Buyer beware
I had been looking for parking sensors to supplement my 2014 GLK Mercedes and came across the Tadibrothers web site. The first thing that struck me were the number of spelling errors on the site. It gave me pause however I forged ahead. I first asked for preliminary installation guidelines and specs. But I was told that these were only provided after the sale.
Undaunted I ordered an 8 sensor system (4 front, 4 back) with 4 extension cables for thevfront sensors plus under bumper sensors so I didn't have to drill holes.
The system arrived with 8 sensors, 4 extension cables but only a 4 sensor 'brain'. I informed Tadi and they said the best that they could do was send me a complete 8 sensor brain kit with 4 added sensors for a discounted cost and...additional shipping costs and, for the 'favor' I needed to give them a 5 star review on trust pilot.
The new 'brain' arrived and after a great deal of labor running cables and mounting sensors I fired the system up only to find that the front sensors kept false triggering with an annoying beep from the display every time.
After some diagnosis I discover a bad front sensor and notified Tadi who agreed to send me a set of 4 sensors at a reduced shipping cost.
3 weeks went by and I discovered that UPS had lost the shipment. I notified Tadi and they agree to send 4 more (for a reduced shipping cost) and I insisted it be sent by mail (to reduce shipping and brokerage costs to Canada).
The 4 sensors arrived by mail with no brokerage fee but several days later UPS notified me of another shipment of 4 sensors that would arrive after I paid $50 for brokerage and taxes (I refused, Tadi shipping department seems to suffer from confusion as this was a duplicate shipment).
I replaced the faulty sensor and...same problem. I scoured the Tadi site and finally came across an obscure technical document that stated that sensors must be at least about 16 inches above the ground..sigh...my front sensors were to low. Again, I bit the bullet and ordered a pack of 4 stick on sensors to be sent by mail. When they arrived (by UPS!!) I noticed that the sensor cables did not have the special waterproof plug to add the Tadi extension cable to (this is not specied anywhere on their site) so, having lots of extra under bumper sensors I cut the connector off of 4 of them and soldered them onto the stick on sensors. Then I painted them with touch up paint (as instructed on the web site), mounted them, fired them up and..same problem..sigh!!. It must have been an epiphany or at least a moment of clarity when I realized that maybe the metal fleck paint (used on most modern cars) was the issue. I emailed Tadi support and they confirmed it (this info is nowhere to be found on their site but they say painting the sensors will not affect them). I removed the paint from the tip of the sensor cone and..voila.. no (or almost no) false triggers.
So my 9 month 'gong show' is over.
I must say that over many years I have dealt with numerous American companies whose sales, after sales and warranty support was exemplary, unfortunately Tadi seems to be an exception.
Final conclusion; if you have a vehicle without a camera or sensors then do yourself a favor, sell it and buy a vehicle with factory installed and calibrated devices (:-)
Addendum:Nov. 18/2024. After using my (almost working) wireless parking system for a few weeks I have concluded that the wireless system suffers false triggering due to noise. The front and back sensors are usually disabled until either the brake is pressed or reverse is selected. Nevertheless, while driving the display lights up and beeps randomly while momentarily showing a reading either from front or back sensors and it beeps annoyingly. It will be a long day and a dark night before Tadi fixes this so I simply disabled the beeper and ignore all display readings except those that stay on constantly.
One minor quibble; the sensors detect objects up to only 3 feet distance. This is fine for parking but it would be nice to have double the distance to detect the pedestrian (etc.) walking behind the vehicle as you back out of a stall.
Date of experience: 02 March 2024
