So far the only thing not retained is the bed camera. They are working on it, and the update will be in around dec from what I am being told. Also they will include a after market rear camera for no charge to replace the ****ty stock unit, you know the recalled one. But you have to ask for it after purchase. They will ship u a new one just for the asking. This is a plug and play unit nothing extra to buy. All cables and adapters are included. Zero splicing to the truck wiring harness. This radio is locked down meaning you cannot tailor it to whatever you want. Like for instance the home screen. I have installed several of these android units in my cars and what I am finding out, is when you start to add stuff, that is not compatible with the unit in general you will start having problems with freezing screens and the unit in general not performing the way it was designed. Most of these android units are starting to be locked down due to the number of complaints bad reviews. These are not the one all be all of the aftermarket head units. There will be limitations, that you will not agree upon. If you notice the big brand name manufactures you are limited in what you can do with them right out of the box as well. For what its worth this is a great unit IMO for what it is and designed to do. Ur mileage may vary.

 

It looks promising for sure. Some of these questions are why I want to follow up in 2 years and see. Are they still in business, is the product still being offered, what reliability issues if any. What uncovered shortcomings if any. Is the company delivering on promised solutions or did they never materialize. Hopefully it stands the test of time, I like it so far. If it does I think I'll get one myself.

 

Only time will tell. There is a learning curve to this radio in all fairness. There will be things that annoy you. Like for instance when you slow down and the dreaded camera up front comes on all the time, and yes all the time. Its on by default. Like all Chinese radios the settings to turn them off or on if that's you thing, can be a challenge. There language is difference in meaning, so finding the option to turn on or off, the feature in the menu is what I would call a PITA. Like the pop up volume bar. it took me forever to enable it. I could not find it in the menu if my life depended on it. But after asking tech support, yup it was there all right. Just using different words than volume bar in the menu! Its feature rich. don't expect to just hop in your truck after the install drive away and be happy right out of the box. I am tech savy, but the language barrier can complicate it a tad. This is a button pusher dream radio. Plenty there to play with. Don't recommend driving while trouble shooting how to turn off annoying features.

 

Yeah I completely understand that. That kind of stuff doesn't bother me. I don't care much if the setting is hard to find or whatever, it's a one time thing so as long as it's there I'm fine with it.

I'm mostly cautious about durability after a couple of years of temp swings and vibration. Auto environments are harsh, and sometimes that's not well appreciated with electronics manufacturers. Tesla famously bragged about not using automotive grade screens in their cars the first years, they learned their lesson when they all started failing after a couple years lol.

 

That's an interesting display... can't say it would be for me though. I had an old Pioneer single deck CD player in the car I was driving before I got my truck, so now I'm pretty excited about the 8" Sync3 and CarPlay! Lol!

 

I agree. Its not for everyone. I remember the old Sparkomatic Jenson triaxle3's day's they were simpler installs. Today its a whole different ball of wax

 

Language barrier is an issue for them. One that they can't even seem to solve. Their website has grammar mistakes so if you can't even get that right, it takes a few points away from my impression. I assume if you are a professional company trying to look professional, you should be getting a "local", (depending on where it is being sold) guy to look through it. If you can't do that, it makes me wonder if your product is the same.

So when you slow down you don't even have to turn it on? That would be fine by me. I hate it when it tells me that it cannot turn on because the speed I am going at is too high. I was even contemplating getting a module that turns that off.

Definitely so here. Should I need a new face unit and it is cheap enough for me experiment with, I might.

 

IDK what you are talking about but was it as good as what we have today in the truck in stock form? I'm guessing that it might be simpler but it also does way less. For someone as un-nostalgic as I am, new features are better than old stuff.

 

For those who have this, do you like it? Does it have RCA outputs? Im thinking about buying one, 2019 Lariat.

 

One set of RCA output and digital ready outputs.

 

optical digital output?

 

Yes instead of regular RCA it also has a SPDIF output. The SPDIF is superior to the analog signal coming out of the RCA's. Good luck finding a amp that has that type of input though. There out of my price range at the moment. I have a spare home external DAC that I am going to experiment with to see if it can be integrated with at a later date. The regular RCA's will plug into sub amp on my install. Since the superduty has a 110 outlet this should work out.


Picture of cable needed

 

Thanks for the reply. I was wondering if a toslink cable could be used. I plan on running that to a DSP then from the DSP i can run rca's to the 2 amplifiers i have.

 

This is the sub and amp I will be installing once the snow is gone. Also got the MTI bracket kit to move the back seat forward so sub and amp are behind seat. I believe that the factory storage under seat tray will have to be removed to move seat forward. I wont know for sure until I get on with the install though. But my preliminary inspection tells me it has to be remove, or at least cut to make it work. If it has to be cut I will just take it out and store it.

 

I might have liked one of those in my 2015 Lariat. I am not happy with the way they put the top buttons on top of the bezel, as it looks like there would have been just enough room at the top front edge for them.