Thinking of swapping my RNS 510 for an aftermarket CarPlay unit. Alpine iLX-700 or Pioneer SPH-DA120

[AndyFromTheBrac]

Well, I do like my RNS but it seems cumbersome to use. The Nav takes ages to enter a new destination (forget a route/road trip!) and certain features are just a bit lacking. I just fancy a bit of a change.

I'd like to use a head unit which leverages a smartphone (iPhone for me) as the potential for music/app/navigation is fantastic.

Pioneer do the AppRadio series (which recently introduced CarPlay) and they looked nice, but the UI looks a little cheap and they don't seem to offer CANbus support and AppRadio doesn't work with iOS8

Recently the Alpine iLX-700 has been introduced which looks very slick, supports CAN integration (for parking sensor and climate display etc) Priced at under £500 it looks like a great piece of kit;

http://www.advanced-incar.co.uk/alpine/alpine-ilx-700-apple-carplay

It takes the "less is more" Apple style interface and looks nice and uncluttered. Downside seems to be the Apple TV - style closed subset of apps (for instance Apple Maps is the only Nav option, no google, waze etc).

Also has no Bluetooth (the phone needs to be docked) which is a strange omission, however if the head unit screen replaces my phone then this could be tucked away in the glovebox? Unless it needs to hear me shout Hey Siri at it all the time

Anyone else had any thoughts over these or replacement units?

Andy

 

[marshian70]

Looks good Andy. Be interested to hear how you get on. Can you get a separate BT module?

 

[AndyFromTheBrac]

I hope to check it out on Saturday. The SPA-DH120 from Pioneer looks quite neat also. It has the benefit of being compatible with androids too and looks like it has built in Bluetooth. If the Alpine doesn't have BT then I assume it has to use the phone for siri commands (and so the phone can't be tucked away). The lack of BT could be a major flaw IMO.

The Pioneer carplay feature is here in a nice video;

They don't look very different either (cos they're both CarPlay!). Just the positioning of the buttons left or underneath. The Alpine has a "hard" Siri button (like the iPhone home button), which means you can feel it and press without looking, whereas the Pioneer is smooth.

Pioneer SPA-DH120 (AppRadio 4)

Alpine iLX-700

Now do I tell the wife I'm gonna be making a bit of a detour on our camping trip this weekend or not.....?

 

[SimplyDubs]

Almost went this route a while ago, but the compatibility issues of many apps with CarPlay put me off.

In particular, Apple not currently allowing any iOS navigation apps to work onto CarPlay is a big downer from my side. Only Apple Maps works for Navigation and I'm not a fan of that implementation. (I normally use the TomTom app on all the family phones) - This may have changed in recent months but I suspect not.

I really wouldn't want Apple Maps as my only navigation option.

Rgds
Mark

 

[AndyFromTheBrac]

I had exactly the same thoughts Mark (I hated Apple Maps, I use Waze) but they do seem to have turned a corner (ahem) with it... I used it at the weekend and found it surprisingly good (not quite up to Google maps/TomTom etc standards, but not far off and a huge improvement. In fact it looks like they use TomTom themselves now, shown if you tap the (i) button in maps.

Secondly the Siri integration is very good, I was amazed (aside from the nerdy "hey siri" part) Saying "hey siri, find petrol stations" is cool and works... "play massive attack" is even better

I've never used a voice activation system that I've not had an argument with, but this one is nice.

My main two drawbacks at the moment are
Pioneer no CAN integration (parking sensors) though I could fit a camera.
Alpine - no Bluetooth (so I presume talking to Siri on the move is fiddly if you have to have your phone on the dash, rather than plugged in inside the glovebox)

 

[johnyboy]

I'm playing around with the Newsmy Car pad Gregg mentioned on here - taking a bit more set-up but for £300 I'm not complaining - lots of flexibility

 

[AndyFromTheBrac]

Interesting, but the Pioneer is only around £330 and Car Pad doesn't work with iPhones afaik?

 

[johnyboy]

How do you mean "work"? Bluetooth audio its also got a cheeky "Airplay" app
Generally it doesn't need an iphone as it is like a standalone tablet with all the flexibility that brings

 

[AndyFromTheBrac]

sorry I meant it's not going to work with my iOS stuff... iTunes, apple store apps etc - though it does look a cracking bit of kit. I did see someone create an iPad mount for a car and have always thought a 7" tablet would be ideal.

 

[AndyFromTheBrac]

I'm playing around with the Newsmy Car pad Gregg mentioned on here - taking a bit more set-up but for £300 I'm not complaining - lots of flexibility

I'm still dithering John - how you getting on with this CarPad ?

 

[reserves]

As much as the RNS-510 is slow etc. I love the navigation display on the dash, find this way less distracting than looking over to the centre. Also the integrated Bluetooth / Phone via the steering wheel is great too.

For anyone considering upgrading, it might be worth seeing what can be fitted from the T6, fingers crossed it can be retro-fitted

 

[johnyboy]

I'm not getting very good signal for the FM, but I have a wifi dongle with 15gb monthly allowance so I just stream radio and spotify that way.

 

[AndyFromTheBrac]

I think the factory stuff will be expensive. Make that EXPENSIVE. The original £2k RNS510 is quite frankly laughable. I frequently see myself in a field when I should be on the A46 (I have 2015 map updates and the latest firmware).

Johhny do you know if the CarPad airplay app supports video (screen mirror) as well as audio?

My halfway house option is to fit a standard RCA convertor to the RNS510s rear camera input (TV) and use a mirrorlink wifi device to replicate the screen of my phone onto it, that way at least I keep the RNS in situ.

