teyes spro

I have an older Hilux a 2004 model and its the 1kz-te engine version with a single cab and a really nice steel tray. When i purchased it I was a keen deer hunter so I spent a lot of time up in the Vic high country in winter and I(we) my wife and I got bogged Friday night late. So by Sunday a winch was added to the must have list. The next trip into the Wonnangatta added lockers to the list after sliding back down the Collingwood spur track, lucky to survive that one. So its set up well, long range tank , duel fuel filters, 2nd battery, Toyota 70 air cleaner box, auxiliary 240v power etc. So we are using it to tow our van around, but it has no gps or engine instruments, just lights.
So I decided to get a flat screen that had all the fruit ala a new car like my wife's Volkswagen. So after much research done on Google I settled on a Teyes SPRO unit. So I went online and found a really cheap unit, only $101 landed at my place. All the others were over $300, can you see the mistake. Yep it was a LEMON disguised as the real deal. It arrived and it looked the goods so I went and started the install.
First thing is the instructions are all in Russian, so they were as useful as the proverbial tits on a bull. But Google to the rescue, the translator from Russian to English, but after 4 hours and little headway I was thinking stuff it lets just go for broke and pull the hilux apart and fit this thing.
As you can imagine with a heap of wires and a few plugs to work out there was some head scratching, lucky I'm bald. But things like the stereo wires and the power and earth were pretty easy to work out, same with the reversing camera. The Gps was a little trickier as it has a dedicated receiver unit, but after some more scratching and a very massaged head it was all plugged in and ready to go.
The unit started up and worked all in Russian language. I had enough nous to translate the word LANGUAGE and ENGLISH from the Russian so I found them eventually and changed the language to English. Took about 3 hours of pushing the controls until it just popped up. So then I found that I had Radio, USB music, bluetooth, Clock, reverse camera. but no Gps. After another fruitless night in the garage I came to the realisation I had purchased a cheaper version called a CC2, it works well but does not allow Exploroz maps to be downloaded.
So I bit the proverbial bullet and purchased another head unit worth $345, it came and it works a treat. I had the English language up in about 10 minutes and I was able to download Exploroz Maps easily. This unit is really easy to use and I can split the screen if I want and run 2 apps at once. The radio or the music run in the background with a full screen of map running. We have not been into any really remote country yet but the maps and gps work really well showing me speed, heading and altitude. The controls are all on the passenger side of the screen and they can be a little fiddly to use, but I am getting used to them after using it for about a month now.
Was it worth the hassle of pulling the dash out to install, I would say yes. Was it easy to wire in, that depends on your capability with small wires and joining them. I used male,female pin sets and they worked well, the up front cost of the wire stripper and the pin set cost a bit, $90 for the stripper and $125 for the pin set. I have them now and I can reuse them on other jobs. The install was a little fiddly but I used the Toyota Hilux Owners repair manual and followed the instructions and it all worked.
If any one else is looking toward this idea I can recommend the Teyes Spro as they have everything in the one head unit, just as you now get in the newer topline models. Our oldy now has the works, flat screen and 3 new redarc engine instruments, Oil temp, pressure, Dual battery volts plus amps, EGT, Turbo boost and outside airtemp. Now we just need the time to go for a drive some place interesting.
The new instruments had to be placed up on the top of the dash and they took me probably more time to install than the teyes unit as the wiring had to be threaded up between the heater ducts and the aircon controls. I must admit that they do work very well and I am pleased with my old ute, it has every thing we need now and we are very pleased to drive around in it. So if you see a ute with a Mack Truck Dog on the bonnet say hello, its us.
Happy touring, driving.