EDIT: IT WORKED! READ POST #4 FOR FIRST OPINIONS AND EXPERIENCES

Original post: Amazon is telling me I will have my CarPlay wireless adapter on Saturday or Sunday. I will give updates to this thread right away upon install, unless I learn otherwise because of this post. Anyone knows anything on these, please let me know.

I can't seem to find anyone here that has tried an adapter from CarLinKit on Amazon. I know the reviews are iffy, but it also seems like recent reviews seem to have bugs worked out. Also, if you go searching that name, you will see so many choices that it gives a headache. They are the usual TERRIBLE ads that may all be selling the same thing. I've got the kit that says version 2.0, but it's not the kit that say 2.0 and iOS13 (although that is what I thought I ordered).

My gut is telling me that I will have an immediate issue with needing to update the firmware. That seems to be the average complaint or fix when people have issues.

I'd post a link but I cannot remember the rules of linking to products...

Thanks!

 

After I looked it up on amazons reviews, I saw that it may need some sort of application considering the stock units aren't necessarily android head units. Which I believe these are built for.

 

There are a handful that are listed. The seller is so confusing.... Some are from China and some are shipping from the USA. Then to add to confusion, I am confident picture changed from when I ordered mine. One more step of confusion is that mine does not say 2.0 currently in the ad for the one I have on the way, unless you are looking at "color" where it says Version 2.0. This could be too good to be true... I'll know more on Saturday or Sunday.

The one I have tried to order says V2.0 and iOS13 on the main picture.

 

Okay, it worked. It worked in maybe 4 minutes after opening the box. I also did the update in that first 4-5 minutes. I had no sound at first, but that sounds common until the latest firmware is in place.

This is the one I got:
I really wish the seller would clean up their ads on Amazon. Mine is supposed to be v2.0. There are other ads and other prices. Some claim is where it ships from, etc.... Mine works and that link is the one I ordered.

As of February 6, 2020 Day 1.

Impressions:

• It works
• Nicely packaged
• Chinese - Nothing wrong with that at all unless you get a little worried about security.
• No app on my phone, only bluetooth connection
• When you start the car and after the normal warning screen, you get a screen that is new to us. After a few seconds the bluetooth connects and that screen goes away.
• I immediately went for a drive and listened to spotify with no issues.
• During my first drive, using Waze for directions, at 30 mph, I think the car was maybe 100 ft farther up the road than the car on the screen. I am not sure how well your gps works in your area and with your phone.
• Concerning Waze... Accuracy looks great at faster speeds because Waze automatically zooms out.
• After five minutes of driving, I wonder if Waze buffers or something. I was thinking it was more accurate than my first impression.
• I took a phone call and had no issue.
• I took a second phone call and it felt slow to connect, as my buddy was saying hello for a second time.
• Once, it stayed on the spotify screen for an extended period of time, maybe 10 seconds.

It works and works really well. If you could imagine the cord being 10 out of 10, I would say this is an 8 out of 10.

• My HONDA icon on CarPlay turned into a VW emblem, but still says HONDA underneath.
• The small freeze concerned me.
• I have only had it for a 20 minutes of driving so I hate to give it a 9 or 10.
• Waze took a few extra seconds to load a map, but I have to expect more time for wireless than wired.
• No study on battery impact
• Oddly it connects with bluetooth but I did not see it listed in my list of connections the last time I messed with it.
  

More to come if I think of it or have an experience outside of what has already been listed.

Final thought, as a guy who lives in a small town and my typical drive is 7-15 minutes.... Being able to use carplay and not deal with a cord is awesome! The way it should have always been done.



Used 3m trim tape to mount the Bluetooth box.

February 7, 2020:

• Got in the car and had to unplug and plug in the device. I hope this is not a common thing. Oddly, there is a bluetooth signal that it asks me to join and often it connects and the screen goes away before I connect to it. Then when looking at connections, that one is still not connected. Work is totally getting in the way. LOL.
• Other than then unplug and plug, it worked perfectly on the drive to work.
• I did notice that Waze does not lower the radio volume when the directions voice comes on . I have not checked this on google maps or apple maps. My drive to work is only about 1.8 miles so it's not much time for testing this stuff. Maybe I'll do a 20 minute drive at lunch today.

