Headunit Upgrade - Sony XAV-AX7000: Trail Grid Pro

[RK1679]

I'm strongly considering ordering this package today for my 2018. Cliff at Trail Grid Pro has been very responsive to my questions. Anyone else here have any install tips (would love to use the factory microphone, but that's not a big deal) or comments?

 

[SoCalRunner]

Memorial day sale - $50 off

I was on the fence but the sale price pushed me over. I'm looking forward to the install. I'm not crazy about putting the mic under the speedometer but I will give it a shot. I will post pictures after the install.

 

[RK1679]

Ordered mine as well. Looking forward to the install!

 

[bboy626]

This is so awesome! Thanks OP! Just ordered for 2012 TE!

 

[97BlackAckCL]

I was on the fence but the sale price pushed me over. I'm looking forward the install. I'm not crazy about putting the mic under the speedometer but I will give it a shot. I will post pictures after the install.

Surprised that is the suggested install spot, I did that in my 08 and constantly would knock it off the steering column, for my 17 I mounted it up in the corner of the windshield and it works great, with the visors down my wife didn't even notice it was there for over a year imp:

 

[Padraic]

I emailed them last year asking if the units supported wireless Car Play / Android Auto. At the time the radios didn't, but the Trail Grid Pro guys did say that the units coming out this summer would. Hopefully that's the case, since that would likely push me towards purchasing.

 

[sierrahiker]

I recently installed the Trail Grid Pro Sony XAV-AX7000 head unit bundle in my 2013 Trail Edition.

Reasons I chose this option:

• Good CarPlay integration.
  
• Reliable Bluetooth connection.
  
• Capacitive non-glare screen.
  
• Sirius radio integration.
  
• Flush in-dash factory appearance. (Didn’t want a floating screen design sticking out from dash and blocking vents or HVAC controls.)
  
• Retains most of the factory features important to me (steering wheel controls, backup camera, compass).
  
• Volume buttons on bezel.
  
• Higher power output (45 watts RMS per channel).
  
• Plug-and-play; all required component provided, preassembled and prewired.
  
• Relatively compact unit, allowing more room behind for wiring harnesses and interface.
  
• Adjustable backlighting.
  
• Adds adjustable parking guidelines (not available on my 2013 factory unit).
  
• Does NOT default to playing music when phone is connected (as reportedly occurs with some other head unit upgrades and always happened with my factory head unit).

Minor product criticisms (but not deal-breakers):

• I still miss the big, easy-to-grab, factory volume and tuning knobs.
  
• AM reception is very poor, almost non-existent. If AM reception is important to you, I would not recommend this head unit.
  
• The factory microphone cannot be used; requires an external microphone. (This product is supposed to work in the factory microphone location, but I haven’t tried it.)
  
• No CD or aux audio input.
  
• The add-on Sirius tuner provides good reception, but the interface leaves something to be desired. The categories feature is non-functional. Channel selection is slow to respond to steering wheel control inputs. Using the Sirius tuner while CarPlay is connected is sometimes tricky as the head unit tends to drop the tuner input after a few seconds and switch back to CarPlay.
  
• Not compatible with iDatalink.
  
• The head unit is difficult to position flush with the dash trim piece. (Mine was jarred out-of-place during shipping, so I had to adjust the position of the head unit in the support bracket.)
  
• The dash trim piece has about 1/8 in. play at the top. (It does not move while driving around, but will wiggle if you press on it.)
  
• The backlight level adjustment range is limited and the menu options for the adjustment are confusing. Both the screen and bezel button lighting are adjustable, but the bezel button adjustment only affects the lighting level when the screen is off. When the screen is on, the bezel buttons remain at full intensity.
  
• Wired CarPlay only.
  
• Parking guidelines do not shift with steering wheel movement.
  
• The receiver does not include a scan feature. You can select the next/previous preset or the next/previous frequency, but cannot scan continuously through available stations.

Continued in next post...

 

[sierrahiker]

Installation in 2013 Trail Edition (continued)

Trail Grid Pro Impressions

• The last time I worked on a car audio system was when I installed a cassette deck and speakers in my 1976 Subaru 4WD wagon (distant ancestor of today’s Forester and the first 4WD passenger car sold in the U.S.). So, I appreciated the Trail Grid Pro plug-and-play bundle with all necessary components provided and pre-wired. Having now done the installation, I could do it myself next time, but the Trail Grid Pro bundle provided a good tutorial and saved me a lot of research, time, and frustration. While it was not exactly a simple plug-and-play experience for me, I would still recommend both the company and the product. The installation videos provide decent directions and after-purchase support was good. I was able to talk to Cliff on the phone directly when I called for assistance.
  
