Alpine X209-WRA-OR or Insane Audio?

17xJKU

17xJKU

New member
Just wondering if anyone is running the Alpine offroad headunit or Insane Audio? I have an Insane Audio sitting at home new in the box, but found a great deal on the Alpine. I'm wondering if the price is worth it. It looks like the alpine cameras are better quality, and the offroad feature looks nicer than Insane Audio. I know someone local with the Insane Audio head unit, and is on his 3rd one in a year. Yikes.. I'm an android user, so I'm not sure how well messaging works with android auto on the alpine, but the insane unit is an android unit, so I could figure that might be more familiar with me. Let me know your likes and dislikes of both.. thanks everyone!
 
TrailHunter said:
I can’t get passed the horrible name font....

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Yeah, I don't like that either. It was in impulse buy for me. I was at a jeep event in Tennessee and was 2 seconds from letting Alpine put in the X209 OR and backed out at the last second. I went inside to more vendors and saw the Insane Audio booth and talked to them for over an hour. Very cool people, and great that it's a U.S. based company, free updates, 3 year no question asked warranty, lifetime tech support. I bought it thinking it would be great, but only few reviews I see are not so great. The good reviews I see are almost word for word what the Insane Audio engineer was saying to me at the jeep event.... almost like he was writing the review. I cant get past the small screen, their logo, and the built in navigation screen looks like crap imo.. I am actually in the process of returning it, unless someone talks me out of the Alpine unit.
 
StormTrooper_JK said:
Funny you ask, I was wasting time at work researching this very topic today. Have a friend who has the Alpine and loves it. Hope to see some feedback too.


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It seems like the bad reviews are mostly about the GPS not being accurate, which is a problem since the main reason I want it is for offroad track capability. Another complaint is that if you use CarPlay or android auto, you are either in that, or the Alpine unit.. meaning you cant play music from CarPlay or AA and use the alpine nav system or control the accessories.
 
19YJ94 said:
No complaints so far on my Insane Audio unit, I have both front and rear cameras also.
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How long have you had it?
Camera quality any good?
Have you used the offroad Nav system?
And can you send and receive text messages? That's a big one for me. I have an android phone, and I like how my stock uconnect notifies me and reads messages to me. I dislike only being able to send predefined messages. I want to be able to do speak to text. I know a guy locally who has one, and he's had to send his back twice for issues. He doesn't have cameras hooked to his, so idk what the quality is like. And he doesn't go offroad, so he never tested the offroad GPS. Also said he never tried getting his messages to work with the head unit.
 
17xJKU said:
How long have you had it?
Camera quality any good?
Have you used the offroad Nav system?
And can you send and receive text messages? That's a big one for me. I have an android phone, and I like how my stock uconnect notifies me and reads messages to me. I dislike only being able to send predefined messages. I want to be able to do speak to text. I know a guy locally who has one, and he's had to send his back twice for issues. He doesn't have cameras hooked to his, so idk what the quality is like. And he doesn't go offroad, so he never tested the offroad GPS. Also said he never tried getting his messages to work with the head unit.
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Had it going on a year now, I have used the offroad NAV system and like it no problem ls with it. Never tried the messaging, then again I haven't played with it much yet or downloaded any apps, ect. I am happy with the camera images, can adjust them to line, without lines ect, great views. And honestly the install was very simple and all the steering wheel buttons work ect, upgraded the sound quality. And I like the Bluetooth engine monitor it came with.

I plan on playing with it more when I get some free time. I am sure I haven't come close to using it to its capabilities.
 
19YJ94 said:
Had it going on a year now, I have used the offroad NAV system and like it no problem ls with it. Never tried the messaging, then again I haven't played with it much yet or downloaded any apps, ect. I am happy with the camera images, can adjust them to line, without lines ect, great views. And honestly the install was very simple and all the steering wheel buttons work ect, upgraded the sound quality. And I like the Bluetooth engine monitor it came with.

I plan on playing with it more when I get some free time. I am sure I haven't come close to using it to its capabilities.
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I heard the phone button on the steering wheel does not answer or make calls anymore, is that true? I was told it launched the bluetooth app.
 
WhoDoesThat said:
Same here.

I went with the Alpine iLX-207 and am very happy with it. Much better than my old 430n, had a seamless install and works with my steering controls. I did add the KAC accessory controller for lights and whatnot, but I'm not a fan of how the relays are wired.
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I was all set to buy the iLX-207 but really wanted navigation when my phone doesn’t have service. Then I was looking at the i209-WRA but really don’t want to spend that much or cut up my dash, which I’ve heard you have to. This is an agonizing decision.


