1st gen tundras! Touch Screen head unit. Who's got what?

I hate the face of the 407 but love wireless CarPlay option, and you can change the boot splash screen to anything, including a Toyota logo. Follow up on whether firmware update fixes.

 

Tried an sJoyBring Chinesium unit and wasn't happy with the sound. Tried a Nakamichi Chinesium unit, same shit diff day so I went back to the ol trusty Kenwood DMX706s. It'll have to do.

 

I'm curious now. Don't know anything about it. Came with the truck. My backup camera is integrated into a license plate frame...

 

Well it's a Sony WITH a volume knob so that's a win right thurr!

 

It's the Sony XAV-AX1zzz

That zzz could be 000 (i.e. XAV-AX1000) or 500 (i.e. XAV-AX1500), there may be an info/about menu inside the unit to tell you w/o removing it.

Clearly the Chinesium units (see here) are probably using the chassis design of Sony's. It could be coming from the same factory. These knockoff companies don't have the means to create the tooling/molds to make that stuff, they find out who is making it and have them make it. OR it's all being made in the same factory, and they delete any embossed branding, and often cheap out on the internals, cutting corners anywhere they can. A good example of the latter can be seen in Project Farm's recent review of knockoff batteries. You can really get a good idea of how much they corner cut (sometimes in very dangerous ways!) and knowing he bought every one of those knockoffs online, either at scAmazon or fleaBay, advertised as "genuine OEM" and at only a fraction less than the real thing ... it should be alarming, and it just goes to show, the warnings we give about buying parts at those specific places are very VERY founded. Never buy "authentic" items from those places or Wally World, Sears, NewEgg, etc. (anywhere 3rd party vendors are allowed to sell through the platform, or direct to the buyer)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTTGGv6-syA​

 

Oh nice. Thanks, I'll look it up. And damn. That video is scary. Yeah I looked at the Sony site but they all had button volume controls (a better design than a dial for driving, but I'm glad to have manual controls either way) so I couldn't tell which model just by looks. Truck is getting timing belt/water pump job done right now and he found that the fan bearing was a little rough, unexpected part so it's staying at the shop overnight. Will check the unit tomorrow. No idea how long ago the previous owner installed it, so it's hard to compare against current models.

Aside from curiosity, doesn't really matter. It works. I like it.

 

I like how Alpine offers the "Halo" volume / bass control knob: https://www.alpine-usa.com/product/rux-h02_alpine_halo_bass_knob

Sadly, only works with the Halo units, and the iLX-W507, and one of the Jeep replacement HU. Love the idea though, and it's super easy to use. Wish they had it for other iLX heads like the 650 and 670

I have a sneaky suspicion Alpine is preparing to release a successor to the iLX-W407 / iLX-W507. Similar to what they did with the W407 and the W650 before releasing the successor, they're dropping the price on the W507 by $100 or so. I'll be curious if we see the iLX-607 in the next 90-120 days. I really hope it offers (A) a volume knob and/or external knob and (B) a flatter front profile that looks OEM-ish in nature, I really hate that the W507 has that huge "underbite" at the base of the face, and it's somehow the only iLX model offering wireless CarPlay. I almost bought the damn thing, but ... I can't stand the look it it!

​

 

Hmm, yeah. I see what you mean.

I have nothing personal against siri, alexa or any of those assistants, but I refuse to use them. So the carplay feature is unfortunately useless to me.

 

Uh ... CarPlay isn't for assistants. CarPlay basically allows your phone to nicely integrate with your radio.

Want to access, use, and see Google Maps from your phone, on radio the screen, and use it for navigation? Done.
Want to see text messages, flip through your phone's phonebook, and make phone calls using your phone, thru the radio screen? Done.
Want to access any number of smartphone apps (Pandora, SoundCloud, Spotify, etc.) with native graphics on your radio? Done.

It has virtually nothing to do with assistants. I don't do them either, we're a Siri/Alexa/HeyGoogle-free house. I don't need big brother and the tech giants having more of a gaping backdoor to my life.

It truly is nice to be able to fire up a location in Google Maps or Waze or whatever on the phone, then jump in the car, and have split-screen with Spotify on the left half, and Maps/nav in the other half. It opens up doors you just don't have with most head units, and in a more-seamless, reproducible kinda way that's familiar, every time.

 

Android Auto FTW!

