Dave, is it water proof, or do you have to put it in a plastic bag if it starts to rain?
Hay
Jimmyt
They say it is waterproof, and while I haven't used it in a downpour, it has been wet without any problems. When my old automotive Garmin got wet part of the screen got darker, probably where the water intruded. It would eventually dry out after a day or more.
This unit uses a capacitive touchscreen, so you need to use touchscreen gloves. I sewed some conductive thread into the fingertips of my favorite gloves, which does the job well enough. I also attached a cheap touchscreen stylus with Velcro (visible in the photo) so I can get more precise if needed.
I love the way this unit shows incoming calls and texts on the screen, and lets me answer or reject with one tap. It also does a nice job displaying audio apps like Sirius, and I found a great free weather app that includes a radar map showing your location. As anyone with a recent model car knows, these units do much more than navigation.
So Dave, besides the unit itself, what supporting modifications do you have to buy, install, use to make it perform all its functions?
It was ready to go right out of the box. I got the 'YCV Motorcycle Carplay Screen' from Amazon. I paid about $80 but it's now selling for $56. It looks identical to several others Amazon sells under different names.
It came with ball type hardware compatible with the RAM system, so I mounted it to the existing brackets I'd used for my Garmin. The power leads are simple 12 volt +/-, so you have several wiring options. The kit included electrical tape, zip ties, and a quick release connector.
It works like the wireless Android Auto/Carplay units in other vehicles, so if you're familiar with those it's pretty simple. I did run into two issues.
At first I had a problem getting sound through my Sena headset. The instructions said to pair the unit with the headset, then also pair it with the phone, but I couldn't get the unit to find the headset even after trying every BT profile. After a while I stumbled on to a setting called 'Original car Bluetooth'. When off (default) it hijacks the phone's audio and sends it to internal speakers (some versions have them) or a connected device. Turning it on let me pair the phone to the unit, and also pair the phone to the headset (which it already was) allowing the audio to go straight from phone to headset. Now everything works great: I can call numbers from my contact list, listen to Sirius, have it read texts, and other stuff just like in my car.
The other problem I've had is now and then the unit will freeze, which I easily fix by turning the ignition off and on for a second. There's no internal battery so even a momentary power disconnect reboots it.
