Good morning everyone! Longtime reader, first time poster. I recently acquired a 2009 gx470 with navigation. I was super excited to get one of the “Tesla” screens…until I got one and realized how horrible they were. More on that later. Bear with me as I’m writing this on my phone while I have some downtime at work. I’m sure I’ll forget a few things and I’m hoping some of you will ask questions that I can address in order to help out other navigation model owners!
After sending the Tesla unit back, I ordered this unit from Ekiy on Aliexpress. This unit works navigation model 470s.
Ekiy Android Radio
I had seen a YouTube video of a similar radio from T’eyes with a 9in android and the same style faceplate with climate controls. It looked pretty decent but I couldn’t find it anywhere so I took a chance on the Ekiy.
I did not take pics of the installation as it was very straightforward. The wiring harness is simple and all the plugs are unique so they can only go to one place. You do have to remove the clock from your factory unit and attach it to the Ekiy. After that, it all just clips in. It is slightly recessed vs the trim pieces it’s not terrible but it’s not perfectly flush I’m terrible with measurements so I’ll just say it’s about the depth of an average pocket knife blade thickness
a second package came later with the usb cables, free backup camera, and the rest of the wiring harness. The factory camera will NOT work with this head unit
booting was fast but for some reason I had no audio. I can’t really remember how I figured this out but there was an app labeled “Car UI.” I clicked on it first and within the app is a radio, CD player, and something else, I forget. I clicked on the CD player and hit and then I all of a sudden started getting sound. I have no idea why this occurs but I have to do it every time I turn the car on. I can only assume that somehow this triggers the car amp? I have waited several minutes without pressing anything to see if it was just a time thing…but it wasn’t. I have also pressed lots of other buttons to see if that got me audio…but it didn’t. So for some reason you have to hit the Car UI button and go from there. This has been confirmed with another Reddit user who bought one at the same time I did. There is a factory setting for the amp which I turned on but it appears to have no play in this situation.
Car UI video
***i now believe this to be a canbus issue that I am working on resolving with the seller***
after figuring that out, I was quite happy with the radio. Everything functions wonderfully, including wireless carplay. One of my issues with the Tesla unit was laggy carplay. This Ekiy unit takes a bit to connect but so far it has been 100% reliable. Don’t judge the music choice, I was on a 90s kick
I also removed my cigarette lighter and replaced with with a usb extension cable. The ports connected just fine to the USB ports included with the radio and appear to be functioning flawlessly.
Usb extension outlet
As mentioned in the nav to non nav swap thread, you will need two adapters to make your fm radio work.
Y adapter
Antenna adapter
climate control:
I’d say the climate controls function well enough that I would consider this a serious upgrade from the factory navigation despite the audio issue and what I’m about to tell/show you.
in order to get the climate control to work, you have to go into settings—factory—3368–car model—BNR—Toyota—prado—hi amp. Then a little snowflake will pop up on your screen. You can move it to wherever you want. That snowflake is how you access your temperature control and everything that you don’t control with the physical buttons. On that note, the physical buttons have a good tactile feeling and the words are backlit and properly spaced/level. That was another annoying thing about the Tesla, the buttons were all wonky and crooked.
the issue: the climate controls work great and have a clean UI. That being said, there is an issue with temperature adjustment. You have a full range of temperature selection but unfortunately it will only ever read “low” or “high.” Every time you press the button it most definitely changes the temperature a degree like it should, you just don’t get a specific degree reading. I don’t know why it does this or if it is 470/prado specific as I have seen similar radios with the same UI display degree changes (at least in Celsius). With all that said, I still feel like this is a major upgrade and a minor flaw that is easily overcome and barely annoying considering you’re adding carplay, Bluetooth, a large screen, and various other bonuses.
Temp control
Canbus settings
As you can see in the above pic, there is a front mounted microphone. This is a standard 9in android head unit with a face plate over it so the mic is recessed behind the faceplate. As such it is essentially useless and you will need to add an aftermarket mic which is not included.
the aux port next to the seat heaters (at least on my 09) no longer functions either. As such, I replaced it with a USB port for power. this is a perfect fit and comes with the necessary connectors to attach it to the 12v outlet next to it.
USB port
also, I am having trouble with anything Google related…which is a lot since is an android device. Anytime I try to log in anywhere to any Google service (even the device settings, not just apps) I get the checking info loop crash. I have tried every fix I can find but unfortunately nothing has worked and I also don’t have access to everything because the OS/UI seems to hide some functions you need to access. So I have been unable to use the play store and instead have had to side load things. The factory installed UI is ok but Agama car launcher is WAY better.
Crash loop
***fixed with software update. see post below***
one of the reviews on the product page mentions having to remove two circuit boards from the factory radio. Also not sure what that’s about or if it was lost in translation.
I am more than happy to take pictures or videos of any specific things you request. There were a lot of things I wanted to see before I bought this but I just jumped in and went for it since there weren’t any US reviews. Hopefully this provides a good alternative for nav owners.
