Dig-Options "Lifestyle Range" Head Unit Review

[b2barker]

I bought a WinCE unit from Dig Options which was just under $500 with the reversing camera. Here is a demo video from the supplier

Installation
Came in a a professional looking box with all the bits/cables I needed and some that I don't (RCA cables, iPod and others)
Very simple. My old unit had one wiring harness plug and two for the aerials. A provided adaptor plugs between the new unit and wiring harness, and this includes a CAN module. Another supplied adaptor plug between the new until and the two aerials. This also needs 12V as it some sort of radio signal booster. I picked up the 12V from the cable out of the unit used to switch an external amp.
There is also a supplied USB extender, external mic and GPS antenna. I put the GPS up through the middle of the dash, and the mic and USB under through the steering column and out through the fuse panel lid.
Built in cable for USB 3G/Wifi dongle. I haven't tried this but may try wifi tethering some day
Turned it on and it works. Volume/mute/phone answer on my steering wheel all work straight away.

Radio
Radio reception is definitely better than my old RCD300, and the radio interface is as you would expect. Doesn't seem to be a facility for naming stations. I just did the auto searched which saves them and then I can select by frequency.

Bluetooth Phone
Build in mic wasn't flash, but with supplied external mic handsfree calls are as better than any BT handsfree I have used in the past. Can't see if there is a contacts import, I suspect there isn't. Can dial from head unit, or select from call list or manually entered contacts. No contact import no big issue as I would dial from Google Now voice anyway, and will probably manually add 3 or 4 contacts that I would dial regularly

Bluetooth Streaming
This was a big ticket item for me, and it is really good quality sound. Pairing was easy and it works well. Doesn't show meta-data on head unit but you can control track next/reverse from there.

Navigation
Takes at least one minute from selecting Navi before you get something useful. Once the slow startup is over the navi works pretty well. Have tried it few times and all the route finding and then re-routing works fine. There was a weird to the sound briefly whenever you touched the Navi screen, but found the setting to fix this. Voice turn-by-turn working well now with music play as well

DVDs/Video On Disc/USB/SD
Works. Can't myself watch a lot of in car video. The youtube video shows a bit of this

Music On Disc/USB/SD
The interface for this is a bit cludgy, and the control from the screen is too hard as the buttons are small (that's probably why they use a stylus in the video). A bit better from the remote. Can't see any options for random play, so it just seems to linearly play through tracks. I would prefer random. I think it takes about 30s to load a burnt DVD stuffed with MP3s

Reversing Camera:
I haven't fitted this yet. It pick up reverse gear selected and switch to camera input, so I update this later

Screen
Daytime visibility is good, but it a little too bright at night. I think it is picking up lights on from CAN bus and dimming but need to test this further. It's not ridiculously bright, but I would like it dimmer. On the plus side there is a hardware button to turn the screen off/on altogether.

Note on SD : I bought a new 16gb card the unit doesn't recognise it. I had another 2gb micro SD in an adatper that does work. Both are FAT32.

So overall for my usage the unit gets a pass without setting the world on fire. It's stable and does the things I wanted most (BT phone/audio and Navi).

[thermosc]

Hey there b2barker,
How is this unit going for you, I'm thinking of purchasing the new vw premium units from dig options and they seem pretty good. I am also after Bluetooth, rev cam. My t5 transporter doesn't have mf steering wheel I'm not really worried about pairing that up. I'm planning on upgrading the sound system with some 6x9 rears and a 8in sub so should all work ok with the dig unit. At the price it's hard to beat, just wondering about quality and reliability ect.
cheers..