Japanese High End Car Navigation / AV System

[Sura1973]

My Daihatsu Boon (Toyota Passo equivalent) came with a high end Japanese Navigation / AV unit. The model is Eclipse AVN R7W released in 2016. I also got its bootable SD card and user manual (in Japanese). This unit costs around 75,000 Japanese yen (more than 1 lack in LKR)

While its navigation may not be usable here and its FM range is up to 95 MHz I am very much impressed by its Audio and Video quality. Good quality genuine Kenwood or Pioneer units costs above Rs 35,000 and that will be only for radio channels between 95 and 108 MHz. On the other hand the dealers say Thailand copies of the same would be around Rs. 20,000 without much quality difference. My car needs a 200mm wide screen (Toyota model) where Kenwood ddx 635, 935 and 616 are perfect fits. Hence I expect your views on making a reasonable decision.

• Any possibility in changing the language of the Eclipse AVN R7W in to English?
• Any option to translate PDF Japanese user manual into English?
• Any place to get such Japanese units customized to Sri Lanka (fitting additional USB cable and Aux In cable etc) ?
• Is it worth keeping the original set due to its value particularly considering re-sales?
• In contrary would Thai copies of Kenwood ddx 635, 935 and 616 give a satisfactory experience ?
• In case I replace the original unit are there places that buy them and sell back in Japan?

Thank you for your expert views and thoughts !

 

 

Edited April 1, 2018 by Sura1973

[tiv]

Small thought- Just because its expensive doesn't mean its really good, or "high end" audio quality even on a factory fitted B&o or Burmester has a long way to go to compare with what the aftermarket kits have to offer in terms of quality and to be "high end",Sadly you did not mention what speakers you have for your 'high end' unit, and how many of them.

Even if you drive from an Alpine to a Nakamichi, on those standard paper cone speakers that come with Japanese cars, they would be light years behind your home stereo.

Secondly, say whatever gold it is, what good is it if one cannot use it to fulfill its purpose?

Lastly, If you opt a retailer to take your unit, expect your returns to be less than a Generic Chinese DVD player 

If your are cost effectively or cheaply trying to upgrade your audio kit (meaning less than 30000LKR) do not expect anything of quality, but if you want to look at just the tip of what 'high end' is, expect to go near 100,000LKR.

Most of the popular manufacturers have your din size in their costlier models, Local stores are possessed by Kenwood and try to shove on into your car as well, don't be mended by them

for pdf translation - https://www.onlinedoctranslator.com/

 

Cheers

Edited April 1, 2018 by tiv

[iRage]

Okay...as tiv has mentioned you are making the mistake of thinking high price means high quality.

76,000yen is actually a low end device in Japan...you don't get much lower than that for a device that has Navigation, multimedia, VICS connectivity and wifi....whatever is cheaper will have lesser features. In fact right now the cheapest all-inclusive navi-unit Toyota offers is about 95,000yen. The average units from Toyota go for about 125,000yen upwards....

Your device is manufactured by Fujitsu ?....they are an average manufacturer of audio equipment (not bad..and not exceptionally good..atleast the ones at 76,000yen). The reason why it is 76,000 is for the services and features it comes bundled with. Most of these features are absolutely useless in SL. It is not expensive because it has amazing sound quality. In fact you can find units which have much better audio quality and multimedia capabilities without all the Japan specific services for lesser. 

My advice would be you should just keep it because you are looking for a cheap alternative...unfortunately what you would find at that price are crappy Chinese ones or low-end decent branded ones (which would not be that much different in sound quality)

Now for some of the questions you asked:

- Changing language depends on the model...for most units in Japan you can't just simply change the language by pressing some buttons. You actually have to re-flash the unit. Check with any decent AV installer they will advice you...or search the internet.

- Use the google translator app to translate the portions you want...

- aux ports, etc....do some research on the model and see if the unit actually has ports in the back..in which case fitting it should not be too hard.

- Will it effect re-sale value ? If you install a cheap Chinese unit...then yes....installing a proper decent unit will be attractive for a buyer...

