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I had Carlink 3 for a week and it worked well. But yesterday it never turned on after updating firmware so returned it. Ordered Ottocast U2-Air waiting for it to arrive. FYI they all use wifi for connection. Bluetooth is only used for initial pairing and exchanging wifi connection details.
here are the links:
CarlinKit 3.0 Wireless CarPlay Adapter USB for Factory Wired CarPlay Cars (Model Year: 2019 to 2020), Wireless CarPlay Dongle Convert Wired to Wireless CarPlay… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08P1GWQDB...ing=UTF8&psc=1
OTTOCAST CarPlay Wireless Adapter 2022 Speed Fastest Apple Wireless CarPlay Dongle Plug & Play 5Ghz WiFi Auto Connect No Delay Online Update, U2-AIR for OEM Wired CarPlay Cars Model Year After 2016 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Q65SX47...PA31NVEGVEF7S2
I was just about ready to pull the trigger on Amazon then I went to the Ottocast website. I’m running iOS 15.3.1 so I am sure its not compatible with my phone.
‼ PLEASE BE AWARE：⚡IOS 15.2.1 OR 15.3 IPHONES ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THIS PRODUCT,
I was just about ready to pull the trigger on Amazon then I went to the Ottocast website. I’m running iOS 15.3.1 so I am sure its not compatible with my phone.
‼ PLEASE BE AWARE：⚡IOS 15.2.1 OR 15.3 IPHONES ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THIS PRODUCT,
That warning is for U2-now. Doesn't show that warning on U2-Air
I was just about ready to pull the trigger on Amazon then I went to the Ottocast website. I’m running iOS 15.3.1 so I am sure its not compatible with my phone.
I was just about ready to pull the trigger on Amazon then I went to the Ottocast website. I’m running iOS 15.3.1 so I am sure its not compatible with my phone.
‼ PLEASE BE AWARE：⚡IOS 15.2.1 OR 15.3 IPHONES ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THIS PRODUCT,
Got my Ottocast U2-Air today and works well with my iphone on 15.3.1. In comparison with Carlinkit 3.0, the splash screen looks much nicer and load time is the same if not a tad faster. Also audio quality is better (at least to my ears). Only thing missing is that configuration web page where you can adjust bitrate etc but not sure if its needed anyway.
Got my Ottocast U2-Air today and works well with my iphone on 15.3.1. In comparison with Carlinkit 3.0, the splash screen looks much nicer and load time is the same if not a tad faster. Also audio quality is better (at least to my ears). Only thing missing is that configuration web page where you can adjust bitrate etc but not sure if its needed anyway.
I got mine today as well. I also ordered the two cables you suggested. My car should be here anytime after Friday…lol. We are expecting an ice storm today and tomorrow so I expect a slight delay. Thanks for the help!!
I posted about this in another thread too but just for visibility for folks following this thread... I bought a slim angled cable hoping I can close the USB cover and then close the wood cover on top. I was a no go! that freaking USB cover adds too much height that even with this usb cable I couldn't close the wood cover ( I forced it to close once but it didn't open and I thought I have to break it! luckily was able to sneak in a knife to remove the USB insert and it opened but not going to take chances again). Curious how anyone cut their USB cover in a neat way? or is there a better USB cable out there to help with this?
Just got the Ottocast U2 Air for my 2022 ES350 and it is WONDERFUL. Really works nicely like it was built into the car, no latency that I could readily see and audio sounded the same as regular bluetooth. This is a very nice product, as a bonus, I did just update my IOS today to 15.4 and just tested, Carplay and functionality is still working great with the unit.
On another note, have to say coming from a 2014 with nav to this model without nav but with carplay its amazing how nice Carplay is. So nice to use Google Maps, Contacts, and all that good stuff instead of the Lexus app.
