Anyone got a Zenec 2010 installed?

[GeoffT]

I am just about to order my Scirocco and intend to fit one of these to it:

http://www.zenec.com/en/products/ego/vo ... ze-nc2010/

I seems like a cheaper and better option than factory bluetooth and satnav, as the satnav is IGO8 which is more customisable and includes full UK postcode support whereas the OEM is just the first 5 characters.

Has anyone got one of these fitted, and if so what do you think? Does it work with all the existing controls and display as claimed? Was it plug and play as claimed?

[retsila]

I'd be interested in any reviews from roc owners

[GeoffT]

There are a couple of videos on youtube of it in a scirocco but no english commentary. Does look to integrate well though with the information appearing on the MFD just like OEM.

[Ian_Mac]

I had a quick look on the web link and the pics look looks far more appealing than the RNS510 in my opinion from a graphics point of view. Not a cheap option but if it does integrate then I'd say go for it.

[medicsource]

Disappointingly, it doesn't seem to have DAB radio out of the box. There is a module for digital TV that may do it, but that is a bit OTT! So still I'd miss out on TMS!

[james sr]

http://www.kenwood.eu/products/car/mult ... DNX520VBT/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[GeoffT]

Not sure if the Kenwood fully integrates with the MFD and Steering Wheel controls? Anyone know?

I think I will stick with the Zenec anyway as it looks more OEM and seems to integrate seemlessly, although I'll only be sure when I get the car and install it.

Money wise to me it's a no brainer. The best price I've seem for Zenec is £840. If I go factory fit, for a GT model, the cheapest satnav is £1295 and Bluetooth is £380 a total of £1675 so I've saved £835 and got a satnav that does full UK postcodes and can be customised to give speed camera warnings etc. On top of that, I get to hang on to the standard RCD 510 whereas if I go OEM they obviously remove it. This is one of the things that all manufacturers seem to "forget" when pricing satnav. To me £1295 is bordering on extortionate anyway for an outright purchase but when you realise that you are also "trading in" a brand new RCD 510 too which must be worth a good few hundred at least, it becomes ridiculous.

[Shaun]

^^ you can get a C version (the LCD/ Star button version) RNS510 for £600 though

[GeoffT]

Still need bluetooth on top though and you only get 5 character postcode search.

[medicsource]

Like the Kenwoods variable key illumination.... My buttons are all red, as is my MFD.... Would look a bit pap suddenly being white!

[GeoffT]

Before I take the plunge and order the Zenec, can anyone with the RNS510 give me an idea of how well the nav part of it works. I am used to being able to enter the full postcode and get straight to an address, how much of a pain is it only being able to enter 5 characters? Also does it have any speedcam warning facility either built-in or via some sort of mod?

[b0rk]

Before I take the plunge and order the Zenec, can anyone with the RNS510 give me an idea of how well the nav part of it works. I am used to being able to enter the full postcode and get straight to an address, how much of a pain is it only being able to enter 5 characters? Also does it have any speedcam warning facility either built-in or via some sort of mod?

RNS510 has No speed camera warning built-in, modified maps can be found that show speed cameras as POI's. The unit can not audibly warn for these however.

Basically you enter the first 3 or 4 digits of the post code i.e. AA12 3 then pick the road, then house/building number, works surprisingly well TBH.

[GeoffT]

OK, thanks for that. In that case I think will stick with the Zenec. The camera warnings in IGO 8 are very good and can be customised to only warn you if you are approaching one at over the limit. which is perfect. I am so used to full postcode support on all the satnavs I have used that it does seem a backward step to not have it. I wonder why a lot of the OEM systems don't have it? The Audi RNS-E is even worse. only 5 characters and not even a touch screen to enter it.

[Gilez]

That ZE-NC2010 looks like a very nice piece of kit.

Keep us posted about it.

[GeoffT]

Will do. That is the thing with these types of products, so much of how well they work depends on the firmware, and you never know how good or bad that is until you run one for a while. Hopefully this one is good. I have read a few reviews and seen a couple of youtube videos and it all seems quite impressive from what you can see. I am holding off buying one just yet as the car isn't due for 2 months!

[GeoffT]

OK, time to update this thread. My Roc arrived on Monday (love the car itself btw - will have to do another post on that) , and so did the Zenec 2010, so before it was even a day old I took the RCD510 out - being VERY careful!! Sadly the Zenec so far isn't living up to expectations. It doesn't seem to have been supplied with the latest firmware which is required to get a lot of the functions working on the Roc ie Parking sensor display and Satnav instructions in the MFD. The main problem however is radio reception as the Zenec only has a single fakra input whereas the Roc has a dual fakra feed. This means that the AM reception is non-existant and the FM is poor. The latest firmware doesn't seem to be available for download for some reason and I am in discussions with the supplier and importer of the Zenec at the moment to see which of these problems can be resolved, so I will save a full report for later.

What I would like to know though in the meantime is, if I give up on this route, how good do people think the RNS510 is? I know it can't do speed camera warnings or full postcode entry, which is why I chose the Zenec in the first place, but what is it like in terms of usability and accurate routing etc etc. I have put the RCD510 back in for now, and do like the clear display and how it handles both SD card and USB media. I presume the RNS510 handles that side of things in much the same way, but with the added HDD option?

