2008 Sahara radio upgrade

[Black Bear Jeep (Dan44)]

Hello everybody. I own a 2008 Sahara with the Infinity sound system with the subwoofer. The radio works fine, but I want to add a GPS and backup camera without totally cluttering up my dash.
What options do I have to get the GPS and backup camera without spending $1000 on Crutchfield. I see radios on eBay pulled from wrecks, not touch screen but have the GPS, but no camera. And Amazon has lots to choose from, but fail to mention is that they support the subwoofer.
I desire a volume knob, as I can find that in the dark without having to look for a volume control.
If you have upgraded your JK/U, let me know what you did and how well does it work.

Thanks

Dan

 

[Cimmerian]

Trail Seven has the easiest plug and play kits but their cheapest one is about $700.

As someone who's done their own installation, I wish I had known about them before because I absolutely hate doing wiring.

 

[pc1p]

I went with the Alpine iLX-W670 head unit with Alpine HCE-RCAM-WRA backup camera, not only in my JKU but also my daughter's Islander. It has CarPlay and connects perfectly every time, but even the Bluetooth is exceptional as well. I do wish it had a knob, but the volume and mute buttons are tactile and easy to operate, even when bouncing around in a Jeep.

https://www.quadratec.com/p/alpine/ilx-w670-7-inch-digital-multimedia-receiver/no-install

Here's a bad photo of the screen while I was adjusting the rear view camera (I put it inside the new spare tire mount I made and wanted to see how much better a FOV it had). It's plenty clear in full sun, at least for what I need it for. I liked how shallow the mount was (since it doesn't have a CD player, it's about 1/2 the depth of a traditional receiver), which made installation and hook up super easy. The GPS antenna really does help with signal acquisition, especially in the hills here (according to Alpine, the antenna works in conjunction with your phone GPS for higher performance than either alone).

I had the previous generation Alpine in my LJ with the Alpine "micro" amp and it too was fantastic. CarPlay is fast and reliable, and Bluetooth never drops. Audio is clear, the phone connection is fast, and overall it works better than the fancy setup in my wife's 2017 Grand Cherokee (which seems to take 3 days to connect via Bluetooth!).

Remember you'll need the installation kit and interface adapter for the OEM radio/amplifier. Hook up is easy, it's most a color matching game. I used the Crux SOOCR-26 Wiring Interface, which had the added advantage of integrating a reverse-trigger for the backup camera, making install a lot easier. It also provides an illumination trigger, which I used to illuminate the Contura switches in my Rugged Ridge switch pod.

 

[JeepJeezy]

Hello everybody. I own a 2008 Sahara with the Infinity sound system with the subwoofer. The radio works fine, but I want to add a GPS and backup camera without totally cluttering up my dash.
What options do I have to get the GPS and backup camera without spending $1000 on Crutchfield. I see radios on eBay pulled from wrecks, not touch screen but have the GPS, but no camera. And Amazon has lots to choose from, but fail to mention is that they support the subwoofer.
I desire a volume knob, as I can find that in the dark without having to look for a volume control.
If you have upgraded your JK/U, let me know what you did and how well does it work.

Thanks

Dan

I went with an Amazon Chinese radio. It doesn't have a knob but I can use my steering wheel controls. It has backup camera, GPS, option for subwoofer, and inputs and outputs for audio/video. You can link it to your phone to mirror your phone. It has option for internet if you want to pay the $10 from a cell carrier or you can hotspot it. It also came with a dash kit. If I remember correctly, I paid like $360. Still working great.

 

[Cimmerian]

I had one of those cheapo Chinese Android units and while it worked, it was still a laggy POS. They also use older spec USB cables so your phone charges oh so slowly.

 

[f3ared]

I also went the chinese android route. For what its worth, a proper Alpine unit will obviously out perform this thing in every way but at 4x the cost plus all the fitting kits, you can understand why i had to swallow my pride and go this way.

The key to getting them to function non-laggy is to buy one with the latest version android system on board and the most ram/rom you can get. The 2gig/32gig units are the cheapest and generally the ones everyone complains about being buggy. So far I have zero complaints about functionality, speed and usability. They can also be modified with different versions of software and interface but quite honestly I havent bothered, as i pretty much just use it in Android Auto mode. Its also got the most aggressive and fastest Bluetooth connection ive ever seen lol

This is the kit I went with, came with fascia and all plug and play gubbins for the JK

Worth noting that whilst it was "plug and play", there are still some things that need to be hardwired but dont affect basic functionality, and also some slight modification/clearancing required. That said, if you can remove the inlet manifold on a Pentastar to do spark plugs, this is definitely within your capabilities. Note that the provided instructions werent worth the paper they were printed on.
Had to clearance the cross bar behind the radio to get it to sit flush. The kit i had required the headunit be screwed to the fascia before the fascia was installed so a fair bit of trial and error was involved

Also had to clearance the upper dash frame and the coin tray to get the GPS antenna to sit where I wanted it

No volume knob however the volume controls behind the spokes on the Jeep are honestly one of the best steering controls ive ever experienced. Its as simple as selecting the right CANBUS protocol in the menu to get it to work which will program the buttons as per OEM. You also have the option to re-program each control after that and assign it to any function you want.

All in all its one of the few non-branded, chinese made things ive bought that I can say functions properly.

N-