We installed this in my 2013 Kia Soul, and it works better than I expected. This car has a storage cubby with a hinged lid just above the factory stereo, so we removed the hinged lid and drilled a small hole at the back of the cubby to run the wires down behind console (we hardwired it thanks to help from some YouTube videos). We also used screws on the mounting plate for extra stability. The 7″ size fits perfectly and looks as built in as any external CarPlay unit can, I think. The backup camera was also fairly easy to install. The tricky part in hardwiring both the unit and camera was figuring out the correct wires to tap into, but we used a multimeter and so it wasn’t too difficult.
Note that we ordered two other products for this install from Amazon: a16AWG Car Cigarette Lighter Extension Cable, 20A 250V Fused, Male to Female Socket Plug Lead Cord for 12V 24V Vehicle Power Transformer, and T Type 1 Pin non-stripped wire connecters. We couldn’t have done this as easily without them, because there just wasn’t enough room to manipulate the console wires. Later, I ordered a 90-degree male to female USB C corner adapter so that the camera cable fit more flush and didn’t stick out as much on the side. I do wish the inputs were on the back, but I understand why that wouldn’t work for every installation.
As for how the unit operates, so far, it’s been great! I’m so glad I got one with Dual Bluetooth because it turns out to be a must have for me–with an iPhone I’m able to connect it to both my phone and the car’s Bluetooth audio. Once connected, my steering wheel controls work, which I didn’t think would be possible, and because it’s using my car’s microphone my voice sounds clear to people on the other end. It seems that it can only remember one phone at time, the last one it connected to, and will reconnect to it automatically every time. If you want to change which phone is connected, you have to do the initial connection process again, which is fine.
The backup camera has a crisp and clear image with a nice wide field of view. Once connected to the reverse light wire, it works seamlessly. In my situation, we did have to drill into the bumper, but that section of my bumper is plastic, so I wasn’t worried about it. Also, I use polarized sunglasses and have no issue seeing the screen (I read reviews of other units where this can be a problem).
My only complaint so far is that the plastic power button on the right side is loose and rattled quite a bit while driving, which drove me nuts. But a small piece of black electrical tape over it solved that problem and it’s barely visible.
All in all, this is a great little unit for the price. It allows me to update my car with goodies only available on newer models, retain my steering wheel controls, use my car’s Bluetooth audio, and the installation went fairly smooth. I’m very happy with this purchase.
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