[zkhi]

I have a 2011 e90 without idrive. I want to change the HU and found tons of conversations or posts on the Bimmian product. Link posted here.

http://www.bimmian.com/90/GPS/

This product looks really nice and I want to make the change. Here are my concerns and answered questions:

1. Do the steering wheel controls work: Yes confirmed by Bimmian

2. Do I need to install additional cables, from what I have read it looks like I only need to add the GPS antenna and the blue tooth micro phone "somewhere"

3. DIY install looks simple enough, there are some posts outlining the steps.

4. Does the BMW assist work: Here is where I get abit nervous. I have had the car for a year, never used BMW Assist. From my understanding, they can't do for you is they cannot track where you are, they cannot get a signal when you airbags deploy or they cannot provide directions (I don't think I would use them for directions as I would have a GPS)

Thoughts folks, I need advice on whether I should move forward. The deck looks nice, and for $1000.00 it sounds like a good deal.

Looking for advise, options, anything?

[smaxon1]

The deck does look nice. However, Bimmian has poor customer service in my experience. Once you buy it, it's yours. If you have problems at that point, they will not help you. Especially if it turns out to be faulty and you have to return it. They will force you to pay return shipping and grant you....store credit! Consider yourself warned.

[zkhi]

Thanks, that is important. Are there any other options?

[VP Electricity]

Contact Jeff at www.jandtdistributing.com/dynavinsolutions and find out who imports to CAN.

[Tzu]

I had a bad experience with them.

[ase2dais]

Originally Posted by smaxon1

The deck does look nice. However, Bimmian has poor customer service in my experience. Once you buy it, it's yours. If you have problems at that point, they will not help you. Especially if it turns out to be faulty and you have to return it. They will force you to pay return shipping and grant you....store credit! Consider yourself warned.

+1 with my experience with poor quality products w poor customer service add to it a very complex return policy

[Alpine328i]

I got my Dynavin from CarAudioCraze, i think there site is down right now but they are cheaper, ship to Canada, and include a warranty... seems Bimmian charges ALOT more and doesnt include the warranty unless you pay $199.99.

[1QuikWS6]

The Dynavin unit does look good, but requires too much messin' around and jury rigging to make all features of car function as they should

You will lose both the SOS system and any/all of your audible chimes. Also, If you have certain repair issues needed with your car, it is imperative that the factory HU remains installed. One I can think of off hand is if you have a fuel pump problem. It sounds ridiculous, but the factory HU is tied in with rest of control modules in the car and needs to be present for dealer to program/reprogram/update the software.

So basically, if you install the Dynavin, and you want to retain SOS, all your Chimes, and not lose the ability to udate your car software when needed, you will have to either mount your factory HU in the trunk area with a bunch of special wiring/cabling adapters (and extra speaker(s) hooked up to only factory HU for chimes) so it is present in addition to the Dynavin at all times, or at the very least, you would need to re-install the factory HU when the time comes in order to allow the dealer to be able to repair certain issues with your car.

Both of these options suck and are too much trouble IMO...

BMW has successfully made it very difficult to integrate aftermarket electrical items (or even add OEM options in alot of cases that didn't come with your car originally). You are better off buying the car with the options/features you want from the beginning - it's easier and cheaper

As far as Bimmian goes, I have purchased several items from them, never had an occurance that required returns or warranty issues, but they are higher priced than JLeviSW (they carry all the same products as Bimmian).

I do agree that CarAudioCraze has the best pricing on the Dynavin (or at least they did). That is where most of the members purchased from a while back...