My old Android head unit was a Pumpkin 11-C0255-US-A instlaled back in 2015. Android 4 (KitKat) was cutting edge for a car back then. Fast forward to 2024, and I was feeling pretty dated. The radio, backup camera, bluetooth, and USB music all still worked. Amazingly, Android Auto still worked 50% of the time courtesy of a 3rd party app called HeadUnit Reloaded. I probably would have kept using it this way for years. But the head unit eventually developed a battery drain. It kept using 10 watts of power even when the van had been powered off, locked, and sitting for hours. Something in the head unit wasn't shutting down completely any more.

I really like the Android Auto head unit I installed in my RV. I briefly considered installing a plain Android Auto head unit in the van. Ultimately though, I didn't want to lose the ability to stream Spotify and run navigation without using my phone. I also like being able to control the Raspberry PI on the TV in the back using Kodi running on the head unit. The head unit and the Pi are on an in-car local wifi network. With all that in mind, I decided to get another Android head unit.

Options are limited. There are far fewer options now than there were even 4 years ago when I was shopping for a new head unit for my Land Rover Discovery. It seems the latest crop of Android head units are really just a tablet that mounts on the dash or in front of the dash. I wanted one that actually mounted in a DIN hole and provided all the regular stereo features like RCA pre-outs and antenna in. I wanted it to have a physical volume knob but unforutnately, I had to sacrafice that feature.

I ended up getting a Xtrons head unit. So far I am very happy with it. The screen is only okay, contrast is not great in full sun. But it is fast, has all the features I wanted (minus the volume knob), and was reasonably priced. It even has a 4G cellular modem. Having a cell modem seems to be rare these days in android head units. Finally, it has Android 14 which means I should be able to continue installing apps and getting updates from the app store for many years to come.

Here are the specs from the Xtrons website, which I don't trust to remain online for very long. I personally have never heard of Xtrons before but maybe I am being too harsh.

A few notes not covered in the specs:

1. It does support both wired and wireless android auto
2. Wired android auto works with any of the three USB ports
3. It has the wires and software configuration options to connect directly to GM's canbus to receive steering wheel controls directly on canbus. Pretty cool.
4. I already had a canbus to resistor SWC adapter so I just kept using that. It recognizes more of the SWC buttons than the pumpkin did. Not all, but enough for me.
5. Backup camera doesn't look as good as it used to. But this thing does have an onscreen menu for configuring the backup camera signal which is pretty good.
6. Wifi range is pretty good. Comparable to my phone.

Double DIN

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