I bought one of these last year for my 2008 Mazda 3, and thought I would share my experience with it to date:
Installation:
- The how-to videos are easy to follow in terms of removing the factory unit and installing the new one.
- Hooking it up is straightforward and everything plugs in (no soldering / wire connectors required).
- Mechanically, the unit is not as secure as the OEM unit, especially at the bottom, where the unit tends to pop out slightly after a few hard bumps.
Looks:
- The system is a perfect fit and integrates well with the dash.
- The LED colour is selectable and the red is a good match with the factory lighting.
Function:
- The controls are reasonably easy to navigate and the "home" page is user configurable
- The factory steering wheel controls work perfectly and are also user configurable
- The GPS is slow to load, but works okay once it is running.
- Phone synch with bluetooth works out of the box and it displays my contacts without problem
- The factory head unit works perfect with the EONON, outside temp is displayed, and you can access the trip computer functions. One problem, short of pulling the battery at 12:00, there is no way to set the factory head unit time display (time on the EONON is displayed correctly though - it is synched to GPS)
Sound and user sound controls
- I am not all that impressed with the sound quality, but lesson learned - never buy ICE without hearing it . The system might sound better with an amp and aftermarket speakers.
- The bass and treble controls are poorly thought out and a PITA to access when driving. You have to hit the function button 3 times to get to bass level, then one more time to get to the treble.
- The radio reception is terrible. I pulled the unit and double-checked antenna connections, but stations will still drop out frequently, and these are stations that had perfect reception with the factory unit.
Pros: Looks great, perfect fit - adds USB functionality
Cons: Mounting points need to be more robust, radio is terrible, sound controls should be user configurable to make access easier