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WWYD? 8.4 vs 7.0

4xeEsq

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The 7 inch reminds me of the jk. No thanks
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Yzfguy

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Man, I hate this. I keep deciding one way, then changing my mind :)
I want to just be happy with the 7, I keep thinking how it's about the size I have now in my grand Cherokee, and it's not like I really look at it all that much. I currently use my phone as my GPS, so I mean the 7 would still be huge compared to that for Waze.
But then the 8.4 is what I have been picturing in my mind for four months, and I hate how that rubber spacer on the bottom of the frame makes it so obvious that it should be bigger than the 7.
It just sucks that I am spending at the ceiling of what I thought I would do, and was expecting it to be included. So on the one hand, what's 800 bucks when you're already on the mid 50s... But on the other hand I'm already in the mid 50s!
Man, I was so happy to see the window sticker pop up today, until I saw this!
I guess I'ma have to sleep on this. They don't need to know until the jeep is in their lot so I have a couple weeks to mull it over. Thanks, guys.
 

jessedacri

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Man, I hate this. I keep deciding one way, then changing my mind :)
I want to just be happy with the 7, I keep thinking how it's about the size I have now in my grand Cherokee, and it's not like I really look at it all that much. I currently use my phone as my GPS, so I mean the 7 would still be huge compared to that for Waze.
But then the 8.4 is what I have been picturing in my mind for four months, and I hate how that rubber spacer on the bottom of the frame makes it so obvious that it should be bigger than the 7.
It just sucks that I am spending at the ceiling of what I thought I would do, and was expecting it to be included. So on the one hand, what's 800 bucks when you're already on the mid 50s... But on the other hand I'm already in the mid 50s!
Man, I was so happy to see the window sticker pop up today, until I saw this!
I guess I'ma have to sleep on this. They don't need to know until the jeep is in their lot so I have a couple weeks to mull it over. Thanks, guys.
Some things about the 8.4 I think are notable for me:
Upsides:
- Off Road Pages is nice to have. I use it mostly to watch my current elevation or to have the vehicle gauges display while we're running the Jeep hard, like towing a trailer, grueling wheeling on a hot day, long hard ascents loaded down, etc. I would verify with them that this will be functional on the dealer-installed version as sometimes it is not for some reason.
- CarPlay and Android Auto occupy a much larger portion of the screen on the 8.4. Its cropped small and narrow on the 7", almost like it's in a window. Look at some photos if you can or try it at a dealer on both units.
- I didn't care about the built in navigation either, but sometimes it's nice to use in addition to CarPlay when you just want to quickly see roads around you. The built in nav often has many trails in memory and it's been able to plot a route home offline while I was 20 miles from pavement in the Los Padres National Forest, while my phone had no service. It also is nice to just have open while cruising the city or backroads as I believe it's easier to quickly see city blocks, streets, and make your own route decisions. Apple Maps, Google Maps, Waze etc. are all top notch when actually navigating to an entered destination, but when not on an active nav they all fill the screen with suggested stuff and the map itself is typically pretty overkill with bars, restaurants, stores, etc and crazy 3D perspectives rather than just letting you easily keep the zoom level where you want it to be and view roads around you. The UConnect 8.4 nav just gets out of the way when you just want to be able to quickly glance at a map of your immediate area and see if that road coming up on your right goes through or not, for example. I do a lot of driving like this - I know where I'm going generally but like to have the reference up to make my own decisions, and I find it tough to do that on the CarPlay/Android Auto stuff because it's too focused on trying to recommend things.


Some downsides, but hardly:

- The unit is a bit sluggish, but so is the 7. It's just how uconnect4 is and it's much better than the vast majority of automaker-designed infotainment stuff. It's buttery smooth while operating CarPlay or Android Auto though.

- There's these horribly annoying "Weather Alerts" and "Wind Advisories" that pop up at random for counties that can be hundreds of miles from you. They take the entire screen up and require you to look down and push OK to dismiss. Very annoying when driving with navigation to have to take your focus off and dismiss a pop up. It's called Travel Link and I have it disabled via my Tazer, but without the tazer there's no way to turn these off. I'm in Los Angeles and probably got 1-2 of these every time I drove anywhere. A wind advisory in Inyo County, over three hours away. Great.

