By Ryan Huey
- Radio Reception
I read a lot about bad reception. I live 60 miles out of Houston, TX and the reception is just as good as my factory radio. Maybe very slightly less, but all the major radio stations come in perfect.
- WiFi Hotspot
When I run the hotspot on my G5, it works fine. The apps are just as fast as my phone.
- GPS Navigation
The iGo Nav app that comes with it was a lot better than I anticipated. When I don’t have the hotspot on, it’s definitely sufficient. I prefer Google Maps (when you first open, scroll down to accept terms, it took me a minute to figure that out). Finally, you can do a real map research, this is so much better than my Infinity Nav System.
- OBDII
I bought a cheap OBDII Scan Tool and set it up through Bluetooth (PIN 1234), downloaded Torque, and it runs great. Still haven’t had time to set it all up yet, but it’s very cool for $15 for tool and app.
- Pandora
I downloaded Pandora and it works great. It’s much quieter than the radio, so the radio was loud when I switched back. There are setting to change volume settings for the different modes to fix that.
- Steering Wheel Control
I used the Axxess programmer to set up the steering wheel buttons (brown wires to “key” 1&2 brown wires). Got instructions from the AXXESS website for my vehicle and it was fairly easy to program. I like that you have many options to program buttons to something else. I used my “MODE” button for “HOME”. That way if I want to open an app while driving, I hit MODE (HOME) and I have the apps I use driving on the HOME screen, so I just need to glance down onece and push it. Otherwise, you have to look over, hit HOME button, scroll to find the app, and then push it. I got the 6.95″ Android 4.4 head unitbecause I have volume buttons on my steering wheel control. Otherwise I probably would have gone with the unit with a volume knob. There are volume buttons, but you’d almost have to look down every time to use them.
- In Conclusion
This radio may not have everything you’d dream of and may not be set up exactly the way you want, but it’s SOOOO much better than any of the mainstream radios out there. If you’re like me and have priced the mainstream radios with Nav from $800-$1000, you’ll think there’s no way this is good quality for under $400. I don’t know if it’s Bose quality, but it’s damn good.
- US Website: http://www.autopumpkin.com/
- UK Website: http://www.autopumpkin.co.uk/