Pioneer AVH-X8500BHS
 

I am going to purchase a Pioneer AVH-X8500BHS this week from Crutchfield. I currently have the stock old headunit (non-touch screen). The order comes with a receiver kit, antenna and wiring harness. I am also planning to purchase a microbypass.

I read upon few reviews and it's all positive. My question is, do I need to purchase anything else to make the kit fully functional. The website said that the aux and usb ports may not work (stock ones) but I've seen people make it work so I was confused.

I am also wondering if I should do it myself having 0 to little experience in changing headunit.

if you wait a little while, you may see discounts on this and other head units.. ces2014 just started and the big players will be rolling out their latest product lines shortly. there usually will be discounts on current products coming soon.

Also, my X8500BHS will be for sale soon for the exact same reason. I'm going to get a 2014 head unit. (New ones have FLAC playback)

You would need to get something like this to get the OEM USB port to easily work: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Axxess-AX-TOYUSB-Adaptor-Retain-Vehicles/dp/B00EAYYQDO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1389154826&sr=8-2&keywords=toyota+USB+adapter"]Amazon.com: Axxess by Metra AX-TOYUSB USB Adaptor to Retain the OE USB in Select Toyota/Lexus Vehicles: Car Electronics[/ame]

The OEM AUX would take some extra effort to get to work (I didn't bother).

Overall, I like my AVH-X8500BHS HU. Sound quality is very good and it is highly customization. I hate AppRadio and wished Pioneer would just give up on it cause it sucks. The screen is good quality, but I'm hoping someone would have the balls to actually bring to market a HU with retina-like quality display like on our cell phones. I'm about to install navigation by adding a AVIC-U250 within the next week. Despite the limited & mixed reviews on the navigation add-on, I bought it anyway cause I got tired of using my iPhone for nav. I'll likely post a detailed review of the AVIC-U250 onto Amazon and onto these forums after I get a chance to use it for a bit.

What would I have to purchase to make the aux work?

You will need to cut into the OE USB/AUX port and solder a couple wires. Not that hard to do but when I looked up that part that we'd need to modify I remember it was ~$60 and decided AUX wasn't that important to me cause bluetooth actually works & sounds quite good (at least to my non-discriminating ears).

If the HU has rear USB input, then you can splice a usb cable into the factory usb port cable.