I have definitely lost my train of thought at this point so I’m gonna post and edit from a computer later. In conclusion, this is a worthy upgrade despite the few issues I noted.
After sending the Tesla unit back, I ordered this unit from Ekiy on Aliexpress. This unit works navigation model 470s.
Ekiy Android Radio
I had seen a YouTube video of a similar radio from T’eyes with a 9in android and the same style faceplate with climate controls. It looked pretty decent but I couldn’t find it anywhere so I took a chance on the Ekiy.
I did not take pics of the installation as it was very straightforward. The wiring harness is simple and all the plugs are unique so they can only go to one place. You do have to remove the clock from your factory unit and attach it to the Ekiy. After that, it all just clips in. It is slightly recessed vs the trim pieces it’s not terrible but it’s not perfectly flush I’m terrible with measurements so I’ll just say it’s about the depth of an average pocket knife blade thickness
a second package came later with the usb cables, free backup camera, and the rest of the wiring harness. The factory camera will NOT work with this head unit
booting was fast but for some reason I had no audio. I can’t really remember how I figured this out but there was an app labeled “Car UI.” I clicked on it first and within the app is a radio, CD player, and something else, I forget. I clicked on the CD player and hit and then I all of a sudden started getting sound. I have no idea why this occurs but I have to do it every time I turn the car on. I can only assume that somehow this triggers the car amp? I have waited several minutes without pressing anything to see if it was just a time thing…but it wasn’t. I have also pressed lots of other buttons to see if that got me audio…but it didn’t. So for some reason you have to hit the Car UI button and go from there. This has been confirmed with another Reddit user who bought one at the same time I did. There is a factory setting for the amp which I turned on but it appears to have no play in this situation.
Car UI video
***i now believe this to be a canbus issue that I am working on resolving with the seller***
after figuring that out, I was quite happy with the radio. Everything functions wonderfully, including wireless carplay. One of my issues with the Tesla unit was laggy carplay. This Ekiy unit takes a bit to connect but so far it has been 100% reliable. Don’t judge the music choice, I was on a 90s kick
I also removed my cigarette lighter and replaced with with a usb extension cable. The ports connected just fine to the USB ports included with the radio and appear to be functioning flawlessly.
Usb extension outlet
As mentioned in the nav to non nav swap thread, you will need two adapters to make your fm radio work.
Y adapter
Antenna adapter
climate control:
I’d say the climate controls function well enough that I would consider this a serious upgrade from the factory navigation despite the audio issue and what I’m about to tell/show you.
in order to get the climate control to work, you have to go into settings—factory—3368–car model—BNR—Toyota—prado—hi amp. Then a little snowflake will pop up on your screen. You can move it to wherever you want. That snowflake is how you access your temperature control and everything that you don’t control with the physical buttons. On that note, the physical buttons have a good tactile feeling and the words are backlit and properly spaced/level. That was another annoying thing about the Tesla, the buttons were all wonky and crooked.
the issue: the climate controls work great and have a clean UI. That being said, there is an issue with temperature adjustment. You have a full range of temperature selection but unfortunately it will only ever read “low” or “high.” Every time you press the button it most definitely changes the temperature a degree like it should, you just don’t get a specific degree reading. I don’t know why it does this or if it is 470/prado specific as I have seen similar radios with the same UI display degree changes (at least in Celsius). With all that said, I still feel like this is a major upgrade and a minor flaw that is easily overcome and barely annoying considering you’re adding carplay, Bluetooth, a large screen, and various other bonuses.
Temp control
Canbus settings
As you can see in the above pic, there is a front mounted microphone. This is a standard 9in android head unit with a face plate over it so the mic is recessed behind the faceplate. As such it is essentially useless and you will need to add an aftermarket mic which is not included.
the aux port next to the seat heaters (at least on my 09) no longer functions either. As such, I replaced it with a USB port for power. this is a perfect fit and comes with the necessary connectors to attach it to the 12v outlet next to it.
USB port
also, I am having trouble with anything Google related…which is a lot since is an android device. Anytime I try to log in anywhere to any Google service (even the device settings, not just apps) I get the checking info loop crash. I have tried every fix I can find but unfortunately nothing has worked and I also don’t have access to everything because the OS/UI seems to hide some functions you need to access. So I have been unable to use the play store and instead have had to side load things. The factory installed UI is ok but Agama car launcher is WAY better.
Crash loop
***fixed with software update. see post below***
one of the reviews on the product page mentions having to remove two circuit boards from the factory radio. Also not sure what that’s about or if it was lost in translation.
I am more than happy to take pictures or videos of any specific things you request. There were a lot of things I wanted to see before I bought this but I just jumped in and went for it since there weren’t any US reviews. Hopefully this provides a good alternative for nav owners.
I have definitely lost my train of thought at this point so I’m gonna post and edit from a computer later. In conclusion, this is a worthy upgrade despite the few issues I noted.
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