What’s the best head unit available?

[Absolut5]

66 t32 highline and we all use apple

Our most popular-
Alpine Halo 905 9” tablet. Wireless CarPlay, retains the parking graphics, steering controls, factory microphone , factory reverse cam
Alpine ilx 705 d as above but a 7” in dash screen
Kenwood dmx8o21dabs, 7” in dash, wireless CarPlay, retains parking graphics, steering controls tools. , factory camera

 

[AhrnNilsson]

Just to report my findings after going down both Kenwood and alpine rabbit holes and rummaging around .. I must have had my Kenwood 9019 dabs or whatever it was .. it was top of the range ..best part of 8 months before ultimately getting my money back and similar with the alpine halo again I’ve been refunded . The Kenwood got dust under its screen and they were unable to fix the issue it would also stop car play completely in certain areas where there was interference either to the wireless or the Bluetooth I’m not sure .. but car play audio would suddenly stop . The alpine sounded the best but had a noisy fan and the sat nav and gps positioning on two units had random glitches .. that for me were unacceptable. I’ve actually gone back to the original VW head unit with its tighter integrations with the instrument cluster and its cd player and blue tooth audio and to be honest .. (using the screen on my iPhone which is far higher resolution than any of these units and my iPhones gps ) I’m getting more reliable results . For the time being I’m putting up with no reverse camera .. that’s something I do miss for sure. Using my phone with Bluetooth for audio is certainly a little more quirky than CarPlay but after trying both top of the range offers from both Kenwood and Alpine .. I will keep my money for a while until someone comes out with something far better then the present offerings that are extremely overpriced . How about optical audio out ? Higher resolution screens that are comparable with the resolution of an iPad or iPhone would be nice. Better operating systems . Maybe a unit with no screen at all but integrates with your iPhone and shows reverse camera image on the phone itself . I think there are some massive improvements to in car technology just around the corner . Although I also fear that there is going to be more intrusion into our freedoms as we become ever more of a world of surveillance. I’m not sure what is stopping the authorities of recording our speed and location at all times whilst using car play or just Google maps or waze or apple maps on your phone If they are not already doing it they soon will . In fact it may be soon impossible to start your engine without an internet connection .

sony did you try it?

 

[firedrake]

Hi looking at the kenwood head units with dab and wireless apple carplay/android seen them for around 350 for my t6 start line anybody have one and are they a good upgrade,thanks

 

[Ayjay]

I think there's quite a few with Kenwood's on here. Personally, I've had the (now superseded)DMX8020DABS in my T6 Highline for about 5 years and I manage to live with its little quirks nowadays. Soundwise, It's OK for me using the original VW speakers but I don't really play a lot of music in the van as it's usually the two of us travelling together and we don't share the same tastes (also, I'm partially deaf)
I suspect the main interface and menus were designed by somebody who never intended using the thing as they can be a pain in the aris to navigate. The touch screen sometimes completely fails to respond which necessitates a restart which is annoying but TBH doesn't happen that often. When it's starts getting cold. condensation sometimes forms under the screen which manifests itself as blob but mostly disappears once things get warm. Apart from all that (and probably a couple of other things that I've probably forgotten until they repeat!), it integrates fairly well with the steering wheel and wireless Android Auto is fairly reliable (ie. only every now and then does it fail to connect and needs a restart). I don't think I'd buy another one if mine broke today. BUT if I could be assured that a replacement / current equivalent Kenwood model had ironed out some of the glitches, I might be tempted by it IF it was just a plug and play using the current wiring harness otherwise, I would need to do a bit more research to find a decent replacement made by someone else.

 

[Absolut5]

I think there's quite a few with Kenwood's on here. Personally, I've had the (now superseded)DMX8020DABS in my T6 Highline for about 5 years and I manage to live with its little quirks nowadays. Soundwise, It's OK for me using the original VW speakers but I don't really play a lot of music in the van as it's usually the two of us travelling together and we don't share the same tastes (also, I'm partially deaf) I suspect the main interface and menus were designed by somebody who never intended using the thing as they can be a pain in the aris to navigate. The touch screen sometimes completely fails to respond which necessitates a restart which is annoying but TBH doesn't happen that often. When it's starts getting cold. condensation sometimes forms under the screen which manifests itself as blob but mostly disappears once things get warm. Apart from all that (and probably a couple of other things that I've probably forgotten until they repeat!), it integrates fairly well with the steering wheel and wireless Android Auto is fairly reliable (ie. only every now and then does it fail to connect and needs a restart). I don't think I'd buy another one if mine broke today. BUT if I could be assured that a replacement / current equivalent Kenwood model had ironed out some of the glitches, I might be tempted by it IF it was just a plug and play using the current wiring harness otherwise, I would need to do a bit more research to find a decent replacement made by someone else.