• Packaging was marginal and my unit arrived with minor damage. While the gouge in the side of the box cannot be blamed on Trail Grid Pro, the damage might have been avoided with more robust packaging.
  
• Connections between the PAC harness and Sony harness under the tesa tape were soldered but covered with electrical tape rather than heat shrink tubing. Electrical tape should be entirely adequate in this application, but the harness is advertised as using heat shrink.

Installation Experience/Tips

• The Trail Grid Pro installation videos are helpful and adequately cover most of the installation steps. The hardest part, other than a few problems unique to my truck, was cramming the wiring harness behind the head unit without breaking anything when inserting the unit in the dash.
  
• The factory USB and Sirius retention adapters included with the bundle did not fit my truck, but when I called Trail Grid Pro, Cliff was able to identify the problems and sent me replacement adapters. Apparently, my truck was built during a transition period and includes some 2013 connectors and some 2014 connectors. This issue was unique to my model truck, but a little frustrating to resolve and introduced lengthy delays in the installation.
  
• The PAC wiring harness includes 5 vehicle side connectors to accommodate multiple car models, but only 2 or 3 are actually needed for a given installation. The extra wiring and connectors create an overly-complex, bulky, hydralike harness. To reduce the harness bulk, I de-pinned or cut out everything not needed for my application and re-wrapped the harness, but in retrospect this step was more trouble than it was worth.
  
• The Sony head unit relies on a kludgy OBDII connection for reverse gear and parking brake inputs on some 4runner models, obviating use of the OBDII connector for other purposes, such as a ScanGauge. Luckily, my truck did not need the external connection; if it had, I would have tapped into the wiring upstream of the OBDII connector to keep the connector free.
  
• Crutchfield recommends running dedicated, larger gauge power and ground leads to the AX7000 to support the higher power output. I did so, but couldn’t tell the difference with or without, even at full volume. I would not bother if I were doing it again.
  
• Party mode still works…sort of. The party mode switch still cuts out the backseat side door speakers, but the accompanying automatic equalization adjustment was performed by the factory head unit so was lost with the upgrade. (However, the AX7000 provides much more extensive equalization and sound stage options than the factory head unit.)
  
• The Sony head unit includes a menu option for displaying the backup camera view, so the Anytime Backup Camera (or similar) mod is not needed for that function. However, the Sony has only a single video input so a wiring mod is still needed to add a forward-facing camera. The harnesses supplied with the Anytime Backup Camera kit were incompatible with my truck, even before the head unit upgrade, so I scavenged the relay, diode, and switch from the ABC kit and wired them in myself. It was a little challenging to find a spot to mount the ABC relay, but the end result works fine…when the camera selector switch is off, the display automatically shows the rear camera view when the transmission is shifted to reverse and I can use the selector switch to show either the forward or rear camera view at any time.
  
• The head unit provides two rear USB inputs. Firmware updates require use of both inputs, so both should be connected. USB #1 is the CarPlay connection through the factory retention adapter. I wanted to use the rectangular switch blank in the glove compartment for USB #2, but all of the rectangular USB sockets I found on Amazon had mixed reviews for audio input. The Trail Grid Pro bundle included a round PAC USB extension that seemed like a better option so I modified the switch blank to fit the round peg in the square hole.
  
  
  
  
• The AX7000 provides a mute function but it was not programmed by default in the PAC interface. I reprogrammed the interface so that a long press of the steering wheel mode selector activates the mute function. The PAC instructions are not very clear; if you reprogram the interface, you must complete the entire sequence from start to finish even if you are changing only one input.
  
• The PAC connectors seem stiff and brittle. One of the connectors was loose on my unit and had to be reconnected. I discovered this only after I had reinstalled all the dash trim so I got extra practice disassembling the dash. Save yourself some potential time and trouble by testing everything with the head unit and interface connected before reassembling the dash.

 

[SoCalRunner]

Received package on Friday

Stereo was delivered at 6pm and was installed by 8pm! This thing was super easy to install. I'm not a technical guy but they weren't kidding when they said "plug and play". I didn't really plan for routing the mic or the 2nd USB so i just fished the mic towards the driver footwell and the 2nd usb next to the cabin filter in the glove box. I will work on those this weekend. Unfortunately the stereo doesn't have wireless carplay as someone mentioned earlier but it did come with the latest firmware 1.12. Over all everything works as expected. I'm new to carplay so it will take some time to get used to it. I did get the weblink host app and it works pretty well. I was able to watch YouTube on the unit. I will miss the weather radar app from the old unit but hopefully more apps will be available soon in carplay. No doubt i saved money on this bundle because im the type of guy that would have paid someone to install it for me.
Thanks to Cliff at Trail Grid Pro, he helped me with my order and was also quick to respond to emailed questions (next day)

Next i will be upgrading to some speakers worthy of this unit.

