mcgene

I know some have replaced their NAV and or radio with newer head units that have Apple CarPlay.
However, for those of us who don't want the expense of replacing existing stuff -- there are stand-alone units that can be added that offer wireless & wired Apple Carplay.
Has anyone done this, and if so, what has your experience been like?
There are sooo many units that it's hard to weed out the crappy ones. At times, user reviews are not to be trusted -- however, I fully trust feedback on this forum
Thanks!

Bgw70

do you have any examples?
how do you use car play with the OEM radio head unit?
don’t you need a screen?

mcgene

The link below is an example of what I mean. It sits on the dashboard and plugs into the cigarette lighter for power.

Bgw70

i see, do you glue or screw it into the dash? It says it has a suction cup, not sure how that will work on our dash.
can you connect it to the OEM radio for music and sounds?

I like the idea but it seems like it might not be a great solution. If it was, wouldn’t more people have one?
i noticed there were no reviews, it must be a new device.

You should go for it because it is coming from Amazon. Amazon has an easy return policy.
I would order it and give us all some feedback on your results.

mcgene

These can be mounted via the window with a suction arm or on the dash, etc.
I just picked one from Amazon -- unfortunately it had no reviews.
The one below does get decent reviews -- none are perfect.
I'm taking the plunge on one. I'll post my experience.

DshngDaryl

That's interesting. I wonder if you can suction cup it to the outside of the upper screen door?

It looks like sounds comes out of the built in speakers in the box, but you have the option of plugging it into your oem stereo via bluetooth (Which we don't have natively), FM Transmitter or an Aux Cable.

@mcgene It looks like it has potential. I say give it a shot. You just have to be creative running the power cable

mcgene

Generally the speakers on these things is not very good. Especially compared to the our ML system.
They claim it can be routed via the car speakers -- we'll see how easy or difficult that proves to be.
-gene

Scott R

I bought this ATOTO P8 about a year ago, and have been pretty happy with it:

It's got a lot of cool features (front camera, rear camera, Bluetooth remote control) but I still haven't gotten around to hooking up either of the cameras or hiding any of the wires, so it's currenty pretty messy for me.

SGB4570

Interesting Gene, while my head unit has been replaced so I don't need this I look forward to your review.

mcgene

Hey Scott,
I agree that the wiring may be a mess. At present, I'm only thinking of plugging in the power cable to the cigarette lighter and using Bluetooth to make any other connections. I'm not sure, but my current plan is to continue using my Pioneer unit (CD, USB) for music. This will certainly be a learning experience.
I decided to make my purchase via Wal-Mart rather than Amazon. I have found (too often) that Amazon resells items that have been returned. Also, Wal-Mart's return policy is just as good as Amazon and they're just down the road (ain't it wonderful to live in rural Florida)
Thanks for your post, Scott.
-gene

lifeisgoodsteve

Interesting.

SGB4570

Yeah, Running the wiring to cameras front and back doesn't sound like any fun at all.

mcgene

Unit arrived today -- a day early! Update coming soon -- with Pics

SGB4570

Woot Woot.

mcgene

First step of the installation process went very smoothly. I'm using the window mount -- the dash mount is too tall. The slope of the windshield interferes with the dash mount.
Connected to my iPhone via Bluetooth instantly.
Routed the power wire into the cigarette socket and did a so-so job of tucking the wire in with the excess rolled up in the ashtray (which I removed).
It came with a backup camera -- that's for another day.
I'll keep you guys in the loop as I get more experience.
-gene