Most reliable brand?

[Anohaakten]

I have been looking at these android car stereo units. A lot of them really do look the exact same, just with their own badging (logo) but probably from the same factory from China? I was just wondering if anyone has had any luck discovering any brands that are more reliable than others? I just hate to fork out the $250-$300 for one and have it crap out on me in 6 months.

I have specifically been looking at the Joying and Pumpkin units as it seems they are the most popular. But I am open to all the brands.

 

[CadillacMike]

in my non-scientific study of forums, I found most people were happy with Joying, which is what I ended up getting, and I am very happy with it

 

[Teslamonger]

Ownice is known for having lots of units with 2GB of ram and bringing things to market pretty fast like Android 6.0, but they are only ever available through Aliexpress and the newer units can get a bit pricey. Joying is known for having relatively solid support and a large product selection, as well as sometimes having custom apps for specific vehicles (ex. air conditioning control). As far as I can tell, they are a personal favorite of many on XDA. Some people also choose Eonon and Pumpkin, I'm not quite sure about them but I'd assume they are solid choices. I personally own a YINUO unit and I wouldn't recommend getting one, as they are expensive and they are always using a very slightly modified stock Hui-Fei ROM (basically the OEM rom), but still they somehow manage to make it crash when doing basic tasks. Albeit, I flashed it for a truly stock ROM and it works fine now.

 

[CadillacMike]

Roadnavi.com also seems to be somewhat reliable and has decent support

 

[motofool33]

Need more people to chime in here.

 

[CHANGONATION]

I had newsmy carpad and pumkin joying brand, i would go for newsmy because of how simple but powerful the machine is, tje joying and pumpkin brand are slow and reboot prety much everytime var turns off, any apps runing on the background will be closed. Newsmy has this option just like the phones when car is off radio goes into stanby mode screen off does not consume power when car is turned on it resumes like when turning on the screen of your phone any app runing on background will resume with no hesitation. And not to mention full steering wheel controls on any media app unlike the pumpkin and joying that need to download a app in order to make other media players work with steering wheel.

 

[HVB83]

I would stay away from KGL (Kai Gei Lei or something?) units. I received a unit with a front panel that shouldn't have passed QC (rotated text on buttons etc). I was too trusting towards the Aliexpress seller since it was my first buy, so my objection period ran out. I tried to get a new panel through KGL customer service, even offered to pay if needed, sent some pictures along.

At first they responded quickly to the emails I sent afterwards they said "I see nothing wrong" and despite several reminders they just stopped responding.

So first off KGLs quality inspections are poor and their service is basically none existant. I advice to stay away from them.

 

[dkintana]

I have an Erisin unit. It has a very good finish, very good construction, integrates perfectly with the CAN bus of my car, open doors and climatic all is shown correctly... I'm very happy with it. Perhaps sound quality could be improved and its support is quite poor, but I would buy another unit from them surely. Moreover, I think they have the same software than Joyin products, so perhaps their firmwares could be interchangeables.