Review: Pioneer's AVIC-W8500NEX System Upgrades Your Car With Wireless CarPlay and More

[WildCowboy]

This sounds like a major defect and it's being shrugged off. Can you imagine if Apple released a $1200 car stereo and you had to pull over, stop your vehicle and restart your engine just to get it working again? That would be a MAJOR embarrassment. Why does Pioneer get a pass here?

That's a fair comment to some degree...it would obviously be better if it never happened. All I can really say is that it's not unique to this system. Same thing happens on occasion with my mother's Subaru Outback with wired CarPlay, and I've seen it a time or two on other native infotainment systems I've used. I can't say for sure whether the issue is with Pioneer or CarPlay in this case, as it's tough to diagnose when it's only happened twice in many months of usage and isn't reproducible.

And yes, my Macs kernel panic once in a while too.

 

[Makosuke]

My Honda does not have a replaceable stereo (boo), and even not having it I can say definitively that wireless Carplay would be a game changer if I could get something like this.

I will sometimes plug my phone in to get the onscreen map when on a road trip, but 98% of the time, in daily driving, I simply don't bother because it's a hassle and just having the music play through Bluetooth is "good enough". I'd also kill for the physical volume buttons, even at an awkward size--I absolutely despise the touchscreen volume control Honda supplies.

More generally, I continue to be amazed at how crappy in-car OSes are, whether built-in or aftermarket. You spend $40K for a car that has a non-replaceable entertainment unit with a poor OS to start with, and will never be updated. In 2020 that's a flat-out embarrassment, and it's had an effect on my car buying.

My previous Chevy had a shamefully bad OS--it crashed regularly if you plugged in your iOS device before powering on the car, and crashed somewhat less regularly regardless. No software updates, and it was impossible to invoke Siri with the steering wheel controls. Next time around I said "Screw you, GM--if you can't make a 4-year-old car work with my phone, I'm not buying a new one from you."

Of course, Honda is only slightly better--it rarely crashes (but still does), and at least has wired Carplay, but no wireless carplay, and it will never see an OS update.

 

[Aston441]

Were you able to wire the factory backup camera into the Pioneer display?

 

[rozwell]

Were you able to wire the factory backup camera into the Pioneer display?

Entirely depends on the car and the installer since all modern HU with a screen have generic camera input. Looks like the authors vehicle would support this just fine with some splicing or a harness adapter.

 

[WildCowboy]

Were you able to wire the factory backup camera into the Pioneer display?

Yes, the factory backup is wired into the Pioneer display, although the installers did mess it up a bit. If you look at the first photo, you'll see a small ~3.5-inch display on top of the dash, and that's typically where the backup camera feed displays on that Sienna.

The installers patched into that wire, attempting to have the backup camera feed show on both screens simultaneously. Unfortunately, the factory camera doesn't have enough signal output to drive two displays reliably, so it's very inconsistent as to whether I get the camera feed or a black screen showing on the Pioneer screen. It won't be too hard for me to get in through the top of the dash and disconnect the camera wire from the small display so that the feed goes only to the Pioneer screen, but I haven't gotten around to fixing that yet.

 

[Aston441]

Yes, the factory backup is wired into the Pioneer display, although the installers did mess it up a bit. If you look at the first photo, you'll see a small ~3.5-inch display on top of the dash, and that's typically where the backup camera feed displays on that Sienna.

The installers patched into that wire, attempting to have the backup camera feed show on both screens simultaneously. Unfortunately, the factory camera doesn't have enough signal output to drive two displays reliably, so it's very inconsistent as to whether I get the camera feed or a black screen showing on the Pioneer screen. It won't be too hard for me to get in through the top of the dash and disconnect the camera wire from the small display so that the feed goes only to the Pioneer screen, but I haven't gotten around to fixing that yet.

Thank you. I have a car with a tiny back up display too, like you have on your Sienna. It’s essentially useless