BOSS Audio - 6.2" - Built-in Navigation - Bluetooth - In-Dash CD/DVD/DM Receiver - Black

Bought the radio around Black Friday. Was drawn to the sale and the fact that it had a built in mic, USB charging in the front, integrated GPS, and a DVD/CD player, as I sometimes go old school with my media selection. GPS is ok; nothing to complain about. It works like the individual GPS units I used in my car before google maps became a stock application on phones. DVD and CD player are fine- DVDs show up on the screen as promised. Knew I would most likely have trouble with Android Auto due to adroid forums blowing up about Note 9 not working with android auto on after market head units. I was ok with it as long as the bluetooth worked. And it was, until today for some reason. The rest of the radio's features are also unreliable. I live in Southern California. The usual winter mornings are around mid 40s to early 50s Fahrenheit. On occasion, depending on the time, temperatures can sink to 38 degrees in Los Angeles, but not often. And when it does reach mid 50's, the screen WON'T register touch. It is a capacitive screen, and my understanding is that because it is not pressure sensitive, that the screen may not read my fingers touch because it was cold. I tried warming it up, then gave the stylus that came with the radio a try. Neither approach worked. Just out of curiosity, I even gave my Note's stylus a go, just out of curiosity. I think they are unique to Samsung's phone, so that would never have worked no matter the conditions. I considered that it was the screen which was cold, and in the name of science and curiosity, I ran the sleeve of my sweatshirt around the screen a few times, which actually worked, even though my finger was still cold. But, emphasizing I live in SoCal and average winter morning temps are in the mid 40s to 50s, how does this screen function in climates like Minnesota? I wasn't able to confirm that this is a universal problem, if this is a universal problem with the model, so I would not assume that someone else would have this problem, but still would not recommend it for someone driving in a below zero and snowy climate. Back to Android Auto: Even though I knew the Note 9 was going to have issues, it is still a disappointment that the head unit is not compatible. The screen interface has only two input options: AUX and AV, even though there is a USB slot. The AUX doesn't even work on my phone. Is that a a phone issue? A radio issue? A combination of both together? Everything is plugged into it's appropriate slot for desired input and then I press on the Aux or AV and the radio tells me there is no signal. Plug into the USB, and the phone will charge, but I also get the message on my phone's screen that the connection is not able to read the phone's data. I considered what other settings may need to be altered to fix this connection. Tried mirror link just for kicks, even though the radios description didn't say anything being compatible with mirror link, and sure enough it definitely didn't work (though the phone registered that it was plugged in and I was able to turn it on). Android Auto has all permissions enabled, and still a no go. If anyone as suggestions regarding other settings let me know. The USB is 3.0 to USB-C; it doesn't work. A USB-A and USB 2.0 are on the way, and will give those a shot. but I don't have much hope. Unless you are in a similar situation as me, where budget doesn't allow for much wiggle room for new toys and you are ok with bluetooth being the only connection, NO WAY would I recommend this radio to someone with a new phone. I am not returning it and know I am settling; for now, I am ok with it. Better than having to buy a new clip on speakerphone. And, MOST DEFINITELY would VERY STRONGLY suggest AVOIDING this radio for someone who lives in a state with consistently cold and frigid weather.

