ICE

Alpine sat nav, iPod in your car, Alpine N333RRS, KCA-420i

Hal

For those who have just about had enough of Dension, check out the Alpine head units that support the KCA-420i interface…!

Personally, I’ll be looking for a sat nav unit, such as this one which you will see from the link is only 975 Euros (or roughly ��660 at today’s rates), instead of the massively overpriced ��1500 that this lot quoted me (plus fitting… plus adapters, plus can-bus, definitely, before they have even looked at the car…) with a word of caution regarding my internet ‘find’ about ‘grey imports’, ‘not real Alpine gear’, and the best one… “You’ll pay a hefty amount of import duty on that, son”… followed soon by rumblings and grumblings about how they lost ��43,000 due to eBay and Internet sales. Well, that must have been careless of them.

The German company Caraudio-versand are very nice on the phone, speak English and are keen to do business… Oh, and if you pay the German rate of VAT there is NO IMPORT COST, according to the customs and excise folk, who I rang up to speak to about it all… almost impenetrable website, but excellent advice over the phone.

ice>LINK software v2.07, Dension config files, iPod in your car, update ice>LINK

Hal

Right – with a little help from friends over at hackmycar.com I can now offer all of the Dension updates and config files, from version 2.03 through to 2.07. I have included the update instructions as well, although I guess for many folk it will be very familiar by now.

Click here for a 3.5MB .zip file.

I understand that version 2.10 is due to be available very soon – and if you see it or hear of it first, please let me know and I’ll add it here, too.

Ice>LINK software version 2.06

Hal

After finding that version 2.06 works well in my car, and that Dension have seen fit to remove the links to the firmware updates for their Ice>LINK hardware, I thought it might be a good idea to provide it here.

This file contains firmwares 2.03 through to 2.06 – as soon as I locate the v2.07 firmware I’ll add it… I understand the 2.1 firmware will soon be out too.

The download also includes all of the head unit configuration files for OEM and aftermarket units that Dension had on their site, plus the files to clear the head unit configuration and the instructions about how to upgrade.

Please click here to download it all.

Many thanks to Andreas Harder and Palos Brontu Saure for their input to this all.

Sat Nav, Alpine INA-N333RRS, single DIN sat nav unit, UK prices, EU Prices

Hal

I’ve been thinking for a while about getting a sat nav unit in my car, but really haven’t wanted to spend the money – they always seem so expensive for what they are.

This was reinforced for me when I visited my local ICE centre (usually pretty good) and asked for info about the Alpine INA-N333RRS unit.

Apparently, they could sell it to me for ��1500.00 but I would also need a CAN-BUS, and would probably also want a fascia adapter. Naturally, since these Alpine units can do it, I would also want an iPod adapter (I’m really happy with my Dension, but the Alpine unit is far better). All of this, plus fitting and calibration, would total about ��2000.

So I did some searching around the Internet and found that in Germany the exact same unit is sold for �Ǩ975 – or approximately ��677. Even if there is sales tax to add on, it would have to go some to even come close to the price I was quoted.

The German site is http://www.caraudio-versand.de/shop.pl?action=art&id=111185 and they seem pretty clued up about this stuff. You’ll note that the ‘RRS’ model has red illumination and this would match the colour of all the other dials, etc in my car. The German site also sells CAN-BUS adapters and fascia plates for well below the UK prices. I also found that they were cheaper in France and Spain, too.

So what gives?

Ultimately, the shop in Germany is to the west of Munich, and I can see myself driving over to there to get this fitted. A journey of less than 600 miles one way (about the same as from here to Glasgow) and through some pretty stunning countryside too – Black Forest, near the northern Alps… it could make an excellent three day break!

The best bit would be that with the sat nav fitted I would be able to get back without being lost!

In all I would save nearly ��1000 which would more than cover fuel, accommodation and food for such a trip.

So why are we made to pay such inflated prices in the UK?

Dension ICE>link, fitting an iPod into your car, upgrading ICE>link firmware

Hal

OK – I upgraded!

I had a moment of sheer panic when my ICE>Link stopped working… I think it was because I plugged and unplugged it in too swiftly, causing the device to hang. I upgraded the iPod firmware (kindly supplied by Apple and it started working again after the iPod restarted, but in for a penny in for a pound – I went ahead with the v2.05 firmware for the ‘link’ too… so all back to normal – upgrade worked well.

Why don’t iPods have a power on/off switch? It would have saved a headache on this occasion!

I can report (happily) that the update went smoothly, that functionality seems fine, but that the head unti display is still not right when I use the iPod UI for the ICE>Link in my Audi A3 with Concert radio.