Alpine Halo9

Anyone have the Alpine Halo9 yet? Considering it for my 3rd gen. 9" Touchscreen with Carplay. I found a pic of one installed in a Taco.

http://www.orlandocustomaudio.com/9-inch-ilx-f309-in-dash-alpine-electronics-installation-vehicles/

 

Hoping to have mine tomorrow. Have had some issues with the Kenwood, so I will probably return it if I'm happy with the Halo9.

 

I have one, trying to wrap my head around the install before I begin. Have never worked with idatalink and it's like a giant puzzle trying to figure out exactly what's needed and what's not. Will share pics and a review once I get it running.

 

Thank you guys, please keep us posted.

 

That thing looks pretty sweet.

 

Pulled out the Kenwood DMX905S and put in the F309. I liked the backup camera lines of the Kenwood, the Alpine don't move when you turn the wheel. But I like the Alpine's look and the larger screen. I'm keeping it and returning the Kenwood.

There's a large amount of adjustment for up and down and tilt, so you can set it how you like it. I don't know of any yaw/twist ability though, but it's fine.

One big disappointment is that the cover for the second din slot (I'm talking about the crappy free dash kit here) only goes on the bottom, but I want to mount the HU there. I might try to mount the HU on the top and lower the screen all the way. Not sure it goes down that far, but I'll try it soon. If it doesn't work, I'll have to 3D print a cover because right now the top din area is just open.

 

Wow dont really like the open slot in behind. Quick question, is the screen easily removable for security, ie put in glovebox when away? Looks like an ipad mini on the dash

 

It's not easily removable, its attached with several screws. Agreed a quick disconnect would have been nice. As far as the opening. That can be corrected with a kit from crutchfield.

 

How is the function? Did you retain all you steering wheel control?

Have you tried the apple CarPlay?

 

I think sticks out like a sore thumb and it would just be another reason for someone to break into your truck for a $1000 stereo and a bad day

 

Vid? on all the options? and how hard was it to install can someone who is not experienced do it?

 

Can you retain the factory satellite antenna and backup camera?

 

Why did you want it at the bottom and not the top? And did you keep the original microphone ?

 

You can retain steering wheel functions with a maestro module & the backup camera. It does something to the video feed though...(degrades the image).

Cannot use factory: microphone, gps ant. or Sirius/xm ant.(need an additional adapter). But it does come with an alpine gps ant and a microphone.

CarPlay is just not worth $1000 to me though...
Toyota just needs to integrate it into all models. I wonder why they’re so hard headed and last to the CarPlay/Android auto party?

 

Rotorpilot summed it up well. With the iDatalink adapter (part# ST02) you can use the factory GPS/XM antenna. You'll also want the UT02 USB adapter cable.

I swapped it out to the top and it works there also - there's enough travel to slide the screen down. The free dash kit you get from Crutchfield is horrible quality. The Scoche dash kit only fits if you have the 6" radio panel, not the entune version.

An annoying aspect is that you can't remove the panel until you remove the screen. And the screen is kind of a pain to unscrew - not that I should be doing that often though.

I'm not sure why the reverse camera feed video is so degraded. It happened on the Kenwood HU I had in there before also. I'm not sure how to turn off the factory back up guide lines, or if it's even possible. Right now the Alpine ones just overlay on top.

I might eventually get the

$240 Alpine KAC-001 External Accessory Control Module

Alpine KAC-001 accessory control module for light bars etc.

Oh I also ordered a cable that will remove the annoying requirement to have to put the parking brake on when I want to enter settings, etc.

Below you can see the cable mess. It's actually not very complicated. I'm not a huge fan of those posi-twist connectors. Just something about them I don't trust. But after soldering the Kenwood then cutting it off again, I got lazy.

 

I installed my radio. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I used the idatalink maestro, TO2 harness kit, dash kit and all the adapters crutchfield recommends. It's pretty straight forward. Just follow the wiring guide from idatalink and alpine and match the wires up. To make the connections I used the posi products (crutchfield sells). The only thing I did wrong is the backup camera. It's not working, I am gonna pull everything out and check what I did. Probably a wrong or missed connection.

As far as the radio goes, I've only used it a few times. The sound and level of customization is impressive. I think Alpine is known for that. That being said there are probably more settings than you actually need or will use, and once I find the one I like I'll probably not change it that often. I'm happy with the way it looks in the truck, it does stand out and closer to use with your right hand when driving. The steering controls are all retained, volume, seek, presets etc. I ran the antennas and mic up the A post and across my dash rather than going behind the glove box. That worked fine. The mic is at the top of the A post and works perfectly.

One thing that's annoying is you have to be in park with the e brake on to change any settings, but there is an override adapter alpine sells which I'm gonna install.

I'm also gonna add an HDMI to USB C cable so I can mirror my phone and use the screen for video playback.

As far as the screen, the resolution really is not thatgreat. I think we get spoiled with HD smartphones and such and being only WVGA quality its noticeably inferior, but I guess for a radio display its fine. I'mprobably not going to use video playback that much.

Android auto works great, Waze, spotify and Google assistant are nice. That's the main reason I wanted it.

I am worried about theft as it does stand out, but hopefully would be thieves will think its OEM and move along. I don't usually park in sketchy places butit if it ever does get stolen my insurance will cover it.

Here are some pics:

 

No longer considering the Halo9, crutchfield says installation will render my parking sensors/sonar useless. That plus the price has made this a no-go for me

 

Thanks for posting. Really want this thing, already have a Powerpack sitting in my garage.

Which Entune unit did you remove before installing? Did you use the supplied Crutchfield dash kit?

 

Not sure why crutchfield would tell you that, its not true. My sensors work the same as they always did.

 

So far I dig it. There is a learning curve but no different than when you first get the Entune. I had the JBL, the sounds seems better and definitely more customizable with the Halo 9. Yes I used the dash kit and all the install parts from crutchfield.