try.

 

[malcoll]

I am really considering this radio..... I have a lot of experience with automotive wiring...but this programming stuff I am not so "in tune" with...... Can you PM me when you put your notes together?

Thanks.

 

[351carlo]

I am really considering this radio..... I have a lot of experience with automotive wiring...but this programming stuff I am not so "in tune" with...... Can you PM me when you put your notes together?

Thanks.

I will soon. I'll try to get that together this week. It's not really much programming, you can copy and paste all you need. For all I know they will have modified the file and it'll work for future users.

 

[Hirkophoto]

I really like the looks of this head unit. If everything works on it as advertised? After the fixes you have done of course. I think it would be great to post this up in the illustrated upgrade section with all the fixes if you would be able to. I would like to try this but I would like to see all the steps I need to do to get it to work completely. Pm me with more details when you have them.
Hirk

 

[Randomaccess]

Bump any more details on this?

 

[2005 SRT-10]

that is definitely an impressive install to say the least. If you lived closer to NY i could certainly use you on this one.

 

[351carlo]

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of replies. Merry Christmas.

I've now used the system for a few months, although sparingly, and have to say I love the Bluetooth feature more than anything. I've customized the GPS program a bit, and have come to realize it is the latest and greatest GPS that the Pioneer/Other non-Garmin Nav systems are using. The handsfree calling isn't always the best since our cars are so loud, but the rest of the features make up for it.

I'm a bit far from Albany, but do make trips up to NYC on a semi-regular basis. Would be glad to assist anyone with this.

 

[Randomaccess]

I picked one of these up. It arrived with one of the buttons stuck. I'll let you know how the company deals with this situation... Especially from china.

 

[351carlo]

I'm sorry to hear that. Which button was it and I assume something was binding causing it to stick?

Let me know how you make out, I assume Amazon will take care of any issues.

 

[Randomaccess]

The DVD button had no action at all. I'm able to coax it up with a thin piece of cardboard... but once you press it she stays in.. . I didn't even try installing it so I don't even have time invested.

 

[Randomaccess]

I took it apart and fixed the button binding issue... nothing serious just shaved her down a bit with a little sand paper and a knife.

351carlo - I will likely try to install her this weekend. Can you post up the info of what needs to be edited in the config file to fix the GPS?

 

[Randomaccess]

I got the install done today. Its just as carlo described. A little cutting, resolder 4 wires, ground the parking brake lockout and edit the sys.txt

This is the info that needs to go into the sys.txt:


[gps]
port=1
Baud=9600
source="nmea"

You'll need a microSD reader of some kind to edit the file.

I mounted the gps antenna on right on the radio... seems to work...

I'll need to find a place for the external mic... but we'll save that for another time.

So far I agree the bluetooth is the coolest option. it will read MP3 from a data disk or from a second microSD slot. DVD's play. I couldn't get MP4's to play from the SD slot yet. NAV doesn't have TTS for street names. I tried dropping some voice files on there for iGO but didn't seem to work.

Some of the screens are unusable when driving because they aren't finger friendly. Such as the directories read from data disk or SD.

 

[viper04]

Nice write up all, good info.

 

[Hirkophoto]

I think I'm waiting on the MyGig unit. FinalGTS is working on the full kit. The quality and fit and finish on it appear to be a bit better. Nice info on all of this.
Thanks