- Will someone buy it to resell it in Japan ? In Japan used units go for about 25,000 yen on average (most even cheaper)....so no..Japan does not want your used unit. Will a parts buyer buy it off of you ? Probably...but not for a high price....you would be lucky if you get even Rs.25,000 for it.

[Sura1973]

4 hours ago, tiv said:

Small thought- Just because its expensive doesn't mean its really good, or "high end" audio quality even on a factory fitted B&o or Burmester has a long way to go to compare with what the aftermarket kits have to offer in terms of quality and to be "high end",Sadly you did not mention what speakers you have for your 'high end' unit, and how many of them.

Even if you drive from an Alpine to a Nakamichi, on those standard paper cone speakers that come with Japanese cars, they would be light years behind your home stereo.

Secondly, say whatever gold it is, what good is it if one cannot use it to fulfill its purpose?

Lastly, If you opt a retailer to take your unit, expect your returns to be less than a Generic Chinese DVD player 

If your are cost effectively or cheaply trying to upgrade your audio kit (meaning less than 30000LKR) do not expect anything of quality, but if you want to look at just the tip of what 'high end' is, expect to go near 100,000LKR.

Most of the popular manufacturers have your din size in their costlier models, Local stores are possessed by Kenwood and try to shove on into your car as well, don't be mended by them

for pdf translation - https://www.onlinedoctranslator.com/

 

Cheers

Thanks... My use of the word "high end" was relative according to my knowledge so still this unit sounds pretty decent with the speakers that came with the car. I am unable to detect the speakers but the combination sounds better. 

As I had a total budget in mind for this car purchase I still do not feel to go for an expensive audio upgrade. The only thought to go for a cheaper one was due to the FM range and some easy to use features they have. For USB, SD and CDs as well as FM below 96 MHz the current unit gives pretty decent quality but with the difficulty of Japanese menus. 

Edited April 1, 2018 by Sura1973

[Sura1973]

3 hours ago, iRage said:

Okay...as tiv has mentioned you are making the mistake of thinking high price means high quality.

76,000yen is actually a low end device in Japan...you don't get much lower than that for a device that has Navigation, multimedia, VICS connectivity and wifi....whatever is cheaper will have lesser features. In fact right now the cheapest all-inclusive navi-unit Toyota offers is about 95,000yen. The average units from Toyota go for about 125,000yen upwards....

Your device is manufactured by Fujitsu ?....they are an average manufacturer of audio equipment (not bad..and not exceptionally good..atleast the ones at 76,000yen). The reason why it is 76,000 is for the services and features it comes bundled with. Most of these features are absolutely useless in SL. It is not expensive because it has amazing sound quality. In fact you can find units which have much better audio quality and multimedia capabilities without all the Japan specific services for lesser. 

My advice would be you should just keep it because you are looking for a cheap alternative...unfortunately what you would find at that price are crappy Chinese ones or low-end decent branded ones (which would not be that much different in sound quality)

Now for some of the questions you asked:

- Changing language depends on the model...for most units in Japan you can't just simply change the language by pressing some buttons. You actually have to re-flash the unit. Check with any decent AV installer they will advice you...or search the internet.

- Use the google translator app to translate the portions you want...

- aux ports, etc....do some research on the model and see if the unit actually has ports in the back..in which case fitting it should not be too hard.

- Will it effect re-sale value ? If you install a cheap Chinese unit...then yes....installing a proper decent unit will be attractive for a buyer...

- Will someone buy it to resell it in Japan ? In Japan used units go for about 25,000 yen on average (most even cheaper)....so no..Japan does not want your used unit. Will a parts buyer buy it off of you ? Probably...but not for a high price....you would be lucky if you get even Rs.25,000 for it.

