Which head unit

I use a Samsung 10inch tablet in the car . Custom mounted and it is great. It is just left of centre of steering wheel and line of site over bonnet is within legal limits. I find the big advantage is that a quick, simple and very safe glance from the road to the displayed map is a big advantage over having a smaller, dash mounted screen that requires a lot more concentration and eyes off the road time than how mine is set up. If I were to get another one I would get a 10inch tablet that will take a sim card for data.

I used a large suction cup to mount to windscreen. Then extended the arm from the cup to the tablet holder. Positioned the tablet so it was in the right position and also manufactured 2 "arms or brackets " that attached to the back of the mount to give it mor stability when off road. It is very solid now. I also put some insulation on the rear to stop direct sunlight hitting the tablet (too much heat will cause the lithium battery inside to swell and tablet is cactus)...dont ask how I know!!! I also ran the power supply direct to my 120amp/hr lithium in the rear of the vehicle so the tablet stays in sleep mode and does not drain from the start battery. The 10 inch screen is far and away better than the previous 8 inch screen I had. When paried to the mobile phone it is good for web browsing and e-mails...something I dont do on the little mobile phone screen.

I can just see the top of the bullbar when driving so perfectly legal vision. This is in a 2014 Pajero Wagon. Tablet does not move . Mount was purchased from e-bay to suit a 10inch tablet. Same as this one...car mount

Hope this helps.

The lastest in dash unit from Polaris runs traveller. It’s android based. https://shop.gpsoz.com.au/products/polaris-universal-luxx-in-dash

We use the T'eyes SPRO 10" which we bought online from the Chinese electronic superstore AliExpress however that was a few years ago but has all the bells and whistles and we have no need to upgrade it but there was a firmware upgrade available and we did that. It's developed by Russian developers and David found it after a lot of research revealed nothing like it available anywhere in the market. Fast processor, high screen resolution, SIM card slot so no need to even use Bluetooth or hotspot from your phone to access your Spotify account, or Playstore account etc. Includes all the usual lane avoidance alerts, reversing camera and we added front camera, and a second screen for our towball/hitch. There have been a couple of newer models released since then and there's even an Australian distributor now (no affiliation). But you can still buy from AliExpress (a lot cheaper).

However, we've noticed the exact same unit with some newer dashkits are now being distributed under various different brand names and we don't see any problem with that as its an awesome bit of kit. You're just paying more but you'll at least you'll get an English manual and videos and won't have to struggle with the Russian like we did. Here's the latest one we've seen pop up - VHEDIA

Just be careful whatever headunit you get that it definately supports full access to the Playstore NOT just limited to CarPlay/Android Auto. Traveller is NOT available in CarPlay/Android Auto.

There are brands coming out all the time...

The crux is:

1. headunit MUST support full access to Playstore (not limited to CarPlay/Android Auto).
2. headunit MUST obviously have a GPS built in (pretty standard these days) - we've also found some headunits have unusual GPS driver programing that unlike your usual smartphone/tablet manufacturers haven't been upgraded to comply with new app store protocols for location/privacy/navigation settings - so we have written a special option in Settings in the Traveller app for people with Headunits to get around this issue (thanks to Polaris who supplied a test unit so we could figure it out)
3. check that the headunit is running a reasonably recent version of the Android OS - Google have already ceased support for Android 7, so you want Android 8, 9, 10, or 11 (the latest) and check for upgrade pathway to get longevity - its the old OS that causes most of the problems with complex app support
4. check specs for CPU and if there's various options/models get the one with the fastest CPU
5. ideal if the headunit offers its own SIM card - otherwise you'll have to hotspot to get version updates, download maps, data sync tracking, places updates, etc

Hope this helps.

Thanks Everyone. I will investigate some options

Has anyone tried running Explorer on a Vhedia unit?

https://vhedia.com.au/product/toyota-landcruiser-100-series-head-unit-1999-2006/