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On Sunday Aldi are doing various car related offers including a Tevion Bluetooth Radio CD with Aux input as well as SD card capability.
This ticks all the boxes to replace the radio/cassette in SWMBO's Beetle - anyone any experience of this radio unit?
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These are a standard unit made by a large Chinese concern (I don't remember the name) -- I have an upgraded version of this head unit which plays DVDs as well as the standard MP3 compatibility etc. (I know this because the Chinese website displays this unit minus the Tevion badge alongside the one I bought direct from China on ebay).
The units are not bad. I've had mine for over a year now, and it's worked without fault. They're equipped with MOSFET amps, and sound a little coarse with MP3s but very decent with true CD sources (not sure why exactly but there you go).
Sound quality is a bit treble-light and needs to be altered. The Bluetooth section works well, the caller ID appearing on-screen if you have a Nokia phone and the sound quality is very good -- although I've noticed that you need to bring the volume down when receiving the call and there doesn't seem to be any way of correcting this.
All in all they seem fair enough to me.
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Thanks for that Jase - have you got a link to the DVD one at all? That could be handy for SWMBO who sometimes needs to sit outside my son's football training place for an hour at a time. Would keep her occupied watching Pretty Woman or Bridget Jones until she phones me to come and jump start the battery :)
Seriously, do you use it a lot for DVD?
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I'll see if I can find the link (I had it the other day but I've just wiped my old XP box and put Linux on it instead so have lost my old bookmarks -- shortsighted oversight that).
No I do not use it for the DVD *at all* (there's not even a screen attached to it -- it's one of those ones where you buy the screen separately, say one of the visor ones) -- it was just the only unit I could find at the time with the features I needed!!!
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In that case Jase don't waste your time looking for the link. Thanks for your advice and I will report back (hopefully some time Sun morning) as to how good it is.
If I am able to fit it that is!
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you'll need a conversion wiring harness. Whats currently in the beetle?
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Currently in Beetle is the standard radio cassette. I bought a fitting kit from ebay consisting of the wiring harness, the removal keys, some sort of aerial adaptor booster thingy and the blank plates for the dashboard so hopefully that has got all possibilities covered....
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Remember to get to Aldis bang on opening time otherwise they'll all be gone (or the staff will have taken them). That's what seems to happen at our Lidl when they have a good deal on like this.
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Be there before opening time if the deal is really good.
Go straight to the right check out, or collar one of the staff as soon as you get through the door and tell them what you want.
I queued last week for the memory stick as first at the door, and was still third to be served.
The guy who took the first four sticks found out the staff, I went to the wrong till....
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I'm not sure this is such a massively cheap price anyway. Maplin are doing one for £59.99, and if you're a regular Maplin customer you'll be getting £5 off vouchers all the time.
So for a fiver, having to queue up and potentially not get it -- is it really worth doing?
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As I've pointed out before, Medion and its associated brand Tevion (the two brand names on a range of Aldi products) are not actual manufacturers - they are merely distributors of a range of goods that are re-badged under their own name from specialist manufacturers.
In many instances you can buy the same product under its original brand name or from other sources at similar or even lower prices.
This is nothing new in this field and the secret is knowing who makes what and who re-badges it under their own name.
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Well turned up at Aldi's doors just as they opened at 10am and got one straight away.
Had it installed in the Beetle half an hour later although haven't fully locked it into place until SWMBO has driven it about for a couple of days to make sure eveything is working.
For £50 and a 3 year warranty can't go too wrong!
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Hi (Newby posting)
I've just got hold of one of these units to go into a Citroen. Mainly for the Bluetooth capability
What I was wondering is, Its been mentioned a couple of times that this is obviously a re-badged unit. Does anyone know the true manufacturer as i was hoping to be able to get a connector that might allow the use of the cars remote controls.
Second point. Someone mentioned that the caller ID was displayed if using a nokia, does this mean other phones won't display this info.
Cheers Dalex
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Dalex, on your last point the caller ID does not work - it simply shows the phone number on the display. There is no way (as far as I can see) of transferring the phonebook onto the head unit.
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A good way is to look up the appliance models, that have not been rebadged, on the net and read customer reviews. As has been said, Aldis Tevion is a rebadged item of an existing product. It would be wise to check out before buying. I bought a Tevion DVD recorder, and then made a mistake of reading customer reviews. I took it back and got a refund. Another, Tevion answer phone , which we still have, stopped working properly just over a year. As the warranty expired. Others will probably say on here that they have had no problems with these goods. But if I were you, I would read reviews before making a decision. Or compare with similar products at other outlets.