 

[HowieDog]

my understanding with the apple maps is that it needs to have an Internet connection to work as the actual maps are not downloadable onto an iPhone. I have had problems with this when using on an iPhone/iPad and it always seems to lose the connection at a vital moment!

Another option is to have a unit that offers mirrorlink which allows use of any app as the screen of your device is mirrored in the head unit and is controllable in the main screen.

 

[johnyboy]

Oooooh I never thought of AirPlaying video... I'll give it a try later

 

[Vanalli]

I would just use your phone and the car as amp/speakers.

Apple maps are fine, just get route while on wifi/3G and you are ok. If you prefer there are other mapping apps for the phone. All are better than the RNS510.

Your phone can handle music/video/hands free calling so all good.

You will no doubt upgrade your phone every 2years or so which will keep all the features uptodate.

 

[fred]

@AndyFromTheBrac did you make a decision on this? I'm so close to pulling the trigger, especially as the Alpine is under £400 on ebay. It seems to be CANBUS and MFSW ready, right? What about a facia?

Alpine specs http://www.alpine.co.uk/p/Products/digital-media-receiver-4660/ilx-700

 

[mordav]

Isn't CarPlay about to be updated soon? There was something at the Apple Developers Conference about it moving to be wireless (not clear if this will be WiFi or Bluetooth).

 

[AndyFromTheBrac]

@fred I'm still dithering. These guys in Poole offer a complete fitting service for it here; http://www.advanced-incar.co.uk/alpine/alpine-ilx-700-apple-carplay including full canbus support (they showed some nice pics of the front & rear sensors) It's such a neat looking solution.

My only concern is the lack of 3rd party apps & the reliance on Apple Maps. It's going to go the way of Apple TV if they don't reconsider.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[HowieDog]

With aple maps its OK to get your route whilst you have a connection but if you are en route and want to make a diversion or the traffic situation changes then without a signal you are not going to be rediverted. Also in Europe you will be using data so need to make sure you are on the right contract.

If the unit has mirrorink (I think the Pioneer 120 does) then you will be able to use any apps on the iphone including various satnav options that have the maps downloaded.

http://www.halfords.com/technology/...oneer-sph-da120-car-stereo-with-apple-carplay

 

[AndyFromTheBrac]

my understanding with the apple maps is that it needs to have an Internet connection to work as the actual maps are not downloadable onto an iPhone. I have had problems with this when using on an iPhone/iPad and it always seems to lose the connection at a vital moment!

Another option is to have a unit that offers mirrorlink which allows use of any app as the screen of your device is mirrored in the head unit and is controllable in the main screen.

Exactly Howie - Apple Maps needs a signal all of the time (it can operate with a very brief signal loss) Other apps such as Waze and GoogleMaps both cache at least the route you're travelling such that if a signal is lost, there's no problem (also you can start the route in your own home/office on wifi then just carry on when you get to the car and it consumes less mobile bandwidth). I don't know what Apple was thinking when it binned Google (politics!) and decided to do its own thing, Google is annoying, but it is very good at what it does.

The only problem with mirrorlink is that the ruddy RNS510 doesn't have a standard RCA video in and so must use one of these type adapters;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371312461095?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

...so that I can then hook up the mirrorlink device such as this;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141264524563?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

I need to fathom out how to power these little gizmos and I will order one (I don't fancy splicing canbus connected cables!)

My feeling is that this will be cheaper at around £175 but then for not much more I could just opt for the CarPad. I guess I would be keeping the original head unit (factory look) but the downside is that the mirrorlink is display only and the phone needs to be used/controlled (although not connected).

 

[AndyFromTheBrac]

If the unit has mirrorink (I think the Pioneer 120 does) then you will be able to use any apps on the iphone including various satnav options that have the maps downloaded.

http://www.halfords.com/technology/...oneer-sph-da120-car-stereo-with-apple-carplay

I looked at that one also Howie, but the Pioneer doesn't have CAN support so the parking sensors /climate controls etc wont appear.

 

[fred]

we each have a different set of needs. I have a dedicated Tom Tom Go 610 w/ European and Asian maps, which is just awesome. What I need is really good quality audio processing for the lossless audio files on my device, the ability to play podcasts and audio books on long journeys, as well as voice integration for phone/messages. That's it. Parking sensor, climate control display and RCA video in (all on the Alpine iLX-700) is also helpful.

 

[fred]

@mordav there was going to be an announcement in September but it didn't happen. Apple are now putting everything in to a fully autonomous vehicle for 2018/9. So I'd expect hardware to remain fairly stable until then. Software on the head unit can be updated of course and I'd expect to be doing that reasonably frequently. I'm expecting apple to enable this OTA rather than by USB.

also... "Aftermarket units, such as the Alpine iLX-700/iLX-007 has a Wi-Fi chipset spotted inside its hardware" http://www.carplaylife.com/feature/wireless-carplay-what-we-know/
EDIT: iLX-700 also has a BT chipset in it, currently not enabled

Note: CURRENT Pioneer units do not support wireless car play

 

[fred]

@AndyFromTheBrac if you can live with a separate nav device for now (always my preference, as more reliable) then I don't see a downside to the alpine other than lack of bluetooth support for Android (note, there is an aux in though)

[EDIT: iLX-700 also has a BT chip in it, not currently enabled]

you get voice control messages and calls, full audio integration with a single device (no messing about with additional storage devices), video in, and parking sensor / climate display. Most importantly, a clean, well designed interface for audio and maps.

Both devices together cost way less than the Kenwood DNX525, which IMO has a horrible UX, uses Garmin maps (eurgh) and no voice control. And also less than the 510 with it's stone age UI (also Garmin).

YMMV.