New double DIN head unit ('04 Suburban)?

[nosole]

The quick and dirty:
I'm looking to buy a new double din head unit for my '04 Suburban 1500 LT. Mainly want bluetooth, but that's standard these days, so also looking for iPhone mirroring. Want to maintain steering wheel controls if possible. Would love any input!

The long version:
Just acquired an '04 Sub as a hand-me-down from my family, and it's in great shape with relatively low mileage, so I wanna spend a lil bit to make it more functional and custom since I plan to use the hell out of it for the next few years.

The genesis of my search revolved around bluetooth hands-free calling, but I've always got bigger plans, so it expanded from there. I've since decided it will be most cost effective (bang for the buck) to simply install a new head unit. Below are my wants:

- Double DIN touch screen
- Retains steering wheel controls (does any aftermarket unit support this?)
- Bluetooth (both hands-free calling AND streaming if possible)
- Aux audio and Aux video ins
- iPhone mirroring

I put iPhone mirroring last because although it actually ranks high on my list, I care less about it being a native feature of my head unit since I can always purchase a separate module to control a wired/wireless connection. Also, I DO NOT want Carplay. It's too limited in functionality. So to that end, I'm also looking for a module that supports a WIRED iPod/iPhone connection. I'd prefer to stay away from relying on Airplay since I like to load up my iPod classic with movies for playing on long trips for the kiddies.

I hope that's specific enough to garner some helpful responses, but not too specific to drive people away!

Much thanks in advance!

 

[jbancs]

I would check out any of the new pioneer units. They all can do iphone mirroring for certain apps, but unfortunately thats about the best you can do. If you want to be able to play videos from an ipod classic, then thats fairly straight forward with auxiliary inputs. I recently installed an AVH-X2800BT. And for a roughly $200 double din, it worked well. If you want a larger screen you can do the ACH-X4800BS and that will get you a 7" screen.

 

[about20ninj45]

I would check out any of the new pioneer units. They all can do iphone mirroring for certain apps, but unfortunately thats about the best you can do. If you want to be able to play videos from an ipod classic, then thats fairly straight forward with auxiliary inputs. I recently installed an AVH-X2800BT. And for a roughly $200 double din, it worked well. If you want a larger screen you can do the ACH-X4800BS and that will get you a 7" screen.

ACH-X4800BS will not do full phone mirroring, you have to use thier dumb app and it only allows your to mirror certain apps

 

[jbancs]

Thats true, as I said, it will mirror certain apps, but as far as I know nothing will allow full mirroring. You can do an appletv, but then things get grossly over complicated.

OP, what apps specifically are you trying to gain access to through your radio?

 

[about20ninj45]

or just use a google nexus pad as your headunit

 

[jbancs]

That won't work with an iPhone. He's already said he has an iPhone and iPod. No need to turn this into an android vs apple thread.

 

[about20ninj45]

That won't work with an iPhone. He's already said he has an iPhone and iPod. No need to turn this into an android vs apple thread.

And who said their aren't ways to mirror his iPhone or iPad over a Nexus. And who was turning this into an Android vs iPhone ordeal. If you don't know what your talking about, please head over to XDA developers to educate yourself

 

[nosole]

Thanks for the replies guys. Let's stay away from getting heated here. Text is totally devoid of sentiment, so it's easy to get off track. It's all good. I appreciate all input. Don't need any squabbles

Yes, I've actually been researching some of the Pioneer units, so those two popped up on my radar. The 2800 looks good to me from a price point and I can always mirror through the aux ins, so I'm not to worried about that. And yeah, I believe Pioneer uses Apple CarPlay which is intentionally limited so as not to be too distracting. But as something on the fly in order to access music, it's not bad to have as a bonus. But of course we all love hacking stuff, so I'll find a way to satisfy all my customization wants one way or another.

 

[about20ninj45]

yourself in not squabbling with anyone and if my posts come off as offensive, my apologies. You can use various apps in the app store to mirror your device via car play, mirror link, and Google cast on lots of devices because of dlna. It's easier to do with stand alone devices it's like the car play and Chromecast but it can be done.

The only reason why I suggested a Nexus was because they are dirt cheap, around 60 bucks and there's a write-up/ tutorial on this forum that someone did a few months back. It's an interesting read. But if you truly want phone mirroring in a stand alone head unit, try to find a discontinued dnx9990hd. They had those abilities before they went out of production

 

[pnwdan]

pioneer X4600Bt says it will Mirror link. I have it in my truck and I like it. I just dont know about the MirrorLink personally because i dont own any apple products.

 

[jbancs]

And who said their aren't ways to mirror his iPhone or iPad over a Nexus. And who was turning this into an Android vs iPhone ordeal. If you don't know what your talking about, please head over to XDA developers to educate yourself

I've never owned anything android so no need to visit there, but if there is a way to mirror an iphone onto an android tablet that's quite interesting. The only thing I'd ask is why spend all the time and money to fabricate a low priced tablet? Seems counter productive to me. Anyway, sounds like the OP is already heading down a certain road, so I'm interested to see where that leads.

 

[about20ninj45]

same here, i own apple and android products as i refuse to be locked into systems. The app one radio and android radio by pioneer was supposed to allow you to do full mirroring but then they changed to a more custom os locking that feature from their headunits as they got pressured by the nhtsa into removing the feature.

 

[nosole]

Circling back around now that I've wrapped up the install. I ended up with the AVH-X5800BHS and I'm stoked on it. It took a little getting used to since I've never been a huge fan of aftermarket units whose UI doesn't flow as well as we've all grown so accustomed with smartphones these days, but in terms of functionality, it pretty much does everything I could possibly ask. I used the PAC RP5-GM11 to keep steering wheel control and keep integration simple. I also ran a video line to the rear drop down screen for my son, and added a reverse cam. Because I wanted to retain the aux audio input (3.5mm jack) and USB connectivity to the head unit, I bought a generic 3.5mm/USB combo receptacle to replace the cigarette lighter. As for the iPhone integration and mirroring, I bought a little HDMI to RCA unit off of Amazon and then tied that into an Apple lightning to HDMI adapter. Picture quality is definitely lacking, but considering the legit alternatives were waaaay more expensive, and I really only need video playback for reference (i.e. maps) or for the passengers, I couldn't justify anything more. Since both the digital to analog converter and the lightning adapter need power, I just pulled the now unused cigarette lighter into the void under my center console. I had an old 2 USB car charger that I plugged into the dangling cig lighter, and then run the power to the converter and lightning adapter. This way I didn't have to cut/splice any wires, and I didn't have to tie up the only USB port on the head unit for power. This also leaves the second cig lighter available for road trips when I want to plug in my radar detector. Oh, and I also installed a parking brake bypass so I don't have to mess with that annoying warning that won't let you use video playback in motion. Lastly, I replaced the old battery, which was giving me issues, with a new AGM.

This took quite a bit of thought and planning to maximize functionality, but now that it's all set up and working properly, I couldn't be happier. I'm a stickler for keeping things clean so I hid everything and replaced anything visible with parts that look like OEM. The convenience now is at level 10!

 

[Jonrobinson84]

love to see some pictures of the install

 

[Blue 04 Z71]

Did you retain onstar and Bose as well?

 

[BlueCollarTahoe]

how do you measure it the space to get a matching system that fits?