(Part 2) Best products from r/AndroidAuto

> No Way! I also have a 2011 Honda CRZ EX. I'm installing a Kenwood DDX0703S next week so maybe you can help me avoid some headaches with the install.

Happy to help however I can. crzforum.com is also an AMAZING resource; about the best on the internet for CRZ info.

> The Metra 70-1730 Wire Harness I bought seems to have a subwoffer RCA but the instructions say not to use it even though my CRZ has a factory sub. Do I really not need to hook up the sub RCA?

Correct. The CRZ's sub is wired into the rear channel. The front channel is two speakers and two tweeters, the rear is two speakers and the sub.

> I bought a Maestro ADS-MSW for my steering wheel controls. What does the RR give you over the ADS-MSW? Just gauge information?

Just gauges AFAIK.

> The Maestro instructions say I need to splice into a green wire connected to the bluetooth HFL module behind my glovebox in order to use my steering wheel call and end call buttons. Did you do that? If so how difficult was it?

Yes. Very easy. You need to remove the panel under the glove box. It has clips at the top and tabs sit in slots at the back. Disconnect the floor light and put it aside. The HFL is between the passenger footwell and the outer shell of the car, toward the glove box. Disconnect the harness and tap the green wire. I'm using these for all the taps I did in the car. They are VERY easy, solderless and making great connections. Can't recommend them enough.

Also, make sure you have a dumb little grabber tool, like this. I bought mine at Home Depot for $2 while getting butt connectors and it made routing the wire for the HFL a breeze.

>Where did you place the Kenwood microphone in your CRZ?

If you look at the picture, you can see the Kenwood mic below my radio. The factory mic cannot be reused without great effort, and if you do wire it up it has no noise cancelling and sounds like shit. So don't.

You'll also notice a USB plug dangling down at the factory location. The factory USB can't be reused, and I didn't want to have the Kenwood USB line that is hard wired to the unit fished through anything, so here's what I did: I pulled the factory USB cable and its little grommet into the dash and zip tied it off so it doesn't bang around. Then, I ran a 3' Monoprice USB male/female extender cable through the hole the factory USB goes through and zip tied it secure inside the dash. This way, if it ever wears out I replace a $2 cable and not my $500 radio. This also has the benefit of making installation/removal of the radio really easy, which is already coming in handy as I prep to install a backup camera.

>How did you do the wiring? I've never soldered anything before and am thinking about buying some Posi-Twists and Posi-Taps to do all of this.

Positwists and taps are AWESOME, but they're also expensive. I'd recommend you pick up some 20 awg butt connectors or crimp caps (whichever) and a wire stripper/crimper tool just because they're cheap.

Here's what I did: I wired up my radio harness and anything else that was fairly mobile with butt connectors at my desk, making sure to tape off any wires I wasn't using so they were out of my way. Then, I saved my Posi connectors for the connections that HAVE to be made in the car (OBD2, the HFL cable, the ground wires)

>About the DDX9702S: How responsive is the touchscreen? I'm weary about the resistive screen but couldn't justify the $200+ to upgrade to the DDX9903S with capacitive screen.

It's great. It's obviously not a cap touch screen, but it's also not a Palm Pilot. It's responsive enough, precise enough, and all around "good enough" that I wouldn't spend the extra $200 either.

One more tip: When you're wiring this up, wire the parking brake sensor wire into your grounds. Do that and you can watch video while driving.

I am an iPhone user, but just purchased a Galaxy Note 5 for this purpose. I have an older vehicle ('06 Highlander w/Nav) and cannot easily replace the stock stereo with an aftermarket unit that supports Carplay/Android Auto. Like someone else mentioned, I am also using AutoMate and love it so far. I have an extra data only sim with Project Fi to use for this device so I don't have to mess with tethering to my iPhone. I have Google Voice/Hangouts set up to handle calling and texting to and from my iPhone and it has worked well in my testing so far. The only thing I cannot receive on this device are my iMessages.

This will be mounted with a dash mount purchased from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DVXM3AW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1), so in the event of weather extremes, it can be easily removed.

It also connects up via bluetooth and can connect to my ODBII device to read vehicle data and diagnostic codes.

My ideal setup would be to have something in-dash, but this method is the next best thing aside from purchasing a different vehicle. It also costs less than I'd be spending to have my vehicle set up to play nice with the current stock system and climate controls (i'll have about $400 wrapped into it including phone, hardware, and software). The AutoMate app is free, but for about $4, you can get some extra features to further customize the experience. I liked the app, so I bought it to support the developer and to check out the extra features.

Reply 2 of 2.

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What I learned:

• Always double or triple your time estimates.
  
• Watch all of the YouTube videos you can find related to doing this with your car and similar models. These guys are great.
  
• There's some light soldering needed. Whatever thoughts I had about getting away with cable crimp connectors were a joke. If you're not comfortable with soldering, ask a friend to help. Use shrink tubing. And please don't solder inside your car if this is your first time. This ended up being an annoyance for me as the garage I was doing this in didn't have a soldering iron laying around.
  
