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.