- The hotspot thing is useless IMO. Most decent data plans by major cell carriers already have great hotspot / tethering capability. I just don't see the reason anyone would pay for another data plan stuck to a 4,500 pound vehicle when you've got the same thing in your pocket at all times likely with newer, faster cell radios.

- We're quite close to Uconnect5 showing up in the JL with the 10 inch display and much smoother UI, but in order to get this you'd need to wait for MY2024 or later. I'm counting on a swap to be possible down the road for '18-23 models.
 

JeepViking13

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Man, I hate this. I keep deciding one way, then changing my mind :)
I want to just be happy with the 7, I keep thinking how it's about the size I have now in my grand Cherokee, and it's not like I really look at it all that much. I currently use my phone as my GPS, so I mean the 7 would still be huge compared to that for Waze.
But then the 8.4 is what I have been picturing in my mind for four months, and I hate how that rubber spacer on the bottom of the frame makes it so obvious that it should be bigger than the 7.
It just sucks that I am spending at the ceiling of what I thought I would do, and was expecting it to be included. So on the one hand, what's 800 bucks when you're already on the mid 50s... But on the other hand I'm already in the mid 50s!
Man, I was so happy to see the window sticker pop up today, until I saw this!
I guess I'ma have to sleep on this. They don't need to know until the jeep is in their lot so I have a couple weeks to mull it over. Thanks, guys.
Seriously if size is important to you go with the 13 incher I posted earlier. That thing is sick. Lol. If your going to spend the $800 and upgrade go big or go home. Lol. đź‘Ť

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The Last Cowboy

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It’s just a radio. Who cares how big the damn screen is. The screen size “upgrade” is a huge money maker for auto manufactures and the aftermarket right now.

5 years from now the trend will be all hide away with nothing to be seen. The screen will be between the gauges or in the gauges. Giant screens in the middle of the dash will look like cassette/CD decks do today.
 

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Yzfguy

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Some things about the 8.4 I think are notable for me:
Upsides:
- Off Road Pages is nice to have. I use it mostly to watch my current elevation or to have the vehicle gauges display while we're running the Jeep hard, like towing a trailer, grueling wheeling on a hot day, long hard ascents loaded down, etc. I would verify with them that this will be functional on the dealer-installed version as sometimes it is not for some reason.
- CarPlay and Android Auto occupy a much larger portion of the screen on the 8.4. Its cropped small and narrow on the 7", almost like it's in a window. Look at some photos if you can or try it at a dealer on both units.
- I didn't care about the built in navigation either, but sometimes it's nice to use in addition to CarPlay when you just want to quickly see roads around you. The built in nav often has many trails in memory and it's been able to plot a route home offline while I was 20 miles from pavement in the Los Padres National Forest, while my phone had no service. It also is nice to just have open while cruising the city or backroads as I believe it's easier to quickly see city blocks, streets, and make your own route decisions. Apple Maps, Google Maps, Waze etc. are all top notch when actually navigating to an entered destination, but when not on an active nav they all fill the screen with suggested stuff and the map itself is typically pretty overkill with bars, restaurants, stores, etc rather than just letting you easily keep the zoom level where you want it to be and view roads around you. The UConnect 8.4 nav just gets out of the way when you just want to be able to quickly glance at a map of your immediate area and see if that road coming up on your right goes through or not, for example. I do a lot of driving like this - I know where I'm going generally but like to have the reference up to make my own decisions, and I find it tough to do that on the CarPlay/Android Auto stuff because it's too focused on trying to recommend things.


Some downsides, but hardly:

- The unit is a bit sluggish, but so is the 7. It's just how uconnect4 is and it's much better than the vast majority of automaker-designed infotainment stuff. It's buttery smooth while operating CarPlay or Android Auto though.

