Simple touch screen head unit for my 2nd Gen? Im lost!

[1TonFordGuy]

I have an 06 EB. It has all options except nav and air ride. It has the old and tired factory head unit. The display and cd player does not work. I dont know anything beyond basics with all this new fandangled electronic crap. Heck my wife and I dont even use smartphones. However, I am capable of doing an install and am handy with automotive wiring.

What I am looking for is replacement recommendations. I want to keep all the factory functions like the rear sub and entertainment system audio. As well as the steering wheel controls, but that is not a deal breaker if the head unit is simple to operate. I assume we still have factory speakers and they sound great still. So I dont want to mess with them.

I would like a touch screen, bluetooth, cd/dvd player, and the ability to integrate a backup camera. An 1/8" audio jack would be nice since my wife still rocks her ipod shuffle.

I tried shopping for one on my own but wow. The last head unit I bought was a Pioneer cd player for my 88 F150 in HIGH SCHOOL. I dont want anything I dont need and dont know what is junk and what isnt. I also dont want to spend a bunch of money for something that is somewhat novel. Our family vehicle for the last 7 years has been a 93 F350 crew cab with the factory cassette player. And yes it still works!

 

[1TonFordGuy]

Any thoughts on a Pioneer AVH-220EX vs Jensen CDR5620? I lean towards the Jensen for the price, but does Jensen make quality stuff?

 

[Dennis_H]

Go to Crutchfield.com. Not always the absolute cheapest, but you will find something that works and they take care of all the wiring adapters, etc. I will say keeping the steering wheel controls will add about $80 to whatever the price is to get that adapter. Entertainment center audio may also be an issue without the stock system. Most have USB and Aux in. I'm still looking, but have decided what features I do want. I mostly listen to music on USB sticks, want FLAC ability, don't care about nav, want real volume knob. I have looked at Android Auto units since I do use a smartphone, but would then have to have 2 USB ports since I want to listen to music and navigate. Mostly I use a Garmin for nav, so I don't NEED that. I would steer clear of Jensen or Boss units, but you should be happy with most of the other options out there. Just have to match your wants with your budget... (I haven't found my perfect crossover point yet.)

 

[1TonFordGuy]

Noted about the Jensen. I remember them being a little lack luster 20 years ago. Ive always like Pioneer equipment.

Yeah the perfect crossover point. I like that wording. So what is my perfect crossover point coming from a cassette deck?

Thanks for your insight. Gives me more to think about. I have been looking on sonicelectronix.com but will go check out crutchfield. I figured it would take some kind of adapter for the steering wheel buttons. I wonder how simple it is to install at a later date.

 

[Aspen03]

Coming from a cassette it could be anything. That being said I would still say Jensen is still considered lackluster in most cases.

The 220EX is a fine machine if you have basic needs. Most places have it marked down since the 221 is already out. Very little difference between the model years. All of the pioneer touchscreen units will have bluetooth, backup cam, at least a USB, and most have an AUX port. Now some of these may be located on the rear so unless you purchase the extension cables to get them into the passenger compartment you'll be stuck w BT. The charging via USB if you have anything other than an older iphone is fairly poor as they tend to put out 1.5amp and dont charge at even half the rate of a stock charger for android devices, especially if you're accustomed to quick charge. It's been awhile since I've installed a 200 series but I'm almost positive the inputs are on the back. It may come w a USB extension but I've never seen a radio come w an AUX extension to get it out front. They're cheap though, PAC makes a very durable braided one that's like 6 or 9 feet long. Wont have to worry about something running through jacket inside the dash.

Steering wheel interface to do later you'll have to remove the radio again, it's not too much work a few screws. 10min tops to get it out.

If you pick up the Maestro SW it will connevt via USB to a computer and you can flash button programming to it allowing short and long press functionality since we only use e a couple buttons to work with. It runs about $60. Super easy to install and after the flash process is complete you can print a handy wallet card for reference and it will even give you a wiring guide specific to the vehicle with colors and pin out on connectors.

 

[1TonFordGuy]

I remember seeing the Maestro thing when shopping on crutchfield. Are you talking about programming the buttons on the unit or on the steering wheel?

