Looking at new head units for Cyber Monday, what's good these days?

Happy holidays everyone.

I've been on the fence about getting a new head unit in my 2nd gen, non-JBL/non-nav for a while now. Crutchfield is having a decent sale on the

$329 Kenwood DMX7706S 6.95" Digital Media Receiver w/Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto

Kenwood DMX7706S. I see Dasaita is also popular but this is the only place I've heard about it. I've been out of touch with car audio for a long time.

I'm looking for something with touchscreen that will play music from a microSD card and has reliable steering wheel control capabilities. What's your preference and experience with reliability? Anyone run a Kenwood and care to chime in?

Thank you for your feedback. I am going to try and research on my own but this is a spur of the moment decision (stock stereo started acting up the last few days).

 

I decided to keep my stock head unit because the steering wheel controls, camera interface, aux input, etc.. were over 200 bucks. I dont mind spending $300+ bucks for a good radio, but 220+ for the bells and whistle's stopped me in my tracks. I have a 10 JL audio stealthbox from Craigslist. I used an adapter harness from Amazon for like 32 bucks to connect the RCA's on the amp.

 

I am fine with the stock until but I would need a new one. My HU shuts off on it's own, especially in the cold and the volume knob if extremely temperamental. Looks like many 09's had this issue as well.

 

Another option... grab a single din unit for $50 or so (there’s a few with good reviews in that price range), double din dash kit $23+-, 7-8” tablet of your choice (I’m going for a Nexus 7) for around $50-100, wiring harness for SWC and JBL system to still work for $55-90.

Tuck away the single din in either the glovebox, center console or below the climate controls and use the tablet as your “head unit”. Add in an OTG cable and aux cord and you can get yourself a touchscreen player with possibility of backup cam, ability to play videos, GPS built into Android or iPad with cell option and that cool factor of a shiny touchscreen to modernize the look.

That’s the route I’m going with mine. Just gotta collect the parts.

I looked at CarPlay units but with a decent entry level unit with the JBL/SWC harness it was around $375... can’t justify that to the wife. Or a bigger Dasaita unit for $400+.

 

That is going to be a sweet setup. I wish I had the motivation to set something like that up but it wouldn't be worth it. I use the truck just for weekend trips to ride my WR and maybe the occasional hike. I found a nice pioneer on crutchfield that was on sale which should do the job.

Thank you for the recommendation.