Thanks... My categorization of this being high quality was partly due to its sound and , YES, also due to its price tag in LKR. Yes... it's from Fijitsu-ten and now owned by Denso-ten. I also feel to keep it just cos I can only afford a cheaper one as I do not exceed a certain total budget for this car purchase as there was a increase in price due to yen fluctuation when I cleared it. If I go for an alternative I might go for a low end branded one which again I find very difficult to distinguish from what they called "Thailand" products. 

I did research on the unit with much difficulty as the materials are only available in Japanese as this model seems only for the domestic market. Yet the diagrams showed the USB and Aux connectivity that need proprietary cables  due to the customized jack details. The cables were found in ebay (but a very few).

 

Edited April 1, 2018 by Sura1973

[iRage]

5 hours ago, Sura1973 said:

Thanks... My categorization of this being high quality was partly due to its sound and , YES, also due to its price tag in LKR. Yes... it's from Fijitsu-ten and now owned by Denso-ten. I also feel to keep it just cos I can only afford a cheaper one as I do not exceed a certain total budget for this car purchase as there was a increase in price due to yen fluctuation when I cleared it. If I go for an alternative I might go for a low end branded one which again I find very difficult to distinguish from what they called "Thailand" products. 

I did research on the unit with much difficulty as the materials are only available in Japanese as this model seems only for the domestic market. Yet the diagrams showed the USB and Aux connectivity that need proprietary cables  due to the customized jack details. The cables were found in ebay (but a very few).

 

Well...like I said....Fujitsu/Denso is not bad...but then you really can't call them high-end either....it is what most manufactures use as their standard range of AV equipment.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/ECLIPSE-イクリプス-USB111-ＵＳＢ接続コード/dp/B0068U7RXY/ref=pd_sim_263_6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=RYAFMTFBJFD75QF5BGVA

There were plenty of them around on Yahoo auction Japan...so you should be able to find it on Rakuten international as well (seems like this is the cable ?)

https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/search/search?p=イクリプス+usb111&oq=イクリプス+USB&auccat=26318&tab_ex=commerce&fixed=0&ei=UTF-8&b=41

[Sura1973]

3 hours ago, iRage said:

Well...like I said....Fujitsu/Denso is not bad...but then you really can't call them high-end either....it is what most manufactures use as their standard range of AV equipment.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/ECLIPSE-イクリプス-USB111-ＵＳＢ接続コード/dp/B0068U7RXY/ref=pd_sim_263_6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=RYAFMTFBJFD75QF5BGVA

There were plenty of them around on Yahoo auction Japan...so you should be able to find it on Rakuten international as well (seems like this is the cable ?)

https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/search/search?p=イクリプス+usb111&oq=イクリプス+USB&auccat=26318&tab_ex=commerce&fixed=0&ei=UTF-8&b=41

Thanks... Can we purchase from these Japanese Auctions? Then it will be great in case of hard to find small original parts like this.

[iRage]

25 minutes ago, Sura1973 said:

Thanks... Can we purchase from these Japanese Auctions? Then it will be great in case of hard to find small original parts like this.

No..but yes..

No because for sites like Yahoo Auctions Japan and Rakuten Japan you need to have a Japanese address to register and most of the time the payment options are only those available in Japan.

Yes..because for some items you can purchase it through Rakuten International/Global. Also, there are third party sites that purchase items on behalf of you in Japan and then ship it over. Obviously these options are a bit pricier.

[Sura1973]

2 minutes ago, iRage said:

No..but yes..

No because for sites like Yahoo Auctions Japan and Rakuten Japan you need to have a Japanese address to register and most of the time the payment options are only those available in Japan.

Yes..because for some items you can purchase it through Rakuten International/Global. Also, there are third party sites that purchase items on behalf of you in Japan and then ship it over. Obviously these options are a bit pricier.

There was a link for international customers in Buyee.... I just got registered with pay pal yet did not check the shipping. Will see.

[iRage]

55 minutes ago, Sura1973 said:

There was a link for international customers in Buyee.... I just got registered with pay pal yet did not check the shipping. Will see.

Yes..buyee is one site...fromjapan is another....sometimes their shipping and handling charges are a lot more than the item itself