Review on CarlinKit 2.0 Wireless CarPlay Adapter Upgrade Dongle for Ford Sync 3.4, Factory Wired CarPlay, Wired to Wireless, Online Upgrade, iOS 14 Compatible by Tom Goodlow

I use this with the JVC/Kenwood head unit model KW-V940 BW and iPhone 11 Pro Max. The head unit has wired CarPlay which works well and I Wanted to add wireless CarPlay as most of my trips in this car are short and I don't like fiddling with cables every time I get in and out of the car. If you've checked out any of the device reviews on YouTube, you might have noticed that the models reviewed there come with a USB-C connector and come with a USB-C to USB-A cable. This was one of the highlights for me and would have made for a cleaner install. I didn't have that, instead it had a 6" pigtail with a USB-A male connector attached. Not critical, but still annoying. The unit can be upgraded in the field and I find the process easy and reliable. The device was easy to install, paired on the first try and the entire assembly worked first time. The device takes a few seconds to boot up and won't start until the host has fully booted up. That means it takes a while for all gears to kick in, but once it's on it securely connects to my phone and I get wireless CarPlay, albeit about 10-15 seconds later than I'd like. The controls are good, too, with one big exception: for reasons I can't explain, the device internally buffers between one and two seconds of audio. This means that every time I pause or play, scroll forward or backward, the CarPlay display updates immediately, but it takes 1-2 seconds for the audio to catch up (e.g. when the buffer is exhausted). It's confusing and if I'm looking at the road and not the display I think I missed the button the first time, so I press a few more times and end up jumping, start/stop or whatever, once for every click. , with bursts of sound lasting two seconds. I'm not seeing this behavior with wired CarPlay or my friend's wireless CarPlay OEM. I have to conclude that this is an artifact of this device. E-mails to the support e-mail address given in the instructions have not yet been answered, so I will probably be returning the product in a few days. It's sad because otherwise it's a simple and smart idea, but $135 is too much to pay for something that doesn't quite work and doesn't have tech support.