Pioneer DMH-A5450BT 6.8" Multimedia Receiver with Wireless Apple Carplay and Android Auto + Pioneer Reverse Camera RCAMAVIC $599
Free Camera
Free Delivery
Pioneer DMH-A5450BT 6.8" Multimedia Receiver with Wireless Apple Carplay and Android Auto + Pioneer Reverse Camera RCAMAVIC $599
Free Camera
Free Delivery
This one has wireless android auto/carplay. Main reason I bought it.
How is wireless CarPlay with 2 phones (e.g. mine and my partners) and the switching of the two when both devices are in range (e.g. both in the car)?
I always assumed wired operation would be more practical for circumstances like this, but never had the chance to really test the wireless units.
Need to go to the more expensive options, unfortunately. Limited to a single device on this model :(
@Timboj: Oh I didn’t even realise this limitation exists and between different models! Thanks.
Free camera free delivery?
If OP doesn't seem this and doesn't reply, it assume OP post this and just leave it here without caring about this post?
I have the DMH-Z6350BT from a year or so ago.
These head units default 90% of the time to using the Pioneer UI instead of CarPlay. the UI is slow to switch to carplay, requiring two laggy touch screen functions to get there I have done multiple firmware updates and it still does this and in fact is more aggressive at avoiding carplay than it was previously. it grabs the airplay/carplay connection as the source fine, but does not bring up the car play UI - even when you have directions or other notifications popping up - it will overlay the carplay notification but not switch to the UI!
multiple emails and calls to pioneer support and they have confirmed this is the intended functionality. the ONLY way to make it launch with some semblance of reliability is to hit the OK button on the 'do not use me while driving' warning screen and hope. however…
If you live in a building with lots of wifi interference it will not connect to the head unit until you are clear of the interference. (and then you need to go through the laggy UI to get to carplay)
Toll gates and 'smart' carparks with space sensors also cause the signal to drop out due to interference (and if its long enough, say, sitting in traffic near a toll gate, you'll lose the carplay connection entirely). leaving a carpark from a shopping centre and hoping to have your GPS tell you which way to exit? good luck! you have to wait til you're outside the carpark and connect to the head unit.
if you are expecting your head unit to boot up and start carplay, I would be very wary of buying a Pioneer head unit. JVC make a wireless head unit that boots up to car play every single time - my friend has it in his car.
get a demo in the store before you pay any money for one - connect to the head unit for carplay then get them to disconnect the power for 30 seconds and then boot it up again.
MAYBE these new units are better but i sincerely doubt it. paying a premium for a premium product and functionality and Pioneer are putting dirt cheap slow CPUs in these things and selling the promise of carplay while providing the same UI they've had on head units for 5+ years.
I looked into wireless car play going back and decided it wasn't for me. I don't mind plugging in a cord and I have zero issues.
I also don't have wireless phone charging, and if I'm using wireless android auto, it drains the battery faster, meaning I'd need to plug in a charger anyway.
When it works as the customer expects a product like this (a head unit advertising WIRELESS CARPLAY as the primary feature) to work, its great.
when it works as Pioneer want it to work it is a less than ideal experience.
Wireless carplay drains battery less than straight up using the phone as a GPS in my experience (the way wireless CP/AA works is that the head unit has GPS receiver of its own as thats the big power draw, and it feeds the data back to the phone via the wifi connection. The only thing the phone does is send a h.265 stream to the head unit via wifi). I put a magsafe charger in my car a few months ago and its a convenient way to charge your phone without thinking about it regardless of carplay.
Do you happen to know what model JVC unit your friend has?
I dont but they only make one wireless one im pretty sure.
I think JVC models ending in BW are wireless
I have the same DMH-Z6350BT unit as you in one car and a JVC KW-M950BW in another, both using wireless Android auto.
I find the Pioneer unit to be a better performer, connecting automatically faster and generally more responsive. Occasionally it starts in the Pioneer ui but there's a button there to switch to AA. My only gripe is that when there are two paired phones in the car it randomly connects to one of them and the process to switch is convoluted.
Seems like a good unit, but with these kind of things I'd be wanting to see if they integrate with the existing car enough.
I have the DMH-6350BT and I'm fairly disappointed by it, the touch screen is laggy, screen mirroring is shit and there is a 0.5-1 sec delay between audio and video, same if you want to watch a video on the phone with the car audio using bluethooth. I use a usb key with mp3 on it, the unit only display mp3 tags, so if you have old files were they aren't set you don't see the name as it won't display the file name. Also a weird bug if the mp3 file doesn't have any mp3 tag, it will skip the first 10s of it. And the order in which it plays the file is something stupid like the date modified of the files.
Android auto wireless works ok (although I don't really use it anymore), and for some reason there are 2 places around my home where it will disconnect every time I go through them, so you lose music and navigation for 10-20s each time.
I would wait to find reviews etc before buying it because for me it's not acceptable of a "high end" unit, but I feel like it might be the same for every car stereo brand.
the delay in audio in CarPlay at least is because AirPlay is higher than BT quality so there is a delay.
the drop outs will be due to wireless interference as the communication between the head unit and the phone is done via wifi.
It's not due to that, screen mirroring is done through HDMI, and I said that watching a video on my phone with audio through the BT (no android auto involved) has the same.
Audio delay is a pretty common complaint of BT audio too, but I dont have experience with android/AA.
I do like Pioneer units. I've had my DMH-Z5350BT for a few years now, and it's been fantastic, great screen quality too.
Prices certainly have gone up though. I bought mine in 2020 for $499 with the same camera included.
Isn't this model here similar but with slightly less features (ie ports at the back, less phones simultaneously connected, ect)?
Good units though. I prefer Pioneer over Sony.