Aoocci BX review | Apple Car Play / Android Auto head unit

Date reviewed: February 2026 | Tested by: John Milbank | Price: £365.48 (RRP) | aoocci.com/

The Aoocci BX on review here, or the ‘CarPlay with Dashcam & Smart BSD’ to give it its full name, is an Android Auto / Apple CarPlay head unit that connects wirelessly to your phone to run a wide range of navigation, music and communication apps. You phone stays safe in your pocket or luggage with the screen off, though the data processing and transmission does still have some impact on the battery. I fitted the BX to my 2001 Honda VFR800 to find out if it’s a decent competitor to some more expensive options on the market…

Pros & Cons

Why you can trust this review

No manufacturers or distributors ever have any influence on the reviews I write or film, I won’t ever do any paid reviews, and I’ll never agree to affiliate links.

All products are tested fairly and equally by Bennetts BikeSocial, and if anything changes over time, I will update the written reviews.

Your purchasing choices should always be your own – Bennetts BikeSocial is just here to help ensure they’re informed choices.

Aoocci BX price

At the time of writing, the Aoocci BX is a new device with a retail price of £365.67 including Blind Spot Detection (BSD), or £292.39 without it, but there’s an ‘Early Bird’ price at the moment of £292.39 or £219.11 respectively.

However, when I add it to the basket the price with BSD (the unit on review here) drops to £243.36 through another discount code that appears. That includes an automatically applied (but optional) ‘Worry-Free Delivery’ fee of £4.38, which promises a full refund if your order doesn’t arrive as described, including loss or damage in transit. That’s effectively an insurance provided by a company called Seel, and while a very cheap addition it’s notable that your consumer rights when ordering direct from China aren’t what they’d be if buying in the UK.

You shouldn’t feel rushed by the ‘Early Bird’ price offering – Aoocci is always discounting its products, and many influencers have codes offering savings up to 28%. In fact, this is perhaps a good chance to understand how the review process works with some companies.

Most of the reviews on Bennetts BikeSocial are of products that have been supplied by a manufacturer or distributor. That should be common sense really as it would cost far too much to buy everything, but that doesn’t mean these reviews are sponsored as there is never any agreement in place over the content; I promise that I will complete a review, but not what the outcome will be. And that absolute honesty has upset some brands. In some cases, where a product is really important and the brand doesn’t want us reviewing it, we’ll buy it ourselves.

I think anybody reviewing anything has a moral obligation to their readers and viewers – I hate to think of someone being disappointed after buying something that I recommended.

Of course, it helps that I’m paid a salary to do this job, and I have no influence from my management to steer reviews, but I guess it must be tempting for some when companies offer incentives. Below is the first email contact I had with Aoocci, when I was asked to review the C6 Pro.

I don’t know whether that’s the same offer given to other reviewers, but it’s not the first time I’ve seen it.

I refused, but given the popularity of the Aoocci kit now, I later agreed that we’d review this BX and the BM6 (which is being tested by another member of our team) on the condition that we’d have the products sent for review, but that would be all. We’re not using any discount codes or affiliate links, and won’t make any money from producing these reviews, or from any sales.

There is a question mark over whether we received ‘specially-prepared’ products, but at most it seems plausible that they may have been given an extra quality control check before dispatch.

Why am I labouring this so much? Any brand could send ‘special’ products for review, but I’ve been in this game for more than 30 years now, and was on RiDE magazine when we exposed how Frank Thomas was sending custom-tailored leather suits in for review, rather than the off-the-peg kit that it was claimed to be.

If there are any doubts about a product, we’ll check it in store and buy it if necessary.

There are plenty of red flags on the Aoocci site, such as the text ‘Today deal sale off 70%. End . Hurry Up!!’, the AI-generated images on the home page, the constant and seemingly random discounting and the AI-generated images used in Aoocci’s ‘Our Story’ about us page, but what really matters is how the product performs…

Features and mapping included

The Aoocci BX is a compact device based on a 5.5” IPS (In-Plane Switching Liquid Crystal Display) screen. A pair of cameras are included, as well as a remote GPS receiver and the optional blind spot detection radar.

All of these devices need to be connected to your phone to run navigation apps, stream music, make calls etc – without that the BX has the following functions of its own:

• Home screen with speed, time, tyre pressure and a compass, though it’s not that easy to see at speed

• Dash cam showing front or rear view

• Blind Spot Detection alert

The main options are available from the home screen, including ‘Mobile screen’, which takes you to the Android Auto / Apple Car Play display. This can be set to load automatically, and usually comes up about a minute after the BX powers on. From there, you’re using the BX to control your phone.

