Pioneer AVIC-W8400NEX Installation and Review

I am an EE too, but the idea of cutting the factory wiring harness to make individual connections makes me nervous. Is that what you did? No plug and play adapter on the market anywhere?

Did you have to install a new microphone, or can you use the existing one?

What is motivating this for me, is that my iPhone 6 and the factory H/U do not play well bluetooth-wise. Whenever I get into the truck, the songs play at triple speed until I reset the bluetooth connection. So annoying that I am willing to pay C$1900 to get that sorted.

 

I thought with the Maestro Harness, everything would be plug and play?
I have been planning on upgrading my HU also, but waiting on the new Sony XAV AX210.
And from what I have read, there is no need for splicing or cutting.

 

You don't cut one single factory wire. It's all plug and play. You can swap out the old radio for new back to old if you want in 2 minutes once the harness is made. I've done it.
I can get the radio out in 1 minute.
The harness you make interfaces with the truck with plugs. Harness takes about an hour or less to make if you have the skill level.
I use the new mic mounted in the overhead console out the side.
Harness wiring is fairly straight forward. It's pretty simple.

 

There is no cutting or splicing. Crutchfield has a ready-harness service that will pre-connect the new head unit cabling to the factory harness adapter cables. You can do that, or solder and heat shrink the harness yourself. It’s not a two minute job but would speed up the installation. Depends on your level of do-it-yourself.

Either way, no splicing of the factory wiring is required.

 

Great write up. Thanks.

 

Does it boot straight into carplay after you hit the disclaimer button or do you still need to select Apple carplay button to go into CarPlay? Also do the volume buttons work well? Do they beep when pressing them?

 

Boots up quickly...disclaimer goes away after a few seconds....Carplay starts automatically.

Volume buttons on the HU beep. Buttons on the steering wheel work just like they always have.

Edit: As a side note, when you put the truck in reverse, it bypasses the start-up splash screen and disclaimer screen and goes directly to the backup camera.

 

What was you stick unit ??

 

Stock head unit? Entune Plus as detailed in the original post. Installation would be the same regardless.

 

Any feedback on the various cluster display pages/features?

 

I’ve played with it enough that if you’ll give me an idea of specifically what you’re looking for, I can either answer or go figure it out.

 

Do you get any Nav info on the cluster display? I like seeing Entune's turn-by-turn directions there. I also dig the compass, street name and speed limit features. Sometimes the Nav on the head-up display tells me what street I'll be making the next turn on, before the voice does, and that is helpful.

 

My old head unit had the Scout “GPS” which had no interconnectivity to the instrument cluster that I’m aware of. I don’t see any GPS information now, either. I’m not exactly sure how the Entune Premium worked. I will say that Apple Maps, Google Maps, Waze and the on-board true GPS all work beautifully in the new Pioneer — just not on the instrument cluster.

 

Ah I get it. Thanks!

 

what is your overall impression from entune to pioneer?

 

For me? Night to day. Very pleased.

One thing worth mentioning— when I bought the truck I knew the factory system was crap and I’d be replacing it. I factored it into the cost. It’s not like I woke up one morning and decided to upgrade. I’ve just been waiting for the right aftermarket head unit to be available. This was it.

 

I've had this head unit for just over a month now and am absolutely loving it. I had my stereo guy install it so can't comment on ease of installation but it was fairly cheap in terms of labor cost so I cant imagine it being that extensive. My truck is a 17' OR and came with the JBL sound system and this head unit REALLY amplified and improved the sound. More clarity and way more bass. Too much at times where I need to manually turn it down but to me its not a bad problem to have .

The wireless screen mirroring is pretty awesome. I'm an android user and its super simple to get it connected. The navigation on this thing is way more detailed than what came with the truck and has so many more functions. Still a lot of other features in the settings that i've yet to play with but so far this thing is a major improvement over stock!

My only gripe so far is the inability to voice command destinations. Not sure if there is a way to do it but i haven't figured it out yet.

 

And as a final comment, I just sold my factory Entune Plus head unit for $240 on eBay. Still a big gap, but it stings a little less.

Curious to know what others have managed to sell theirs for.

 

How much you think the JBL head unit can go for? Or is it pretty much the same as Entune unit?

 

I would think the JBL would sell for considerably more...possibly double(?)

Probably quite a few guys out there who want to upgrade from the lower level head units to the top of the line while staying OEM.