RNS-510 Bluetooth and iPod connectivity options?

[The_Hawk]

If you want to connect an iPod or a Bluetooth phone to the RNS-510, what are the options either genuine factory parts or aftermarket?

Costs and benefits would be good to read about if you have any comments one way or the other.

[Maverick]

If you want to connect an iPod or a Bluetooth phone to the RNS-510, what are the options either genuine factory parts or aftermarket?

Costs and benefits would be good to read about if you have any comments one way or the other.

For an ipod you can either use the 3.5mm audio jack and control it from the front of the ipod or buy the MDI which fully integrates in with the headunit (around $350 for the MDI kit over the interweb and $50 for the ipod cable so around $400 + fitting). Sound quality either way will be pretty close (maybe a little better from the MDI).

And for the bluetooth I'll direct you to the sticky at the top - http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f78/...510-31461.html and recommend the skoda bluetooth as the best bluetooth from Volkswagen, doesn't offer all the bells and whistles of the fiscon but it works every time 100%. Again over the interweb around $400 (from ebay there is a seller from poland who seems quite good). You can see the install guide on my website here (almost completed) - Volkswagen / Skoda OEM Bluetooth Install

The fiscon does allow you to receive sms on the display and will let you stream audio from the ipod but the audio quality is so so and the unit to be honest is <cough> and kufatec's support is also <cough>.

[The_Hawk]

Thanks for that, as an admin I really should have noticed that thread... I did do a search but I am clearly blind

I would be very interested in the iPod connectivity, although considering the whole HDD thing it’s becoming more redundant for people like my wife and I would don’t update the music often.

The bluetooth would be nice, but it really is a little expensive for the relatively short periods of time we normally spend in the car. I would be interested to know how the system deals with two phones, for example if both the wife and I have synced up it will work fine if either of us is in the car, but what if both are in the car? Is it luck to see which one connects first or is the system smart enough to pick up the phone that is ringing?

[Maverick]

Thanks for that, as an admin I really should have noticed that thread... I did do a search but I am clearly blind

I would be very interested in the iPod connectivity, although considering the whole HDD thing it’s becoming more redundant for people like my wife and I would don’t update the music often.

You can fit 20GB on the hard drive and 32GB on an SD card which will cost you $70 so I'd save yourself from the itunes/ipod hassles and the cost of the MDI and go down that path. You could even divide the storage up with her music on the hard drive and his music on the SD card (or vise versa depending on who changes their music the most often - the sd card is easiest to update as you plug it into your pc). The only reason I'll go the MDI is when I want to put all my 90GB of MP3's online, I don't really need that much online as most of it I don't listen to but I couldn't be bothered sorting it out at this point!

The bluetooth would be nice, but it really is a little expensive for the relatively short periods of time we normally spend in the car. I would be interested to know how the system deals with two phones, for example if both the wife and I have synced up it will work fine if either of us is in the car, but what if both are in the car? Is it luck to see which one connects first or is the system smart enough to pick up the phone that is ringing?

I had the same issues with the bluetooth as I carry two phones but unfortunately it's one or the other and there's no way to connect the two at the same time. The way it works is you can have both phones paired and it will connect to the one that was last connected if you're both in the car. If you turn off a phone or it's bluetooth the other will connect.

[The_Hawk]

Interesting point on the SD card, I didn't think about huuuge cards, but yes I suppose you could just have a couple of cards for his/hers or the kids music rather than CD/DVD's. We just checked her music playlist and it's only one gig or so So even a handful of cheapie 2/4GB cards would probably serve most needs.

And for the bluetooth I'll direct you to the sticky at the top - http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f78/...510-31461.html and recommend the skoda bluetooth as the best bluetooth from Volkswagen, doesn't offer all the bells and whistles of the fiscon but it works every time 100%. Again over the interweb around $400 (from ebay there is a seller from poland who seems quite good). You can see the install guide on my website here (almost completed) - Volkswagen / Skoda OEM Bluetooth Install

Thats a very nice write up you have going there, lots of good looking information I'm still not convinced I *need* bluetooth, but at that sort of money and what looks like a pretty straight forward process it might just be a weekend job one day.