Got mine installed today and no drama. Also added a Gamiviti dash panel.
Installed the Hamilton unit that came with the speaker (the other one they sent did not come with speaker). I mounted the speaker under the Gamaviit panel near the center OEM speaker, closer to windshield. I also ran a USB cable form the phone mount arm, thru a hole in the dash panel and connected it to the USB female cable supplied by Hamilton that's part of one of the wiring harnesses. I prefer wired audio instead of Bluetooth.
While in their also added an Apple AirTag with one of those cases that hold 2 AA lithium batteries that are supposed to last 10 years.
@bloc turned me on to this case. Removed the Airtag speaker before installing in the case.
After getting the screen and radio re-installed, connected the negative cable back to battery and fired it up.
The Hamilton splash screen showed up on the display. Then got a screen asking if I wanted to connect via wireless. I intentionally said no because I wanted to test the USB connection from unit to the phone. It worked. I then went into the Hamilton OS menu and added the phone via Bluetooth, it also worked while not connected to USB.
I was quite surprised how everything just worked considering what OP went thru.
I wanted to test the audio from different sources.
Selected XMradio from the OEM unit. That played thru the OEM speakers. Then switched over to the CarPlay menu and selected Waze. Punched in a trip, Costco gas station. Turn by turn audio was announced on the Hamilton speaker while listening to XM on OEM. Although the Waze audio was faint. There is a setting in the OS of the Hamilton for volume, you can adjust volume for that speaker and OEM speakers. Mine was at 60% for Hamilton speaker so bumped up to 100% and much better.
Went to OEM Audio setting and selected Line input which is what Hamilton uses. Waze announced turn by turn directions over the OEM speakers which is what I expected.
The big test, phone quality. Called my teenage son, his audio was normal and said my voice sounded fine. I'll take that feedback with a grain of salt. The real test will be a few work conference calls and I will see how that goes. I'll report back after using this for a week.
Some photos showing OS version and vendor.
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