2nd gen Joying Head Unit Thread

I haven’t seen it addressed here but how’s the audio quality with these units? I know the factory head unit is underpowered so even if you upgrade the stock speakers, there will be little improvement in depth and clarity. Wondering if joying provides richer sound.

 

Sound IS noticeably better. In both the Tacoma w/JBL, and my current JK.

 

Once you download a app such as Poweramp the difference will astound you. I also upgraded all my speakers and added a Amp and sub amp.

 

Never heard of Poweramp... it just runs in the background full time?

 

It's an app that gives you full control over all your stereo settings to include an equalizer, etc.

 

I recently installed my new 9" head unit- the one with the volume knob. I replaced my single din radio with the non JBL head unit. I did exactly the same thing with the OEM bracket and drilled new holes below the top two mount holes. I didn't want the unit to come loose since I spend a lot of time bouncing around off road. Unfortunately I couldn't get the holes drilled right, and was getting a little frustrated when I noticed that that there were lots of holes to adjust the 4 mount tabs on the back of the touch screen. I moved all 4 tabs tabs up one hole and the unit fit perfectly. Once the tabs were moved, I was able to use the original top two mounting holes to attach the radio to the bracket, and mount the bracket to the truck with all 4 bolts. Everything lined up great and snapped in without any fuss. I don't have any rattles or shaking and no gaps (on mine of course, your unit might not line up that well).

I attached a picture from the 10" unit someone else posted. That one seems to have the same adjustability (top left image and bottom right). Check it out, those holes allow you to move the screen up or down as needed. Of course on the 9" model the screen is attached to the plastic frame/binnacle. I hope this helps some people mount their units more securely. No way I could leave mine bouncing around in there attached just with the little tabs. Good luck.

While my install went well I am being challenged a bit with getting the unit to function right. Being and old fart, and not to tech savvy, I've hit a few bumps, particularly getting Google Maps to work consistently. I just replaced the cord from my phone to the USB adapter with a shorter one and it's seem to be working better. We'll see, I have read that the USB cables can be a major source of the problem between your phone and Android Auto.

Anyway, its been fun so far, and I'm liking the unit a lot-- for now... until the next thing...

 

Are you using your phone for the Maps or the Actual Google Maps App on the Headunit? Either or you can download the maps “Offline” is what they call it. This way you use less data and less is needed out of your phone. I do this when I know I will be out of cell range.

 

I've used both. If I'm sitting in my driveway, my Joying is connected to the internet and I can get it to search and map destinations and that seems to work, at least until I reach the destination. From there I'm back to square one. When using maps with my phone, I have to locate my destination then hit start before I plug the phone into the USB cable. That seems to work... sometimes. If I do anything like go to the radio or leave google maps it loses it's directions, and I have to disconnect the phone and start over. Sometimes it disconnects even while I'm on the map page. I haven't rebooted my phone yet. I'm also using the USB cables that came with the unit, which go to a USB adapter, then through another 3 feet of cable to the phone. I expect I need to shorten this and replace the original cable. Google maps is the most important app that I need to get working. Phone works ok, radio is fine, and I have some music on a memory stick plugged into the second port on the USB adapter, and that works well, I just have to dig to get into the music files.

Any suggestions to get maps working smoothly would be greatly appreciated.

 

Always the first troubleshooting step! Reboot the phone, and the Joying headunit. By default, the Joying DOES NOT turn completely off when the car powers off. It's set to quick boot. There is an option to have it power off every time, in the settings. But definitely do a manual reboot on both and see if issues persist

 

Sounds like when you’re at home you are connected to the home wifi and when you’re driving around you are not connected to a hotspot and or you don’t have a SIM card installed. Easy fix is to turn on phones hot spot and connect the head unit and set it up to do it automatically. Mine defaults to off but I manly use car play and over hotspot watch YouTube or Netflix when in standstill traffic.

Also Offline maps should work even with no internet

 

Yep, I'll be trying to figure out downloading offline maps next. What I understand is that they are only temporary!?