If you want to go back to any other screens, you either need to use the included wired remote control, or tap the small floating button on the ‘Mobile screen’ pages. This can be dragged where you want it, to ensure it doesn’t block any important information, but you can’t remove it. Devices like the Chigee, which has hardware buttons on the unit itself, do not have this floater.

Your choice of apps is huge, and of course Google maps works well. I also use OsmAnd for exploring unknown roads and planning my own trips, though it is slightly limited in its functionality compared to running it direct from your phone or a tablet.

The biggest problem that some will face is that not all apps are available to connect via devices like these. Most are, but a notable omission is the superb Calimoto, which works directly on Android and Apple devices, but is only compatible with Apple CarPlay. Calimoto says that it’s actively working on making it compatible, but that’s been the case for well over a year.

Aoocci BX dash-cam

A pair of plastic-cased, weather-resistant 1080P cameras with 140° viewing angle are supplied with the Aoocci BX, along with a 64GB microSD card to fit into the camera. There’s plenty of cable on them, and the supplied thin metal brackets can be stuck in place with the adhesive pads, or screwed into plastic with the self-tapping screws.

Aoocci BX dash-cam samples

Footage in clear weather, rain and at night

As you can see, the video quality from the Aoocci is fine, and might prove useful in a worst-case scenario – just make sure you keep the lenses clean. Clips can be set to one, two or three minutes long, and take up between 72 and 78MB of space for each minute from each camera. Once the microSD card is full, the oldest clips (except those you locked) get overwritten, though keep in mind that something could happen in a clip that you want to keep, and by the time you press the button a new one might have started causing you to save the wrong one.

The supplied 64GB card should have enough space for over 400 hours of riding though, so unless you’re on a very long tour, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to get any important footage back.

Disappointingly, there’s no way to turn off the location and speed stamps, though you could disconnect the GPS unit if you wanted to.

A collision sensing option automatically locks footage if it senses a crash, though I fortunately haven’t been able to test this. Note that if the bike confuses vibration and potholes with an impact, the microSD card could be quicky filled up with locked footage.

Sentinel mode is disabled by default, but when turned on will automatically record clips and save them to the ‘event’ folder if the bike’s moved. It takes more than a light knock to set it off, but it should trigger if someone starts fiddling about with it, or if it gets knocked over by a car backing into it. Thoughtfully, the head-unit doesn’t give any indication that it’s recording while the bike’s parked up.

When the Aoocci is powered back up, there’s no alert that a recording took place, which would be helpful. Though if the bike’s on the floor you’ll already have a good idea.

Getting the footage off the Aoocci can be done by downloading the generic MotoNavi app to your phone. This is far from a polished piece of software, and it demands an account linked to your email, as well as a lot of permissions. Once installed you can browse and download individual clips to your device. You can then view the clips with a map showing where they were filmed, but this just displayed a blank map in my testing.

Alternatively you could remove the head unit from the bike, then unscrew the two small Philips-head screws (don’t lose them!) that hold the metal plate on the base, then pick out the silicone cover before extracting the microSD card and copying the files to your computer. This is what I did as it’s easier to get batches of clips, and in future I’ll hopefully never need them to prove anything, so will rarely if ever need to access them.

Aoocci BX Tyre Pressure Monitoring

The Aoocci BX includes a pair of TPMS (Tyre Pressure Monitoring System) sensors, which are screwed onto the front and rear wheels then bound to the head-unit to show the pressures in BAR or PSI on the home screen, and to flag up a warning on any screen if the pressures drop or increase outside of a range set by you. If you tap on the pressure readings on the home screen, the temperature in °C or °F is also displayed in the TPMS settings page.

This is a great way to avoid that nagging feeling that there might be a problem, and the display is updated quickly as the pressure changes.

I also tried removing the sensors while the bike was off then shielding them from reconnecting (to simulate a flat battery), and they immediately showed a warning of zero pressure, which is a good fail-safe.

The batteries are replaceable using the supplied spanner to unscrew the base while holding the top, with a single CR1632 cell required (around £1.75 each).

The sensors are a bit of a fiddle to get off the stems if you want to adjust the tyre pressures, as they must be firmly held in place with the supplied locking nuts. That of course means that you need the little spanner with the bike at all times. Without this locknut, the sensors could loosen off, at which point they can let air escape.