First the positives: It sounds GREAT. With a strong local FM station, or a song that you somehow located (more later) on your thumb drive, or a CD in the included CD player (not tested but assume it should be great), it has nice tight bass, great highs, overall powerful sound. Plenty loud enough. Able to adjust all inputs to equalize volume levels when switching between AM / FM / CD / DVD / USB. Multi frequency equalizer for those so inclined. Lots of equalizer presets and all frequencies separately adjustable. AM reception is GREAT if you need those traffic reports like I do every day. GPS is a TomTom. Seems to work fine although I was raised (and still use) Garmin. Never asked it to find me a route but it always knew where I was. Map updates are reportedly EXPENSIVE. Although I did not inquire and cannot confirm. I did not even check out the DVD function as I don't believe in watching DVDs while cruising down the highway. This deck will supposedly play back any DVD with no issues. I have no reason to believe that it would be an issue. The display is a very high quality display and should get your rocks off if that's what you're into. The negatives: Biggest gripe for me is the lack of indexing on my thumb drive. This is my primary source of music on my 1.25 hour daily commute and if I want to cue up Green Day Dookie or White Stripes misc or Tommy Emmanuel (the best guitarist EVER!) or WHATEVER, I want to just cue it up and go. No can do with this deck, the writing is TINY and Artist / Album / Song list / whatever just did not work for me AT ALL. Even reformatted my drive and just stuck a few files on there to see if I was overloading it (original attempt was almost 16G of tunes), made no difference. Still could not locate / choose tunes / albums / artists of choice. FM sensitivity is sorely lacking. I believe it is like 18 dBf which is like x2 worse of my factory Honda (Clarion) deck. (9 - 11 dBf is great and readily available nowadays.) Which means you only receive FM stations about half as well as you will with your factory (or decent aftermarket) deck. YES, I would recommend this deck to someone who just wants a nice INEXPENSIVE touch screen GPS / AM / FM / CD / DVD deck and has lots of LOCAL strong FM station they like, but NO, if they want to index and cue up any real amount of music stored on a thumb drive. You CAN"T BEAT IT if the conditions are right. I had to return it for the issues listed above. Your choice. TBone

This stereo has everything: GPS, Bluetooth phone, contact list & music streaming, programmable EQ, decent power, CD/DVD player, USB, video inputs (rear view camera, front camera, etc.) and all for a fraction of the cost of the big brand names. It even has a full function remote control and a Steering Wheel Control icon in the menu that you press so that it learns some of the steering wheel's audio controls. And for those who are wondering about durability, mine is currently only two months old (installed February 2019) but my mother's is a year and four months old (installed December 2018) and neither one has ever malfunctioned. Can't say enough good things about it!

Radio is good, unlike a couple of reviews, I haven't had any issues with the touch screen (ya know IA had a couple of cold spells, so -5° - 10° was common and NO issues with radio. The installation, well its basically, well fake it. Theres little to no instructions on how to mount it, or that you need to use the OEM bracket when swapping out a double DIN factory radio with this. I even went to the Boss website looking for help, but again another dead end. Just a note, the Nav interface is a TomTom. Have yet to figure out how to update the map. All in all, nice radio, but the documentation is a nightmare.

It's a better radio than the factory radio. The install process was a little less than fair. The install looked great after it took a extra week to order the parts for the install. then the GPS would not pick up a signal. The next time for Best buy to check the install was two weeks away. After I called Boss and talked about the GPS. I checked the location of the GPS antenna and found the antenna was not installed in a position to receive a signal. I moved the antenna and the GPS works just fine.

I chose this unit for the backup camera and steering wheel control functionality. Both work as advertised, BUT, if you purchase the correct harness interfaces. I highly recommend the recommended harnesses for your application. Mine being a Bose premium sound. Unless you are well versed in newer stereo installs, its worth the aggravation & time! I would have given 5 star but the lack of Android Phone interface, which I knew before purchase but now wish I had it.

At 1st it was terrible. I bought it for the Bluetooth. When I 1st bought it, I would click on the BT msg, to turn it on. When I did this it would make my music choppy. I then let the BT come on by itself, and it is much better. I still get a little bit of choppiness, but a lot better. The GPS has only been used a few times, but it gets me to where I need to go, so no issue there. All in all a solid purchase for the price.

Very happy with this Boss receiver. AM, FM, CD, DVD work great. The navigation is a tom tom. Still prefer to use my Garmin GPS because I am so use to it. Also had a backup camera installed with this unit. Only problem is that a steering wheel interface could not be installed with this unit. That is why I gave it 4 stars. I had the Geek Squad install everything. They did a fantastic job. Would highly recommend the Geek Squad.