Trail Grid Pro Sony XAV-9500ES Sale - 300 USD Off

I'm selling my 2021 head unit. As a matter of fact it's been listed in the buy and sell forum here. It's the same as a 2023 head unit.

 

This unit is nice! Really wish that they could use the OEM mic. And not route a new one or sell a mic that goes in the same location as the OEM. Best head unit I have seen so far.

 

Did you get it from Trail Grid Pro? I thought I read that it comes with a mount so you can put it in the stock location. Mine is still in the box so I haven't been able to look over all of the parts yet.

 

Have not purchased. My comments are based off of watching the install video on the Trail Grid Pro's web site. They installed the clip-on mic on the dash. And mentioned that there is a kit to install for use in the OEM location. Just seems cleaner to use the OEM mic location and wire. Have not heard why the mic can not be a plug and play like the rest of the install.

 

I purchased my 9500es from trail grid pro and it included the kit to do the mic in the stock location mots easy to install it there and much cleaner imho

 

I've had mine installed for 3 weeks and the only thing I've noticed is the "drive pulse" feature. The last parked, starting truck from the app and lock and unlock all work fine. I never used the drive pulse anyways. So, yes the SOS works

 

Here's a shot of the app

 

Does the Sony power up the rear speakers? Why Toyota throttled them is a mystery and aggravates the hell out of me! A minor thing to some but I want full use of them.

 

Yep. It's like a whole new system. The cab is finally full of sound. Huge improvement! I just installed mine last night. The sound quality is amazing.

 

After the head unit is installed, is it straight/aligned and not leaning to one side or look slanted? How is the stability of the head unit doing over rough terrain? I've been going back and forth if I want to get this head unit and call it a day or if I want to try and fix the sound being produced by the factory head unit with a DSP.

 

It's straight as can be. The only thing I'll need to get used to is how it floats. The unit doesn't budge at all. I can't say how it'll do over rough terrain but it's in there pretty solid.

The only thing that I don't like is that the backup camera looks terrible now. That's expected with a higher resolution screen.

 

I wonder why Sony removed the HDMI in/out from the 9500es, that is a bummer! and also the ability to dim the screen during night drives is non-existent.

 

Can you still cycle through the front, side, and rear cameras with this head unit?

 

I had this sitting around for a while and recently made time to install it. I noticed that the multi-infotainment screen (small one in the middle of the cluster) does not display info about media (music track) or caller id. Anyone else experiencing this?

 

Yep, compass doesn't work either. Not able to get the USB to work and for some reason can't manually cycle the back up camera. Probably going to return mine, while it helped the rear speakers put out more sound and wireless carplay is nice, overall it's not worth the drawbacks to me.

 

I knew the compass wouldn’t work but I wasn’t sure about the media info and caller info. It seems like the info is supposed to be sent from the head unit but the 9500es doesn’t seem to do it but I believe the Pioneer and Kenwood head units actually do as other users that use those head units actually report that it works for them. I’m sure a firmware is all it’ll take. If the Pioneer and Kenwood units can do it why can’t the 9500es?

Bummer about USB and backup camera for you. They both work for me, no issues with USB and I can manually cycle the backup camera.

 

Any way for it to sit more flush with the bezel?

 

You can adjust the depth (closer/further away from the dash) and the height. When you receive the unit it’ll already be configure to its optimal setting.

 

what is the optimal setting at?

 

It doesn't stick up high above the dash, low to where it covers your view of the climate controls, or stick out towards the cabin.

Like stated earlier, you can adjust all of that if you don’t like the way it comes.