Bringing this thread back from the dead.. the irony isn't lost on me.
After sitting in my garage for a year, I finally got the new dashboard in. took me 75 minutes to get the old one out. Longer to get the new one in, but only because I took the opportunity to do some other work-- namely, update the head unit.
I purchased a Android 13 head unit from aliexpress:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256807308225303.html (though i bought it about a month ago and it was twice the price then).
Short answer: yes, it's worth it.
Laundry list of random things that always come up:
- There is no RAP/IGN wire in the stock harness connected to your factory head unit. That is provided via canbus to the factory head unit.
- The Android head unit I purchased came with a canbus adapter and the unit was preconfigured for my vehicle
- My unit came with the appropriate adapter to connect the USB port in the center console
- Yes, you lose onstar, but it doesn't work anyway due to it being 2G in these vehicles
- Yes, you lose SiriusXM (which is kinda a bummer, but you can use the SiriusXM app on the android head unit if you purchase a SIM for it or tether to your phone's data). There is no way around losing XM with these units. You can buy a Pioneer or similar "SiriusXM Ready" head unit then buy the SiriusXM tuner if you really want it (of course now you also have to buy the canbus adapter and wiring harnesses that come free with the Chinese unit). You can also buy an external SiriusXM tuner such as the "roady" or "onyx" for like $80. This is probably the route I will eventually go.
- No, you can't retain the "factory" chimes, per se as that is also done via canbus. My canbus adapter came with an external speaker for the chime sound. It works fine for me. The closest you can get to "factory" chimes is a Maestro RR adapter, which, by the time you buy that adapter and the required cables, will be about $300. Factory chimes are played over the left front speaker.
- Yes, you can retain the factory microphone if you splice into the harness.
- This radio does not have an RCA video output for the RSE. If you really want that, you can buy a USB adapter and the head unit does have a setting for USB video out (more on that below)
- Yes, the unit works with factory Bose and it sounds much better than the factory head unit.
- Yes, wireless Android Auto works on it (don't have an iPhone to test carplay, but the unit says it supports it)
- Yes, the specs are correct. Some of these Chinese vendors patch their software to make the unit look like one thing when they actually have less ram/less storage/lower android version. I ran DevCheck and the specs are correct.
Thoughts on the RSE:
- I spent way too much time trying to figure out how to incorporate the RSE.
- I finally realized that it is a waste of time to even bother with RSE.
- The screen is small
- The screen resolution is poor
- Infrared headphones? Who wants to bother with that. Everybody has bluetooth earbuds now.
- DVDs? Really? Yeah, I'll install that player right next to my 8-track. Kids have everything they want on a portable device.
- Using RCA will always yield garbage video compared to what we are used to.
- I think a better solution is to replace the existing flip-down screen with a new android flip down screen
- Everybody is familiar with the interface. They can use the touchscreen to navigate to whatever app (video, music, game) they want
- They can pair their bluetooth earbuds to the android screen
- They can mirror the screen from their device to the android screen
- Control of the screen does not interfere with the main head unit, nor does it require the attention of the driver
- I assume you could pair the main head unit to the flip down unit for some sort of control if you needed to do so (eg kids in car seats). There's probably many different ways to achieve that goal, but I don't have a need.
Lastly, I've never even used the RSE. Consequently I am not upgrading it now, nor am I spending any time trying to interconnect it with the head unit. I am going to connect the RCA in from the back of the center console to the flip-down in. So somebody could put video on it if they wanted to. Maybe I'll upgrade the screen in the future, but for now I am not going to bother with it.
I added
this USB charging port which also has a USB passthru connected to the head unit. I find the USB ports in the console to be a pain for everyday use (I may use it for a USB stick or something). Note that only the USB-A port is passthru to the unit. the USB-C port is charging only. I went with Scosche just because I figured it was less likely to burn my truck up than a chinese version. It appears to be high quality.
I also ran
this wiring harness for a future dashcam. It was easy to run while the dash and A-pillar covers were off. I left it tucked into the overhead console. Wiring was extremely easy as I routed it to the radio location. Power and ground was tapped off the cigarette lighter as I had to cut that for the new USB charger anyway. The CANBUS adapter provides RAP power (versus IGN power) which I thought was a better choice for the dashcam. ALso everything is neat and you dont even know it's there versus hacking into the fuse box or whatever.
I am still playing with configurations for the radio, and there's definitely some changes you need to make to get it working properly.. so this post is a work in progress.
