Atoto S8 Gen2 android head unit. Still pumping out the jams after six months?
Welcome to #modmonday ! Home of my Subaru product reviews from my Forester and STi. Today we will be looking at my long term review on the Atoto S8 Gen2 Android head unit which has been installed for the last seven months.
Nothing like a good equalizer session to fine tune it to your ear. Sound field is actually really good to, if you are a solo driver and want all the music in your earholes!
With countless android head units out in the market it can be extremely tough to choose one. What features do you need and what can you do without. I am a pretty simple man in my head unit goals, which are the ability to play music over my phone via bluetooth and working 95% of the time. So far the Atoto S8 has been very capable in these departments and have thoroughly enjoyed it over the months.
Where it used to live and all the programs it comes preloaded with
The audio quality is what I have grown accustomed to for bluetooth audio, which is worth it for being able to have a vast music library at your fingertips via your phone. Connection speed when turning the car on is about six seconds as the head unit connects to your phone. I've had a handful of times where the unit power cycles itself on startup but it takes maybe twenty seconds and the music is playing. The bluetooth connection has been quite solid otherwise only having a couple of times where it pauses for seemingly no reason, but this could be the phones fault, I will never really know. It does come with the ability to have a corded version of apple carplay and android auto, but I haven't tested either due to it taking away from what I want the radio to do.
Finishing up the upper navi hood install! Best mod ever! How to install your own!
The touchscreen is very responsive and I have yet to experience any trouble with it, every screen press even in -7F temperatures is registered and functions. I do appreciate the volume and track skip buttons on the front for keeping your eyes on the road for ease of use. Having installed it in the lower head unit section and upper navigation hood I have found the screen is easy to read from multiple angles. I haven't had trouble with glare in either of these positions unlike some head units.
For my uses this thing is pretty nifty. Plenty of other audio head units out there but this one fit the bill for me.
My experience with other name brand head units has shown just how finicky they can be and I have been extremely pleased not to have had any of those problems. These issues would include random reboots in the middle of drives, bluetooth unable to connect, touchscreen unresponsive, etc etc. So overall for the price and features I believe it to be a pretty stout little unit that can get the job done. The one thing I would love to see is a different set of equalizer visualizations but I can deal with the same simple yet effective design for now.