I would also then need to fit a separate bluetooth system. I know a lot of people have used the Fiscon system which seems good, but I see that Dension are doing one now for the Roc that is about £100 cheaper. Does anyone have any experience of this or any other bluetooth options? I currently have an old Nokia 6300, but am likely to be getting some sort of smartphone, maybe an iPhone, soon, so would need it to work with these too.

[nd10]

OK, time to update this thread. My Roc arrived on Monday (love the car itself btw - will have to do another post on that) , and so did the Zenec 2010, so before it was even a day old I took the RCD510 out - being VERY careful!! Sadly the Zenec so far isn't living up to expectations. It doesn't seem to have been supplied with the latest firmware which is required to get a lot of the functions working on the Roc ie Parking sensor display and Satnav instructions in the MFD. The main problem however is radio reception as the Zenec only has a single fakra input whereas the Roc has a dual fakra feed. This means that the AM reception is non-existant and the FM is poor. The latest firmware doesn't seem to be available for download for some reason and I am in discussions with the supplier and importer of the Zenec at the moment to see which of these problems can be resolved, so I will save a full report for later.

What I would like to know though in the meantime is, if I give up on this route, how good do people think the RNS510 is? I know it can't do speed camera warnings or full postcode entry, which is why I chose the Zenec in the first place, but what is it like in terms of usability and accurate routing etc etc. I have put the RCD510 back in for now, and do like the clear display and how it handles both SD card and USB media. I presume the RNS510 handles that side of things in much the same way, but with the added HDD option?

I would also then need to fit a separate bluetooth system. I know a lot of people have used the Fiscon system which seems good, but I see that Dension are doing one now for the Roc that is about £100 cheaper. Does anyone have any experience of this or any other bluetooth options? I currently have an old Nokia 6300, but am likely to be getting some sort of smartphone, maybe an iPhone, soon, so would need it to work with these too.

I'm more than happy with the RNS510, both SD card and HDD work well for music.If you use this ... http://vwlabs.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; you can put a destination on an SD card, up load it to your RNS510 and it automatically adds Lat/Longtitude and puts you at the exact address. Ok it doesn't include (mine anyway) speed cameras but there is a disc knocking about with cameras on it under POI.I don't have the phone prep so I cannot speak for that function.

[GeoffT]

I thought I would give an update on the Nav and Bluetooth solutions. It would be fair to say that so far technology is not living up to the hype!!

See above for the problems I had with the ZENEC. I had to go through the UK importer (Connects2) with my questions and did not get the sort of response I would expect for such an expensive unit. One guy suggested I needed to buy an aerial adaptor. I pointed out that it was supposed to be plug and play, and that a simple adaptor might through up error codes on the car anyway, he just said that was all he could suggest. I was also told that I needed to update the firmware which was annoying for a brand new unit, but more annoying because they could not correctly show me where to download it. The ZENEC webpage states that it is “not available for download consult your dealer”. But connects2 just kept pointing me back at the same webpage! After days of to-ing and fro-ing without any progress, I gave up and sent it back. If I had persevered and found the new firmware, it may have been OK, but updating the firmware was by no means simple and part of the instructions said to disconnect the cars battery for at least 4 mins. I really didn't fancy doing that, as I believe it can cause problems with keys etc? I just didn't see that I should be taking that chance to update a brand new, and expensive, unit. If they had offered to send me a replacement unit with all the latest firmware already loaded I would have tried it, but they didn't. Another irritation was that the buttons were all illuminated white rather than the red of the VW units. This again seemed strange as it was allegedly designed specifically for VWs. It didn’t look right in the dash directly above the climate control with the red-lit buttons. I suspect the truth is that as it physically fits Skoda’s as well they made one unit for all and figured white would be alright against the Skoda green and the VW red. It is a pity that it didn’t work better and have better support, because it did have a lot of good points and the IGO nav itself was good. The interface graphics were not the best though and it looked a bit messy by comparison to the original RCD510.

So the only real other option for the nav was an RNS510. I bought one of Ebay and that has now been in for a few days. It is a superb unit, and even though the nav doesn’t have full postcode support or camera alerts, I can forgive it that. The controls and graphics are way better than the Zenec, and obviously works and looks totally integrated to the car and dash. It came with the “Premium” graphics settings of black buttons with red or white surrounds, and is clear in both day and night without being distracting like the silver/grey graphics on the RCD510.

The next problem was the Bluetooth. I was just going to go for the Fiscon, when I came across the Dension Gateway Five. This gives Bluetooth and Ipod/USB connections for quite a lot less money than the Fiscon, so I went for one of those. The Bluetooth part of it works really well. It seems to work just like the OEM system and works with the RNS510 the DIS and the Steering wheel controls. Unfortunately, it's media interface part doesn’t seem to be compatible with the original MDI interface. Neither the original, nor the Dension media interface work correctly with it connected, even when nothing is plugged into the other one. At least Dension’s support was good, and I typically had responses within a few hours and once almost instantly. Sadly the bottom line was that they said it could never be compatible with the VW MDI interface and so that has just had to go back as well! At least I am getting good at taking the headunit out!

So I am now looking to get a Fiscon system, which is a shame as it is a fair bit more expensive than the Dension. The irony is I’m not even sure how much I will use the MDI, as I think I will primarily use the SD card / HDD for music playback. But it seems daft to have the MDI and not be able to use it I get an Ipod in the future. I may do this as you do seem to get extra functionality, such as playlists, artists, genres etc, with an Ipod connected over the SD/HDD route .

Anyway, watch this space for the next exciting instalment when I get the Fiscon!!