Ideally you’d use external TPMS sensors on bikes that have metal valve stems, or at least ensure that the stems fitted are in perfect condition, and that they’re replaced at every tyre change, as the force they’ll exert on the stem will increase significantly as the wheel spins at ever higher speeds.

Aoocci BX Blind Spot Detection

Blind Spot Detection (BSD) is an optional extra on the Aoocci BX, and unlike the Chigee it doesn’t use the feed from the rear camera to detect approaching vehicles, instead requiring a radar unit to be mounted to the back of the bike and given its own switched power supply.

Once paired with the Aoocci it works fairly well, putting a red bar on the side of the screen that a vehicle’s approaching from (or both if it’s coming directly from the rear). It also bleeps, but you’ll rarely be able to hear this, and as audio is streamed direct from your phone to any Bluetooth intercom you have (the Aoocci just controls the phone), you won’t hear it there. It can also be set to automatically switch to the rear camera view when it detects a hazard, but this doesn’t happen when running navigation software (the red bars do still work).

It can be a handy warning, but it’s not a substitute for a shoulder check before changing lanes. It doesn’t detect other vehicles 100% of the time, and very occasionally gives false positives.

On the Chigee, which uses the feed from the camera, it was a handy bonus that I didn’t find much use for myself. Perhaps if the screen is closer to your eyeline when riding it might be beneficial, but as a paid extra that also requires extra steps to install, I’d suggest not bothering.

Aoocci BX remote control

The remote control supplied with the Aoocci BX is a simple, wired three button device designed to fit over the bike’s left grip. Unfortunately, that’s right where the controller sits for my heated grips, so I had to find somewhere else to put it.

A metal plate is supplied to fit the controller under a bar-mounted mirror stem, but I couldn’t find anywhere accessible for it, so lashed it over the RAM mount I used to get it onto the VFR.

The controls aren’t intuitive, and there’s no option to programme them, but the buttons have various functions:

There’s no option to control any apps within Android Auto or Apple CarPlay – you can’t even recentre a map or play/pause music – but being able to lock a video clip might be useful to avoid it being erased. The only reason I installed the controller was to be able to turn off the touch function in heavy rain.

Mounting to the bike

No fitting instructions are supplied with the Aoocci BX, and the QR code on the box just goes to the product page. A link can be found on there though to download them: https://aoocci.com/pages/motorcycle-support.

A screwdriver and the various required Allen keys (some of which are security type) are all supplied with the Aoocci BX, along with a handlebar mount and a quick-release device that can optionally be installed to allow the head-unit to be slid off the bike in seconds. The problem is that you also have to unscrew the connecting cable, then screw the tethered weather protector onto the lead that’s left on the bike. This is fiddly, and while it does make the device removable for better security, it’s far from ‘quick release’ and I’ve ended up permanently fixing the BX to the bike, rather than have to faff about with it in the rain.

The longest job when installing is deciding where to mount the cameras and the BSD radar (if you have it), and how you’ll get the head-unit on the bars. Plenty of cable is supplied, and while the power lead has a voltage regulator built in, it’s not too bulky. A permanent connection goes to the battery terminals, as well as a switched live, so it knows when the bike’s turned on. The five cable connectors on the main loom are bulky though, and they’re also quite close to the head-unit, so depending on your bike these might look quite cluttered.

The problem I had with mounting the Aoocci to the VFR800 was that there’s nowhere to use supplied bar mount. The other options are a RAM ball-style mount for £28.75 that fits to the bars or the brake / clutch lever mounting brackets, (called ‘G (universal bracket), or the £36.13 ‘H (Fork Stem + Universal bracket), which would have been most suitable for me. I lashed something up using an old RAM mount, but consider carefully where you’ll be fitting the device, and order any extra fittings at the same time as I’d have much preferred to use the fork stem mount.

Set-up and updating

Once installed you need to pair the Aoocci to your phone. This isn’t as intuitive as I’d like, and once you find the right screen, be sure to select Android Auto OR Apple CarPlay before proceeding. I ended up doing it manually by pairing via Bluetooth, then getting the WiFi connection working. It was a clunky process, and a dedicated Aoocci app on my phone would likely have made it simpler.

Firmware updates can be downloaded from the Aoocci support page, but there’s no indication of how these can be installed. Fortunately my device is already using the latest (at the time of writing) 0.1.5 firmware.