 

[brcknrdg Rob]

I took the aftermarket head unit out of our 09 and put it in the 05 e350 this weekend. I put a new head unit in both of the 09 and 00 Expeditions. I used pioneer for all of them, primarily because that was the brand that I had put in the 09 back in 13. I installed the DMH1500nex, it has Android auto, and needs an adapter to hook up the steering controls. It does not play CD's but I use my phone for all of my music needs. It can store more than my old CD books...It will work with a backup cam and also a gps capability through USB. The sound was way better than the last head unit I had in there even paired with the stock speakers. For the 99 I put a single den pioneer that will play cd's it was actually cheaper to get than the identicle version that did not have a cd player. This vehicle had the stock unit and I really didnt feel like spending $300 for the stereo on it.

 

[Aspen03]

I remember seeing the Maestro thing when shopping on crutchfield. Are you talking about programming the buttons on the unit or on the steering wheel?

The SW is the steering wheel interface, allows the factory buttons to control the aftermarket radio. Basically converts the reistance ladder of the buttons into something the pioneer can understand. The other great thing is its universal so if you swap vehicles it can go with, just reflash and wire accordingly.

 

[Cyclone]

I bought a Pioneer MVH-1400NEX from Crutchfield for my wife's Mercury Monterrey Mini-Van last Dec. This has touch screen, blue tooth and much more. I picked this model because it has a capacitive touch screen (as opposed to resistive). Capacitive is like your iPhone, glass surface that feels solid. Resistive is that kind where where is a soft plastic screen that 'gives' when you press it. I don't like resistive.


This unit has apple car play which works great with our iPhones. Using this we get to use Mapping software (apple maps, good maps, and Waze). You also can use your iPods/Phones for music. Your wife could use the USB connection to her iPod and get a menu of songs on the screen instead of using the 1/8" aux jack.

Speaking of using the aux input, the Pioneer uses that input for the rear DVD entertainment audio. Crutchfield was able to include a Metra adapter that interprets the Steering wheels controls and you map them to features on the Radio. It did require a procedure to 'program" it, but it was pretty straight forward and I got it working the first time and it only took about 15 minutes.

Since I had a nice large display in the head unit, I also opted to add a Rear camera. It was one that mounted on the license plate. You run a video cable from the camera and a power lead that gets hot when in reverse (tapped into reverse lights) to the unit.

I will give Crutchfield 5 stars for customer service. Plus they will soder together the leads for the wiring hardness. So that makes installation plug and play instead of you having to wire up the leads yourself.
They also have a plastic "Ford" universal adapter kit which will allow the Pioneer to mount up in your dashboard. It is univeral for Fords and has several mounting brackets of which you only use about four of them. So the other have to be 'removed' by you Aka get your saw or dremmel warmed up.

There is a 'safety' feature of the pioneers (and a few other makes so I've read) that it won't do certain features such as show video if the vehicle is driving. It does this by requiring that you wire it up to your parking brake. Then it only allow certain features when you have this brake on. Since you can only watch video on this unit if you plug in some kind of USB device, it going to be seldom used. But I did find that you could not set up your Bluetooth hardware unless this connection was installed and had the brake on. Pioneer employed some kind of electronic trickery to keep you from just patching it in to some other 'hot' lead to bypass it. But there is a way around that. On Amazon there is a little bypass device you can put in place of the parking brake switch that will allow the Pioneer to always allow the features to work as if you are in park

The model I choose did not have the DVD or CD player, but since I had not used a CD disc in a car in recent memory, that was ok to skip. My model also did not have Android Auto. Since we have iPhones it was ok to skip that and it also was a tad cheaper than the model that did have it.

Before (notice that the labeling was peeling off the radio buttons making the car feel 'worn').



After, much cleaner look. I also got a USB port with /aux connector on Amazon to replace one of the Cigarette light ports. This was a better choice than having the new radio's USB ports dangling from under the dash. It even has an Aux port. But as I mentioned earlier, I ended up using that aux input on the radio for the back seat's DVD player.

 

[GAINMOB]

www.crutchfield.com