Alpine iLX-107 - 7" Mech-less In-Dash Receiver with Wireless Apple CarPlay

Obviously, if you are looking at the iLX-107, you are here because of wireless CarPlay. This unit doesn't disappoint. I installed this into a 2011 Silverado LT. I took out a Rosen Carshow GM1210, which is basically a plug and play aftermarket unit for GM Trucks. I wanted a better integration with my phone, because entering an address in the navigation is a huge pain when you have to manually type it in. However, I was worried that I would lose factory functionality by doing so, like my XM radio, steering wheel controls, warning chimes and such. Luckily the idatalink Maestro RR comes to the rescue and retains all of that functionality and adds even more (gauges, vehicle info, etc). The iLX-107 is by far a better experience. Take the advice of everyone here who has installed this already, you will not be disappointed. Some cons people list are lack of knobs for volume, tuning, etc, however that is no issue, (for me anyway) because my steering wheel controls do the job. I have factory speakers in my truck, and the sound is still very good. Download the Apline TuneIT app and you can load all sorts of audio configs to tweak the sound to your preference. Wireless CarPlay works seamlessly, and your phone will pair within seconds of starting your vehicle. If you have a backup camera, its almost an instant "on". My old unit would sometimes take up to 10 secs to turn the camera on...thats a long time when you just want to go.

I love the radio, it works great. Doesn't take too long to wirelessly connect (I usually turn on my car, and while I'm picking a song it's already connected. if I'm talking on the phone and turn on the car, I just talk on the phone and it connects to the bluetooth pretty quickly, it might be 8-15 seconds but you really don't notice how long it takes to switch over and connect to the car, it's quick) it's not like you have many other wireless apple carplay radios to pick from right now anyways. I enjoy the way the radio looks.After a few weeks of owning the radio, about once a week it would disconnect me from apple carplay for no reason, and the only solution that I know of is to turn off the car, and turn the car back on again. That's unacceptable, and difficult to do when you're driving downtown in a city. I had some speakers replaced in my car and a backup camera installed and the radio quit working completely, the fan doesn't turn on and it's dead. I don't know who's fault it is, FLASH DEALZZZ, alpine, or my car, but I really doubt it's my car. It died after about 40-50 days of owning it, and amazon only takes care of returns within 30 days... I called amazon's support and they had me message FLASH DEALZZZ, and FLASH DEALZZZ replied to me telling me that they can't access the order because it was done by "amazon fulfillment"... so I called amazon support again explaining, and they understand and try to get ahold of alpine since I should have a 1 year warranty on it.. alpine doesn't answer, and if I try to go to alpine directly they won't help me because FLASH DEALZZZ sold me the radio.I got amazon to make an exception and let me return it even though it's past the 30 days.. but they told me that I'd have to pay a restocking fee... I ask out of curiosity how much the restocking fee and get told that it's something like $120-130... that's a lot considering the product is about $670-680.. and I just talk to the amazon support lady for a bit explaining my concern and situation, and she talks to her manager and I got lucky and they're going to waive the restocking fee apparently.I don't know who is to blame, if the problem is at the manufacture (alpine) or if FLASH DEALZZZ sells used or potentially bunk radios for cheaper, but I'd be careful and pay $10 more to a company like Pacific Stereo.. It really sucks FLASH DEALZZZ and amazon kept kicking me back and forth and I'm stuck in this situation to begin with. I'm installing Pacific Stereo's alpine ILX-107 radio tomorrow and hope that it'll last me a few years, if not forever. It's a great radio I just don't know who is to blame and want buyer's to be educated on this type of situation, should it arise.

So happy with this unit. Well built, sounds great, and well thought out. One note is that you MUST be prepared to connect the parking brake wire to your parking brake in order to use the radio. On my car that proved to be the hardest part of the installation. Simply grounding the parking brake lead does not solve the issue. It was easier for me to simply purchase a MicroBypass Parking Brake Override Bypass for Alpine from Amazon which was inexpensive, easy to use, and solves the issue.

Be warned - Safety Concern: product navigation freezes, and freezes phone connected to it making both the stereo and phone unusable. Had to pull over while driving multiple times to try to restart navigation and do hard-restarts on phone. Does not properly disconnect from phone, even after turning off Bluetooth and WiFi.No response from the seller, and Amazon refuses to refund, directing us back to the seller. We now have an expensive, useless and dangerous product with no resolution.