Updates are meant to be carried out over the air (OTA) using the Moto Navi app from Google Play or the Apple app store. Once downloaded, an account has to be created (linked to your email) and permission given for a lot of information sharing and access to your phone.

From there, you can perform an OTA update, but when I tried it, it locked up the Aoocci, which needed to be disconnected from power to make it turn off. After that it was fully reset back to factory settings, so I had to go through the full process of binding it to my phone again, and activating all the options I’d done before. A recent review on the Aoocci website indicates I’m not the only one to suffer this, with a reviewer stating that Aoocci is repairing it, but that they have to pay for the shipping both ways.

The Aoocci BX works fine at the moment, but this clunky and unreliable process doesn’t inspire confidence for the future, espically if Android Auto / Apple CarPlay is changed in such a way that a firmware update is unavoidable.

How long does your phone battery last?

Tethering your phone to an Android Auto or Apple CarPlay device like the Aoocci BX has a lot less impact on the battery than using the phone on the bars as the screen is off, but it is still using a WiFi connection to transmit the data, and your phone is doing all the processing and route calculation.

The screen tends to have the greatest impact on battery life, but I used the AccuBattery app to monitor my phone’s use, and running Google maps on the Aoocci while streaming music via Plex seemed to draw somewhere between about 400 and 800mAh from my Google Pixel 7 Pro.

The 5,000mAh battery in my phone appears to be at 81% health (4,065mAh capacity), and I can ride almost all day without it going flat. A recent four-hour ride in the afternoon saw my battery getting low by the time I arrived at my destination, but I’d been streaming music to my intercom, running Google maps, and had used the phone all morning.

Ultimately, this and similar devices will have an impact on your phone’s battery life, but nothing like that of navigating direct from the phone.

Touchscreen sensitivity

Unlike a Garmin or TomTom sat-nav, the Aoocci BX uses a capacitive touchscreen, just like your phone. For that reason you’ll need compatible riding gloves, and how accurately you can press some of the quite small buttons will depend on how large the fingers are on the gloves.

The ‘Nudud’ nubbin on some Held gloves can really help with accuracy, but there are no unique problems with using the Aoocci touchscreen.

Display layout & clarity

The 960x480 resolution of the Aoocci BX might not sound much by today’s phone standards, but it’s more than enough for everything you’d use it for, and the display is certainly easy to read.

The claimed 1,000 nits brightness should be enough for most weather conditions, but I haven’t yet been able to use it on the sunniest days. For comparison, the iPhone 17 Pro also has a maximum brightness of 1,000 nits, though it can hit a peak of 3,000 nits. The Carpe Iter V4c tablet can hit 2,600 nits, but the previous V4b topped out at 1,000 nits and I had no problems with that in the sun.

Auto-dimming is not enabled by default, so touch the floating button to access the brightness settings, then tap on the auto symbol to avoid being dazzled at night. The setting only appears here, not in the Aoocci’s setting’s menu.

A sunshield is supplied with the Aoocci but it’s frankly rubbish. A folded piece of acrylic, it looks very much like an after-thought, and doesn’t even follow the lines of the unit. It’s stuck on with double-sided tape, and is already peeling away after being out in the rain. I doubt it’ll survive many more rides.

Depending how and where you mount the device, you might not need it, but I’ll likely design and 3D print a better option when this one disappears down the road.

Waterproofing

Claimed to be rated to IP68, the Aoocci BX should resist all dust and immersion in water for long periods.

I’ve had no issues with using it at motorway speeds in the rain, so just avoid spraying it with a pressure washer.

Being a capacitive touchscreen, rain drops can affect it, potentially moving the screen around or even changing or cancelling your navigation as the device interprets the drops of water as finger touches.

It’ll depend very much on how you mount the device to the bike: more vertical, perhaps behind the screen will be unlikely to cause any problems, but this is the reason I have the remote strapped to the bracket – a long press of the Home button locks the screen from touch if the weather gets really bad. A button built into the Aoocci would have been a better solution for this.

Ease of route planning

The great thing about using Android Auto or Apple Car Play is that you can plan your route while sat at home, then when you turn on the bike it’ll appear on the screen.

You can of course also set up routes on the device, but the interface might be a little smaller than some phones, and you’ll get on better with your gloves off. Each app is different, but most developers have put a lot of effort into ensuring a good user experience as the tech is now used so widely in cars as well as bikes.

