2017 - Suggestions on new Head Unit w/ Apple Car Play

Hello Everyone - I have a 2017 tacoma TRD off road sport in which I am wanting to add Apple Car Play by simply changing out the head unit. I looked on Crutchfield and some people really post bad reviews. Looking to see if anyone has had great success with a brand or model. I desire to have plug in USB for the Apple Car Play - I know they can support wireless but hard plugging in seems like a good idea to me. Other than apple car play, I dont have any real wants or needs besides good screen and good fitment. Thanks

 

I purchased a Motorola dongle thing that wirelessly lets me connect to the stock head unit. Cost me $70. It takes about 25 seconds to start up, but because it's wireless, it's worth it to keep a truck looking stock.

 

You have a 2020 which has wired CarPlay, his 2017 doesn’t at all, so he’d need to get a whole new head unit.

 

Damn.

At least he can upload a photo on startup...

 

You’re a glass half full kinda dude, I like it

 

Thanks - I have heard of options for using my stock head but I prefer to simply replace.

 

I’ve got a Kenwood DMX957XR in my 2021. Paired it with a Maestro RR2, I love my setup. It’s been great, but a lot of parts go with it to make it all work. The end result is really nice programmable steering wheel controls, ability to clear codes on the radio, of course the CarPlay and such, and just overall a much less glitchy setup. Factory head units and audio in general sucks for the most part, and I am not anti factory at all for most things automotive.

 

I did something similar a few years back, DN574S and a Maestro. Excellent setup, like BLtheP mentioned, I can see/clear codes and all the OBD data at anytime. Now I can see individual tire pressures, my older 2nd didn't differentiate, you just knew one of the 4 was low, it also includes temps on all 4. The Maestro plays nice with factory amp and JBL Sub/speakers, you just have to get the right kit. The Kenwood I bought came with Nav which is nice but it's like every auto gps, very limited when it comes to off road.

On my dual sport bike I often navigate following tracks I've loaded to a Garmin Montana and select different maps for different purposes. You can't do that with the run of the mill built in Nav. The best I could manage on that unit was buying Garmin's better map (City Navigator) for an extra $60 which does include allot of dirt roads and 2 tracks, no topo info though.

What I recently discovered is OnX and Gaia are both written to be compatible with Car Play and Android Auto. Now I can open up Gaia on Android auto and see all my preloaded tracks overlayed on a Topo map on a nice in-dash screen instead of a phone. The capabilities reminds me of a high end off road GPS w/o looking at a small phone screen, it's a huge upgrade over using a phone or the typical built in nav. I see other guys use the apps with a large tablet but I'd rather have it in-dash. Possibly allot of guys are already doing this but it's a game changer to me regarding in-dash navigation.

My '06 was pretty basic electronically when you consider the features we've come to expect, the upgrade changed allot of that, bluetooth, backup cam, sat nav, car play, Bluray, OBD data and it retains all the factory steering wheel controls and I now have killer in dash navigation. I bought everything from Crutchfield, it all still works normally 4 yrs later.

 

Thanks - After some detailed research, I am leaning towards the Kenwood DMX9708S since it has the car play wireless and wired. For an additional $255, crutchfield sells the installation kit which includes the steering wheel module. I think this is the path I will take. Hopefully works well.

 

The only issue I see with the crutchfield $250 option is that it comes with the older Maestro RR. The RR2 is a better unit. When you make this conversion, the Maestro will actually run your radio (dash radio power goes to Maestro and then Maestro powers the radio on accordingly). The older RR model has issues with randomly rebooting. It doesn’t cause actual issues but it’s annoying and the RR2 doesn’t have the problem. The only difference between the two in cost is like maybe $40. You can also Bluetooth connect to the RR2 if you wanted to change up your steering wheel button choices someday. Also the RR2 adds the ability to control accessories, like lights or whatever if desired. They can even be turned on by a steering wheel control or you could program them to turn on/off via a CANBUS signal. So you could wire up a light to come on when you open the door, etc. Just some small niceties that make it the better choice over the RR these days.

Just a small pro tip, once you get it all done, go into your Maestro settings on the radio and turn on “retained accessory power during cranking”. Makes it to where if you turn the key to acc/run and pause a bit before starting the engine, the radio will stay on when you crank the engine. If that is not turned on, the radio will reboot because it otherwise loses the ignition signal power when you crank. Nice touch by the Maestro.

 

Thanks - I appreciate the insight. I will call Crutchfield and see if they can support with the RR2 - thanks again

 

I’m also thinking about getting that one. Did you do it? How do you like it? Did you get the RR2 ? Any pics ? Thanks.

 

Morning - I have not pulled the trigger on the purchase, been swamped with house projects.