12-16-2019, 02:44 PM | #1 |
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Bimmertech MMI wireless Carplay and Rear camera review
I used to have a Carlinkit for Carplay but it can not work with the aftermarket rear camera. I am not very satisfied with the Carplay box I have right now so I decide to give Bimmertech a shoot since the high review they have in here. The old Carplay box cost me like $300 and the Bimmertech one is $875 and comes with a rear camera.
REVIEW Carplay (highly recommend) Good part 1. Google and Waze will not get lost, the old box I have, the GPS will get lost in Google and Waze but the Apple Map is working fine 2. Better quality with the microphone, the one I have before if I need to talk to someone you need roll up your volume, but when you hang up the volume of the music is too loud 3. No frozen, running a little bit smooth 4, better image quality, I realize Bimmertech use a different cable to the screen compared with the one I have 5. If using the cable connection, the iPhone will not be overheated Need to improve 1. Not effort on HUD 2. No effort on cluster display For the people who had a hard time to connect Carplay, reboot your iPhone is the best solution, it fixed 80% of my problem. I also found out when you connected to your Carplay, try to disconnect and connect your iPhone from the setting in the box, it will make a solid connection next time. (I do not know why but it just works) Rear camera (not recommend) 1. It took me three months to make it work, the main reason is for the manual car you need to connect a relay to make it works 2. Even it works now but I can still see the ripple image while the camera on 3. The image quality of the camera is far away compared with the OEM INSTALLATION I think the dashboard is the easiest part to disassemble in the car, Bimmertech has a very good installation video from youtube, so you can do it yourself. For more OEM look, I have the USB cable connect in the cigarette lighter close to the cupholder, I brought the USB extension from Amazon. TECHNICAL SUPPORT Bimmertech has a really good technical support team, while I solve my rear camera issue, the team helps me a lot. I also have the Bavsound upgrade which I will release later but compare with their technical support, Bimmertech is awesome! Last edited by zhoushilun; 02-25-2020 at 08:38 AM.. |
12-16-2019, 03:34 PM | #2 |
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Bimmertech MMI Purchase is OK
So far, with a little less than 2 weeks since install, I'm really enjoying my Bimmertech MMI. For what it is worth, the installation was a breeze, took about 20 mins. The bad part was the nearly 2 hours spent trying to get everything to go back into the dash LOL
I do also have the intermittent BT drops with wireless and have just started using the cable for smoother, more consistent connection. That being said... I have had to manually reset a couple of times. Even with wired connection. And incoming calls can get confused on my iPhone - have to manually select my BMW vs CarPlay. I prefer the native BMW handsfree to the CarPlay interface. My use is daily, front and back end of a 45 min commute (each way) - hence, I have had a fair amount of time to use and experiment a bit. There really needs to be better documentation on use, some FAQs, troubleshooting, etc. Fortunately the reset is fairly easy and can be done on the fly without having to pullover, turn off the car, etc. I'm hopeful that with a firmware update, the stability will get better! -cognetic |
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12-16-2019, 04:06 PM | #3 | |
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I have talked to Ann and Micheal from the customer support team, but no solution yet. I hope this issue can be solved soon. |
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12-16-2019, 05:49 PM | #4 | |
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Check Andream post with regards to the hardware design since they are the same, allegedly. https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1675929 |
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12-17-2019, 08:48 AM | #5 | |
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12-17-2019, 10:47 AM | #6 | |
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I will try to use the wired option and see if the issue occurs. The unit is running the 2.2.0.4 which is the one before the last one they made available. I will try and update later after I finish with the wired option test. |
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12-29-2019, 11:19 AM | #7 |
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New update:
So Bimmertech sent me a relay to make the camera working properly, after the installation seem like all the issue was going, but when I driving a while the camera stop working, the camera will work the first 5 min when the car start. but the good news is the flash is gone and the camera work perfect in the first 5 mins. Also for the people who can not connect their phone by Bluetooth, you need to restart your iPhone and it will connect. |
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12-30-2019, 07:45 AM | #8 | |
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Bimmertech Support is very good!
Thank you for the update! Bimmertech was very helpful in providing an updated firmware and graciously accepted some feedback related to default MMI switching to aftermarket vs OEM camera after update. So far, BT connectivity has been rather "flawless" since the upgraded firmware, connecting quickly, and handing off between wired/BT connections. The firmware resolved the few but recurrent connectivity bugs for me!!
Regarding the camera... Is it possible that the MMI parking assist camera activivation suspends with normal driving (vs reverese actuation) being resumed like the OEM system does? regards, -cognetic Quote:
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12-30-2019, 09:50 AM | #9 |
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12-30-2019, 02:07 PM | #10 |
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updated firmware info
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12-30-2019, 05:19 PM | #11 |
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I just installed one of these recently and it's working quite well so far. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000...253f4c4dLHBBZ0
Definitely good enough that I can't imagine why you'd spend another $500? $875 is quite excessive. I haven't had any problems with it getting confused on audio sources for calls etc yet. It did stop connecting once and I had to disable/reenable carplay on the bluetooth connection. |
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12-31-2019, 05:10 AM | #12 |
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12-31-2019, 06:38 AM | #13 | |
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12-31-2019, 07:07 AM | #14 |
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In actuality, I listen to XM or local radio mostly... Haven't had the occasion to use the next song function yet. I'll give it a try and report back later!
Regards, -cognetic |
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12-31-2019, 09:27 AM | #15 | |
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Is the Waze and Google Map working properly? The one I have is an old model (wired) they probably updated the unit.
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12-31-2019, 12:15 PM | #16 |
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Yes Waze and google maps are working.
The next and previous song buttons on the dash also work correctly. Only issue I’m having right now is Siri activation. It’s not suppressing the idrive voice recognition properly and Siri gets confused because it hears the idrive asking for a command. Planning to try and just code out the factory voice recognition because it’s garbage anyway. |
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12-31-2019, 03:03 PM | #18 | ||
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01-09-2020, 03:28 PM | #19 |
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Coding
Have any of you guys with the Bimmertech MMI Prime installed tried coding the head unit? There appears to be a problem when using Bimmercode or similar coding software with the MMI installed in that the HU can not be read or coded.
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02-03-2020, 05:44 AM | #20 |
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I used ESys code the car with the unit install, it works.
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