Pioneer - 6.8" Android Auto™ and Apple CarPlay® Bluetooth® Digital Media (DM) Receiver - Black

We still love our 2008 Honda Odyssey, but were eager to update the electronics to include CarPlay. This Pioneer went on sale, so we jumped in. Integration was very simple and the features on this unit go on for days! Love having the backup camera on a nice big screen and HD Radio adds lots of new stations here in Nashville. The sound quality of the unit is awesome. It's gotten many compliments from my wife, who spends a lot of time behind the wheel. The startup is definitely slower than the non-smart factory unit, but not terrible. Maybe :15 sec? I used the auto-eq and level adjustment with a mic and it made some slight improvements. Sounded good already, so this wasn't a big change. The default EQ of "powerful" is actually really good. I tend to prefer flatter sound that is more natural, but this works really well. Of course CarPlay is great. Having used it in various rental cars, I was glad to have it at our fingertips for our holiday travel this year. Worked flawlessly. We still use lots of CDs from the library, so having an in-dash disc player was important. We are not using the DVD feature, so no comment there. I've definitely recommended this one to all my friends since we installed it. Big upgrade for older vehicles!

This does everything the way I would expect it to, and works well. The layout is pretty intuitive. So far has been very reliable. I have an android phone and the Android Auto feature works very well, much nicer than just using a phone holder! Bluetooth also rock solid and good range. Compared to the stock radio everything is louder and seems clearer, to be fair I didn't have a 3.5mm or bluetooth on the factory radio. Big difference though is the HD radio, definitely a better signal than what I was getting. The screen is visible most of the time. I say this because when the sun is shining and I have the sunroof open the screen gets really washed out, I can still read it though. I was completely unable to see the factory display in this condition so it's an improvement for me. My main complaint is that it does not have physical forward/back buttons. If you have steering wheel controls this isn't an issue. I do find that I have to take my eyes off the road for a split second sometimes to hit the on screen button. I'm not saying it is a deal breaker, but physical buttons that I could locate without looking would be an improvement. The backup camera is also working as it should which is great because I used to have no clue what was going on behind my car... Overall great radio and would recommend.

This HU was installed using the wiring harness and Steering Wheel Controls (SWC) along with the mounting and trim hardware from SpiralAudio.com to retain OEM functionality and appearance. Also installed a Pioneer ND-BC8 backup camera which I tucked up under the trim piece above the rear license plate. Routing the cable safely inside the trunk lid and through the existing flexible wiring holder, around the convertible top mechanism, under the passenger door sill trim, behind the glove box, and into the HU cavity was the most time-consuming task. The Pioneer ND-BC8 has both an RCA Video plug and the ground and 12V fused feed at the dashboard end of the cable. Standard the 2007 Saab Aero comes with two amplifiers, one for the FL, FR, RL, and RR speakers, the other for the 12-inch woofer behind the back seat for a total of 300 Watts. The Pioneer HU was unleashed latent sound quality and amplitude that just was not there with the OEM HU!! IT’S LOUD!! Overall, the head unit is exceptionally good and has great functionality like HD Radio, iPod integration, Android Auto, 2 camera inputs, and so on. My only criticism that cost the review one star is that the screen just isn’t bright enough, especially in a convertible. I bought this HU mainly on availability, most HUs are out of stock/on backorder due to the pandemic-induced supply chain issues, and I wasn’t going to spend $800 on a $199 list price HU!! Apart from the lack of screen brightness, this is a great HU and camera duo.

First off, dont be like me - dont buy this if you havent tried it out in person, and didnt realize that there are literally NO buttons. At all. 0. the icons displayed in the picture are LED lights and nothing else. Sound quality from this pioneer head unit is phenomenal, really wanted to love it, install was pretty straight forward, despite the fact that the manual makes a wiring pin out basically non-existent. This is one of the few units with built in HD radio, and the FM tuner sounds fantastic. The equalizer similarly sounds great and really made my 15 year old Porsche speaker system come to life, even with a fiber optic to RCA adapter stripping away the "advanced" features of my Bose speakers. Heres an install tip, look up the owners manual for most modern Sony units, the wiring harness that comes with them uses the same colored wires as pioneer for the same exact functions. Follow Sony's diagram if you need to wire it up yourself. Much easier. Apply carplay connection was quick, setup was fast, menu is very intuitive and easy to use. No clue on android auto, dont have one to try but Im sure its just as good. the screen looks great too, and the touch screen makes gesturing and swiping as easy and smooth as most current phones. BUT - and there's a big but here, for anyone who lives in the cold, this isnt for you. A capacitive touch screen responds to heat from your hands, which you cannot transfer with gloves on. I tried hard to find a universal steering wheel controls setup to pair with this, and due to this being a newer unit, it lacks the the necessary ports for wiring in a hard-wired remote, that could be wirelessly sent over with a generic steering wheel control. Its horrible because the tech is already in the radio, it even comes with a traditional remote in the box, but thats useless while you're driving due to the tiny buttons. The edge to edge display looks great but when driving makes volume or any other controls impossible to find without taking your eyes off the road. If you have steering wheel controls native to your car, you can probably get away with this, but if you're like me, without those, the honey moon period will end quickly on this product as soon as you realize that its dangerously distracting just to change the volume or skip a song.

I installed this in my 2009 Jeep Wrangler Sahara Unlimited to replace the factory radio. I also installed the iDatalink Maestro module to retain all of the factory original features and was required in order to control front to rear fade as I kept the factory Infinity amplifier. The Maestro also gives me an engine gauge screen on the new Pioneer, tire pressure, door status, battery voltage, and engine error code display/reset via the ODB connector. I also replaced all of the factory speakers. JBL Harman components in the front, JBL coaxials in sound bar, and a Pioneer low profile sub in the rear. Finally I also installed a backup camera which is displayed on the Pioneer screen. So far I love the Pioneer head unit. Amazing sound quality, great features. I have a Samsung Galaxy S9 and the Android Auto is really cool. Allows me to run Waze navigation and other apps like Pandora when my phone is plugged into the Pioneer USB port. My only complaints, thus the 4 stars: (1) Wish there were two USB ports, keep switching between USB thumb drive loaded with music files and my phone for navigation. (2) Control buttons on left side are rather small. Overall a great radio and great price! Was $450 but got it on sale for $299. TIP: The Metra dash install/trim kit I used has very soft/cheap plastic, cracks easily. I've read that Scosche makes a better quality one and will pursue that brand for future installs.