BOSS Audio Systems BVCP9700A-FL Single DIN Car Stereo Wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, 7 Inch Touchscreen, Bluetooth, AM/FM Radio Receiver

This is an outstanding head unit for the price point. The form factor, features, and build quality are very good. It’s also a ‘real’ head unit in the sense that it’s not just an android tablet stuck to the dash where you have to navigate an android home screen and apps to do things. The floating display is a lot better than I expected for the price and looks good. It is capacitive touch as well. The real volume knob is a welcome upgrade from the typical units with buttons for volume. The buttons next to the knob however can get inadvertently tapped sometimes if you drag your fingers across them by choking up too much on the knob. That’s easily avoided once you see how it can happen. The single din form factor was what led me to this unit in the first place since I’m limited to single din with a very tight bezel on my 1996 f-350. The floating display clears the bezel perfectly and can be angled perfectly to the driver. The only thing to consider is that due to the weight and floating display this single din will have to be supported in the rear. The factory rear support for mine was gone so I had to make one for my truck. I wouldn’t personally rely on just the sleeve for mounting. I wouldn’t hesitate to install one of these even in a double din slot after using it though. The input and output options are very full featured. I liked that in addition to front and rear camera inputs there are also 500ma power outputs to connect for the cameras so you don’t have to scavenge power from somewhere else. Many of the inputs are pigtailed as well so you have more flexibility on placement and the ability to seal plugs like RCAs together with tape or heat shrink so they don’t come loose. I’m not that picky on audio but everything sounds fine to me. There are also a lot of good UI/config options such as the ability to disable the license agreement from popping up every time after the first view, etc. The only real issue I’ve run into is that sometimes upon restarting the vehicle after having listened to BT audio or CarPlay it starts up with the volume muted or at 0. Easy to deal with once you realize what’s going on. I don’t see any firmware updates so I’m not sure if Boss provides any.

Installed this stereo in my 2000 Honda insight because the design of the dash, with a small ledge above the stereo, limits the type of CarPlay head unit I can install. After looking around at all the different options, this one fits perfectly, and has been working great for over a year. The display is decent quality for the price, and also quite reasonably responsive to touch inputs. I also feel the sound quality did improve at least a little bit, compared to the Pioneer single-din that it replaced. I like the ability to pop the screen out easily, and haven’t really run into any issues with Bluetooth or wired CarPlay since installing. Installation was as easy as any other single-din unit.

this thing works great. had one issue that I wired wrong and the screen was stuck on a camera error. Called customer service and within 30 seconds we had it handled.

Purchased this for my dump truck semi, ordered a radio harness for the truck and only took about 15 mins to attach to the radio harness and maybe another 20 to install. I’ve been using it for a week so far and it works pretty good. The microphone works well enough to use the hands free with the windows up while driving my rig which is very loud. Some people have said it sounds like the microphone is far away from me or doesn’t cut out the background noise well, but it works good enough for the majority of my many phone calls while working. The display is large enough to show my gps directions and music streaming information. It was very easy to connect my iPhone too and automatically connects. That being said there are a few glitches already. It will randomly disconnect from my phone and won’t let me reconnect for a few minutes, but it usually reconnects fairly quick. While using CarPlay it will randomly switch back to the source selection screen, and after pressing the CarPlay button will keep switching back after a minute or two, but I figured out pressing the home button on the bottom of the radio will bring me back into CarPlay and usually stop it from going back to the source screen. Also the av input button is right next to the volume dial and way to easy to accidentally graze while adjusting the volume which is a little annoying. It also doesn’t have radio station memory buttons while using the radio tuner, which is dumb. You can favorite a station and it has buttons for switching radio frequency or switching between favorited stations. So far it’s held up on rough bumpy roads and everything works decent enough. The audio quality is better than the factory radio to the point I need to upgrade the speakers in the truck. As long as it holds up working like it is now I’d say it’s a good purchase.

Honestly you probably would be better off ordering a no name import radio. Got this to avoid cutting up my dash and to not have to deal with a cell phone holder. For the first little bit, it worked great, then every once in a while the Bluetooth would reconnect. Recently it started getting into a constant reconnect loops with Bluetooth or reboots(really the only feature I wanted). I’m assuming cheap components is what got us here. Regret not buying a no name import radio as they probably last longer than a year.