February 10, 2020

• I've been running a lot of short errands so I'm rapidly gathering experience.
• Maybe 4 out of 5 times I get in the car I experience some type of delay in connecting. It will happen eventually...
  • When having this issue it would seem that all I need to do is click on the Bluetooth name that it tells me to look at on my phone. This is not true, because when this is working correctly, I think it's connecting with wi-fi. I know it seems odd that I can't explain this more cleary... I'll try to pay closer attention.
• A huge positive, for a quick glance at my phone it does not immediately shutoff maps the way it would when connected to a cord. I think that comes with a negative though.
• A negative has been that if I switch from Spotify on CarPlay over to XM, the XM will start playing but the CarPlay (Spotify in this example) will still be on the screen. By using the steering wheel control for the screen and not
• the source, I can scan away from the green CarPlay logo and to the music emblem, which then allows me to see the XM screen.

February 14, 2020

• I think I have found a trick to the slow connection times or what I thought was sometimes finicky connectivity... I unlock my phone when I get in the car and it seems to help. This doesn't bug me because I often have my phone out when I get into the car. I will continue to experiment with this. So far my experience has been that I have not unplugged the USB or had to attempt to connect with the Bluetooth or Wifi settings. Again, this all applies to the maybe 4 of 5 times I get into the car that I had previously mentioned.

Current opinion.... I disliked so many things about having a cord with CarPlay that I am still willing to deal with any glitches this has. I also think if you just want CarPlay all the time and don't care about XM or AM/FM radio, you'd be even happier than me.

March 5, 2020:

Current findings....

• Either the thing has become less finicky or I have adapted. It is hard to tell since most of my complaint would be centered around Bluetooth connecting and this is probably heavily dependent on what Apple does with my iPhone.
• I have found that leaving my phone in my pocket will for sure slow down the time it takes to connect. I suppose this is because the phone is locked and maybe it does not look for Bluetooth devices as often? Again, another assumption by me....
• I have found that having the phone unlocked upon sitting down int eh driver seat will dramatically effect connection speed and reliability. Maybe 5-10 seconds in stead of 30-60 seconds that I have seen a few times.
• I still very much recommend this feature. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and the fact that this starts playing so effortlessly is nice. I know this is not needed for Bluetooth audiobooks, but it's also super helpful because my screen is also immediately ready for Waze or another map app. Example: I got in the car earlier this week for an eye doctor appointment and the screen was already asking me if I would like to launch the map for guidance to the appointment, just like my phone would do.
• It still works great with Spotify but has hiccups sometimes with which screen is showing. It sorts itself and has maybe only happened twice since the last update.

September 9, 2020

• I upgraded to an iPhone 11 a few months back. My connection speed is withing 5-10 seconds of the car starting.
• Connected my wife's iPhone and now if she is in the car at startup it asks which phone to connect. I like this because sometimes she runs the music and maps.
• Still very annoying that even if I change the music source, the screen stays on whatever screen it is on. If I was not clear in the above updates... The easiest way to explain the annoying part of this system is that you may change music source, from iphone to SXM, but the head unit isn't going to change it's primary screen until you use the steering wheel to scroll to the audio screen. Because Apple wants to run the show, this means each time you get in the car you may change the source to SXM but the apple audio screen will be there until you scroll to the audio screen.
• Waze, Google, and Apple maps all prefer to be started once your phone is running on data. If I program a map while sitting in my driveway connected to wi-fi, it will tell me proceed to route no matter how long I drive. To fix this once moving, I have to close the app on my phone, then open the app again.
  
  Still... even though all this may sound like a headache, I'm loving the fact I never have to plug in.

More updates to come as I have different experiences.

 

I noticed when trying to go to a website using the head unit, if you don't have a connection and Android logo appears in the upper corner of the screen. I am pretty sure, with respect to my 2018 EX w/CarPlay, that it is Android based.

I do know that I did not do anything to the head-unit. I only plugged in this device. It may have done something, but I am not aware of it. I'm actually trying to think back if I can remember any upload screens. I was caught up in the excitement and not thinking about how I would document this on the forum.

 

Just delivered another update to the original post. Making a post here to drive the post back up for attention. I am pretty sure there are a lot of people that would like to know this stuff. Thanks Freaks!