** Update **
- You can turn on the rear camera whenever you want
- You can view YouTube whenever you want (with weblink)
- No luck watching vids on USB- (verified compatible file types but the USB#1 is not recognizing playable data)
- Compass is gone (with factory nav)

 

[2021nightshade4x4]

Can anyone comment on the quality of the stock JBL system vs anything they’ve upgraded to?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Rottwagon]

Can anyone comment on the quality of the stock JBL system vs anything they’ve upgraded to?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I installed a kenwood hu in my jbl system and couldn’t be happier. It allowed me to have a much better interface then stock. Front camera plugged right in and it’s awesome. Maestro unit to code steering wheel buttons as I want. Wireless CarPlay. And connects to the obdIi port so I have 2 gauge screens with tons of data. Plus I have real time tire pressure and temp shown for each wheel. Kit I bought was totally plug and play. Easy install. Sound is great and more customizable than stock. Maintains the stock usb/aux input and xm. Sounds amazing and is much more customizable than stock.

 

[bboy626]

Completed the install of the XAV-7000 unit in the 2012 Trail and am very happy with the purchase. Customer service is excellent, everything plug and play.

Positives everyone already mentioned...my favorite is the wallpaper and EQ feature, plus the built-in amp to power the door speakers which i replaced with Hertz Dici.

Built in amp is great. At max volume there appears to be minimal output loss.

A definite recommend and thumbs up for the TGP audio packages.

 

[OutBreak]

I just wanted to stop by and say I had the same great experience with Trail Grid Pro. Excellent quality in shipping and packaging. Customer service was phenomenal, I had some install questions, and Cliff was responsive and even zoomed called me to walk me through some issues. Got the Sony 8100, floating screen display and am happy with the setup and features.

 

[Power24-7]

Sorry for reviving an old thread but this is the first one that came up when I searched. Anyway.... I am normally a do it all my self kinda guy but thier price for everything assembled seems very reasonable when compared to purchasing all the adapters and dash kit separately.

So, for those of you that installed the Trail Grid Pro kit are you still happy with your decision?

 

[I4CUTigers]

Sorry for reviving an old thread but this is the first one that came up when I searched. Anyway.... I am normally a do it all my self kinda guy but thier price for everything assembled seems very reasonable when compared to purchasing all the adapters and dash kit separately.

So, for those of you that installed the Trail Grid Pro kit are you still happy with your decision?

While the TGP looks like a fine kit, I don’t believe the module they use, unlike the Maestro module, will pull OBD codes (trans temps, coolant temp, check engine, tpms, etc.). If that stuff is important to you, you may want to make sure whatever setup you decide on uses either the Maestro RR or RR2 (if you want to have 3 programmable outputs; ie to control lights thru your head unit).

I asked them about this, and at the time it didn’t do OBD readings.

 

[sierrahiker]

Sorry for reviving an old thread but this is the first one that came up when I searched. Anyway.... I am normally a do it all my self kinda guy but thier price for everything assembled seems very reasonable when compared to purchasing all the adapters and dash kit separately.

So, for those of you that installed the Trail Grid Pro kit are you still happy with your decision?

Still happy with here. The TGP kit was definitely made the install much easier and after-purchase support was excellent.

 

[RK1679]

It’s been almost a year since my TGP Ax7000 and OEM speaker install in my 2018 ORP. I am still very pleased and would do it over again. Just got back from a 1,500 mile plus road trip and find Apple Maps, Waze, other CarPlay apps and XM radio invaluable. The Sony head unit built in amp is also a big plus.

 

[KingPrat]

Sorry for reviving an old thread but this is the first one that came up when I searched. Anyway.... I am normally a do it all my self kinda guy but thier price for everything assembled seems very reasonable when compared to purchasing all the adapters and dash kit separately.

So, for those of you that installed the Trail Grid Pro kit are you still happy with your decision?

100%. Zero issues here.

 

[4Runner 4eva]

Installed the AX7000 a few weeks ago with upgraded speakers (Focal fronts/Taco Tunes rear and hatch) and also very happy with the sound, power and extra conveniences of Apple Carplay. Easy install and only a small hiccup with them forgetting the XM satellite cable which they sent out quickly.

I added a NuShield screen protector which helps with the fingerprints.

 

[78-FJ40]

No to both.

Do you know if there is a version that is wireless? What's odd is my phone pairs wirelessly with my factory stereo now so it seems odd this head unit would not also pair with the iPhone to use this feature.

Thanks.