Anyone had much experience of the Cobra Alarms? I was looking specifically at the A4138.

Same question for the Xtrons Double DIN radio. Something like:
XTRONS TD702A Quad Core Android 4.4.4 Double 2 DIN Car Stereo Radio GPS Sat-Nav

Anyone ever fitted an aftermarket system that talks to the parking sensors? Some of these units talk about it. Are they just listening on the CANBUS or are the sensors directly wired? CANBUS parking sensors and an arduino shouting 'reversing' down the CANBUS as required could be a very neat install!

Edit: Not entirely sure this one has CANBUS, but I have seen other double DIN units which have CANBUS connections on the rear.

[Edited on 5/1/16 by WesBrooks]

No idea about parking sensors, but I did recently look at double DIN head units for my Passat. My opinion was good and they seemed easy enough to fit. I suspect most modern cars have the stereo wired into the ECU etc so maybe parking sensors would work. A decent in car fitter should be able to tell you.

ETA...looking at your link it seems a reasonable unit. I believe watching TV and/or DVD whilst driving is not allowed though.

[Edited on 5/1/16 by nick205]

In answer to your questions, I've had Cobra alarms on plenty of previous motors and never had any problems with them. I've also used Toad and Laserline, but Cobra more than both of them combined. Truth be told, I don't think there's a great deal of difference between a lot of them - as long as they're Thatcham approved, they have to meet certain standards and should be insurance recognised. I do recall Clifford years ago had loads of bolt-on options such as remote start etc. that you could include, but not seen much of them these days.

As for stereos, I would always stick to the larger brands (Alpine, Sony, Kenwood, Pioneer etc.). Most of them do double-DIN units with TV tuner options, most have DVD playback as standard if it's got a screen. By law, you're supposed to not be able to view TV/movies whilst the vehicle is in motion (SatNav not included in that), so the unit should be wired to handbrake warning light to only allow usage when parked; this does assume "professional" installation mind.

I fitted cobra alarms back in my day. They are as good as any.

The bolt on additions mentioned are universal to a certain extent so should be able to be fitted to a cobra alarm if it has a good level of in and outputs.

Don't expect a wiring diagram with a cat1 alarm. They used to deliberately leave them out of the box to increase security.

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Originally posted by Charlie_Zetec

As for stereos, I would always stick to the larger brands (Alpine, Sony, Kenwood, Pioneer etc.).

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quote:
Originally posted by Charlie_Zetec

As for stereos, I would always stick to the larger brands (Alpine, Sony, Kenwood, Pioneer etc.).


I would agree, I've seen far too many of these android based units and most are too sluggish to use which can be really frustrating. The GPS chip is probably bargain basement so it'll take ages to acquire a location.

If I was considering a similar setup, I'd go for a known android tablet and a headless head unit (essentially an amplifier with either phono or bluetooth input).

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Thanks for the comments.

Are the Cobra alarm systems one of the ones that don't ship with instructions? I'm using the Thatchams as a rough guide to quality of the systems. As far as I'm aware my system won't be Thatchams rated as it won't be installed by a recognised fitter. I don't want to go down that route as it will be a one-off loom. It's take me as much time to guide someone through the loom as it would wire it in by myself. I'd also have no problem with banning myself from using scotch locks and sticking to the same standards of build in the rest of the loom. Hopefully the wiring will be pretty much indistinguishable from the rest of the loom.

With regards to the head unit this was plan b! Plan a was the bluetooth receiver and amp with a tablet, although with the extra out of the box features of the head unit I'm moving towards plan b. I'm considering this way for the convenience of a fully downloaded GPS, possibility to run applications like waze, and ease of adding things like reverse cameras. TV playback isn't of interest, and DVD may be used from time to time as DVD sound quality on live gig films can be great! That's sound only though. I like the idea of being able to create my own applications too. I've got a guide kicking around some where on that subject.

I did see a great head unit from I think Kenwood with a similar set of features but it was about £500 - I was briefly (until price tag was spotted) considering replacing the unit in my daily driver. I'll be going to the top of the range from this supplier to try and get the most responsive system. Having said that I expect it will beat my double din OEM VAG Columbus unit in my '09 Skoda Superb. There is a second or two until it even acknowledges a button press at times!

Interesting. Cobra appear to have been bought out by vodaphone.

http://automotive.vodafone.co.uk/products/alarms-and-immobilisers/a4138-pro-cat-1-alarm-%28pager-output%29.aspx