Here you can see the menu that’s accessed from the floating button in the ‘Mobile screen’

Accuracy and ease of navigation

While the Aoocci does have a separate GPS antenna, it’s only used for the compass and the dash-cam speed / location info.

The accuracy of your navigation will totally depend on the performance of the GPS chip built into your phone. While usually very good, they’re rarely as refined as those used in dedicated navigation devices, but for most users it’s absolutely fine.

The main problem I’ve noticed with any of these units is that if I have my phone in a trouser pocket, it can occasionally struggle to pick up satellites. With it in a chest pocket, or elsewhere that has a more reliable ‘line of sight’ to the sky without being blocked by your body, I’ve not had any issues beyond the usual slight lag that sometimes happens when using a phone for navigation.

You should expect the same performance as you get with your phone on the bars or in the car.

Aoocci warranty

I haven’t had any cause to call on Aoocci’s warranty but I did contact customer services using the chat function on the company’s website to ask where I would need to send the unit back to and what it’d cost me if I bought one and decided (without fitting it) that I didn’t want it.

That was at 16:56 UK time on 17 Feb, and as I finish this review on 20 Feb I still haven’t had any reply. I’ll update this review when I get one.

Aoocci is a Chinese company, with no UK support so if you do have a problem it could be a difficult process that requires you to send the device back to China, potentially at your own expense.

While the internet can exaggerate any potential problems and should be treated with caution, a BikeSocial Facebook Group member did have this to say: “I was stuck with a unit that failed with a known issue after a few rides. I had to send it back to China before they would even consider an exchange. It already took three weeks to get here, and then I had to pay upfront for the postage return.

“It got bounced around between Heathrow and Basildon before being sent back to me as the address they provided isn’t listed.”

I can’t verify this, but I would always advise caution when buying anything that doesn’t have a UK support centre.

Three alternatives to the Aoocci BX

Android Auto / Apple CarPlay devices are a lot better than mounting your phone on your bike for various reasons, so here are some options to consider…

• Chigee AIO-6 Max, £449.95 | More expensive than the Aoocci, the Chigee has better mounting hardware and is a more refined product to use. Buy it in the UK, and you get quality support from the importer, Pama. Read the full review of the Chigee AIO-6 here.

• Innovv N2, £196 | Adding dash-cam functionality to the Innovv will cost £112, and TPMS an extra £38. If you want to add a speed display to your dash-cam, that’s another £38, so the price is higher than it first appears if you want to match the functionality of the Aoocci, but this is all sold by Sportsbikeshop, so if you have any problems within the one year warranty, they’ll look after you. We haven’t reviewed the Innovv N2.

• Carpuride W603D, £223.00 | We haven’t reviewed the Carpuride, but it’s another temptingly cheap device that comes with a pair of cameras. There are various fitting options available for different brands of bikes, but like the Aoocci it doesn’t have any UK dealership support, and reliability and consistency are questionable.

These are just three of many alternatives – you can find all the sat-navs we’ve tested here  and be sure to regularly check for the discounts available through Bikesocial membership.

Aoocci BX review: Verdict

Android Auto / Apple CarPlay head-units like this are far better than having your phone fixed to the bike’s bars, where even waterproof devices can have problems with rain getting into the charging port, where they can overheat in hot climates, or of course where they can fall off and be destroyed, leaving you with no navigation and no way of calling for help if you need it.

The Aoocci BX – and others like it – do very little without your phone connected. Sure, you get tyre pressure monitoring and a dashcam, along with a compass, clock and speed display, but it’s the software available when your phone’s paired that really makes these devices worthwhile. They’re all a compromise though – if your phone dies you still have no navigation, but it’s far less likely to suffer any damage when it’s in your pocket.

For most navigation on a motorcycle, an Android Auto / Apple Carplay unit is a great solution, and the Aoocci I have on review has proved to be very good value. You don’t have UK support, the lack of hardware buttons creates its own issues, and the mounting kit is pretty clunky compared to the more expensive options.

But despite my serious reservations about the firmware updating process, and my wariness of any brand selling direct from China (not to mention the dubious imagery on the site) it currently works great. Our reviews are kept constantly updated so if anything changes I will of course flag it here, but I’ve not had any problems on the old VFR800 and given that the brand seems to always be running discounts, it does seem to be a surprisingly good bit of kit for the price.

If you’d like to chat about this article or anything else biking related, join us and thousands of other riders at our friendly and helpful BikeClub forum.