Replacing head unit

Out curiosity's sake, I just had a look at a half dozen on ebay, and they're all marked Panasonic.
I did have to split mine in half, due to the fact I re-used the OEM mounting bracket.
Maybe, just maybe, the lower nav unit had a Pioneer sticker on it?
Seems far-fetched.
More likely, memory just didn't serve me correctly...

 

Meh, maybe they did make some of them...


IDK........

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/326111957572

Ebay, 86140-04230 Pioneer AVH-5798ZT, $450+tx + $28SH

 

My 2017 non jbl radio with nav is made by pioneer. I believe Pioneer made the newer 2020+ oem radios too.

 

My 2021 sport 4x4 had a pioneer oem unit. My truck did not have oem navigation

 

Imma have to pull mine again, just to check.

 

So I pulled the trigger on one of those ebay android head units. I got the android 13 version with 8 gigs of ram and it was $300 but there are versions with 4 gigs of ram for as little as $160. The item was shipped from the united states but the seller is based in China. The installation itself was not too difficult and the fit is perfect with the frame they provide. They give you all sorts of different harnesses so you have to figure out which cables to use, it can be a little tricky. It uses the factory usb port and there an extra one that can be placed perhaps in the glove box. They provide an external microphone that you have to use as the factory one has phantom power and isn't compatible. They also give you an extra camera, I will use it as a front camera eventually and view it with the auxiliary channel viewer app.
The real difficult part for me was setting up things like the canbus and the correct rear view camera format. Luckily the seller was super helpful with any questions despite the slight language barrier. After setting up the canbus decoder I actually unlocked a bunch of options that the stock radio didn't have so that's nice. I got wireless android auto to work (had to enable it in developer options on my phone).
I found that I'm really not a fan of android auto anyway because my phone is kind of slow. What works really well with those android head units is just giving it a Hotspot and running all the apps off the head unit, it's very fast and responsive. This unit also has the ability to install a sim card and have its own internet connection. Imagine running onx offroad in your head unit instead of messing around with your phone. The dsp and audio controls are awesome and the built in amp is a lot more powerful than the stock radio.
Definitely well worth the price and the little bit of work since it's not exactly plug and play. To me it makes no sense spending a grand on pioneer or stinger.