Alpine iLX-F509 Halo9 Multimedia Receiver with 9-inch Floating HD Touchscreen Display

I bought this to replace the factory stereo in my 2007 Honda Civic. The reason I bought it was to customize my car. I was in the market to buy a new car, but decided to keep my current one since I like the thing. I also purchased an iDatalink Masetro to pair with this head unit. Making the connections for the wiring harness was tedious, but pretty simple overall as I just used butt splices. Installing the unit into the dash did take some jostling around as there was a lot of wire and cables to route and fit. When everything was done though, the Alpine iLX-F509 work flawlessly. The screen is crisp and the touch functions are responsive. A nice feature is one can access the settings only when the transmission is in parl. The iDatalink Maestro means I can monitor other parameters of the car than what is available on the stock gauge cluster. Connecting my Galaxy S7 Edge is as simple as plugging it into the supplied USB port. Once connected, I have access to Android Auto. Overall, the iLX-F509 makes my driving experience just that much nicer.

Wireless apple CarPlay is amazing. Touch screen is very responsive. Easy to use. Get a MicroBypass to avoid wiring to parking brake. Slight delay when skipping songs in CarPlay but the wireless CarPlay connects much faster on start up than I expected. Installed in 2000 Honda CR-V SE.

The sound quality of Alpine CDE-123 single din unit 20 years ago was much better. I replaced KENWOOD DNX994S to Alpine to get better sound quality, but nowadays, it's all about same. I couldn't tell the unique superior sound quality of Alpine over KENWOOD. The Aline has stronger bass over Kenwood. Don't get fool by Media Expander, Bass Engine, Crossover HPF, LPH, equalizer control.... many fancy control on Alpine. You won't make any significant improvement of sound quality, Remember, Home stereo system only have bass and treble control but still makes great sound. One drawback is whenever you touch the screen, your fingerprint will remain very noticeably and gets dirty so easily, I have ordered screen protector and waiting to see how much it can prevent fingerprints. The 9-inch screen is much bigger than I was expected. Make sure check the entire size of the display before buy.

The audio quality is great; the display looks excellent; and like the HD radio feature. Enough problems though, had me returning this receiver. When starting up my car the unit always turns on by default, which I don't necessarily want. It does not always detect and pair with my phone. The EQ section is poorly designed.If I go online with my phone it effects the audio. Updating is a major pain. Customer service seems uninterested. With the nice display, it would be convenient for it to show the time even when off. I got the wireless volume knob but it has to be paired every time the unit is turned on.

This thing looks so great in my truck. You would think it was stock. I have a 1995 GMC, Yukon GT… And it looks flipping killer… And it sounds amazing.

Closure tabs on box had ben deformed, (first red flag). Unit was covered in fingerprints, especially around the on/off button. Wires looked to be unused and unopened but another plastic bag had been opened and there was one of the trim pieces out of its bag and dangling from the screen-unit. Returned it. Not interested in problems down the road from open box / used.

A huge draw to this was Wireless CarPlay. Which worked well for a week or so, and now it's gone. Snappy screen, great everything else. CarPlay failing makes this not worth it.

This unit causes the GPS to fail on my iPhone 15 Pro Max. It has occurred across various iOS software versions on iPhone 14 and 15 units. It has occurred dozens of times. One time it got me really lost in the middle of the desert on an overland mission and was scary. I have reached out to Alpine repeatedly about the issue and they have completely ghosted me. Lame!