Hi looking at the kenwood head units with dab and wireless apple carplay/android seen them for around 350 for my t6 start line anybody have one and are they a good upgrade,thanks

I think there's quite a few with Kenwood's on here. Personally, I've had the (now superseded)DMX8020DABS in my T6 Highline for about 5 years and I manage to live with its little quirks nowadays. Soundwise, It's OK for me using the original VW speakers but I don't really play a lot of music in the van as it's usually the two of us travelling together and we don't share the same tastes (also, I'm partially deaf) I suspect the main interface and menus were designed by somebody who never intended using the thing as they can be a pain in the aris to navigate. The touch screen sometimes completely fails to respond which necessitates a restart which is annoying but TBH doesn't happen that often. When it's starts getting cold. condensation sometimes forms under the screen which manifests itself as blob but mostly disappears once things get warm. Apart from all that (and probably a couple of other things that I've probably forgotten until they repeat!), it integrates fairly well with the steering wheel and wireless Android Auto is fairly reliable (ie. only every now and then does it fail to connect and needs a restart). I don't think I'd buy another one if mine broke today. BUT if I could be assured that a replacement / current equivalent Kenwood model had ironed out some of the glitches, I might be tempted by it IF it was just a plug and play using the current wiring harness otherwise, I would need to do a bit more research to find a decent replacement made by someone else.

Hi looking at the kenwood head units with dab and wireless apple carplay/android seen them for around 350 for my t6 start line anybody have one and are they a good upgrade,thanks

You have to be careful these days as a large percentage of pioneer, kenwood and others are now rebranded Chinese manufactured units , we avoid at all costs due to reliability , cheap looking user interfaces and generally poor output.

The Kenwood DMX8021dabs is the latest 3rd generation of their own manufactured unit that supports parking sensor display, wireless carplay, wireless android . very reliable

but like nealry all units that use resistive, capacitive screens they do suffer from glare like you phone does when out in the sun, condensation hits even stock head units and many others, its because most of the vehicle are damp inside, even if they look dry, the under floor carpets are wet from leaks or wet feet . no different to the windscreen on the vehicle .
user interface on these are about the easiest to use, certainly over the alpine , but most of the time you are using carplay so does not matter to much .

£350.00 im afraid will not get you a good unit that support park pilot, and the fitting kit . drop us a pm if you want more help or call

 

[david173]

I think there's quite a few with Kenwood's on here. Personally, I've had the (now superseded)DMX8020DABS in my T6 Highline for about 5 years and I manage to live with its little quirks nowadays. Soundwise, It's OK for me using the original VW speakers but I don't really play a lot of music in the van as it's usually the two of us travelling together and we don't share the same tastes (also, I'm partially deaf)
I suspect the main interface and menus were designed by somebody who never intended using the thing as they can be a pain in the aris to navigate. The touch screen sometimes completely fails to respond which necessitates a restart which is annoying but TBH doesn't happen that often. When it's starts getting cold. condensation sometimes forms under the screen which manifests itself as blob but mostly disappears once things get warm. Apart from all that (and probably a couple of other things that I've probably forgotten until they repeat!), it integrates fairly well with the steering wheel and wireless Android Auto is fairly reliable (ie. only every now and then does it fail to connect and needs a restart). I don't think I'd buy another one if mine broke today. BUT if I could be assured that a replacement / current equivalent Kenwood model had ironed out some of the glitches, I might be tempted by it IF it was just a plug and play using the current wiring harness otherwise, I would need to do a bit more research to find a decent replacement made by someone else.

do you have any issues with dust under the screen at all?

 

[Ayjay]

@david173. A few specs scattered around which are difficult to photograph - they're not really intrusive so I sometimes notice them and fixate a bit until I forget about them again (until the next time). The dust was one of the 'and probably a couple of other things that I've forgotten'.