The 5 Best Android Auto Head Units On Amazon (According To Reviews) – BGR

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The centerpiece to any car stereo and infotainment system is the head unit, the big screen in the center of the dashboard that allows you to control everything. Much like the stereo control panels that used to be commonplace in cars, that screen can actually be popped out and replaced without too much tinkering. In fact, you can get an entirely new head unit off of Amazon if you’re looking for one with particular features, such as Android Auto functionality to connect to your phone via a USB cable or a wireless adapter.

If you don’t feel like jury-rigging a head unit out of an old tablet, there are quite a few different Android Auto-ready head units available on Amazon. All of them have the same basic functionality, connecting to your phone to display maps and offer easy access to your music, so the devil is in the details. When you’re looking to purchase hearty hardware, it’s always best to source feedback from real users. To that end, we’ve tracked down a handful of attractive head units on Amazon, each with both a high user score and a large number of reviews to ensure said scores are properly weighted.

Generally, if you’re looking for good value in electronics purchases, you can’t go wrong with products that come bundled with free stuff. One such example with this in the stereo head unit department is the PLZ Stereo Screen. This display is ready for both wired and wireless Android Auto connections, as well as voice controls for both as soon as you start your car. It’s got high-quality sound and Bluetooth connection, so you’ll get nice, clean sound flowing to all of your car’s speakers. In addition to the base unit, you also receive a free backup camera with a 170-degree view and night vision functionality. The screen can sync up to this backup camera in the rear, as well as any front-facing cameras your car already has.

The PLZ Stereo Screen is available on Amazon for $139.99, where it has a user rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars based on over 1,600 ratings. The top reviewer has only good things to say about this screen, praising its ease of installation, Bluetooth connectivity, and overall sound quality, and comparing it to those of a much more expensive, name-brand unit. Another reviewer had similar praises for the screen, but with a single caveat: they couldn’t use Android Auto and listen to the radio at the same time. This was remedied easily enough by using a radio app on their phone, however.

Stereo head units aren’t exactly one-size-fits-all. There’s only so much space in that little nook on your dashboard for screens and various gadgets and accessories, and you need to be sure your new unit will fit properly. If you need a couple of options and packages to choose from, the Boss Audio Display comes in a few to peruse. The basic package is a 7-inch display with a small line of convenient interface buttons on the side, but it also comes in 6.2-inch and 6.75-inch sizes, the former with a more pronounced volume knob, and the latter bundled with a backup camera. There is also a separate 7-inch package that comes with a backup camera as well. No matter which version you get, they’re all Android Auto-ready with both USB connection and charging and wireless connectivity via Bluetooth.

The basic Boss Audio Display package on Amazon will run you $160.00. All of the device packages have a collective user rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars based on over 2,700 ratings. Multiple users have praised the ease of installing this screen into various makes and models of cars, and generally like the size and fidelity of the screen. While the pros outweigh the cons in one user’s summation, this screen isn’t without its hiccups. Several users find the volume buttons on the base model uncomfortable to use, and one user found the built-in amplifier to be underpowered for their needs.

Display fidelity isn’t usually the first concern when you’re picking screens for a car. You’re not supposed to be looking at a screen while driving, after all. All the same, it’s definitely nice to have a high-fidelity display, especially if you’re trying to navigate with a map. If that’s the name of the game, the SJOYBring display’s QLED screen will provide plenty of fidelity. This 7-inch HD screen supports playback of 1920 x 1080p video and imagery. Your maps will come in nice and clear, and if you’re mirroring your phone’s screen to watch videos while parked, your movies and YouTube videos will be in high definition. Naturally, this screen has full support for Android Auto via wireless Bluetooth connection, as well as 4.2 channel audio output so you can hear your music and map directions.

You can grab the SJOYBring car display on Amazon for $149.99. Over 1,200 Amazon shoppers have given this device a cumulative rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars. The top reviews for the display are all positive, with one user praising its ease in wiring and mounting, as well as the speed and stability of its Bluetooth connection when using Android Auto. Another user generally liked the device, with their only hangups being the mildly spotty quality of its built-in microphone, and a couple of occasional glitches that forced them to stop and start their car to remedy.

A brand-new automotive stereo head unit from one of the major technology brands like Sony can easily run you up to $1,000. That’s part of what makes buying one off of Amazon more appealing; you get comparable quality for exponentially less cash. Even one of the higher-end models available on Amazon, such as the Alpine Multimedia Receiver, is still cheaper than one from those major brands. The Alpine Multimedia Receiver is a 7-inch touchscreen display that, in addition to its base-function buttons on the bottom, has convenient two-finger swipe controls. Just by swiping in cardinal directions, you can skip, pause, and control volume on your media. Of course, said media can be piped in from your phone via Android Auto, which can be connected both through wireless Bluetooth and a USB cord.

The Alpine Multimedia Receiver costs $299.95 on Amazon, a bit more than its contemporaries, but the positive feedback is still there from users, with over 2,200 of them giving it a cumulative score of 4.2 out of 5 stars. One of the top reviews said that the Alpine receiver’s touchscreen functionality is better than any similar unit they had used, and that the clarity of both the screen and sound were exactly what they were looking for. The only consistent complaint amongst users is that the device has a finicky parking brake sensor that may require some additional wiring and installation work to fix.

If you have an older car or aren’t personally experienced with electrical work, you might not be able to safely remove your car’s current head unit or stereo to install a new one. You could pay someone to do it for you, but if you’d rather keep things a little simpler, you could instead opt for a portable, external head unit like the Paslda Portable Wireless Screen. This device is designed to be less intrusive than other Android Auto-compatible car setups; you install it on the empty space on top of your dashboard, then sync it up with your car’s speakers via Bluetooth, AUX cable, or even an FM transmitter. Once it’s set up, you can sync your phone to it as well and get all of your usual Android Auto features, from music control to map display, managed either through the touch screen or with voice commands.

The Paslda Portable Wireless Screen is available on Amazon for $49.99. At the time of writing, it’s a best seller in the car stereo digital media receivers category, with a user score of 4.1 out of 5 based on over 2,800 reviews. Multiple users praise the device for how easy it is to install and sync to their phone via Bluetooth, and with a fraction of the effort that a fully-mounted unit would take. One user had some persistent complaints about the quality of the touch screen, noting that it became difficult to see their maps when the screen was under direct sunlight.

When you’re buying any kind of hefty, potentially expensive hardware for the express purpose of installing it into your car, it’s vitally important you know you’re getting reliable quality. The last thing you want is to stick a lemon in your car and hamper its overall functionality, after all. This is why, in order to select the preceding products, we focused on Android Auto-compatible head units with a user score of at least 4 out of 5 stars. Additionally, to ensure these high scores were properly weighted, the products must also have at least 1,000 user reviews.