• The only wires I needed up cut up and resolder either were part of the Maestro, the Maestro Toyota harness, or came with the Pioneer headunit. I also had to cut off a plastic tab on one of the Meastro connectors in order to make it fit inside the joining connector on the car side (this was specific to getting the backup camera to work). None of the OEM Toyota cables attached to my car were cut up or modified, which means if I want to re-install the old OEM headunit to resell the car, I can.
  
• You're not a professional. No matter how careful you are, there will be some paneling in your car you will scuff up a little bit or lightly damage. Hopefully you can live with that.
  
• The Meastro RR firmware update was annoying as it requires a browser that can run Flash and Active X. I had to boot up an old Windows virtual machine to get it working. Other than that the update was really a snap and I had no other problems with installing the Meastro.
  
• Installing the Meastro is rather tedious. Make sure you read all of the manual and if you have any questions give them a call, they have great support.
  
• You will either order the wrong thing or not get the right thing in time. You will make due or reorder the right thing.
  
• None of the GPS antenna adaptors fit for me. I ended up using the GPS adapter that came with the headunit, and hid it somewhere under the dash. I eventually took the dash apart again the following weekend and moved the unit to live behind the rear view mirror (with double sided tape on the top so the top faces up). I wish I had ordered the right adaptor first.
  
• The audio tuning mic thing totally made a difference in my car.
  
• After doing a little bit of research, I ended up buying a spare mic. The car already has a mic built into the roof console, but I've read generally those suck. The head unit came with one, however the extra one I got off of Amazon got some really great reviews. Google Assistant has no problems hearing me, even when I've got the windows down. I ran the mic up to be next to the rear view mirror.
  
• Getting the head unit, the double din dash kit plastics, and the rest of the dashboard in that area of the car flush, flat and square was painful. There was a small gap at the bottom of the unit you could see if you took the faceplate off where you could stick the tip of your pinkie through. I ended up filling this gap with some black packaging foam from the dash cam kit I bought separately. I also made some shims out of wood to shim the whole unit up and forward so most of the other surfaces sat flush. In the process of doing so I lost a socket wrench somewhere inside my car and was never able to retrieve it. Thankfully I don't here any rattling sounds, so I think we're good to go to the moon.
  
• The Meastro Toyota harness came with a OBD II connector. The OBD II port provides a data connection to devices for reading stats from your device. For my car in particular, the OBD II port was also being used to figure out some details about when to switch the headunit over to the rear cam (like when you're backing up) or when the car was on or off. When I installed all this I had another device that would send my driving stats to the internet plugged into the OBD II port. So I bought a random splitter off of Amazon. This caused a bunch of problems. Whenever this 2nd device would ping for status the headunit would randomly show the rear camera on the screen. If I left the OBD cable unplugged from the headunit, it would randomly turn on while the car was off. After some back and forth with Meastro on their forums, they directed me to sever a specific cable in the harness. This fixed the issue and I could have both devices plugged in without problems. Later on I switched the Pioneer unit to only poll OBD when it needed to, instead of all the time, as previously it was causing the other OBD device to reboot constantly.
  
• For some reason Pioneer tied Android data to one USB port, and iOS data to the other USB port. My car only has 1 USB port inside the center arm rest. I ended up ripping up the arm rest and running a 2nd cable that's just a USB extension cable living in there, just in case I have a friend with an iPhone wanting to use Car Play. The head unit supports wireless for both Android Auto and Car Play, however I believe you still need to plug in for your first pairing. Additionally you need to tell the headunit to go into Android or iPhone mode for the wireless connection. Once you're in Android mode, you can only use Car Play with an iPhone with a cable, not wirelessly. It's rather annoying but technically I understand why.
  
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  Was burning 3 days of my life worth saving $300 over paying someone else to do it? Nope.
  
  Did I learn a bunch about the insides of my car's dashboard? Yup!
  
  Was I glad i did it? Yes.
  
  Would I do it again? Maybe.
  
  If any of what I typed up above makes you feel nervous about doing this yourself, then it's worth the money to pay someone who's done this a million times to do it for you. Otherwise, it's a fun project and you can set it up just the way you want.

Yeah definitely would agree about the cold weather being a huge factor here as well. Personally, I've gotten anywhere from high 20s up to high 40s MPG each tank. Overall though, it's not just the cold weather but my current commute is what I'd have to imagine is a complete worst-case scenario (a 2.5 mile commute that takes about 40 minutes based on heavy city traffic - any car would be abysmal MPG in these conditions). I've taken a couple long trips that hit the 45 MPG (Touring) highway mark almost exactly, admittedly using adaptive cruise control.

My commute opens up a bit in a few months too, so it'll be nice to see that change.

Anyway, a bit more on the main topic, I find that if you get the right cable (in my case, with a Note8, this 10" USB-A to USB-C cable with right-angle connectors at both ends), the little 'tray' under the USB ports works perfectly, so you don't have to worry too much about the phone being out of the way. But I know everyone has different luck with third-party USB cables too, so while I've had a good experience with the ones I mentioned, that doesn't necessarily mean it'll be problem-free for you.