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Others will probably say on here that they have had no problems with these goods.
I had a problem with my 2½ old Tevion DVD recorder; phoned the number in the handbook as it came with a 3 yr warranty. They sent a courier out to collect it within a couple of days, repaired it and returned it a week later. No quibbles whatsoever.
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Dad has got one of these from Aldi this morning for £34.99. Looks really and full of features BUT he hasn't installed it yet because it doesn't look like it can come out if any probs. They have included the pegs but that is for the removal of the old head unit and if you look at the radio with the fascia off there is no slot for the pegs.
Has anyone else noticed this? Its a shame if he needs to take it back as it is a really good buy.
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It does come out with no problem, we bought three of them to replace stolen radios out of some of our lorries. We recently sold one of the lorries and removed the stereo first, it now lives in a Sprinter van.
The only functionality issues I have with the unit are the incredibly long CD / mp3 disc load time - sometimes over 20 seconds from inserting the disc to starting music playback. But for the £50 we paid for them, even more so at £35, I don't think buyers can complain at that.
Dave TD.
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(Another newbie on 1st post!)
I am contemplating buying one of these stereos. Are they easy to install? My car is a Skoda Octavia, with a "broken" old Blaupaunt cd player. ...... and does the Blaupaunt come out easy? As is obvious, I am a little bit "green" about these matters.
Any tips appreciated.
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You'll need the removal keys (Halfords) but it'll come out without any problem. Not sure if it's the same as in the Passat, but there are two vertical slots on either side of the front of the unit. However, that's a Sony and my Sony keys fit it without a problem.
If you're looking for the DVD version of this, take a peek on eBay.
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Re: Skoda Octavia. Note the post above where my Dad bought the same CD player. He was advised not to fit in a Octavia. Whereas the original BP stereo had a fitment for the "K-Wire" and aftermarket radio doesnt. I think the "K-Wire" is the port for the diagnostic tool and when left unplugged and scanned via diagnostic it will burn out. I'm no expert but was assured by a trusted body in these matters. In the end the radio was bought by me an ffitted in my Audi 80,saidly I sold the car and the radio went with it.
On the radio, very good price, warranty and features (USB connection). A couple of niggles were a bit ugly, too bright LCD screen and the front kept popping off over bumps sometimes.
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I think the "K-Wire" is the port for the diagnostic tool and when left unplugged and scanned via diagnostic it will burn out
I had an 01Y Octavia from new for over 3 years as a minicab. I pulled out the standard radio cassette unit the day I got the car and fitted a Sony CD head unit. When that wore out I fitted another Sony unit, and when more buttons on that one didn't work than did I replaced it with a Ministry Of Sound unit.
I took the MoS unit out and replaced the standard Skoda unit the day I sold the car, the Skoda unit worked absolutely fine.
I never had any problems with the K-line connection in 300k miles. The only issue was the very poor AM reception on the CD players, something to do with a lack of power to the roof aerial booster apparently. It was never a problem for me as I tended to be asleep on Saturday afternoons which as any fule kno is the only time anything on AM is worth listening to ;-)
Dave TD
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Thank you all for your help!
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I have tried a couple of items that make, they all died within a couple of months.
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I have tried a couple of items that make they all died within a couple of months.
Good job they come with a 3 yr guarantee then. When my Tevion DVD recorded died some 2½ years after buying it, they sent a courier to collect it, and returned it the following week (via a courier again) in full working order. Couldn't fault the customer service.
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How do you make phone calls with this unit?
Does it have a built in microphone or something?
Or deos it just play the other side of the conversation through the stereo?
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It's got a built-in microphone, so you get true hands-free calls.
Once you have paired it with your handset, it connects automatically every time you get in the car.
There's a 'Tel' button to answer calls.
Audio quality is not great, but its good enough for quick calls.
Possibly you can make calls, too, but I try to use the phone as little as possible while driving; safer to stop if you want to make a call.
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Does anyone know which wire is the Amp Turn-On on these? i can see a little brown wire sticking out near the main loom. I also have a couple more left over.
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You can get a similarly equipped head unit from a recognised brand at Halfords, I'd do that for a few dollars more ...
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User manuals with wiring diagrams available here
www.quesh.co.uk/static/Downloads
You need the wire for Antenna Power. Sometimes labelled Remote or Rem.
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