Carlikeit FT1 Toyota Wireless Carplay Android Auto Adapter

Given that this unit is created for those of us who do not have Android Auto or Apple Car Play, it is a welcomed addition to my car. It is nice to be able to add Android Auto to my car, especially given how terrible the Toyota navigation system is.
It plays podcasts for me, and occasionally I play spotify as well. Navigation is great using Google Maps, about the only thing I like about Google. There are two drawbacks to using Google Maps that I can think of. This is probably a limitation of Android Auto, though, and not this device. The first is that it would be nice to be able to adjust the map narration volume independent of the other audio that is playing, however theyre both on the same control, so you can't control them independently.

The other drawback is that it does not seem to switch to the night mode (dark background with light colored roads). I have tried adjusting the setting for this, but it does not seem to do anything. Fortunately, the screen does dim when the headlights come on, but it would be nice to be able to switch to night mode.

One other problem I've found is that people have a hard time understanding me when I'm talking to them on the phone. I never had this problem when using the original system, but now I do. I have tried the suggestion of turning it off and using the OEM system when on the phone, but that doesn't seem to work for me. Fortunately I don't talk on the phone very much.

All in all, this was a good buy, and I would recommend it for people who want to add Android Auto to their Toyotas that are way behind the times.

For $200, its a great alternative to replacing the head unit.Installation was easy. Plug and play. The wireless module box with the usb connector took a little time to find space for but managed to find a spot for it by the glove compartment and routed the usb between the container slot.

The only two gripes I have are screen resolution and having to go through the AUX option to have car-play on screen.

As far as a serero upgrade that keeps factory features you cant beat using the factory stereo.However, this comes with drawbacks. Namely the screen and touch interaction.
I guess this thing is highjacking the camera input or something cuz it says Check Surroundings for Safety" along the bottom and has got noticeable analog graininess . And also its somehow offset on the screen? So the touch targets dont line up with the actual icons. Also the voice commands don't work.

For what it's worth though its not bad. Getting the iDatalink modules and harnesses alone will already cost more than this whole unit.
But you're really getting what you pay for not bad not great.
(at least the audio is clear ?\_()_/?)

For what it's worth I'm returning and buying a more "premium" setup.

First Ill tell you everything I love about the unitObviously top of the list is just the ability to be able to add Android auto is absolutely awesome. Some people complain about the screen detail I think that's ridiculous so ignore those reviews obviously it's not going to be crisp and clear but that is just simply the limitation of the display that's already built into your truck. If you're going to complain about that then you're not going to be happy with anything. Just so you know you can go into the settings of the unit and adjust the contrast and brightness I was able to get it to a point where it looked less fuzzy by doing that. All in all though it doesn't bother me in the least. Installation was super easy, literally just plug it in. I would recommend running the USB cable out what I did was I popped out my auxiliary port and ran the wire out from there just left the auxiliary port laying behind the panel it's easy enough to pop back in if you decide you want it someday but with having the Android auto it makes the auxiliary port completely pointless anyway. Using the USB I changed my settings so that plugged in it'll run the screen sharing option and Android auto is wireless. That way I can jump from one to the other pretty easily simply by plugging it in. Although I will say the screen mirroring is kind of pointless and it's not the right aspect ratio so part of the screen gets cut off. No way that I can see to adjust that. Still gives you the option of watching a movie on the screen but the screen is practically the same size as a cell phone screen and much lower detail so like I said it's kind of pointless. As far as the wireless Android auto it connects easily and fairly quickly as long as you have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned on on your phone. It does have about a 5 to 10 second wait time to boot but that doesn't bother me. People who are complaining about the reverse camera I have no issues with it the only thing I know that happens is if you pop your car into reverse within that first 5 to 10 seconds you'll get a blank screen. However if you're starting your car and throwing it in reverse within the first 5 seconds you're not even giving your transmission enough time for fluid to circulate so that's bad for your transmission anyway. So in other words wait the 10 seconds it'll be better on your truck anyhow.

What I didn't like
I noticed a couple days into using this that I was getting complaints from people who were calling me that they couldn't hear me well. I decided to test it out myself by using my wife's phone and having her call me from the truck and there was a really bad echo. So I looked in the manual and there is a setting in the menu called aec delay that is supposed to fix that issue. I tried using it reprogramming it multiple times made no difference whatsoever. I finally decided to remove the unit entirely and see how the Bluetooth sounds on its own. Without the unit plugged in the Bluetooth is back to Crystal clear again. So it's definitely being caused by the unit. I reached out to car ABC and they told me that there are a few versions of the microphone that can cause problems. They immediately offered to give me 30% back on it if I live with it or I could just return it and get my money back. So as far as customer support goes they were great. After a while I figured out that if I plug in my phone and use the wired option for Android auto instead of wireless then if I'm making a call I can quickly unplug my phone from Android auto finish my call and then plug it back in when I'm done. It's a bit of a hassle but honestly in my opinion still worth it to have Android auto. I don't see anybody else complaining about this issue so I'm assuming it's just something to do with my specific truck for some reason so I don't think this should scare you from buying one. I ended up taking the 30% refund so I ended up getting a much better deal on this thing than I expected. Would I buy it again? Absolutely! Toyota's entune system sucks. This Unit brought my truck back out of the Stone age. Worth the money definitely.

This unit was easy to install and works well if you just stick to the Android Auto functionality. I dont have any apple products too test car play. Things get a little weird if you want to listen to the old school radio though. There are issues going back to Android Auto from the radio screen. You can hear whatever music you were playing from your phone but you have to restart the radio to get the maps back online. I also want able to listen to Sirius outside streaming from the phone after installing this and I am not sure that HD Radio is still functional. Also the startup can be slow and I have to wait for everything to open before using my headlights, otherwise the maps aren't in dark mode.
If you want to use Android Auto and keep the stock head unit this is a fine option but just know there are trade offs