Boating USA — March 2018

By Randy Vance

48 | BOATINGMAG.COM | MARCH 2018

BOAT DOCTOR///BOATINGLAB

BL

BOATINGLAB

PHOTOS: COURTESY PIONEER ELECTRONICS

New truck and SUV

prices march higher, and

boaters oft en choose

used vehicles to econ-

omize. Or, determined

to keep new-vehicle

reliability, they choose

base-trim models and

upgrade them. Either

way, we’ve tracked down

some aft ermarket tech-

nology to cover your ...

rear ... with backup cam-

eras and even a top-shelf

media center.

BACKUP

CAMS

BoatingLAB investigates
aftermarket backup
cameras and more

PIONEER

AVH-1330NEX

If you’re driving a vehicle that missed out

on an OEM touchscreen audio display and

hands-free Bluetooth phone capabilities,

here’s an elegant, easy and economical way

to bring your vehicle into the smartphone

world and add a backup camera. It’s only

one of Pioneer’s dozen or so Apple CarPlay

options too, so there is apt to be one to inte-

grate into your ride. It links to iOS devices

and allows mapping and tunes to be played

and controlled on the NEX from services

like Pandora and Spotify. It can offer some

hands-free capabilities with Android too.

Tune it to fi nd the radio stations you want, or

play a CD or DVD on board. There are plenty

of entertainment options available and stan-

dard. It integrates with Pioneer’s ND-BC8

backup camera to give a 129-degree-wide

and 105-degree-high image.

ALSO COOL: In addition to all its integrat-

ed music apps and iPhone CarPlay, it plays

DVDs too.

INSTALLATION: This is likely not a DIY

project for most and requires expertise to

determine which mounting brackets and au-

tomotive system interfaces are required to

maximize vehicle integration. It includes a

microphone for hands-free calls and offers

the capability to send and receive text mes-

sages hands-free. Mounting brackets and

frames run from $100 for a basic mount to

replace a standard pre-smartphone audio

system to $300-plus for a mounting panel

with a heating and air-conditioning control

interface.

PROS: This can give any solid but older

vehicle cutting-edge communications, map-

ping and entertainment options for a more

enjoyable cruise. Apple CarPlay lets your

system display iOS mapping on the display.

An optional GPS module is available, but with

Apple CarPlay, we think it’s redundant.

CONS: The AVH-1330NEX is not an inex-

pensive shortcut to integrated factory audio,

communications and mapping systems in

newer vehicles, but it does successfully bring

those things to older vehicles in its stand-

alone format via Apple CarPlay or Android

Bluetooth connection. There are lots of tech-

nical questions to resolve when choosing

this system, and it will require professional

installation.

COST: $400; pioneerelectronics.com

MoÕ Betta

Pioneer brings

full-featured

media and navi-

gation suites for

aftermarket use.