What's the best touch screen for the TJ? (preferably single DIN)
- Thread starter Carve
- Start date
I guess I'm not following you. Get the bezel appropriate for your year. What other considerations are there?
Sorry, the Chinese make the unit. The other company prints a manual in English. Not to argue the point in any way but the deck is Chinese and Xtrons distributes the same unit but worldwide. Insane audio is just a US vendor of the same unit. They didn't have anything to do with the design of the radio.
Bammo68
TJ Enthusiast
I've had touchscreen's in both the Jeep and the Mitsubishi 4WD. Top of the line Sony 1DIN in the Jeep and Atoto S8 in the Mitsi. The Atoto is a full Android head unit so a ton of features and power but not particularly user friendly. The Sony is more plug and play but takes up a lot of room on the dashboard. Both absolutely SUCK if you want to do anything or change anything whilst driving - the only saving grace of the Atoto is it integrates with the steering wheel controls really easily.
Bottom line for me is I would avoid a touch screen like the plague in my Jeep and have in fact just reverted it to a standard Pioneer head unit with BT connection to the phone. A simple, reliable interface that I can manipulate whilst the vehicle is moving is far better to me than combining cameras and other gizmos into the one screen - install a dedicated camera screen if you must. Trying to get my finger to hit the correct damned spot on the screen is a lot harder than I imagined it would be when driving down even a smooth road in the Jeep...
Bottom line for me is I would avoid a touch screen like the plague in my Jeep and have in fact just reverted it to a standard Pioneer head unit with BT connection to the phone. A simple, reliable interface that I can manipulate whilst the vehicle is moving is far better to me than combining cameras and other gizmos into the one screen - install a dedicated camera screen if you must. Trying to get my finger to hit the correct damned spot on the screen is a lot harder than I imagined it would be when driving down even a smooth road in the Jeep...
The radio is actually an Alps FF-5500. Overall, it doesn't matter. I just hope people realize once you have the unit in hand the only thing different is the warranty, the item is the same. Warranty is important, so is customer service. I don't know who imported the radio to the states first but how important is that?
Edit: wrong here too, the more expensive units have a better processor
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It's like I said both times I asked the question, do they mount up the same? Are the mounting screws in the same location? Is the contour of the bezel & underlying dash components the same?
I know I can get the one for the correct year, but if I'm planning to put a switch panel across the entire lower section if I go with the early version that means I have to cut out the middle bar and have a rough spot where I trimmed that out. The later model doesn't have that which suits my needs better. Also I found the later bezel cheaper. So there are several other considerations.
As far as double din units go, I have a Pioneer AVH-4400 NEX in my JKU, and I really like it. CarPlay is a must have for me, and it's one of the few units that does wireless CarPlay, so I don't need to plug my phone in to use the CarPlay features. And things like Spotify come right back up where I left off when I turned the Jeep off. Little things like that are nice, but definitely not deal breakers for a lot of people. I've never found the touch screen to be a hindrance, but typically don't have the radio on when we're out wheeling. I would expect I would leave the OnX app up 100% of the time on the trail. YMMV
I have the ATOTO S8 Premium (gen II I think). I agree for the most part that doing a bunch of stuff on it while driving isn't the best, but when using Android Auto it is pretty simple to play Spotify playlists and use the gps. The built in GPS that doesn't use your phone I still haven't figured out yet. You have to download google maps for offline usage, but you need some sort of wifi connection to do that.
I like that I can use GAIA on the S8 and have all my local trail maps loaded in it for that, in case I get a bit lost at the various intersections on some of the lesser traveled trails. The majority of the trails I could do blind cause I've done them so many times.
I also put tons of music on a microSD card and the builtin player does a pretty darn good job of indexing it so I can play music while driving without taking my eyes off the road too much. Otherwise I just pull over for a second and queue up a few more albums.
I haven't finished the backup wiring for the rear camera, but I did get the dashcam as well for piece of mind.
I pulled my Alpine single DIN (CD PLayer, etc) for the S8. Mostly because I was using thumbdrives for music and the single din searching for music on the thumbdrives was horrible, so the S8 is leagues ahead of it in ease of use, even while driving.
I like that I can use GAIA on the S8 and have all my local trail maps loaded in it for that, in case I get a bit lost at the various intersections on some of the lesser traveled trails. The majority of the trails I could do blind cause I've done them so many times.
I also put tons of music on a microSD card and the builtin player does a pretty darn good job of indexing it so I can play music while driving without taking my eyes off the road too much. Otherwise I just pull over for a second and queue up a few more albums.
I haven't finished the backup wiring for the rear camera, but I did get the dashcam as well for piece of mind.
I pulled my Alpine single DIN (CD PLayer, etc) for the S8. Mostly because I was using thumbdrives for music and the single din searching for music on the thumbdrives was horrible, so the S8 is leagues ahead of it in ease of use, even while driving.
The answer is no. I found out the hard way. I long ago modified my switch/ash tray area to use a newer version bezel because I mounted a lot of USB ports, etc, so I preferred giving up the ashtray for prime real estate. So I ordered the new version Metra kit and found the standoffs that hold the bezel in place are different depending on the era. I ended up having to order and modify the earlier version to get it to work in my case.
Thanks, this isn't what I wanted to hear but it is exactly what I have been trying to determine.
@Irun just got one of these and I asked him to check and you are right. The units on ebay like Xtrons are cheaper and the Insane Audio version has a much better processor. It is definitely different hardware. At one time I think they were the same and Insane doesn't really publish the details but that is obviously not the case now, sorry about that.
Here is mine. Touch screen is a bare to work with. I like being able to see OBD data on the fly.
No need to apologize. Knock off might too strong a term also so maybe copy would be better.
I can't wait to get mine fired up and see what all it does.
As @pagrey said, I just installed one of these this weekend. Why is it worth mentioning? These three things helped me decide on one:
Before and after
This is just a small sample of what comes loaded and you can add lots more.
- It's loaded with features and does a lot of what I'd want (e.g. Navigation, allows for Android Apps, interfaces with OBD II, is multiple camera ready, etc.)
- It's a single DIN radio chassis, with a double DIN screen. This means it fits in you stock dash bezel, so no reason to buy a new double DIN bezel, and
- It has knobs for volume and tuning
Before and after
This is just a small sample of what comes loaded and you can add lots more.
WJM1776
New Member
I installed the Isane Audio TJ 1002, which is no longer available. It's been a great system and is packed with features. That said, it's very expensive and there are more cost effective options. FWIW, the option they show now for 2003 - 2006 Wranglers is $1300.
https://insaneaudio.com/product/tj4001/