dLat

update after half year of use:

reliability review for carplay: i use the carlinkit app and the wireless dongle. connects only about 60% of the time. 20% i have to toggle wifi+bluetooth off then back on and it works. 10% of the time it doesnt work.

reliability for the px6 rockchip unit i bought: keep in mind i maxed on storage/processor (at the time)/ram
using android apps is extremely unsafe bc UI is ****/unusable in the car. that being said, i am coming from apple UI, which is a superior UI to android. if you're used to android, maybe you're fine.
using carplay is great when it is connected, but now recently in the last month, the entire unit completely crashes. there's not physical or virtual reboot button. I have to kill the headunit (key out of ignition) for at least 5 mins before rebooting it for it to work, or else the carlinkit app is all black.

a bandage/temporary fix is:
IF ANYONE knows how to add a VIRTUAL RESTART BUTTON that works with our px6 rockchip head unit, you are a god send!

and not sure if i already commented this but:
i added a mic from enfig stereo (~$50) mic that gets mounted to your steering column factory location). customer service was great, but the product wasn't. i tested w/ 3 ppl, they said they noticed an improvement, but windnoise made the receiptient of the call have
1. a hard time hearing me
2. i needed to yell
3. they felt they needed to yell since my voice sounded "muffled" and

in terms of Product Design build quality, the snap points are broke because of the product was 3d printed. if it was 3d printed in a different orientation or injection molded, or maybe had more support in certain areas, it would hold up better. i managed to "mangle/twist" the snap points in place to hold the mic. it's a plastic piece + the actual hardware components of a mic. for $50 it isn't worth it, but i dont want to mount a mic in a non factory location. also i dont have as much time anymore due to working in corporate to fidget around with the mic.

overall conclusion of the mic: will use w/ friends to tell them "im here in the parking lot", but will NOT use for conference calls at work bc it is not at that quality and ppl might get pissed off at you for not hearing your voice well.


im pretty sure i might have broken some rules on being blunt/using foul language, but im having a beer, and wanted to reconnect with the community and provide a long term review of the products ive used. i think only android community was offended, no porsche/rennlist members should be offended!

myw

hi Dlat - is this the 2020 owTowsin unit?

E30toF30

Could you confirm the vendor and product you are having issues with?
Is it the owTowsin unit most of us have bought more recently? Or a different vendor/product?

Have you reached back out to the vendor for support? So far, Bob has been great with the front end/sales side of things. Hopefully he is as responsive with the back end/product support after purchase for any issues like this.

BTW, where is the factory mic? I'd like to run an external mic as well but not sure where the factory one is located.

Thanks!

bleedingedge

I think he uses the OWTOSIN Radio.
However I cannot confirm bad voice quality at all, using the external MIC and wiring it to the steering column cover where the OEM MiC sits.

Also, I see no real difference in handling between the HU apps or CarPlay.
Since dlat uses an external dongle and not the built in OWTOSIN carplay, hard to comment.

scadams

Hmm. I might need to reconsider this. I’m very particular about performance. I’m still interested but I hands-free in my car a lot so mic issues are no bueno as well as connectivity issues.

AitchUK

I've recently installed the OWTOSIN system and found that the steering wheel controls just worked out of the box but only with the ignition on.

I didn't bother with connecting the supplied microphone in the hope that the built in one would continue to work and it did.

Also installed front & rear cameras. I needed to seek professional help with removing the front bumper and with routing the rear camera's cabling which is not easy on the turbo.

Time will tell how it all pans out but happy so far. Maybe the thing to remember is the title of this thread with the key word being 'cheap.'

E30toF30

Thanks for the feedback!
I got a rear camera, but not a front camera. As for the rear camera, is it specifically more tricky with a turbo? I did see some videos on YouTube for a 997 install that looked pretty straightforward. But I have a turbo too, so I'm curious how different it is? 🤔

bleedingedge

As said, there ain't any issues using the external MIC and installing it at the same place where the OEm mic sits.
Also, I never had carplay not connecting, using the built in carplay hardware.

AitchUK

All the videos I saw showed access through the rear light unit. Remove the light unit, pull out the grommet behind, drill through the grommet behind that and using a 3ft zip tie, find a path through to the speaker grille, and so on. Here's my experience bearing in mind that all the videos I could find are for lhd cars and mine is rhd. With the turbo, the intercooler air ducts and the masses of sound deadening material obstruct any path between that second grommet and the speaker. I'd given up on trying so, as I have a friend with a body shop with hoist, I asked him for help in removing the front bumper and fitting the front camera also the DAB aerial that bleedingedge no longer needed while, at the same time, fitting some mesh grille across the inside.

That all went well so we decided to tackle the rear camera. we again looked at and tried the 'conventional' route with no luck so looked for an alternative. With the car raised, it became clear that the rear light, grommet path was no good. We removed the rear wheel. Removing the arch liner revealed the air duct for the intercooler and after undoing a couple more screws, at the rear of the liner where it meets the duct, there was line of sight to the outside corner of the rear light compartment. To get the cables through to the rear light, a small hole, just large enough for the cables' wire rather than their plugs, was drilled close to the edge of the duct and then slit to the edge with sidecutters. Before this stage we had our cables along the carpeted sill, as per the videos. Here, we pulled off the rubber door seal to reveal the edge of the inner trim and pushed the zip tie towards the wheel arch. Secured the cable ends to the zip tie and pulled through. We could then get the cables up and through the rear light fitting compartment. Tucked the cables above the arch liner, prised open the slit in the air duct, passed the cables into the hole and secured everything back in place.

I was surprised that the supplied video cable was more than long enough to reach to the rear no. plate light plus some we'd lengthened the power cable a similar length and just trimmed it when making the final connections.

All the videos I've seen mount the camera into the no. plate itself but this unit replaces the original no. plate light fitting,The rear light is clipped into the bumper aperture, It uses the rubber seal and metal bulb holder from the original no. plate light lens and the only way I could see to get the bulb holders out was to carefully cut away the plastic pieces they fix into. Trying to just pull at them would have seen them destroyed as they have barbs that secure them firmly into the plastic.

A nice touch, the light lens, fitted to the camera has a small groove to accommodate the camera wire so it can pass behind the lens. We made a hole in the back of the light fitting to allow the camera cables through and into the rear of the bumper.

HTH That was my experience with a UK, RHD, 2007, 997.1 Turbo, Tip,, Coupe.

997turboFIN

I got mine installed today. All is working fine, I have Bose-system etc.

But I have alternator whine all the time 🤯

What can cause this? I have OWTOWIS 2020 PX60, dsp, bt 5.0, wireless carplay, canbus decoder, MOST adapter.

its very annoying.. Volume is set approx 75% from PCM. Car is 2007 Turbo.

rickpriceuk

This is usually an earthing problem. Check you have good clean wires.

I have mine on 100% original volume and no hiss, whine, nothing. Just silence.

Though to be fair I don’t use FM radio so perhaps I may have missed this. We have DAB+ in the UK which is a lot better than FM.

ulflun

Thinking of ordering this 8" with 1280 resolution. However, this unit only has 2 usb ports... so you can not have all options (DAB, TPMS, Wireless Adapter)?
9" with PX6 is lower resolution but have five USB ports.

rickpriceuk

Word to the wise on the TPMS.

Check how much it’s going to cost to get the internal sensors fitted to your wheels. Mine cost £18 per wheel. Doesn’t sound much, but that added 25% to the price of the package!

Richard

rickpriceuk

Should also say - my unit has 5 USB ports so plenty.

ulflun

I have sensors on wheels already, but not in car. Got hold of some Porsche 21" original wheels from a 2013. I guess they should work?