Car play / Android auto retrofit (Mostly P3 related)

I have added many different types of AA / CP boxes to my own and customer cars, so I have a pretty good idea of which boxes to recommend and which to avoid and the pluses and minuses of the different systems.

There are two main types, Fully integrated and Stand alone.

The installation for stand alone is usually much simpler, Mount it to something, give it power.

I have one of these CarProdGo T3 in my wifes XC60 (and a fully integrated one of these also in the XC60! lol…dont ask).

Testing In my V60

The CarProdGo is ingenious in that it doesn’t actually connect to your car at all.

Bluetooth your phone to the car like normal, and bluetooth to the CarProdGo and that it!

So your steering wheel controls will work for volume and next track, all the usual car system are there as per normal, which is an advantage of the fully integrated systems where you have to switch between the car and the carplay/AA box to achieve certain car related tasks.

The only downside , is that apart from volume and fwd/back track EVERYTHING has to be done via touch screen or voice commands. This is where the fully integrated ones have an advantage as wit hthe fully integrated you can navigate the menus with the steering wheel controls.

As long as the CarProdGo is sensibly located its not much of an issue, especially with the latest firmware on it.

What if your car doesn’t have bluetooth ? The CarProdGo can transmit on FM to the car radio (not recommended) or it comes with a little USB powered Bluetooth to AUX jack adapter so that you can essentially bluetooth your phone to the Aux jack. Pretty neat, but on AUX the only functioning media controls are the Volume.

Now to the FULLY INTERGRATED systems

Essentially there are a couple of flavours of these boxes and 1000 different integrators selling them with their own branding. the Big players are “Kremersino Ksmart” and my prefered “Limcet Box” but of course will be re-branded by the retailer.

They are available for Sensus (No globe) and Sensus connect (Globe) cars, there are options for cars with the 5″ screen , but really if you have the 5″ screen upgrade to the 7″ screen (its not hard) or go stand alone.

I have had one from Sweede solutions, I was happy to pay over the odds (compared to Aliexpress) for a “local” supplier as I mistakenly expected to get better support than from Aliexpress. it was quite the opposite. I got exactly the same box for 20% more money with awful support.

So I say get one from Aliexpress if it it suits you. I’ve always had very attentive support form the different vendors.

And ALWAYS ALWAYS get the touch screen addon option. it’s a few quid extra but really makes navigation (for some tasks) so much easier than using the steering wheel controls.

Once installed, there is no visual sign that the system is installed, you turn on your car and everything is exactly like normal.

Hold the Exit button on the steering wheel or climate control and it flicks over to the Carplay / AA system.

You can of course set it to auto connect to your phone so it switches over immediately.

Now your steering wheel controls navigate the menus and if you want to get back to the cars own system just hold Exit again.

This is a bit of a pain, especially if you like to tweak your car audio settings, or other settings in the cars own system.

Once in Carplay / Android auto , the HVAC controls bring up information on the display for span speed, fan position temperature etc, everything EXCEP heated seats and steering wheel.

Calls are answered through the CP/ AA box , voice controls etc etc.

I prefer the fully integrated one, my wife prefers the stand alone.

Lets try to do a comparison…..

FeatureCarProdGoLimcet Box
Wireless AA / CPYY
Touch screen YOptional
Steering wheel controlsPartialFull
Voice controlsYY
Aux supportYN
FM broadcastYN
Factory cameras supportYY
3rd party camera SupportNY
Factory MicYY
Ease of installEasyHarder
Ease of accessing factory menusEasyslightly annoying
Can be used in ANY car pretty muchYESNO

There are no sponsorships or endorsements here. All based on my own Experiences.

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