 

Yes BUT, carplay cannot connect to iphone without siri turned on. If you have a way to use carplay without siri I'd love to hear. My search results always turn up "no". Siri is the way carplay links up to the phone, from what I've read.

 

Have to have Siri to read your text messages and integrate voice control. Kind of silly that it's mandatory though.

 

I tried updating firmware in my 670 and no luck with screen brightness working better. Looks like Crutchfield is upselling me on the 407.

 

Yeah, when I connect my phone, a message pops up saying siri must be active to use carplay.

 

Wired CarPlay has never required me to enable Siri.

I'm about to get a Magic Link (or whatever) and test whether it requires it. I typically don't enable Siri on my phones and would be unhappy if it was forced on me like that.

 

Huh. Well that's encouraging. I've only tried using it wired, but the message that popped up on my phone said siri must be turned on, and all internet searches say siri must be turned on. It's a low priority for me but I'm definitely going to look into this more soon. I still use an ipod touch for storing music, and it can't be used through carplay, so I just use an aux cord. Just figured if I could use the touchscreen controls, it'd be worth it to get my phone hooked up instead of the ipod.

 

I hate Siri but I use Alexa all day. Dunno how to reconcile this idiosyncrasy.

 

Well, what I can tell you is this.

I wasn't happy my W650 didn't offer wireless CarPlay, it's wired-only. So I bought one of these yesterday while it was $20 off, it put the name brand high-support-availability unit within the ballpark of the cheap, shitty scAmazon knockoffs that come with little-to-no support.

Plugged it into the secret cubby where I installed a USB jack. Took about 30 seconds to set it up. Basically started the car, plugged it in. Touch screen radio gave me a Bluetooth network name to connect to. I connected to it. I got prompted to allow CarPlay, I allowed. I now have wireless CarPlay.

No requirement to setup Siri or anything. It just worked.

My only gripe right now is there's a bit of a delay in key response with my Alpine. This is something I saw someone else complain about on Crutchfield, I believe. I'd also like the ability to have it remember I prefer the "Now Playing" view when CarPlay is active, and I'd love to be able to split-screen radio and maps, but generally speaking, it's nice. I'll be curious to see if I can simply pick up the unit and plug it into the wife's Highlander without any configuration.

 

My Carlinkit 5.0 had some delay until I I installed the latest firmware. Had a couple of firmware releases to install but now it's better. Try firmware update if avail.

 

My head unit has a usb port, and says "apple carplay compatible" or something right on the face. When I connect, I get the message about siri. If there were a very simple way, like turning location services on & off, to just flip a button for siri when I'm driving, then back off when I'm not, I'd be into it. If it's much more involved than that, I'll just keep using my ipod touch and aux cord.

 

Have you tried enabling Siri just for the initial CarPlay setup and once setup go in settings and disable it again? I'm not on Apple products so I'm just guessing here.

 

Worth a shot. What I read on all the sites that say siri must be on to use carplay is that siri is the interface. She's what allows the features on the phone to be accessible on the head unit touch screen. I know you can't believe everything you read on the internet but usually if there's a way, there's a tutorial. Apart from some leads in this here thread, everything I've read online says 'siri is required'.

 

I would expect the only things that won't work with Siri disabled is anything that requires voice input. Like, if you wanted to compose a text, create an appointment/reminder, tell the radio to play a specific song or load an address in GPS, that type of crap.

But I don't do any of those things. I'll just crack open the phone and plug it in, which loads it onto the screen, via the phone.

 

This is what I see when I plug in through the usb port.

 

Weird. Maybe a firmware update? I dunno, maybe that’s too extreme and not worth it for you.

 

Way too extreme.

No I've got the firmware update instructions saved for a later date. I'll get around to it.

 

Does anyone have a Kenwood HU that allows them to wirelessly mirror? Their app doesn't work with Pixel or android. I think it's a google not allowing it to be done issue.

 

The DMX9706s in my Ferd has wireless mirror. I've only used it a couple of times or so with my Samsung S22U. I use Samsungs Smart View built-in mirroring app to connect to the headunit. The DMX706s in my Tundy doesn't have wireless mirroring though.

 

I got the new alpine 407 today. So far it is quite brighter display that the 670. I’m happy and probably going to stick with it. Despite me thinking again that it’s probably the individual unit that has an issue.
Before I bought it, I asked Crutchfield tech support if it would swap easily and was told twice that its plug and play. It is not quite that easy. Ugh!

 

They didn't use the same molex connector in the rear?