I wonder if no external speaker is an RC thing? I called them yesterday and they said the external speaker is only used for phone call audio. Also when making the purchase, there is a specific check box that you must check acknowledging a disclaimer: 'I am aware of using provided external speaer to be able to use Apple Carplay/Android auto voice calls. Music apps will play through factory Lexus speakers'. Further up the page it says -Build in MIC, support handfree/bluetooth phone, phone book and music'. Appears to only be refferring to the microphone, not the speaker.

Maybe this disclaimer is a carryover from older gen screens? But they did say the speaker is used for phone call audio...

Not thrilled with those boot times. It's like one thing gets better (no factory radio but i'm good with using and app or Spotify or other source) then there's the boot time, which I think is pretty long. Still getting pretty close to pulling the trigger on this...Do you know if the Beat sonic front facing camera works? Even if needing to cut and splice the 4x4 harness? That's no problem if thats the solution.

 

I don't see in the photo that it says non navigation. You made it clear to them? You could email ReynChan to verify. I only know what Dojoman has said and his information
is always accurate, but he is not associated with Lexion. He is a very savvy consumer and understands how these units work and how Carplay/Android Auto function. I hope it's true that non navigation now works with Lexion.

 

When I bought my 4x4 unit, I had to check that disclaimer box that there is an external speaker. After I got the unit, I did not find any speaker in the box. I emailed their tech support and they said my unit does not need it. I was skeptical but took their words for it and proceed with the install. They were right. Calls and Carplay navigation (Google Maps and Waze) instructions come through the factory speakers loud and clear.

Yes, the boot time is longer than I like but that's only for the Android side. If you shut the car off when the OEM radio was on, it will boot up to the radio at the same speed as before. The back up camera also works immediately like OEM.

Mike

 

Excellent! That may be the difference maker there for me there. As for the front camera, guess i'll have to take a chance and if I can't figure it out I'll contact 4x4

 

I did make that clear, here are the preceding messages. They sent me that video from the YouTube page but it doesn’t show if the car has the wheel or the mouse. Not sure if there’s any other way to tell. But I did include the photo of my center console to try to overcome any language barrier.

 

It seems that it should work with non navigation then. When I ordered my unit and screen, I made it perfectly clear I had a mouse/joystick on the site and included a picture. I didn't want any issues.
It might be wise to include a note again saying you have non navigation, if you decide to order.

 

Interesting… they didn’t specifically address your question but confirmed **** controller. Did they reply after you said correct?

if they have this in non-nav I’d get this over 4x4 for the boot time and confirmation of beatsonic interface working. I fully believe RCMike that the external speaker of the 4x4 isn’t needed, it’s just strange that when I spoke to their techs about it they never said it’s no long needed - they said it’s needed for phone call audio only. Maybe the harness is different for the RC v the IS, or maybe they’re not up to date on this latest version of the screen?

I think we still need a more conclusive answer/response before going forward with Lexion for non-nav. I will reach out as well, see what they say, post back here. If Lexion doesn’t make non-nav, then I’m going 4x4.

 

My unit is non-navi and the Lexion (we call it Binary) works.

 

I emailed them a couple days ago, they replied today;

Thank you for your inquiries about our product. We have a product for 2016 Lexus IS300 which has a widescreen and decent quality CarPlay.
It'll work on your car that does not have factory navigation.
And you can choose an option for **** controller when you order.

I’m sending you a product link.
https://www.lexionautomotive.com/is


If you have further questions, please contact us.
You can also contact us by Whatsapp(732-604-2759)


Best regards
Lisa Park
Sales Manager


The link is to the A10-LXS unit. So as wongnee said and Lexion confirmed, unit will work with non-nav. Looks like this is the route I'll be going.

@dojoman Would it be at all possible to provide which wire you tapped for reverse trigger to get your Beat Sonic front facing camera and switch to work with your Lexion unit? If you have a pic or you documented it or just remember, whatever is easiest for you, otherwise no worries. Do you have an IS? May be different is not.

Thanks everyone!

 

That's good news. Yes my car is the same. I will send you some pics where you can find reverse signal on beatsonic sw and hookup wire on Lexion unit later today.

 

Awesome! Thank you so much.

I think I have one last question...did you or anyone retain factory USB ports? I saw on one of the other threads about getting a factory USB retention cable (not sure if it was for the 4x4, Grom, or Lexion) but it's a one port usb, So of the 2 usb ports coming from the Lexion unit it would only connect to 1 of them and then into the factory connector. Not sure if this is compatible or not but regardless is there a way to retain factory USB ports and have them both work?

 

I didn't mess around with USB cable, in fact I hardly use it except to update MCU on Lexion unit. Not sure it's even possible to use factory USB ports there might be a connector under armrest but it's probably propriety connectors. It's better to leave the usb ports from Lexion in glove box.

One thing you need to figure out is how to mount the external box on Lexion, this is the downside of having separate unit instead of integrated one like 4x4, you need to find a place to put it somewhere behind glovebox. Depending on yr of the car and model, my car is 2014 and it has plenty of room. But another member with newer yr there's less room back there. It's a tight fit since the box isn't small and lots of wires coming out from the harness. Originally, I had Lexion unit double taped with 3M to existing ECU unit but when I drive it started making knocking noise. I had to redo this whole thing by rigging some parts from home depot to screw down the lexion unit in a steady spot.

 

The two factory USB ports under the armrest are still functional and have nothing to do with the Lexion unit. I have a tiny thumb drive plugged into one port. I
usually plug in my phone to the CarPlay/charging Lexion cable from the glove compartment, depending how long the drive is. Wired and wireless CarPlay work fine in my car.

 

Thanks for the heads up on locating the external box dojoman. I’ll have to figure it out during install, rig something up if need be. I’m no stranger to having to run cables and mount control boxes, etc. in strategic places, so if need be I’ll do something similar to your solution. Not to get off topic but for the beat sonic front camera, I ran the rca cables and mounted them to the cover of the cabin filter, so when I need to disconnect the battery I have easy access to jump the 2 cables to go direct to the backup camera to reset it to make it work again - not sure if you have this issue when battery gets disconnected and it makes either camera stop working but they include instructions on how to fix if this happens.

Good info Jazzrock, thank you! My ideal install will have no visible connections so I’ll see what I can do. Right now I only have my iPod plugged into one of the 2 USB ports. I figure I’ll plug it into one of the 2 Lexion ports, see if I can use my iPod in the Lexion unit, and use CarPlay via wifi. May get 2 usb extensions and run into the center console somewhere.

Any advantage of using CarPlay wired over wirelessly, other than charging? I use a cigarette lighter usb charger now….yeah I’m old with my iPod and cigarette usb charger. I bought the aftermarket wireless charging mat with cup holder from CarQiWireless but never installed it bc the black plastic doesn’t match the center console black which bothered me and just never put it in (it was a battle with them after purchase bc of their harness not having the right connectors, then they changed it to use the cigarette lighter for power anyway after I brought it to their attention that their harness didn’t work)

 

Dojoman will weigh in, but I don't believe you can plug in your iPod into the Lexion unit.
My only regret is not having the installer run the two USB Lexion cables around and out the head unit area instead of leaving them in the glove compartment. It sounds like you'll be able to take care of this.