Wireless CarPlay Carlinkit 3.0 50% off

[sprengBoard]

Installed mine this morning in my Pilot and have driven twice with it so far, each time about an hour. Used Google Maps, Apple Maps, Audible, made and received phone calls and text messages, and use Siri. Only thing I've noticed is a slight delay (maybe 1/2 second) when continuing playing a book on Audible just after startup, other no other issues. Boots up and connects within 15 seconds of starting the car, and CarPlay comes right up. Very happy so far.

 

[Socal949]

Checked my mail this afternoon. Must have been delivered yesterday or today. I’m just glad it arrived also noticed it was shipped from NY. Did anyone else notice this or did others have theirs shipped from China?

 

[chopsueyboi]

Picked one up! Thanks for the heads ups. I have a 2021 and iPhone 12 Pro. Will report back if I have any issues!

I've received and installed mine. Pretty simple set up, literally plug-and-play, set-it-and-forget-it. The UI seems really smooth and have yet to encounter any hiccups with lags or delays. I took a few short trips around town and my iPhone 12 Pro Max with the most up to date iOS has connected each and every time automatically and with ease. When selecting music on Spotify on my phone, it performs as well as if it was connected with no lag to the interface nor performance. Audio surprisingly sounds great and I thought the quality would degrade but to a non-audiophile, it has sounded great so far.

So far, really loving it. Only long trips will tell if there's any random disconnects or lag when using with any of the maps platforms.

 

[cogeo]

I used it yesterday for about two 30 min drives. Used google maps navigation, podcasts, and made a phone call. No disconnections or anything to report. So initial reports are good, but we'll see how it works for longer drives.

______________________________

 

[aperry]

My experience so far has been a bit mixed, but I need more testing. So far after a few short rides, and then two longer (hour or so) rides, I have mostly positive things to say about it but in the latest drive I experienced some strange behavior that I'm not 100% sure I can pin on Carlinkit yet. I'm using it with an iPhone 13 Pro and a 2021 Telly SXP.

The good:

• Fires up pretty quickly after starting the car. Well under a minute. Probably closer to 30 seconds for me.
• The UI experience (most of the time) seems almost instant. Kind of hard to tell the difference between wired and wireless.
• The unit seems small and slim enough to velcro to the top of the console fold-down cover, which would clear space for wireless charging and other things.
• I've had zero USB disconnects (compared to my Android Auto experience which was fairly regular).

The bad:

• Music does have a delay as others have noted, which is noticeable when starting or skipping forward/backward. I'd say it ranges from under a second to a couple of seconds. I had also used Carplay for a phone call and I think there's a minor delay in audio with calls too. Not as bad as with music, but just enough to make my conversation a little bit awkward at times.
• On my latest ride (lasting about an hour) the UI became unresponsive at times. Nav and Music would continue working, but my button presses were not doing anything. This happened a few times, lasting between maybe 5 and 15 seconds. Then all of a sudden my (failed) button presses to happen really quickly all at once. Almost like the phone was "thinking" and unable to process for some amount of time, and then freed up and processed them all really quickly. At the same time I noticed that my navigation would start lagging. The nav map would be a solid 20 seconds behind where my car was in reality. In fairness I'm not 100% sure this is a Carlinkit problem. FWIW, I was using Waze and a third party audiobook app at the same time, and my phone was on the wireless charger. Interesting note, the phone was really hot when I got home and took it off the wireless charger. I don't use that charger very often and I only have a couple weeks of experience with Carplay, so I don't know if this is normal or not. It seemed unusually hot. I'm inclined to believe the phone was really busy processing something and struggling to keep up with Carplay.
• It's a minor annoyance, but the Carlinkit has some configurable settings that you can access through its web interface, but I can't seem to find any information on what these settings do.

Still happy with it for $65, but I need to play around with it some more. Hopefully my experience on that ride was a fluke.

 

[Point37]

• It's a minor annoyance, but the Carlinkit has some configurable settings that you can access through its web interface, but I can't seem to find any information on what these settings do.

System Backend Settings

Reset: Restore the box to the state where you just upgraded, and delete all the connection records of the box, which is similar to restoring factory settings. Sync Mode: In some cars that support the display of dashboard CarPlay media information, switch to sync mode when the media information...

carlinkitcarplay.com

 

[Brandon]

My experience so far has been a bit mixed, but I need more testing. So far after a few short rides, and then two longer (hour or so) rides, I have mostly positive things to say about it but in the latest drive I experienced some strange behavior that I'm not 100% sure I can pin on Carlinkit yet. I'm using it with an iPhone 13 Pro and a 2021 Telly SXP.

The good:

• Fires up pretty quickly after starting the car. Well under a minute. Probably closer to 30 seconds for me.
• The UI experience (most of the time) seems almost instant. Kind of hard to tell the difference between wired and wireless.
• The unit seems small and slim enough to velcro to the top of the console fold-down cover, which would clear space for wireless charging and other things.
• I've had zero USB disconnects (compared to my Android Auto experience which was fairly regular).

