Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I desperately needed to upgrade the stock stereo in my Jeep Wrangler JK and was looking for an inexpensive option with CarPlay. I did not need CD/DVD capability because who is carrying around a box full of CDs or DVDs anymore? I just needed something with USB input, Bluetooth and CarPlay. This fit those parameters perfectly. 1. I did the install myself. There were some other things that were needed. I used an iDatalink Maestro module to retain the steering wheel controls. It worked great and was plug-n-play with my Jeep connection. I also needed an adapter for the stock antennae and a Sirius/XM tuner, as well as a Metra dash kit to make it fit the dash and look like a factory install. Since this head unit doesn't have a CD/DVD, it is very short. This makes installation very easy and allowed a lot of room for my Maestro unit and Sirius tuner behind the stereo. 2. CarPlay works great. It connects rather quickly and does everything you expect it to. The maps work well and you can choose between Apple maps, Google maps or Waze. I use it for music and primarily use my Amazon Music account. You can also use Pandora, Apple Music or Spotify. I also use it for podcasts and Audible. One of my favorite things is using TuneIn or iHeart Radio to listen to radio stations. I live in Utah and the sports radio I want to listen to is on the other side of the country. This is phenomenal. 3. Power. This stereo puts out about 22 watts per channel. If you aren't using an amp with your stereo, this is important. It is a respectable amount that should drive most speakers to a reasonable sound level. I do not have an amp and the system sounds good to me and easily drives my four 6.5" speakers. If you want to let everyone else in your neighborhood enjoy your music as well, you will need an amp. 4. Sound quality is excellent. I can't even describe the difference in this and the stock stereo. You would think that sound quality was determined primarily by the speakers, but that is not the case. A quality stereo makes a huge difference. This head unit allows you to customize your sound and really fine tune it to your vehicle. I was really impressed. 5. Bluetooth. To be honest, I don't use it that often because I usually have the phone connected for CarPlay, but it does connect quickly. If I just jump in the Jeep for a quick trip and don't connect CarPlay, the phone is always auto connected. 6. Phone. I initially didn't connect the microphone because I was going to use the uConnect phone/mic that came in my Jeep. This doesn't work if you answer the phone on CarPlay, so I added the microphone and I am very glad I did. The sound quality is excellent through the mic and it works well. 7. Looks. This really looks like a top tier system. One of my deciding factors when choosing between this unit and the similar Alpine unit was the ability to use your own wallpaper. I went with a Jeep logo background that gives it a real "factory" look. You can load anything you want as a background. You can also choose any color you want for the button backlights so that it matches the rest of your vehicle or you can have it cycle through all of the colors. The home screen can be switched between several different formats which show album art, simple data, vehicle information, etc. 8. Dislikes. My biggest complaint doesn't even apply to me, but it only has one USB input. My Jeep has uConnect which connects through the iDatalik Maestro module. This gives me the addition of the factory USB in the console which I have a flash drive attached to that has quite a bit of music on it. If I didn't have that, I wouldn't be able to have it connected at the same time as the phone for CarPlay. If you don't have a similar situation, it could be an issue. The only other complaint is that it has frozen and restarted a couple of times. It hasn't really been an issue. 9. Final thoughts. I am extremely pleased with this purchase. The only thing that would make it better for me is wireless CarPlay, but I wasn't willing to pay the huge bump in price just for this option. This is an exceptional product in every way. EDIT: I forgot to mention that this unit will play movies. I loaded some MP4 movies onto a USB flash drive and they played just fine. I have not figured out if it will play movies off my phone, but I am fine just loading everything on to the flash drive. PRO TIP: You don't really have to connect the wire that goes to your emergency brake. That is the wire that prevents movies from playing when the brake isn't on. If you just attach the parking brake wire to a ground wire, movies will play anytime. *********************************************************************************************************************************************** I rely on reviews when I make purchases so I put a lot of time into reviewing everything I buy on Amazon for personal and my business. Please show your appreciation by clicking the "helpful" below when it asks if the review is helpful!!!