# AT Dakota Head Unit Replacement



## Stevosp1 (May 17, 2021)

Hi all, 

So I’m a new owner of a 2012 AutoTrail Dakota, it’s our first motor home and after returning home with it I’ve noticed the sat nav doesn’t seem to pick up current location, after reading some posts I’m going to take the unit out and see if it’s a loose connection at the back for the GPS receiver..... just waiting for a set of the pins to remove it to be delivered... picture of the screen attached.... also when you set a route it seems to want to start from a location unknown to me... probably the last known gps location before it lost connection.

Also as I was playing with it a lot at the weekend and I realise it’s not the best Headunit in the world, quite slow, sometimes unresponsive etc and was thinking of upgrading it, I spoke with Lee Evans and they recommend a replacement to a Clarion unit which they say is the best replacement unit.....£1,300...... has anyone replaced there’s with this unit or have you replaced it with another one like Pioneer or something?

Any advice welcome,

Thanks


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Can the unit actually 'see' the sky? Is it possible that it is shielded. My car in the garage needs to poke it's nose outside before sat nav knows where it is.

Ray.


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## Stevosp1 (May 17, 2021)

raynipper said:


> Can the unit actually 'see' the sky? Is it possible that it is shielded. My car in the garage needs to poke it's nose outside before sat nav knows where it is.
> 
> Ray.


It can yes, if it can't it's the worse excuse for a sat nav I've ever seen lol


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## dghr272 (Jun 14, 2012)

Is the unit an original AT fitted unit, if so I’ve seen many complaints on Facebook AT owners groups, perhaps if you use FB a query there can get a definitive response?

Terry


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

£1300 is an insane price to pay for a sat nav and radio. 

Buy a TomTom or a Garmin and a new radio from Lidl when they have them on offer. Total cost under £200.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Hi and welcome to MHF Steve, and thanks for reminding me I need to look up the manual for mine, hopefully, it has Bluetooth on it, but I think not, so I will be looking for a new one, single-DIN, unfortunately, not sure if you can fit a double DIN, not sure I'd bother with Sat nag onboard anyway, I think you can get them now where it'll connect to the phone and have Google maps which are about as good as you can get.

£1300, I should Cocoa.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Pudsey_Bear said:


> Hi and welcome to MHF Steve, and thanks for reminding me I need to look up the manual for mine, hopefully, it has Bluetooth on it, but I think not, so I will be looking for a new one, single-DIN, unfortunately, not sure if you can fit a double DIN, not sure I'd bother with Sat nag onboard anyway, I think you can get them now where it'll connect to the phone and have Google maps which are about as good as you can get.
> 
> £1300, I should Cocoa.


Quite right Kev.

I don't know why I recommended a sat nav. I've relied on my phone for years now and it's fine.

I do sometimes miss the lane assist feature though.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

I wouldn't touch an app for a long time, But Zebedee got me into Maps.me and Copilot which I do still use.


Where he these days, hope he's fit and well.


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## Stevosp1 (May 17, 2021)

Thanks for all the replies, well I got the headunit pins from Lee Evans today, super quick service as only ordered yesterday. I’m residing myself to the fact I will be buying a separate sat nav though now, I’m sure the question will be which one, Tom Tom, Garmin or I quite like the Aguri device..... hmmm


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Id urge you to download the google maps app its free and doesn't use much data. You can also download particular areas of interest to save data before buying a stand alone one.


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## msyd (Apr 15, 2010)

I've replaced ours with an Eonon 10.1" unit - great big display, great sound. I gave up on using an app when stuck on the keyside in Chioggia - the app (Sygic) insisted that I drive through the town which was closed for a market. Had a horrendous time turning around (in my 8m Delaware) to get out again. Google maps came to the rescue (it's traffic-aware) and took us a different route out. By the way, if you're using a USB drive to play music, be aware that many car audio units don't provide enough USB power to reliably keep the drive going - kept rebooting every few minutes - I actually changed the unit thinking it was defective, only to have same behaviour on the replacement, I changed the 500GB USB drive for a 500GB SSD instead - voila - works perfectly. Just sayin'.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

I don't think the designers thought anyone would need a 500gb hdd drive, so designed it for any reasonable flash stick, which is basically all a ssd is.


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