I currently have the basic tradesman truck, was wanting to upgrade the OEM radio and thought i would just pick up the unonnect and do a quick upgrade. They seem to sell for more than an aftermarket with 10x the features.
What am i missing here? What am i missing???
Any source for getting these reasonable? or am I SOL and need to go aftermarket?
thanks..
A lot of vehicle features are integrated with radio. Several aftermarket radios support some of the features, but they will miss odd ball factory functions like renaming a trailer with the factory brake controller. Some aftermarket radios can be a challenge to update to accommodate modifications and feature changes to the truck down the road.
The 5" factory radios can be found used for very little money and get you factory bluetooth with minimal extra parts. It gives you access to more settings than the 3", and supports adding several features to the truck including like auto dimming mirror and auto headlights.
The factory 8.4" requires more parts and effort compared to the 5", but may be desirable even if you don't want a larger screen or NAV as it (or a 3rd party that emulates it) is a prerequisite to add vehicle features such as auto AC and heated seats.
The large Android based units are popular, but not all are created equal and even the good ones can be a bit hit or miss.
Traditional name brand units tend to be solid, and there can be some interesting features. AlpineHalo9 adds aftermarket soft accessory switches. You'll see members with lots of different radios, though the Alpine X009-RAM was popular for a while.
