Devium Dash (double din car stereo)

[speedygonz]

Was researching on the different ways to add on iPod/BT A2DP/USB connectivity to my '07 W204 with Audio 20. Unfortunately, the existing options aren't exactly very appealing. The Aux-in, iPod Kit, Navigation 20, Dension 500 and Fiscon Pro all feel more like get-arounds/afterthoughts, and not really full fledged solutions in this era of connectivity and app-ubiquity. You guys probably are aware of the limitations of each option, so I shan't go into details here.

Of course, the holy grail would be to go for a complete overhaul and retrofit the COMAND system and add on the UCI/Media Interface Plus. This would give you all the connectivity that you are likely to use (iPod/BT A2DP/USB), with the benefit of navigation and steering wheel/armrest knob control. Naturally, this comes at a cost and that alone would be a major consideration for many of the bros here, who really can't justify to our wives why we need to shell out so much just so that we can play songs from our phones. (I don't think I'm the only one who has encountered this. Haha. Although my wife has no qualms spending an equivalent amount on her Chanel bag. Oh well... Not a battle I would like to fight...)

Then there's the option of turning away from Mercedes altogether, i.e. installing off-the-shelf stereo systems from third party vendors such as Alpine, Kenwood, Pioneer, etc. Definitely much more affordable and comes with plenty of bells and whistles. But there's still the issue of integration with steering wheel/armrest knob and poor user interface (I never took a fancy to any of the third party user interface implementations so far).

A project on Kickstarter caught my eye recently - the Devium Dash. (http://www.devium.us/products/dash/) Like many others, Dash is a double din standard car stereo. The beauty of it comes from the integration with your smartphone (iPhone/Android and even Windows Phone) that's attached to the front of the stereo via a faceplate. The smartphone then becomes the "head" of the stereo - providing the touchscreen to control the stereo, telephony via BT, content stored on your smartphone (videos, songs), voice navigation/maps (from navigation apps you already have), Internet connectivity (so you can stream online videos, radio, etc) and at the same time, offering you the ability to control stereo functions such as AM/FM. The company is also committed to including options such as connectivity to the car computer and steering wheel controls (whether they would be able to truly integrate with the various car makes/models in the market still remains unknown - I personally would love to activate Siri from the Linguatronics button on my steering wheel).

The Devium Dash will only be available from Sept for USD349, which is probably cheaper than most of the solutions I've mentioned above. I'm certainly interested to see how well this product will turn out when it starts shipping and the outlook seems positive thus far. By posting about it here, I'm hoping to generate some interest and perhaps we could come together to share some thoughts on the product.

[MarkCWQ]

I recon you're looking at replacing your entire Audio 20 Hu on your W204 with this. How about the stock screen that is hidden behind the cover? The screen won't be functional once the Audio 20 HU is removed? Does the company make a HU that fits into the W204?

If iPhone mirroring is what you're looking for, I believe there are aftermarket integration systems that can integrate with Audio 20 perfectly.

[speedygonz]

Yes, I'm thinking of replacing the Audio 20 HU. The Devium Dash product specs indicate that it has composite video out. I'm not too sure whether there's any way for us to use the stock screen as an external screen to mirror the screen of the smartphone.

[MarkCWQ]

Interesting, will you lose the functions of the click wheel? Plus I'm guessing the center console display won't be integrated so you can't control your radio etc. from the steering wheel controls?

[speedygonz]

The product support page indicates that there are plans to provide optional connectivity kits for steering wheel controls (to control the HU) and car computer (access car information). Again, there's no guarantee that there'll be 100% integration with our make/model until the kits become available.

I'm pretty sure we'll lose the instrument cluster display for radio/telephony though.