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StormTrooper_JK said:
I was all set to buy the iLX-207 but really wanted navigation when my phone doesn’t have service. Then I was looking at the i209-WRA but really don’t want to spend that much or cut up my dash, which I’ve heard you have to. This is an agonizing decision.


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Hey, I'll cut your dash for you, no problem! :cool:
 
I'm so frustrated over this too. I just got off the phone with alpine, and they told me if I have my trails saved as .gpx files, I cant add them to their unit. I'm going to say, I highly doubt the place I go wheeling are loaded onto their offroad unit. Has anyone tried this yet? I'm not even sure how offroad maps work. He did tell me I can leave bread crumbs to track and save my trails, but i would like to just upload them since I have them saved.
 
17xJKU said:
I'm so frustrated over this too. I just got off the phone with alpine, and they told me if I have my trails saved as .gpx files, I cant add them to their unit. I'm going to say, I highly doubt the place I go wheeling are loaded onto their offroad unit. Has anyone tried this yet? I'm not even sure how offroad maps work. He did tell me I can leave bread crumbs to track and save my trails, but i would like to just upload them since I have them saved.
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Dedicated Nav unit such as Garmin utilize the .gpx file extension so when you buy an off-road trails SD card (FunTreks for example) you load that into the Garmin and it can read the .gpx file. Most built-in head units including the new JL don't accomodate .gpx files. I've done plenty of research on this and the best way for me and a lot of others is a combination of things, I use Google Maps Offline in conjuction with my off-road books and an off-road app that doesn't need a data connection.
 
I have the Insane head unit. Can’t comment on using it to answer and send text messages because I have an iPhone. What I really like about the insane audio head unit is it can download and use any app on the google play store. I rarely use the built in Nav but when I do I have had no issues with it. For GPS I’ve downloaded the google map app and just tether my phone to the unit. Also for GPS on trails I use the backcountry app. You can pre-download a section of the map and the built in GPS receiver still functions even when you don’t have cell service. This app also lets you upload .kmz files. My biggest complaint is the included hands free mic is terrible and the built in mic on the front is just as bad. I’m in the process of trying to wire in the factory JK mic to see if that helps. If not I’m sure there is a quality mic to be found on amazon that would work. The head unit has a regular head phone jack for mics to plug into. Also all my steering wheel buttons still work. I have a 2016 JKU.


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MDK210 said:
Dedicated Nav unit such as Garmin utilize the .gpx file extension so when you buy an off-road trails SD card (FunTreks for example) you load that into the Garmin and it can read the .gpx file. Most built-in head units including the new JL don't accomodate .gpx files. I've done plenty of research on this and the best way for me and a lot of others is a combination of things, I use Google Maps Offline in conjuction with my off-road books and an off-road app that doesn't need a data connection.
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The Insane Audio has a GPS slot. Idk if it's supposed to have a card in there, but mine doesn't. As far as the Alpine unit, does the offroad maps pretty much know where your at, and if your lost on a trail, will it navigate you out? Like I said, I've never used any offroad apps or garmin's.
 
JMFK said:
I have the Insane head unit. Can’t comment on using it to answer and send text messages because I have an iPhone. What I really like about the insane audio head unit is it can download and use any app on the google play store. I rarely use the built in Nav but when I do I have had no issues with it. For GPS I’ve downloaded the google map app and just tether my phone to the unit. Also for GPS on trails I use the backcountry app. You can pre-download a section of the map and the built in GPS receiver still functions even when you don’t have cell service. This app also lets you upload .kmz files. My biggest complaint is the included hands free mic is terrible and the built in mic on the front is just as bad. I’m in the process of trying to wire in the factory JK mic to see if that helps. If not I’m sure there is a quality mic to be found on amazon that would work. The head unit has a regular head phone jack for mics to plug into. Also all my steering wheel buttons still work. I have a 2016 JKU.


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Did your insane unit come with a card in the GPS slot? I pulled mine out of the box today and opened the GPS slot, and nothing is there. Do you have cameras on yours, and if so, what's the quality like? And I'm used to the phone button on my steering wheel make calls for me, answer call, and read text. What does it do now when you hit it?
 
Also, do leaving bread crumbs work by leaving one at the beginning, and one at the end and it makes a trail you can save? Or do you have to constantly leave crumbs if you have multiple trails that intersect? Sorry if these questions sound dumb, but I've never played with any of this stuff. I go wheeling with a group usually, but there are so many trails, I never know where I'm at and want a way to put points and know how to get to "Rock garden" trail, or "Cable Hill" trail for example.
 
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