Head units from Japan on eBay?

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SwissHeavy
Posts: 2045
Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2005 11:45 pm
Location: Birmingham

Head units from Japan on eBay?

Post by SwissHeavy »

Has anyone done this, I have found some superb double din units that I would like and I asked the seller about import taxes etc and he said it can be marked as 'gift' with a lowered value. The units start from about $180 then shipping to UK is $80. It all adds up to £150ish! Apart from getting a band expander, is there anything I should be concerned about?

That's superb for an inbuilt 3cd changer, MD player and generally good looking piece of ICE!

Advice appreciated!!!!

Josh
g14nnh

Re: Head units from Japan on eBay?

Post by g14nnh »

any links for us to go view??
SwissHeavy
Posts: 2045
Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2005 11:45 pm
Location: Birmingham

Re: Head units from Japan on eBay?

Post by SwissHeavy »

Sure:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... B:AAQ:US:1

They're very nice indeed, but I'm worried about the import tax duties and such.
KYLE

Re: Head units from Japan on eBay?

Post by KYLE »

Not sure if your aware but Jap radios have a shorter bandwidth than us so you can only pick up about 3 radio stations. I think that they only go up to about 88.9 FM.

Sorry if you already know this.
g14nnh

Re: Head units from Japan on eBay?

Post by g14nnh »

ive heard that there can be problems with the bandwidth, not sure wheter you can get a gadget that broadens your width tho.. (i think you can but not to sure :-k )

they do look sweet tho, keep us updated about this venture and if you go through with it, some pics would be good if ya did :wink:
matt_mr2t
Posts: 27785
Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2005 3:30 pm
Location: Essex

Re: Head units from Japan on eBay?

Post by matt_mr2t »

The only problem I've heard with the band expander gizmo's is that the numbers on screen might not match what your listening too.
Ian Geary
Posts: 1725
Joined: Thu Dec 16, 2004 12:43 pm
Location: Surrey

Re: Head units from Japan on eBay?

Post by Ian Geary »

Head Units from America also have issues with band frequencies. They skip at higher intervals, meaning you miss stations ending with an even number.

There's also no RDS, so no station name, traffic news etc.

Not quite the same subject, but similar enough to warrant a post here I think.

Importing/ shipping was cheap though - the HU was half the price for the same UK model, which is fine if you listen to CDs or an IPOD etc.

Ian
SwissHeavy
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Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2005 11:45 pm
Location: Birmingham

Re: Head units from Japan on eBay?

Post by SwissHeavy »

Just for everyone's info the band expander (around £10) means u can search up to the 107FM mark, and if it's a JDM model, it does increment in the same way our radios do, but does not have RDS so won't display the radio name (big deal).

Will post up some pics of one when I get my hands on one!

Josh
Pete
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Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 6:38 pm
Location: North West

Re: Head units from Japan on eBay?

Post by Pete »

Myself and my mate both had these style head units that came with our imported Evo's. They both had the big style LCD screen and multiple formats etc..

The anti shock facility on both was terrible, and made it almost impossible to listen to a CD. So it's worth getting a better brand than one of Japanese lesser known brands. A normal £50 head unit from halfords was a million times better in my case, don't know if this is a common problem with the older double din units?

It doesn't say anything about the shock memory on the alpine one, so maybe worth checking out.
juliankv73
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Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 4:04 pm
Location: Sidcup

Japanese Double Din's

Post by juliankv73 »

Hi Guys, I have a double din unit fitted to mine purely coz you cant get the spec in the UK. :shock:

I had an Alpine unit sourced from the same guy. Very helpful and courteous. BUT, you do need a band expander like the previous posts say, but the band expander needs to be good quality. Now i dont know if you can get "good quality" band expanders. All I know is that the band expander isnt great and some stations are not as finely received as I had before I put the double din in (mine is a UK car with uk stereo b4 I put the jap one in). Some stations are weak, crackly and the smaller ones you just dont get properly! :cry:

Secondly, I got stung for import tax, wasnt too much but enough to sour the experience =; . I was asked to pay £64!!!!! What are you to do?? You cant send it back so you end up paying it! [-(

Im not telling you to do this, but if I were to do buy one again. I would ask the seller to state the value as peanuts i.e £50 saying return of repaired item or something, as the parcel company here charged me on the value stated on the box!

The double din unit also, doesnt fit flush with the fascia. Mine stood out by an inch and looked just plonked in! So I had to fiddle around with brackets from Halfords, a little bend here, jiggory pokery there just to get the unit to fit flush! :evil:

have a look at my garage! HTH

Julian
SwissHeavy
Posts: 2045
Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2005 11:45 pm
Location: Birmingham

Re: Head units from Japan on eBay?

Post by SwissHeavy »

Nuts, that's one of the ones I was considering Julian! Have you thought about getting a facia adaptor or surround of some sort? I have one in my current Alpine single unit, makes it look a lot better!

At least I can now see what one looks like in a 2's interior! 8)
juliankv73
Posts: 2669
Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 4:04 pm
Location: Sidcup

Re: Head units from Japan on eBay?

Post by juliankv73 »

SwissHeavy wrote:Nuts, that's one of the ones I was considering Julian! Have you thought about getting a facia adaptor or surround of some sort? I have one in my current Alpine single unit, makes it look a lot better!

At least I can now see what one looks like in a 2's interior! 8)


Dont get me wrong, its a lovely unit and I am well pleased. Just allow for some time for **fitting** then swearing as you fabricate/bend and pulvarise the halfords brackets to get the sterao to sit flush with the fascia!

it took a while but the result is great! I still have spaces around mine but I will one day fill these up from behind the dash with solf black felt to make it look better!

Get it, you wont be disappointed! There is a similar model with a remote control, but dont know which one this is!

HTH

Julian! :D
TheRoadWarrior
Posts: 1052
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2005 9:43 pm

Re: Head units from Japan on eBay?

Post by TheRoadWarrior »

I've just taken the band expander off off mine as i'm fitting a UK radio.

PM me if you need one josh.
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