Hualingan MK4 - first impressions
Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:15 pm
Just thought I would give my views on the MK 4 Hualingan after having it for a couple of weeks now. First impressions are that unit is reasonably well made and the fit in the hole is very good almost not needing any securing screws. Wiring was easy thanks to the pre-installed extension loom (I had a factory Sat Nav which makes this necessary) the only bit of manual wiring I needed to do was to connect the orange wire from the back of the unit into the illumination circuit. This I tapped into from the original wiring to the old monitor - red and white wire.
The initial home screen is well laid out with clear icons for all functions and these cover two screens, the second screen being accesed by swiping firmly from right to left on the touch screen.
Radio - The interface for the radio does leave a bit to be desired, the colour scheme is too loud for my liking and the station name text is way too small. Radio reception can only be described as adequate. Wether this is the Hualingan or the Xs aerial I dont know.
iPod - This is dire in my opinion. The sound quality is fine but the controls are way too twitchy to operate on the move. Scrolling through artists or albums with the slider is almost impossible on the move and tricky at best when stationary.
Digital TV - This is pretty good. May be the signal strength in my area, but even keeping the aerial in the glovebox I am able to pick up most channels.
Sat Nav - I was meant to have a copy of the Sygic sat nav with the unit but this has yet to arrive, so for the time being I have been running IGO 8. This seems OK but the lack of a full postcode search is irritating and when the voice directions cut in the sound from the radio/pod whatever is muted for way to long. I have a copy of Primo Im gonig to trial over the next few weeks to see if thats any better whilst waiting for the Sygic to turn up. I did try installing a copy of Tomtom navigator I have, but apperently the spec of the Huli is too good as it runs Windows CE6 with 128mb ram and people have only managed to get a stable version of the Navigator working on CE5 with 64mb RAM ??? Go figure ?
Ive only had the unit for a couple of weeks now so it is early days as yet, I havent tried the DVD player yet nor the MP3 player, but my initial thoughts are that the screens for the different modes seem to be collected together from several different systems, there doesnt seem to be any comminality between them which to my mind rather spoils the whole package.
I will add any further findings as and when they occur.
The initial home screen is well laid out with clear icons for all functions and these cover two screens, the second screen being accesed by swiping firmly from right to left on the touch screen.
Radio - The interface for the radio does leave a bit to be desired, the colour scheme is too loud for my liking and the station name text is way too small. Radio reception can only be described as adequate. Wether this is the Hualingan or the Xs aerial I dont know.
iPod - This is dire in my opinion. The sound quality is fine but the controls are way too twitchy to operate on the move. Scrolling through artists or albums with the slider is almost impossible on the move and tricky at best when stationary.
Digital TV - This is pretty good. May be the signal strength in my area, but even keeping the aerial in the glovebox I am able to pick up most channels.
Sat Nav - I was meant to have a copy of the Sygic sat nav with the unit but this has yet to arrive, so for the time being I have been running IGO 8. This seems OK but the lack of a full postcode search is irritating and when the voice directions cut in the sound from the radio/pod whatever is muted for way to long. I have a copy of Primo Im gonig to trial over the next few weeks to see if thats any better whilst waiting for the Sygic to turn up. I did try installing a copy of Tomtom navigator I have, but apperently the spec of the Huli is too good as it runs Windows CE6 with 128mb ram and people have only managed to get a stable version of the Navigator working on CE5 with 64mb RAM ??? Go figure ?
Ive only had the unit for a couple of weeks now so it is early days as yet, I havent tried the DVD player yet nor the MP3 player, but my initial thoughts are that the screens for the different modes seem to be collected together from several different systems, there doesnt seem to be any comminality between them which to my mind rather spoils the whole package.
I will add any further findings as and when they occur.