All you need to do is buy a tiny usb flash drive, load up your music and that's it! Everything works. I the SanDisk 128GB Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive - SDCZ430-128G-G46 for $18.99 from BestBuy today. Just ask them to price match with Amazon.


So what doesn't this do? If you love Android Auto (which I hate) then you may not like this route, but honestly, I can't see how this isn't superior to both bluetooth and AA. You can still use AA for everything else.


It works fantastic and I'm really happy with it.

it definitely behaves like its capacitive.

I don't know of any specific places for 4100 screen experience. I suggest you search Amazon's reviews (4.3/5 stars) on resistive:

http://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B00SKJPKGW/ref=cm_cr_dp_srch?filterByKeyword=resistive&search-alias=community-reviews

• Don't let the resistive touch screen fool you. It's very responsive considering it's not capacitive. Sure, you can tell a difference but it's not so bad that you'll want to shoot yourself. For instance, scrolling requires a minimal amount of pressure. And on the plus side, you can wear gloves and still operate this unit if you're in cold climate.
  
• Screen is very responsive for a resistive unit.
  
• The resistive touch-screen works great. I like the pinch-n-zoom functionality in the Maps screen of Android Auto.
  
  Also this reddit review:
  
  https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/320o9x/my_not_so_short_review_of_android_auto_in_the/
  
  The removable screen is awesome, worth getting the cheaper 4100 for it instead of the capacitive non-removable screen on the 8100.

>I was considering building one with a raspberry pi.

Sounds like a lot of work for what probably won't provide a very satisfying interface.

If you want to save some money (compared to a unit like the Alpine), and are willing to take small a gamble, consider buying an cheap Android car stereo, such as one of many budget models available on Amazon.

Units like the Binize Android 9.1 run full Android, not just Android Auto. Some are happy with them, some aren't. But you can't beat the feature:cost ratio. :)

I had the Sony XAV-AX100, and much like you, I wanted that volume knob. And much like you, I was disappointed when I actually had it. Other than that, the head unit itself was pretty great, sounded fantastic. I ultimately went back to Android head units, but I liked the Sony.

If you can wait a month or so, the Sony XAV-AX5000 just came out:
https://www.amazon.com/Sony-XAV-AX500-CarPlay-Receiver-BLUETOOTH/dp/B07CB3CB1V

currently out of stock, but it is an updated version of the 100, and does not have a volume knob, but easily accessible volume buttons.

> It's slow. I mean SLOW. I saw that it only had 1GB of ram but I didn't really consider that that's barely anything these days. It's RAM is seriously the biggest draw back to it. It takes 20s to boot up, though the radio is instant if that was the last thing you used. Google maps works with it but you'll be halfway to your destination by the time it figures out where you are and where're going.

Wow deal break, thanks for being the guinea pig on this one. I wonder if quad core options might speed things up some, I notice the one you linked is only dual core. I have been looking around and it seems even the high end of chinese ones only come with 1GB RAM.

What do you think of this joying android 5.1 unit? It has backup cam support, quad 1.6ghz, 16GB, and a large list of other features.

How do you connect it to your phone? USB or wifi hot spot? I am getting use to just plugging my phone into the USB in my 2016 chevy work truck with android auto. It would be a bit more of a hassle to have to turn on my hotspot each time.

Can you detach the screen? It seems like it would be a target for car thieves.

Can you attach a USB stick for extra app storage?

Are there any limitations to using the unit while driving? I have noticed android auto won't let me do some stuff unless I am stopped, so kind of annoying when its the passenger operating it but I still need to stop.

Thanks again for the huge review!

Pretty much any of the android set top boxes will do screen mirroring with something like miracast, and you can add gps to any of them with a receiver like: https://www.amazon.com/GlobalSat-BU-353-S4-USB-Receiver-Black/dp/B008200LHW

You just plug it into USB, and run something like the GPS Status to initiate it.

I've got a Volvo that supports AA and Carplay (wife is iOS), we've shared this cable w/o issue: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M3V61PQ/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

my connection problems were solved by buying an ANKER USB cable. I recommend that.

Also, please reboot your car's infotainment system. Sometimes there is a recessed little button to press and hold, sometimes it can be done from the system menu.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07214QNQX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Have you considered a cable like this?

https://www.amazon.com/Tech-Armor-Lightning-Micro-Charging/dp/B01M3V61PQ

There's this: https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Cable-External-Drive-Micro/dp/B0047AALS0

You would need a micro USB to USB-c adapter. Maybe something like this: https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Cable-External-Drive-Micro/dp/B0047AALS0

Sure, let me google that for you.

http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-3-Feet-Cable-External-Drive/dp/B0047AALS0/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1456938184&sr=1-1&keywords=micro+usb+y+cable

http://www.amazon.com/Aluratek-Charger-Smartphones-Tablets-Devices/dp/B007QOWQ1O

Plug the red end into the 2amp charger, and the black end into the AA unit.

If you check Amazon right now supposedly it has a release date of tomorrow!

(But I shouldn't order it from them because it'll ship from NY and I'll get sales tax)