The bad:

• Music does have a delay as others have noted, which is noticeable when starting or skipping forward/backward. I'd say it ranges from under a second to a couple of seconds. I had also used Carplay for a phone call and I think there's a minor delay in audio with calls too. Not as bad as with music, but just enough to make my conversation a little bit awkward at times.
• On my latest ride (lasting about an hour) the UI became unresponsive at times. Nav and Music would continue working, but my button presses were not doing anything. This happened a few times, lasting between maybe 5 and 15 seconds. Then all of a sudden my (failed) button presses to happen really quickly all at once. Almost like the phone was "thinking" and unable to process for some amount of time, and then freed up and processed them all really quickly. At the same time I noticed that my navigation would start lagging. The nav map would be a solid 20 seconds behind where my car was in reality. In fairness I'm not 100% sure this is a Carlinkit problem. FWIW, I was using Waze and a third party audiobook app at the same time, and my phone was on the wireless charger. Interesting note, the phone was really hot when I got home and took it off the wireless charger. I don't use that charger very often and I only have a couple weeks of experience with Carplay, so I don't know if this is normal or not. It seemed unusually hot. I'm inclined to believe the phone was really busy processing something and struggling to keep up with Carplay.
• It's a minor annoyance, but the Carlinkit has some configurable settings that you can access through its web interface, but I can't seem to find any information on what these settings do.

Still happy with it for $65, but I need to play around with it some more. Hopefully my experience on that ride was a fluke.

I have experienced the same headache with the navigation/waze on phone only, in cars without Carplay … so i would definitely put that negative experience on waze…. It’s really aggrevating!

 

[aperry]

System Backend Settings

Reset: Restore the box to the state where you just upgraded, and delete all the connection records of the box, which is similar to restoring factory settings. Sync Mode: In some cars that support the display of dashboard CarPlay media information, switch to sync mode when the media information...

carlinkitcarplay.com

Thank you!! I'm not quite sure how I didn't find this the other day. Seems pretty obvious now

______________________________

 

[aperry]

I have experienced the same headache with the navigation/waze on phone only, in cars without Carplay … so i would definitely put that negative experience on waze…. It’s really aggrevating!

Cool. Maybe I'll do some testing with Apple or Google Maps. I only use Waze for speed traps and because it seems to have slightly better routing (though I'm not even sure about this part anymore).

 

[Tellthemride]

I am also having some mixed results with my unit. Works OK most of the time. One of the times I started the car, the phone would absolutely refuse to pair with the Carlinkit. When I tried to pair the bluetooth it kept connecting then immediately disconnecting. When it did connect, the Use Carplay pop up appeared and immediately disappeared before I could tap OK Forgetting the bluetooth device on the phone did not help. Had to press the search icon on the head unit menu for Carlinkit before it finally worked again.

I checked the firmware and it said it was up to date. Will report back after some more drives.

 

[aperry]

I am also having some mixed results with my unit. Works OK most of the time. One of the times I started the car, the phone would absolutely refuse to pair with the Carlinkit. When I tried to pair the bluetooth it kept connecting then immediately disconnecting. When it did connect, the Use Carplay pop up appeared and immediately disappeared before I could tap OK Forgetting the bluetooth device on the phone did not help. Had to press the search icon on the head unit menu for Carlinkit before it finally worked again.

I checked the firmware and it said it was up to date. Will report back after some more drives.

FWIW, I haven't had any problems with connection. I'm not sure if it matters, but my phone has never been paired with the Telly itself (via bluetooth). I know you said you tried unpairing the bluetooth device, was that the car or the Carlinkit? If you haven't "forgotten" the car itself, I would try that. Also, the Carlinkit has a config setting for "startup delay" which you can experiment with.

 

[Tellthemride]

FWIW, I haven't had any problems with connection. I'm not sure if it matters, but my phone has never been paired with the Telly itself (via bluetooth). I know you said you tried unpairing the bluetooth device, was that the car or the Carlinkit? If you haven't "forgotten" the car itself, I would try that. Also, the Carlinkit has a config setting for "startup delay" which you can experiment with.

Yup, I forgot Kia Motors on my phone previously before this event happened. It was as if the Carlinkit unit was having trouble re-pairing with a remembered device. Or the wireless modules in it were going haywire.

It’s annoying after I forgot Kia Motors on my phone’s bluetooth because the car kept on trying to connect to my phone afterward and would pop up the bluetooth pin number on my phone over and over. Maybe I also need to forget my phone on the head unit or disable bluetooth in the head unit menu.

______________________________

 

[aperry]

Yup, I forgot Kia Motors on my phone previously before this event happened. It was as if the Carlinkit unit was having trouble re-pairing with a remembered device. Or the wireless modules in it were going haywire.

It’s annoying after I forgot Kia Motors on my phone’s bluetooth because the car kept on trying to connect to my phone afterward and would pop up the bluetooth pin number on my phone over and over. Maybe I also need to forget my phone on the head unit or disable bluetooth in the head unit menu.

