2018 Head Unit upgrade

J

JohnGalt1962

New member
Hello
I am contemplating the upgrade of my TRD Off Road Premium OEM Head/nav unit to a new Kenwood DNX875S Navigation Receiver with all the goodies to make it run on my steering wheel integration and existing speakers, iPhone etc etc

What think?
I had a Kenwood DNX in my suburban from 2011 (Kenwood year model) and found that the songs on the flash drive I had in glovebox would mysteriously drop or omit songs or whole albums
Then I would that the drive to a computer, see that they were still there on the drive and cut and paste them somewhere else and the back where they were and Voila’ all worked again
Has anyone experience with this newer unit?
Do Kenwoods still do this?
If so, any fixes?
Any better head units?
Thanks
 
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JohnGalt1962 said:
Hello
I am contemplating the upgrade of my TRD Off Road Premium OEM Head/nav unit to a new Kenwood DNX875S Navigation Receiver with all the goodies to make it run on my steering wheel integration and existing speakers, iPhone etc etc

What think?
I had a Kenwood DNX in my suburban from 2011 (Kenwood year model) and found that the songs on the flash drive I had in glovebox would mysteriously drop or omit songs or whole albums
Then I would that the drive to a computer, see that they were still there on the drive and cut and paste them somewhere else and the back where they were and Voila’ all worked again
Has anyone experience with this newer unit?
Do Kenwoods still do this?
If so, any fixes?
Any better head units?
Thanks
Click to expand...

Quite a few threads on the HU issue, with build threads for dash kits, etc. Take a look around and see what others have done
 
Brost said:
Found this on YouTube the other day, it was done a Toyota Car.

https://youtu.be/UcIydp_Km38

JOYING Car Stereo 4GB + 32GB Android 8.0 Octa Core 10.1 inch Double Din with Zlink & Android Auto Fast Boot DVR RCA Rear Camera OBDII Video Out https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F8RVQJ7/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_0vSOBbMS2PV9R

Hopefully someone tries this out in the 4runner, would fill the space up nice!
Click to expand...

I'm looking at options as well to upgrade my head unit and will probably go with an Android one. Was looking at those 10.1" screens and found this pic. Not sure how I feel about it now. That screen is so big that it blocks the AC Vents!

android%2Bcar%2Bhead%2Bunit%2Bstereo.jpg
 
4Rums said:
I'm looking at options as well to upgrade my head unit and will probably go with an Android one. Was looking at those 10.1" screens and found this pic. Not sure how I feel about it now. That screen is so big that it blocks the AC Vents!

android%2Bcar%2Bhead%2Bunit%2Bstereo.jpg
Click to expand...

Picture not showing up for me.
 
JohnGalt1962 said:
Hello
I am contemplating the upgrade of my TRD Off Road Premium OEM Head/nav unit to a new Kenwood DNX875S Navigation Receiver with all the goodies to make it run on my steering wheel integration and existing speakers, iPhone etc etc

What think?
I had a Kenwood DNX in my suburban from 2011 (Kenwood year model) and found that the songs on the flash drive I had in glovebox would mysteriously drop or omit songs or whole albums
Then I would that the drive to a computer, see that they were still there on the drive and cut and paste them somewhere else and the back where they were and Voila’ all worked again
Has anyone experience with this newer unit?
Do Kenwoods still do this?
If so, any fixes?
Any better head units?
Thanks
Click to expand...

I have a Kenwood DNX694S in one 4Runner, and a DNX995S in another.

Instead of USB Flash drives that typically have slower memory, I use good quality, fast, micro SD cards in USB adapters.

The only trouble I’ve had I is if I load up a 64 gig SD with HD music (FLAC format) the song titles sometimes lag. Other than that the SD card/adapter works great.
 
Ill eventually upgrade the stereo to an aftermarket one with apple play or android support since I play on keeping this suv for awhile
 
Why not just buy an iPad mini and connect it to your HU via bluetooth or aux? If you want Nav too (not sure why, but whatever), you can run that via BT GPS receiver and port the audio via aux.

Oh, and this lets you do fancy ram mounts too.
 
Brost said:
Takes up more room then I thought for sure. Standard double din HU looks lost in all the plastic and this might be to big.. to bad Phoenix Android units never went through for the 4runner
Click to expand...

Another option I'm considering is to use one the head units made to fit Jeep and other vehicles. I think I read somewhere that they are 220mm wide, so you would have to trim the dash kit to make it fit, but it would eat some of the empty space on the sides.

https://www.amazon.com/Dasaita-Wrangler-Commander-Navigation-Multimedia/dp/B0796VPGG3/

Here's a video of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkD2B9ONxls
 
4Rums said:
I'm looking at options as well to upgrade my head unit and will probably go with an Android one. Was looking at those 10.1" screens and found this pic. Not sure how I feel about it now. That screen is so big that it blocks the AC Vents!

android%2Bcar%2Bhead%2Bunit%2Bstereo.jpg
Click to expand...

This is Sexy AF :flamethrwoer2:
 
How did this turn out? Did you swap out the head unit? I’m mulling over my audio upgrade options, and a HU upgrade is a possibility.
 
Kenwood wireless

I just had the kenwood wireless car play installed on my 2019. Great upgrade! I have the OEM unit available cheap.
 
phillyd2 said:
Kenwood now has the new Excelon DNX996XR available which is what I’ll be going with. One main feature I was looking for was wireless Apple CarPlay

Kenwood Excelon DNX996XR Navigation receiver at Crutchfield.com
Click to expand...
I have the version of this head unit without the GPS navigation on order. I’ll be installing it later this week.

Honestly, I’m so tired of built in GPS based systems that suck. The Sync 3 system in my ‘17 F150 was useless. The Entune system in my ‘19 4Runner doesn’t understand most of my voice command navigation searches. Carplay with Apple maps and Siri or Google maps work perfectly. I ended up never using the nav system in the Ford and I’m starting to really hate the Entune system in the Runner.

I’m passing on the Kenwood unit with the built in Garmin GPS because if it’s anything like my Garmin hiking handheld or the Marine GPS on my boat I’ll just be annoyed. Apple or Android Phone based UI seems to always be so much more intuitive and effective than everything else on the market.

Hoping the wireless Carplay is as seamless as the reviews are reporting. I’ll post my experience once the unit is up and running.
 
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