RNS-E upgrade

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RS6Rottweiler
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RNS-E upgrade

Post by RS6Rottweiler » Thu Aug 08, 2019 12:13 am

I currently have the Mk1 RNS-E fitted and have been considering upgrading, reason being is Sat Nav isn't working and suspect GPS unit is at fault which is £260 from Audi for a new one. There are a few Mk2 RNS-E for sale but at £800 with postage there appears to be better alternatives available giving more usability with DAB, Apple Car Play etc. I have looked at Kenwood, Pioneer, Alpine and XCarLink and I'm sure there are others, Pioneer seems to be the best but I'm no expert. I appreciate this topic has been covered many time before but new gear comes out and as Ive said I'm no expert in this field so would appreciate any thoughts on best alternative or am I better to stick with the RNS-E in either Mk1 or Mk2 guise?

srichards
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Re: RNS-E upgrade

Post by srichards » Thu Aug 08, 2019 8:01 am

If the GPS unit stopped working around April this year then it could be due to the GPS rollover bug so unless the firmware in the unit can be upgraded a new GPS from them may not even fix it. Out of warranty older units may not work without a firmware update so you'd have to ask Audi on what they've done about it.

I have a kenwood in mine that's a few years old. Works fine. Most of the apple car play implementations require you to plug your phone in with a cable. Watch out for the complicated update procedures that may only work on a windows PC. Pioneer have no way a mac user can update their head units. Ditto anyone that's just got tablets or phones at home. I don't know about the others in this respect as I've only had Kenwood and Pioneer over the years. JVC also do a cheapish one as well that Halfords have for about £400 or so.

Which is more important - originality or functionality? That will decide whether you keep an audi one or go for something more flexible.

RS6Rottweiler
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Re: RNS-E upgrade

Post by RS6Rottweiler » Sat Aug 10, 2019 10:22 am

Thanks, I fancy the Pioneer unit seems to work with Bluetooth for connecting phone etc and at price I could buy this and a new GPS head unit for the same price as a second hand Mk 2 RNS-E unit. However, as you say its whether you stick with originality over functionality but at what price, if the Mk2 RNS-E was cheaper I would have that all day long but for what you can get for the same money or less so was hoping some other guys had experience of other units and how easy they were to fit etc.

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drybeer
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Re: RNS-E upgrade

Post by drybeer » Sun Aug 11, 2019 8:00 pm

RS6Rottweiler wrote:
Thu Aug 08, 2019 12:13 am
I currently have the Mk1 RNS-E fitted and have been considering upgrading, reason being is Sat Nav isn't working and suspect GPS unit is at fault which is £260 from Audi for a new one. There are a few Mk2 RNS-E for sale but at £800 with postage there appears to be better alternatives available giving more usability with DAB, Apple Car Play etc. I have looked at Kenwood, Pioneer, Alpine and XCarLink and I'm sure there are others, Pioneer seems to be the best but I'm no expert. I appreciate this topic has been covered many time before but new gear comes out and as Ive said I'm no expert in this field so would appreciate any thoughts on best alternative or am I better to stick with the RNS-E in either Mk1 or Mk2 guise?

RNS-E MkI is the only option if you want an easy fit. I like the OEM look anyway.

RNS-E MkII was almost impossible to integrate when I looked - I had assumed that it must be a similar set up with better card readers and higher res screen.

Craig-B tried for me but from memory you'd need additional custom devices to spoof the CAN receiver in the RNS-E MkII to work with the C5 electrics.

Having said this - it was in around 2012 so maybe things have moved on?

If you really need to go more modern then you need one of those aftermarket units.
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RS6Rottweiler
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Re: RNS-E upgrade

Post by RS6Rottweiler » Sat Sep 14, 2019 5:02 pm

it was Craig B hat fitted the Mk 1 RNS-E in my car many years ago with voice control switch and the unit still works fine apart from the GPS but il check firmware is upto date as haven't done that in a while. Also GPS head unit is a know fault point with water ingress and at only £232 from steelers that's not bad and your not potentially buying a faulty unit or one that could fail in a short period on ebay.

Which aftermarket unit do you talk about as you didn't mention which one?

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