Smooth installation. Has been working smoothly for a few weeks now. Great value for money.

Does a solid job in my 2010 Toyota Tundra. Very easy to set up and holds Bluetooth connection wells. But I assume most of us are purchasing for wired CarPlay. Those of us who are, there is one catch. CarPlay works great, but it has a bit of a laggy refresh rate. A lot closer to 30hz. Not a problem really, but keep that in mind. Still has great clarity even when driving long strips of Florida highways during the summer. The value proposition in general with this is incredible. Not the fanciest but does an excellent job. There isn’t a better CarPlay option at this price.

The Positive: 1. I like the clear and bright screen and the swivel feature most other 7" units do not have make using and viewing easier. the entire unit looks nice in my opinion. 2. I like the 80 Watts per channel, louder than some of the other units I tested, and in a van on the highway with wind noise or windows open, I like a loud unit. I could hear podcasts and voices clearly. Music sounded great. 3. The android auto worked well, wireless or wired both work. 4. The radio reception on FM was good even in my remote location. I am glad to see AM band function. 5. Making calls, either when bluetooth wirelessly paired with android auto, or bluetooth without android auto, worked great an the sound were clear on both ends. I like the external mic. Cons 1. unit has os limitations that disable audio from certain apps working through bluetooth. Maybe it is a safety feature, but as someone who has used bluetooth for years in my cars, I am used to being able to have the sound from apps on my phone play through the head unit into the car speakers. I like using youtube, voice recorder, or play other saved recordings, class lectures. I sometimes have a passenger who is not driving who wants to share some audio from various apps on their phone into the car speakers through the head unit. This did not work with the Boss. The Boss seems to only allow audio from a certain set of communication and map related apps but not other apps. It works with apps like whatsapp , phone calling apps, waze, and google maps. It did not work with the other apps I use often. And because the phone stays connected with Bluetooth the phone ends up muting its own speakers. So the problem is on the head unit. I tested it paired with my android phone with android auto wireless running and thought maybe this was just an android auto safety limitation, but then I disabled android auto and paired through regular Bluetooth connection without android auto. It still did not work. I also had the parking brake wire correctly connected and tested this with the car parked and or moving. I reset restarted the system and my phone a few times and no matter what I tried it did not work. 2.. The unit description says it can do steering wheel controls, but this is not true out of the box. It has no settings for programing steering wheel functions. The wiring harness that comes with the does not the regular two wire connections to connect most steering wheel wires but instead has a 3.5 type plug. The instruction manual says, to connect to steering wheel buttons please go to the service department of a professional car audio store. I reasearched that this unit might work and aftermarket product called "AXXES Axxess ASWC-1 Steering Wheel Control Interface" that has the 3.5 style plug and that control interface costs $70. So regarding connecting to steering wheel buttons, the Boss is different than other head units i have tried that have menu options for programming the steering wheel controls and have key 1 ot key 2 wires in the harness. The Boss has no internal settings in the menu options to program the steering wheel. So I do not want to pay $70 and install another thing and looking on youtube instructions it seems the AXXES Axxess ASWC-1 Steering Wheel Control Interface is quite a strange device to connect and program. I tried out this unit in my 90s G body chevy van. I have a universal steering wheel button controller and it works with most stereos. The options of what head units I can fit in my van are limited because of the vents and dash in the 80s and early 90's Chevy vans only allow single din size and only 7" or smaller screen size will fit in the space without blocking the HVAC Vents. So with those limited options I am returning the boss and going to test a cheaper unit that is only 45 or 50 watts per channel, and a Pyle unit model PLINDVTB7 that says is 80 watts per channel, both of those units are only wired android auto and not wireless, and they say they seem to have the more standard steering wheel programing function i need. I think the OS is either android or Linux based for both. So I think they will not have the limitations the Boss unit has. I loved the Boss unit's sound has powerful volume capability and I will see which of these other units will work and sound hopefully as good as the Boss. For people who do not care about the steering wheel controls or limitations I mention the Boss seems like a good unit at a fair price.