I took a ride today (after I rebooted my phone), and google maps on my phone worked ok. There are a couple of annoying problems though.

First, as I mentioned before, when I leave the map screen (to change the radio station for example), I loose the connection between my phone's map and the Joying's map. I have to unplug the phone, restart the "trip", plug the phone back in and then it works. I'd really like to be able to toggle between apps. Also, when I try to restart the "trip" without unplugging, my google maps on my phone will not open.

The other problem is that when I'm using google maps through the USB cable via my phone, the voice directions don't work. I get the voice only when I start a "trip" in my driveway using WIFI. One nice feature is that, when the voice feature is working, it automatically lowers the volume of the radio so you can hear the directions.

Anyway, I'll keep plugging away at it. I think for longer trips to cities I'll most likely download a map. How large an area can I save? I'm determined to retire my NUVI, which has been my standby for 10+ years (though it works really well!)

 

See attached photos. Maps are good for 14 days. I downloaded about 12 states, 2 provinces and all of Alaska for my move last year. So quite a bit. Just took some time.

 

Ok, tried it, and we have a winner! I downloaded Maine and Massachusetts. It took less than 5 minutes, around 500 Mb total.

Plugged in my local gas station (no phone in truck), app worked well, voice and all. Plugged in "home" prior to turning off engine to gas up, all good. Restarted the engine after fueling up and there was the map, shrunk down in the corner of the screen waiting for me to open it back up. Everything working as it should now.

Thanks Regnar, that was about as easy as it gets. When downloading the files, google says that the files will expire on such and such date unless updated. I assume they will automatically update in my driveway through my WIFI. If not, no problem. Just download them again.

 

After using mine for about a year with JBL suffering from less volume and decent sound quality compared to before I installed, I'm wondering if power amp will help. but i cant seem to get it to affect the sound of my music through car play or the regular Bluetooth music player. I've tried opening them all in opposite orders while restarting the other. not sure whats up.

 

You can download an app on your phone called AudioTool to get an accurate reading of peaks and velleys to properly adjust the EQ. The Joying units come with a 16? Band equalizer built in and mine sounds way, way better than it did when I had a pioneer with only an 8 band equalizer.

I used a 15 second sweep 60hz-14khz with peak visualizer to make adjustments. With the equalizer flat it sounds pretty bad. It needed a lot of adjustment to level out the output and account for the acoustics in the Tacoma.

 

So what's the consensus? There's a ton of pages on this thread. Is the smaller unit with volume adjuster knob more desirable than the bigger 11" with no volume knob?

Also, can the USB ports just simply charge on the unit (in addition to wired connection from phone to headunit for carplay)? I have one of those wireless phone mounts and was planning to tap the cigarette lighter in the back of it, but if these units have USB ports, I'll just plug it in there. Same thing with my Garmin In-Reach?

 

If I did it again I wouldn't do the volume knob. Mine is extremely touchy and seems to like going to zero volume really easily. Maybe there is a sensitivity adjustment but adjusting from the steering wheel has a good proportion of volume level when pressing it. I like the idea and function of a volume knob but this one just hasn't done it for me.

Also my head unit randomly reset itself to stock settings and stopped reading my USB stick (how I play my music) reliably. That might be due to: a shitty cable, almost disconnected cable, too much data on the USB for the head unit to process (around 100 GB) or the head unit just being weird.

Not sure if head unit is still updateable (8" with knob), I'll have to contact Joying with the model number and find out since I can't find the info for my model on their update page. So it may be unsupported already.

Just have to find the time to dig in and I don't have much spare time lately.

When it worked properly it has been great overall but obviously having some issues now.

 

Sounds unreliable. Maybe I’ll stick to my original USB plan.

 

I might be an anomaly

 

2011 4.0 4x4 6-speed manual:
Joying head unit purchased 10/2022.
When engine speeds decrease, (braking, coming to stop, deceleration etc..) head unit goes black and shuts off momentarily, then picks back up where it left off. This happens sometimes, sometimes not.

Bad alternator or alternator voltage regulator/rectifier?

Sorry I can't read the whole thread.