[HomieTheClown]

This is for anyone who has been interested in the combox unit but not quite sure yet. Let me just tell you that, besides installing a reverse camera, this is one of the best mods you can get for your bimmer. Here's a link to his website that explains more.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ghlight=combox

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=460684

Now with Patryk, there are two ways to get the unit installed.

1. You can drive to one of his authorized install centers depending on where you live of course.

2. You can install it yourself.

I installed it myself and despite a few obstacles, I got it installed.
You just need 2 things.

1. Common sense
2. Patience
3. And it helps to know how to use a few tools.....(ok so that's 3 things)

Now pricing depends on what your car already has installed (CCC,CIC, 6NF,etc) and what your wanting to install in it.
Unless I am wrong, there are 2 versions of the combox. All this information can be found in the 2 links above.

For those who are thinking about installing yourself, Patryk will skype for you(its a free program) while you work on your car. For example, I installed Skype on my Iphone so I could talk to him as I was installing it in the car. I had a few questions during the install which he was able to answer. I think it took me about 2 hours. Maybe less....

The only real issue I personally had was getting my Iphone to tether with the car's combox. I broke down a bought an app called MyWI 4.0. Now this is app is only sold if your phone is jailbroken.

I must say that tethering your phone to your combox is awesome and allows it to reach it's full potential. The BMW online services is very cool. One of best parts of the upgrade is the 'local google live search' feature. Which basically allows you to search(google maps) to find whatever your looking for. Personally I like this much more than using the navigation's POI database. As you can imagine if your car's nav database is old, your POI's could be obsolete or some of the information changed. So the google live feature fixes.

Another one of my favorite features of the upgrade, is the BMW apps. Now I think you need to make sure you order the smartphone integration from patryk when you order the combox. It allows you to plug in your smartphone into the usb port located in the center consolse(arm rest between the 2 front seats).

Now this is different front the 6FL package that a lot of us have one our cars. IF you get the smartphone integration(if your car doesn't have already) he will send you out this part to install. It looks just like the one you have (if you have the 6fl option already). It's pretty easy to install. He even supplies you a Y-cable if you have a Iphone.

Anyways BMW apps is pretty cool. There's not very many apps right now, but I am sure they will come. Pandora is one of the best apps you can use. I've know lots of people who use it, but I never really paid it any attention until I got this upgrade. Now I am hooked on this silly little program lol. IF you love listening to music by all means, get it.

Another app that you need to get is BMW connected. Once your phone is connected and the app is running, it allows you to open up facebook, web-radio, and calender. If your a facebook junkie then you will love part of the program. I however could care less lol. I did mess with that a little. It will read people's post. Some kind of text-to-speech thing.

Anyway guys, I've rambled on enough about this. It's definitely a worthy upgrade and Patryk is a top-notch kind of a guy. I know it's sometimes hard to trust people especially on the internet, but I took that chance, and I am glad I did. He's a hell of a guy and I think the pricing is really good too.

EDIT EDIT.
I totally forgot to talk about the programming part of the car. Some review huh. OK so after the parts are installed, the car needs to be programmed. Since I did the install myself Patryk sent me out a USB\OBDII able for my car. I used an old gateway laptop with Windows XP on it. He also will send you a link to the software that you need to download and install on your laptop. Patryk does all the programming remotely(from his home) so you need to make sure you are on the internet when you connect the laptop to the car. Personally I went to Starbucks and sat in the parking lot while he did the programming. I think it took about 20-30 minutes? It varies depending on what you have installed in the car.

My car is an 09 335 that had a factory installed CIC already. I had just bought the car in June and I was lucky that it had pretty up to date software(it was updated in April).

Only one warning about the install. Because our cars did not come with the combox, once the unit is installed and Patryk does the installation, AFAIK you will never be able to take it into a BMW dealership to get programmed or software updated. That would erase the programming he did for the combox and you would lose functionality of it.
If you have any questions, let me know.

[DieselDiner]

Congrats Homie! A couple of questions: what year is your car? Did you have to load the newer software on your car?

I am in your situation - I either have to drive further than I really want to, or do it myself. In my case, I have to load the March 2011 software, so either I get my dealer to do it (questionable), or drive a long way. I've opened the dialogue with my dealer, but have no idea if they will do it.

[skinrock]

That's pretty awesome. I actually wouldn't have known about this retrofit package without seeing this post. Thanks for the info!

[Patrys@BimmerTech]

Thank you Chris