Looking for CarPlay recommendations

Seeking to upgrade my stock radio and seeing what you more experienced folks would recommend for something compatible with CarPlay! TIA

2010 Tacoma

 

The joying units are good for the money. Not perfect but I really like mine.

wait for a sale

 

It's a bit spendy but my Kenwood DNX997XR has been amazing. Has Garmin maps built in for when you go outside of cell range. Plays CD’s, DVDs, etc. I'm able to run front & rear cameras through the head unit, maintain all of my aux ports, etc. Runs Apple Carplay, Android Auto, etc.

 

This is a pic of a $130 PLZ-902W head unit that supports Android Auto / Apple CarPlay installed in my truck;


It is a VAST improvement over the OEM 6-disk unit, and so far (6 months), it works great!

There is newer PLZ unit for $170 that has a better display, but there is currently a $30 coupon for it, bringing your cost to $140.

Look on Amazon for the head unit. Look through my posts to find out about the bezel, the plug & play wiring harnesses, and tips on how to install.

 

Giving the new unit you linked a try, nothing to do but wait now. Thanks for posting all the details. I’ll drop a comment when I get it setup!

 

I have the dnx996, love it for the most part. Car play is a bit wonky though: if I take a call while connected, voice always goes through my phone and not the head unit. Haven’t been able to figure it out

 

update: having issues with the vague directions for mounting the unit with the brackets, and the dash kit in general. Any good instructional videos specific to yoda’s?

 

The Metra dash kit has 3 plastic pieces:

• radio bezel
• left bracket
• right bracket

I did not use the plastic brackets, but used the OEM steel brackets.
The radio bezel is pretty self explanatory.
You must remove the yellow clips and the Hazard Switch / clock / airbag indicator assembly from your OEM bezel, and reuse them in the Metra bezel.

Here are some pictures of my installation;

 

I purchased a pioneer double din with wireless CarPlay. It works perfectly but the double din does not fit very well in the space provided so it stick out a little bit

 

Now that you (should) have it installed, do you like it?? Would you do it again?

My unit has started to exhibit one mildly annoying issue. When I first start the truck, if I stream an MP3 playlist from my phone, the MP3 player stops about 1 minute after I have turned the key. I hit PLAY on the screen and it is fine for the rest of the drive, no matter if it is an hour or more. Not a big deal, but it is mildly annoying.

 

Wondering how your head unit is treating you too.