Bimmertech MMI wireless Carplay and Rear camera review

zhoushilun · 12-16-2019, 02:44 PM

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!

cognetic · 12-16-2019, 03:34 PM

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

zhoushilun · 12-16-2019, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maciej@BimmerTech

Hi zhoushilun,

It seems we must have miscommunicated or misunderstood something at some point. Please PM me the e-mail address with which you made an order with us and I'll send you our latest software in which we resolved any occasional wireless CarPlay audio issues. It's completely rock solid now.

I don't know what is happening to your rear camera - whatever it is I'm sure we'll be able to figure it out.

I am using the newest software provided by technical support.
I have talked to Ann and Micheal from the customer support team, but no solution yet. I hope this issue can be solved soon.

theblues · 12-16-2019, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zhoushilun

I am using the newest software provided by technical support.
I have talked to Ann and Micheal from the customer support team, but no solution yet. I hope this issue can be solved soon.

I have the same issue with regards to losing signal from time to time and video stream when reversing back with my knock-off BimmerTech Prime from Andream which cost less than 180

Check Andream post with regards to the hardware design since they are the same, allegedly.

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1675929

zhoushilun · 12-17-2019, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theblues

I have the same issue with regards to losing signal from time to time and video stream when reversing back with my knock-off BimmerTech Prime from Andream which cost less than 180

Check Andream post with regards to the hardware design since they are the same, allegedly.

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1675929

Did you able to figure out what the problem is? I am surprised the same product that Bimmertech charge double the price and such poor software design. Base on the link Andream has the software version up to 2.2.0.5 but Bimmertech only up to 2.2.0.3.

theblues · 12-17-2019, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zhoushilun

Did you able to figure out what the problem is? I am surprised the same product that Bimmertech charge double the price and such poor software design. Base on the link Andream has the software version up to 2.2.0.5 but Bimmertech only up to 2.2.0.3.

I have yet to investigate and look into it.

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.

zhoushilun · 12-29-2019, 11:19 AM

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.

cognetic · 12-30-2019, 07:45 AM

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:

Originally Posted by zhoushilun

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.

Firefly1337 · 12-30-2019, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cognetic

[...] Bimmertech was very helpful in providing an updated firmware and [...]

Out of curiosity, can you share a pic of the version info screen under settings (if there is any)?
Thank you!

cognetic · 12-30-2019, 02:07 PM

Here is the verbatim output:
SDK Version: 25.0.0.5.6.0.0.0
CUST Version: v2.0.2.3t4.mmi.b
MCU Version: 19.10.19.9
HW Version: CPAA

regards,

-cognetic

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firefly1337

Out of curiosity, can you share a pic of the version info screen under settings (if there is any)?
Thank you!

mdchris · 12-30-2019, 05:19 PM

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.

Firefly1337 · 12-31-2019, 05:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cognetic

Here is the verbatim output:
SDK Version: 25.0.0.5.6.0.0.0
CUST Version: v2.0.2.3t4.mmi.b
MCU Version: 19.10.19.9
HW Version: CPAA

Thank you so much!
In that case I can only emphasise your thread's title.

zhoushilun · 12-31-2019, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cognetic

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

Yes, I agree. their technical team is really helpful. for your MMI, how do you jump to the next song? for me I have to jump to the app and push the next in the app, it is annoying that when you do navigation because you have to jump between the apps.

cognetic · 12-31-2019, 07:07 AM

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by zhoushilun

Yes, I agree. their technical team is really helpful. for your MMI, how do you jump to the next song? for me I have to jump to the app and push the next in the app, it is annoying that when you do navigation because you have to jump between the apps.

zhoushilun · 12-31-2019, 09:27 AM

Is the Waze and Google Map working properly? The one I have is an old model (wired) they probably updated the unit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdchris

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.

mdchris · 12-31-2019, 12:15 PM

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.

muniz_ri · 12-31-2019, 12:49 PM

Is anyone using Android Auto on the Bimmertech MMI Prime? If so, is the screen resolution sharp?

muniz_ri · 12-31-2019, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cognetic

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:

Originally Posted by zhoushilun

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.

Would you mind sharing the firmware update that you received from Bimmertech?

stvward · 01-09-2020, 03:28 PM

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.

zhoushilun · 02-03-2020, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stvward

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.

I used ESys code the car with the unit install, it works.

SJLenz1340 · 02-16-2020, 02:23 PM

Are there any effects to the HUD? Considering the MMI for my car.

zhoushilun · 02-24-2020, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SJLenz1340

Are there any effects to the HUD? Considering the MMI for my car.

No

12-16-2019, 02:44 PM	#1
zhoushilun Private First Class 22 Rep 106 Posts Drives: BMW 428I Join Date: Oct 2019 Location: miami iTrader: (0)	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..
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12-16-2019, 03:34 PM	#2
cognetic New Member 3 Rep 11 Posts Drives: BMW 328i XDrive; X5 Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Indy iTrader: (0)	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
	Appreciate 0 Quote

12-29-2019, 11:19 AM	#7
zhoushilun Private First Class 22 Rep 106 Posts Drives: BMW 428I Join Date: Oct 2019 Location: miami iTrader: (0)	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.
	Appreciate 0 Quote

12-30-2019, 05:19 PM	#11
mdchris Private 38 Rep 87 Posts Drives: 2013 335xi Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Saskatchewan iTrader: (0)	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.
	Appreciate 0 Quote

12-31-2019, 12:15 PM	#16
mdchris Private 38 Rep 87 Posts Drives: 2013 335xi Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Saskatchewan iTrader: (0)	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.
	Appreciate 0 Quote

12-31-2019, 12:49 PM	#17
muniz_ri Major 448 Rep 1,217 Posts Drives: BMW 320I Join Date: Mar 2019 Location: Irvine, CA iTrader: (1)	Is anyone using Android Auto on the Bimmertech MMI Prime? If so, is the screen resolution sharp?
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01-09-2020, 03:28 PM	#19
stvward Second Lieutenant 133 Rep 285 Posts Drives: G42 M240i on order Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: UK iTrader: (0)	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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02-16-2020, 02:23 PM	#21
SJLenz1340 New Member 5 Rep 25 Posts Drives: BMW 435i Join Date: Mar 2019 Location: Lake County, Illinois iTrader: (0)	Are there any effects to the HUD? Considering the MMI for my car.
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