Hello everyone! We just bought our first H2 and it is still equipped with the original Bose in dash car stereo. Well, since we can't use Onstar with our model we want to just upgrade the radio with an all in one, navigation, xm ready, ipod, bluetooth, rear backup camera, cd, etc. We also want one that will be compatible with the steering wheel controls. Does GM sell a unit like this used or new? Any suggestions?

 

I have a kenwood in mine for years and never gave me issues at all. Pioneer is prob the best brand radio though.

 

I personally put Kenwood in both my Hummers and I really like them. If you have rear entertainment you'll need the metra gmos-014 wiring harness. If not, you need the gmos-04. I had a horrible experience using PAC in my H2. With the metra axxess harness you'll also need the aswc-1 to retain your radio buttons on the steering wheel. If you're doing the job yourself, the H2 dash is one of the most annoying I've ever had to take apart lol. I also went with a Kenwood backup camera. ALSO, there is not room for the huge ball of wires you'll have from hooking up a kenwood with the wiring harness, camera, steering wheel box, etc. I had to take a hacksaw to the plastic wall behind the dash and tuck all the wires above the glove box. Good luck

 

I also went with a Kenwood (DNX-691HD). I like the Kenwood because its GPS is Garmin. Also - a slightly easier place to hack into for the ball of wires is to the left of the stereo above the 4WD switches. Have to saw the right side of the pocket to make an opening but once you do there is a nice big spot there.

I did pretty much the same as Hummer on Fumes. Works great. I did not opt for the adapter that makes the rear audio controls work though. For determining for sure which adapter you want you need to determine if yours has the base Bose amp or the lux bose amp. To bypass the Bose amp is a LOT more work and to be honest I'm perfectly happy with it through the lux Bose amp in mine. It sounds awesome and the factory Bose speakers and sub actually sounds damn good.

Search on my name here and find the other threads and posts I did on the install for tips. One - your Onstar is useless junk. You can order a factory pocket from a GM parts dealer online (I listed the part number in a thread) to replace the module in the dash to give you some extra storage. if you want to get a little creative and get the right connector for the antenna and splice the wire for the mic you can repurpose the Onstar navigation antenna for the nav in the new stereo and the Onstar mic for the new stereo as well. Works fantastic too - the GPS gets a lock almost instantly and the Onstar mic works great for handfree calling (using bluetooth pairing my phone with the Kenwood). Steering wheel controls work fine too.

Also as fumes mentioned - the dash is pretty frustrating to get into. You have to first remove the left vent cover piece, then the upper piece over the instrument cluster, then remove the bucket in the center console, then remove the shifter handle (allen screw on the side of it facing the dash), then pull up hard and remove the shifter cover part/cupholders, then remove two small 7mm screws from the floor console to the dash, then 1 10mm bolt attaching the console to the floor to the right of the shifter, then 4 more 10mm bolts attaching the console to the floor under the console bucket. Then you can slide the entire console back about 4 inches. Once this is done then you can remove the two hex bolts on the center dash stack and pull the center dash bezel loose. You will then need to carefully disconnect the wires to the 3 power outlets on the bottom of the center bezel. Then you can finally move the entire center bezel out of the way to work.

From there its easy, lol. Remove the Onstar (get the pocket or fabricate your own or leave it in). I removed it and identified the mic wires, and the GPS antenna. I cut the mic wires and spliced the 1/8" wire from the Kenwood mic wire to them, also bought a connector for the GPS and soldered it onto the Onstar GPS cable. In my opinion, very nice not having an extra mic and GPS antenna since the factory already installed ones that work perfectly fine.

 

Get one with an HDMI input and this expands the capability big time. You can run a raspberry pi in the glove box (off usb power) and can therefore run Kodi/XBMC/Plex media center, or the original arcade games (look on youtube for hyperspin or retropie). You can run any kind of software you want then.

 

May as well step up to an Android Auto/Apple CarPlay head unit.

 

My pioneer AVH-8800BT is both carplay/android and with HDMI input. It also takes two camera inputs too, so i have the factory hitch mount camera (works in the mirror), as well as a camera on the rear wheel carrier giving me better visibility (also triggered when in reverse) and as an additional input, i also have a front camera on the licence plate, when parking in the city. Maybe overkill, but the number plate cameras were cheap and work well.

 

Echo the comments on Pioneer. Model numbers are slightly different for UK as we have DAB rather than Sat radio, mine was an AVIC-F77DAB the DB's really. Kept all the steering controls, Chimes, added RearView Camera, linked in with Reversing Switch, Andriod Auto has voice commands and navigation which really work, just say "OK Google, navigate to" or "call X" and it just works. Pioneer's Nav is pretty good for times when there's no cell coverage.

It bought my H2 uptodate, all we need now are parking sensors and rain sensors and we're done!

There are some installation instructions about on the web which detail most of what you need, just google "Hummer h2 radio install"

You may need some additional kit to go with the radio.

You can always ask questions I'm sure one of us will help.

 

Re harnesses, I went for the idatalink maestro. Mine's an 09 so this is what i used:
iDatalink - Maestro - Search

 

It sounds like Kenwood might be the way to go. Instead of the Metra harnesses I was thinking, depending on any brand that I buy, of going with the optional hook up kits that Crutchwood sells. They seem to cover all that I would need to hook up the stereo. Has anyone had any experience with Crutchwood and their kits? In any case, I more than likely will buy the stereo, the kit and either have my local GM dealer install it or a local professional.