“Most new vehicles are equipped with Bluetooth technology, so you can play music and take calls off of your phone,” Mick Symons writes for iMore. “Many manufacturers even choose to include CarPlay built right into their vehicles (or you can add it as an upgrade). If, however, you don’t have a vehicle with Bluetooth built in, or you simply want more out of your current bare-bones Bluetooth system, you might consider a CarPlay receiver.”
Symons writes, “That being said, before you consider a receiver, consider these few things to make sure it’s what you really need.”
7 things to consider before buying an aftermarket CarPlay receiver:
• Cost
• Installation
• Are you buying a new car soon?
• Are all drivers in the Apple ecosystem?
• Room
• Wired or wireless?
Each of the 7 points above elucidated in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Do you have an aftermarket CarPlay receiver? If so, which one(s) and how do you like it/them?
Interns, please commence your most important jobs of the week: TTK!
TGIF, everyone. Prost!
SEE ALSO:
Pioneer MVH-1400NEX is an affordable aftermarket CarPlay head unit in a simple package – July 9, 2018
AAA: Apple CarPlay is less distracting to drivers vs. built-in systems designed by automakers – June 27, 2018
HARMAN pioneers first-ever wireless integration of Apple CarPlay – February 23, 2017
Apple opens up CarPlay to third-party mapping apps like Waze, Google Maps – June 5, 2018
… it’s as easy as it use to be. A lot of cars have features such as keyless entry running through the car stereo system.
Yup… in the old days every radio was a single or double DIN. Now, they’re all integrated into the dash and connected to the car’s computer and electronics. Replacing them is all but impossible.
third party units do not tap into the vehicle GPS antenna and relies solely on iphone reception, had one once, terrible compared to built in factory units
I bought an Alpine ILX-007 CarPlay head unit and installed it in my 2008 Chevy Malibu. Fits like a glove and works just fine. It’s awesome to have Maps up on the full 7″ screen and it makes messages so much easier that sometimes I go to my car just to send a message. I’ve even found Siri to be pretty good at transcribing my voice with very few errors. My 10-year-old car has as good or better tech than some brand-new cars, so, I guess I’m pretty happy with my aftermarket CarPlay unit.
In late 2015 I bought my white Subaru Forester for cash and immediately drove from the dealer to a car sound system dealer where I had them take out the factory installed head unit and install the Pioneer AVIC8000NEX head unit which had CarPlay.
I didn’t like that I had to plug my phone in to make use of it (now a firmware upgrade could take care of that but hasn’t yet).
The navigation system that came with it was needlessly complex, certainly as compared to Maps and today i avoid it like the plague – what are they thinking of when they design this stuff??
The brilliant minds at Pioneer also set the default volume at 100% so navigation and phone calls were screaming at you until I could figure it out where the heck the volume settings inside the Settings control were.
Then one other thing that could be fixed with a firmware update is that damned auto-play. I pause the system as I use my phone or whatever and instead of letting me decide when to hit play again it automatically starts playing whatever media was playing. It can be an annoying joke when you are using your phone for various tasks in the car. Really dumb not allowing users to turn it off.
But yeah Maps works great on it though I just as often just use my standalone iPhone or iPad instead. Again Pioneer needs to enable wireless control though.
I believe the new 8400NEX is wireless.
Just installed one in each of my 2000 Ford F-350, and our 1998 Saturn SL2. Pioneer AVH3300NEX and MVH1400NEX, respectively. Both with CarPlay. Happy Camper.
Looking at upgrading the Jensen in our Motorhome to the new 8400NEX.
I am a third party Apple cynic but still better than the bore-iginal.
Dropped a Sony XAV-AX5000 into an ‘03 Ford Explorer. Changed nothing in the 15-year old system but the head unit. Huge improvement in sound quality and volume. Capacitance screen, so touch control is smooth and accurate, bright and beautiful. Plays content from phone, but needs cable to run Car Play. The Sony comes with a nice microphone for voice control and everything hands-free. Got a harness to tie in steering wheel control but couldn’t get it to work. Wife said she never used them so didn’t pursue after an hour of fruitless troubleshooting. For the satisfaction and modernity it delivered the Sony and time were worth the money.
I bought an Alpine iLX-107 receiver, It is awesome and has wireless car play. I don’t even have to take my iPhone out of my pocket. Once its set up it just starts playing music from my iPhone after I start the car. Love, love, love it!
I count six.
Looks like wired or wireless are counted as two things, which is both right and wrong.
I guess it is kind of the thing you’d expect applecynic or GoeB to screen up. #MakeCountingGreatAgain, while #applesucks because #applecynic hates Tim Cook.
I installed the Sony XAV-AX100 in an Honda Odyssey complete with an adapter so that all the steering wheel controls work. It’s a great setup with an external USB connection, Bluetooth and an external microphone.
The only downside I noticed is that my polarized sunglasses makes the screen hard to see during the day.