- There's these horribly annoying "Weather Alerts" and "Wind Advisories" that pop up at random for counties that can be hundreds of miles from you. They take the entire screen up and require you to look down and push OK to dismiss. Very annoying when driving with navigation to have to take your focus off and dismiss a pop up. It's called Travel Link and I have it disabled via my Tazer, but without the tazer there's no way to turn these off. I'm in Los Angeles and probably got 1-2 of these every time I drove anywhere. A wind advisory in Inyo County, over three hours away. Great.

- The hotspot thing is useless IMO. Most decent data plans by major cell carriers already have great hotspot / tethering capability.

- We're quite close to Uconnect5 showing up in the JL with the 10 inch display and much smoother UI, but in order to get this you'd need to wait for MY2024 or later. I'm counting on a swap to be possible down the road for '18-23 models.
Thanks for taking the time to type all that. I see what you mean about the cropped screen. My dealer says that the off road pages aren't available unless I was getting a Rubicon. I appreciate your input regarding the maps also.
 
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Yzfguy

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It’s just a radio. Who cares how big the damn screen is. The screen size “upgrade” is a huge money maker for auto manufactures and the aftermarket right now.

5 years from now the trend will be all hide away with nothing to be seen. The screen will be between the gauges or in the gauges. Giant screens in the middle of the dash will look like cassette/CD decks do today.
I think when it comes down to it, this is how I feel. It's just the change happening against my will is tugging on my stubbornness! I'm leaning toward just leaving it be at the 7. Never thought so much about having an extra inch and a half before! ;)
 

dragoneggs

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I have the 8.4. Bigger is better for me plus I use all of the added features. Seems $800 is a bargain (I know not really), but you might be kicking yourself later if you aren't a DIY person.

I do like the aftermarket larger screen and saw it in person at SEMA exhibition last fall. Awesome but I don't know if it has all of the features. Would think so though.

Good luck with a tough decision.
 

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1.5 inches may matter elsewhere, but not in your dashboard. You’ll never miss it. If you didn’t get charged for it from the factory, even better.
 

jessedacri

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Thanks for taking the time to type all that. I see what you mean about the cropped screen. My dealer says that the off road pages aren't available unless I was getting a Rubicon. I appreciate your input regarding the maps also.
Anytime - and that's strange with Off Road Pages because my buddy's 2019 Sahara has it as well as my 2019 Rubicon, so I think the dealer is BSing you there. Either way, if you ended up with a Tazer it allows you to force enable Off Road Pages as well as disable those annoying weather things. You'll end up with a Tazer or a competing product most likely if you do any upgrades like change your tire size, regear your axles, add swaybar disconnect or factory lockers, upgrade to the factory LED headlights, etc.
 

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4xeEsq

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Thanks for taking the time to type all that. I see what you mean about the cropped screen. My dealer says that the off road pages aren't available unless I was getting a Rubicon. I appreciate your input regarding the maps also.
My 21 Sahara has it
 

1BadManVan

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Thanks for taking the time to type all that. I see what you mean about the cropped screen. My dealer says that the off road pages aren't available unless I was getting a Rubicon. I appreciate your input regarding the maps also.
Not true about the off-road pages, we have it on our Sahara. That just comes with the 8.4” system.
 

Dp227

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I’ve had the 5, upgraded to the 7, and now have the 8.4 in a new Jeep.

Sure the 8.4 is nice and I’m glad I have it, but you’ll be happy with the 7, honestly. That said, if you go for it, you’ll like the 8.4 too. I like ORP, I’m not going to lie.

One question to other forum members - isn’t Stellantis weird about user upgraded head units and warranty issues? I know officially they state they don’t sell them for upgrade purposes even though you can more or less hot swap the head units over really nicely.

edit: an autocorrect error
 
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BXFXJeep

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Had the 8.4 in my 2018 JL, and again in my 2022 4xe, it's junk, but it comes standard in Canadian Sahara so I had no choice, the whole uconnect thing is utter junk.

I run everything off my phone, the only thing I use that junk for is to display the Hybrid pages, and that's because it's either that or turn the screen off.

I think the Alpine is a must because the base system is garbage.
 
 



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