Skippman

I've been following this very topic for a while now. Since before I bought my Jeep actually as a lot of guys in the BRZ/FRS community were really interested in Android based head units so they could run Torque and other race related software. Over there the CaFi Dashlinq seems to be the most popular unit.

For me, this has always been about the limitations of integrated navigation software. I had the UConnect MyGig in my 2008 Wrangler and the maps were fair at best. Once they were a few years out of date due to road construction they became almost useless in some cases. I didn't have the stomach to pay the $250 for the NavTec map updates and using an aftermarket GPS became tedious to install and remove when parking in certain areas of the city.

I've been looking at the Insane Audio unit for some time now and have exchanged numerous e-mails with the company. My responses from them have always been "marketing hype" over "actual hard data." When I flat out asked what the difference was between their unit and an IDENTICAL one I've found online they couldn't or wouldn't provide me specific examples of the differences.

Here's a thread on their own forum showing the rear of the unit.

Here's an identical unit I've found online for half the price.

If you compare the two units side by side they're almost 100% identical. Any thoughts?


This is my overall wiring schematic so far minus the antenna inputs and sub.

Wrangler Stereo by skippman, on Flickr

hydronaut

Ask them to send you a screenshot of the about screen. I will bet it is the same huifei device as all the rest just with a custom firmware.

You will definitely need to you an amplifier. The internal one is not good. Because of that I am planning to switch it to something else. Pioneer or Kenwood.

Id interested I will sell you mine for $325 and will pay shipping in the USA or Canada.

Used for 1 day and works with the steering wheel controls on my 2015.

Skippman

Can anyone speak to the audio quality of these head units using aftermarket amps? I'm curious if there's a significant drop in audio quality between one of these Android based units and a conventional head unit from a company like Alpine or Pioneer.

jeffe

I just installed mine last night and the interface is great! It's light years ahead of the 430/730 units that jeep offers. The audio quality itself is actually worse than stock though. I'm trying to figure out how to fix this but as someone pointed out earlier in the thread, the EQ settings offer almost no difference.

I love the head unit and all that it has to offer but this crappy audio has me thinking twice. Does anyone have any experience with fixing the crap audio quality?

Kojack

I guess you can add an eq inline between the head unit and amp. I had one in line with one of my stereos and it worked great.

jeffe

I played around with the unit for a while last night and unfortunately I've realized this unit doesn't fit my needs.

There are multiple pain points that I hadn't realized until I got in and drove around surrounding the overall UI of the head unit. I know someone pointed out how the GPS is great, but I found the igo nav to be just okay. When you compare it to the 730n, I guess it's light years ahead, but I would think the general consensus would agree that the 730n system is terrible at best. It's hard to say the igo is incredible considering the alternatives available on my phone (google maps, waze, etc.). It did have the wifi feature but I don't feel like leaving my phone in the personal hotspot mode and eat up all my data while driving.

I tried and tried, but couldn't get the steering wheel controls to integrate. There probably is a way to do it, but for me I couldn't figure it out, and I'm pretty tech savvy.

Every time I started the jeep an Acura symbol appeared on the display, and again, I could not figure out a way to get rid of this. Also, there are no lights around any of the external buttons so be prepared to experience a learning curve that will be intensified at night.

Last but not least, the audio portion. In its stock form, the audio from the unit was horrible. I thought the stock jeep audio setup was bad, but this was a joke. Flip a red solo cup over, put your phone in it and let your phone speakers use the cup to reverberate the sound. This is essentially what the system sounds like. Also, I tried a CD for the hell of it, and it refused to recognize it. I ejected it and tried again. Still, nothing. This was a Johnny Cash CD, so by being unable to play one of the most incredible American badass singers of all time in my jeep, the unit was essentially screaming death to America. I on the other hand, love my country and realized this was the last straw. I uninstalled the unit and reinstalled my 430 that came with my jeep and even though it's features aren't as great as I'd like them to be, it gets the job done.

Kojack

If you go into the android menu, you will see a more options tab, go in there and you will enter 123456 as the password, you can then change the settings for the dash lights, car logo, and maybe even the CD settings to play the man in black!

jeffe

I was wondering what the password was! Probably would've helped a ton. Good to know that you can change all of that!

Kojack

Saw that on a video demo'ing one. is the sound that bad? I am dying to replace the stock unit in my patriot with one. They have a full drop in dash with a 10" screen available for that. I want to bite the bullet on it....and see how it works!

jeffe

I personally found it to be a considerable step down from the stock set up. I think there are some good aspects to the unit, but for me it wasn't enough to justify the purchase. I might've had a defective unit or something but I found the sound quality to be terrible. I sent the unit back and now I'm setting up an iPad mini as my new set up alongside my stock 430 setup.