Yeah, that could be it. Maybe those attempts (Telly asking iPhone to pair) are interfering with the Carlinkit-iPhone connection.

 

[abe2np]

Alive again!

Code: CPC40

Carlinkit 3.0 Wired to Wireless CarPlay Adapter - 2021-11-12

Light In The Box has Carlinkit 3.0 Wired to Wireless CarPlay Adapter (CPC200-U2W Plus) for $54.92 when you follow the deal instructions below. Shipping is free but there is a Shipping Insurance charge

slickdeals.net

 

[aperry]

I've had a few more 30-minute'ish drives and used Carlinkit with Apple Maps and Youtube Music (simultaneously). It's been perfectly stable with those, so I think my earlier issue was related to Waze. I had issues with Waze in Android Auto as well, so I think it's just unstable and probably neglected since being acquired by Google. Quite pleased with this little device, especially for the price.

 

[aperry]

Just an FYI, I was curious about the audio lag on phone calls. I thought I had noticed this during one call (but not so much during a second call). I think the only way you would really detect this is if you notice awkward pauses and talking over each other during a conversation (which certainly isn't unique to technical problems). Anyway, I used a "call echo" phone service and manually timed it with a stop watch. I ran 3 different configurations and timed it several times each, and here's what I found. This is an iPhone 13 Pro with a 2021 Telly SXP:

Phone without Carplay at all, using iPhone's speakerphone: about 700ms between when I spoke and when I heard the echo (roundtrip time)
Phone with wired Carplay, using car's microphone/speaker: about 800ms
Phone with wireless Carlinkit, using car's microphone/speaker: 1400ms

So there is some added latency and Carlinkit adds about 600-700ms to the roundtrip time. Assuming this added time is split evenly between outgoing and incoming sounds, It means that it takes about 300-350ms longer for people to hear what you say on the phone compared to a non-Carlinkit setup (and also adds the same to you hearing what they say).

Admittedly these numbers are not super precise, as it's hand-timed using maybe 10 tests per configuration. They're not averaged, just the result of where I think it landed after doing this over and over in each config. If I averaged them then I think it would be biased toward longer response times because I can only stop the counter so fast after I hear the echo response.

The numbers themselves don't mean much to me other than top confirm that the Carlinkit does add a meaningful amount of latency to phone calls. Ultimately you'll know it when you experience it, and I'm still undecided if it actually bothers me or impacts conversations.

______________________________

 

[Pappy]

Just an FYI, I was curious about the audio lag on phone calls. I thought I had noticed this during one call (but not so much during a second call). I think the only way you would really detect this is if you notice awkward pauses and talking over each other during a conversation (which certainly isn't unique to technical problems). Anyway, I used a "call echo" phone service and manually timed it with a stop watch. I ran 3 different configurations and timed it several times each, and here's what I found. This is an iPhone 13 Pro with a 2021 Telly SXP:

Phone without Carplay at all, using iPhone's speakerphone: about 700ms between when I spoke and when I heard the echo (roundtrip time)
Phone with wired Carplay, using car's microphone/speaker: about 800ms
Phone with wireless Carlinkit, using car's microphone/speaker: 1400ms

So there is some added latency and Carlinkit adds about 600-700ms to the roundtrip time. Assuming this added time is split evenly between outgoing and incoming sounds, It means that it takes about 300-350ms longer for people to hear what you say on the phone compared to a non-Carlinkit setup (and also adds the same to you hearing what they say).

Admittedly these numbers are not super precise, as it's hand-timed using maybe 10 tests per configuration. They're not averaged, just the result of where I think it landed after doing this over and over in each config. If I averaged them then I think it would be biased toward longer response times because I can only stop the counter so fast after I hear the echo response.

The numbers themselves don't mean much to me other than top confirm that the Carlinkit does add a meaningful amount of latency to phone calls. Ultimately you'll know it when you experience it, and I'm still undecided if it actually bothers me or impacts conversations.

Thank you for taking the time to test and post this. I’m presently waiting for my adapter to arrive.
I wonder what the lag time would be with a standard Bluetooth to car connection. Do you think it would be faster than the wireless CarPlay?

 

[aperry]

Thank you for taking the time to test and post this. I’m presently waiting for my adapter to arrive.
I wonder what the lag time would be with a standard Bluetooth to car connection. Do you think it would be faster than the wireless CarPlay?

My feeling is that the car's native bluetooth connection (no Carplay involved) would eliminate most of the Carplay-added latency and be pretty close to phone-only. I don't know for sure and I don't plan to test it, but I'd be surprised if it had much add latency at all (on top of the 700ms that I arrived at for phone-only).

 

[sprengBoard]

FWIW, I haven’t noticed any call lagging. Conversations sound normal, the same as if the phone were plugged in.

Bought another one just to have….

 

[Ellenj]

Crazy question… did anyone find a nice way to store the thing once it’s set up? Doesn’t it get in the way of the wireless charging pad?? Seems it would be in the way.