Glad to hear it my friend. 💪 It's a beautiful car and the technology is quality. I'm curious if your device is Bluetooth 5.2 by any chance. I've gone from the iPhone to the OnePlus 8T in the car which has Bluetooth 5.1 and the sound difference was insane. The Qualcomm chip in it can really process audio over Bluetooth well. A noticeable difference. I'm curious if you ever happen to have anyone in the car that has a Bluetooth 5.2 device I'd be interested to know if the sound has gotten even better from bluetooth 5.1 to the 5.2 standard. No pressure and appreciate it if the opportunity ever presents itself. 🙏
I've had to go through a lot in this car to get my system sounding the way I like it and I'm still making perfection as I go but as someone who has done quite an amount of car audio systems in his time, I can truthfully say that anything Lexus in this generation is going to be the best stock starting point for anyone that wants to make audio upgrades while maintaining the stock head unit. The signal that even the non ML system is able to generate once fed to a quality LOC is beyond compare in other cars as a stock starting point.. It's almost like they future proofed it a bit for the time an average person would own the car where most other manufacturers give you the vehicle with tech that's already a few if not more years behind. 💯 Humbly in my own experience. 🙏 Love this car and I'm Lexus for life now. 💯💪✨🔥
Just got the Ottocast U2 Air for my 2022 ES350 and it is WONDERFUL. Really works nicely like it was built into the car, no latency that I could readily see and audio sounded the same as regular bluetooth. This is a very nice product, as a bonus, I did just update my IOS today to 15.4 and just tested, Carplay and functionality is still working great with the unit.
On another note, have to say coming from a 2014 with nav to this model without nav but with carplay its amazing how nice Carplay is. So nice to use Google Maps, Contacts, and all that good stuff instead of the Lexus app.
U2 Air is awesome! and FYI Wireless CarPlay does not use bluetooth as the main method of connection. It is Wifi but bluetooth is used initially to discover the available headunit and once connected, all streaming is through Wifi. Audio quality of Bluetooth is not comparable to Wifi (given big difference in bandwidth). I have been super happy with audio quality of U2 Air and I cannot tell the difference between that or cable connection.
Glad to hear it my friend. 💪 It's a beautiful car and the technology is quality. I'm curious if your device is Bluetooth 5.2 by any chance. I've gone from the iPhone to the OnePlus 8T in the car which has Bluetooth 5.1 and the sound difference was insane. The Qualcomm chip in it can really process audio over Bluetooth well. A noticeable difference. I'm curious if you ever happen to have anyone in the car that has a Bluetooth 5.2 device I'd be interested to know if the sound has gotten even better from bluetooth 5.1 to the 5.2 standard. No pressure and appreciate it if the opportunity ever presents itself. 🙏
I've had to go through a lot in this car to get my system sounding the way I like it and I'm still making perfection as I go but as someone who has done quite an amount of car audio systems in his time, I can truthfully say that anything Lexus in this generation is going to be the best stock starting point for anyone that wants to make audio upgrades while maintaining the stock head unit. The signal that even the non ML system is able to generate once fed to a quality LOC is beyond compare in other cars as a stock starting point.. It's almost like they future proofed it a bit for the time an average person would own the car where most other manufacturers give you the vehicle with tech that's already a few if not more years behind. 💯 Humbly in my own experience. 🙏 Love this car and I'm Lexus for life now. 💯💪✨🔥
Thanks so much! Really is amazing to see how far the tech has come. I have an Iphone 12 Pro, so its bluetooth 5.0. Definetely will keep an eye out if any of my Android friends try it out, would be neat to see if there's any difference!
Totally agree on Lexus, they make things so rock solid its hard to want to upgrade to a newer model because you know you got a keeper
So Im going to do a revision on Ottocast: it has not been great for calls and I havent had any luck upgrading the firmware from 22020817.1501.2 to the newest version. Has anyone else been successful with firmware updates or is there another way to do it outside the car? I got Carlink3.0 and calls are better but the audio is a slight downgrade, so if a firmware update to Ottocast can work that would be ideal.
UPDATE: Updating from the car wasnt successful, but I plugged it into my computer and did the flash update and it worked. Now there is ZERO lag on calls so now I think I'll send Carlink 3.0 back now
02-21-22, 06:31 AM
