Show off those aftermarket stereo systems!

The volume for the radio and your Bluetooth. It is also hooked upto my factory backup camera. My factory USB is connected right to my headunit.

 

Can you point me to the right thread about how to tap into the camera to wire it up? I found some threads but not sure they were the right ones since several people had issues making it work properly. Thanks

 

Hi Mike, I'm not sure what thread for you to look at because my local audio store did my install. The owner I know I been dealing with for a long time doing installs. Not sure how he hooked it up. I know the only issue we had was we could not tap into the shark fin for my XM radio. So he kept my gps antenna in the dash where the headunit is. And we mounted the antenna on top of the dash for my XM because I did not want it out in the roof. It works great on the dash and you barely notice it.

 

Well I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the Kenwood DDX374BT and splurged for the idatalink maestro install gear after reading how a lot were not getting all the steering wheel controls to work. Was trying to keep the cost down since I told the wife I would only spend a little over $300. $390 is just a little over $300 right? Lol. Anyway I do like the extra features it will give but ultimately I didn't want to deal with the controls not working and have to go back and redo or buy the idatalink later and wind up costing more.

Ordered from Crutchfield so I'll post pics when I get it and installed. But I definitely want to figure out how to wire the bu camera on my 2011. Mine is the JBL. Anybody with knowledge help will definitely be appreciated.

 

I really like the HU. The steering wheel controls for the stereo operation are great but i havent even used the phone controls. I cant stand talking on the phone in the truck. Im on the phone most of the day for work and the truck is my me time so i usually just miss the calls that come over then.

 

This thing is awesome!

 

On another note I bought the idatalink maestro install gear which with this unit allows me to see my tire pressure/temperature, battery voltage, and supposed to alert me with codes. Still learning some of the features but that appears to be the bulk of the maestro abilities for my truck. Probably not worth the extra $ but it is pretty cool.

 

I want to get that with a Pioneer NEX series to utilize all the features of the Maestro.. love it.. keep us posted how you like it!

 

I didn't even know anything about the data set up when I decided to go with the Kenwood. After reading about how several people had issues with the steering wheel controls not working with the regular wiring harness I decided to look into the maestro and went with it. Maybe I should've looked deeper at other hu's after learning about it.

Maybe tomorrow I'm gonna try to get the bu camera hooked in. Don't have the time yesterday to do it all and got impatient wanting to install.

Also got to figure out the DVD player. Hooked it up with the parking brake wire but still doesn't show even when parked. Can't I just ground the wire to make it work anytime? Not that I care to watch movies, just want to get it working as simple as possible and run a line to the back seat for my son to be able to watch.

 

My pioneer has it in the headunit. Not sure how my installer turned it off. Their is a you tube video how to shut the pioneer off so you can watch a DVD while your vehicle is moving. I don't use all the extra features in the headunit but they are nice to have.

 

I think for mine, when I had the dvd option hooked up.. I had to toggle the switch off and back on. this was years ago tho..

 

Got the camera working and on this unit it has a cam button that allows me to turn it on manually. But somehow it knows when moving because it won't show while driving. I'm bummed about that after having everything working.

Found another screen for the data part.

 

Most Pioneer head units require the emergency brake to be engaged, released and re-engaged to watch DVD. I just installed a switch that tricks the unit into thinking the truck has the E brake on.

 

I grounded the parking brake wire and it took care of that on my Kenwood. Didn't really matter to me since I dont know any other features it wouldn't allow other than watching DVD. But it made it simple so I'm glad.

 

Who on here has had success uploading custom images to their hu? Particularly Kenwoods? I tried last night using a flash drive formatted in fat32 with a jpeg image 800x480 which from what I've read and researched is the exact way to do it on Kenwoods anyway but no luck. It won't recognize it.

 

looks good man! How are you liking this so far? About to pull the trigger for my 06. Crutch has it for $249.99 including the install kit and dash

 

I'm a little disappointed now, not so much at the unit but at how some Bluetooth works. I thought I would be able to use navigation on the phone and it interrupt the radio for directions. Which it does to an extent but the navigation volume is very low and can hardly hear it over the music. It doesn't completely mute the music. My wife's Sienna works great for this with the factory touchscreen.

Aside from that I do like it. Just a lot to get used to. Learning to find where everything is, and this thing has a ton of settings. So many it's hard to remember where stuff is sometimes.

One big thing I wanted with this unit also vs the Pioneer was the rotary volume knob. But that is kinda a disappointment in that I didn't realize how recessed the unit would be, to the point that it somewhat hard to use the knob so just like my factory radio I keep using the steering wheel controls. Not a big deal but I like to be able to adjust the volume quicker than the push buttons allow sometimes.

And it has been a little glitchy at times which bothers me. On a couple of occasions the screen has froze up on me. And there has been a couple of instances where the back up camera wouldn't display for some reason. But that's been when using the button to activate it. It always works when I shift into reverse as far as I can remember.

The Bluetooth signal is a little weak but not a big deal. Right after I installed it my phone was in my pocket and I was streaming music while I walked around the garage cleaning up and it kept breaking up, bad enough I took it out of my pocket and left it inside the truck while I cleaned up.

Overall I still like it better than the stock unit. At least once I get my music organized so I can find it easier. I just don't want to come off all negative, it just doesn't do some of what I expected, but I've learned that holds true for most aftermarket hu's. I was spoiled with the factory unit in my wife's van I guess.

 

thanks for the honest review. About the volume... I had the same issue with my wife's stock Rav4 stereo. I found in my Google Maps settings where you can increase the nav voice volume when using bluetooth. Maybe look into that when connected. It was pissing me off too.

Honestly i want this over the pioneer for the volume knob as well. But you're making me second guess myself, especially because the pioneer lets you change tracks right there instead of touching the other side of the screen. i dont have steering wheel controls on my 06.

Interesting about the bluetooth. I suppose i can give it a pass on that.

I'll have to do more research. You still running stock speakers? How is the difference in sound?

 

Yes stock but mine is the JBL with the factory amp but it still sounds better. I didn't mean to discourage you about this unit, I just expected it to do more. But I guess I shouldn'tve expected too much since I didn't want to spend the extra for the navi unit or apple carplay.