My favourite piece of in-car tech has a huge Black Friday discount

The Carpuride W103 sits on top of your dashboard, or on the windscreen, and gives you full access to Android Auto or Apple CarPlayThe Carpuride W103 sits on top of your dashboard, or on the windscreen, and gives you full access to Android Auto or Apple CarPlay
The Carpuride W103 sits on top of your dashboard, or on the windscreen, and gives you full access to Android Auto or Apple CarPlay | National World

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Motoring journalist Gareth Butterfield has seen some amazing savings on the auxiliary screen he’s been using to transform his car’s infotainment system

For most of this year, I've been using a Carpuride W103 display in my Mitsubishi Outlander. It's such a cool bit of tech.

My car's old enough not to have Android Auto or Apple CarPlay built in, and I could have replaced the central display, but my car's new enough to have some features baked into the infotainment system that I'd have lost if I'd swapped it out for something aftermarket.

So I chose to buy an auxiliary screen that sits neatly on top of the dashboard, wirelessly connecting to my phone, and accessing all its features through Android Auto.

The screen then wirelessly connects to my car's audio system and plays any music, commands, sat nav instructions, and phone calls through the car's speakers. It's superb.

The W103 model has a huge 10.3” screen, and its own built-in operating systemThe W103 model has a huge 10.3” screen, and its own built-in operating system
The W103 model has a huge 10.3” screen, and its own built-in operating system | Carpuride

It's possible to buy these screens for about £50, and I gather they work fine, but lots of people had recommended a brand called Carpuride, so I decided to go a bit more premium.

And I'm so glad I did. Apart from the occasional glitch, which might be caused by my phone, it hasn't missed a beat. It connects instantly to my phone and my wife's, and we can access all the key apps we use while we're driving, all through the "OK Google" smart system.

Another thing that's staggered me is how well the suction mounting pad works. I've always found these to be a disaster, but with the Carpuride device I stuck it to my textured dashboard on the day I've installed it, and it's still stuck on to this day. It's seen 30C heat, hard frosts, and lots of potholes, but it's never popped off. I'm amazed.

The sound quality is great, the display is bright, it's very easy to set up and use, and its 10.3" display is as good as it is on any of the current cars I review on a weekly basis.

The recommended retail price for one of these devices is £300. I'm not sure anyone ever pays that, because they're usually around £230 on Amazon.

There’s currently an even bigger saving on the Carpuride W903 model, with a dashcam mounted to itThere’s currently an even bigger saving on the Carpuride W903 model, with a dashcam mounted to it
There’s currently an even bigger saving on the Carpuride W903 model, with a dashcam mounted to it | Amazon

But it's Black Friday, and the savings are amazing this year. The Carpuride website has it listed for £221, which is effectively a £79 saving over RRP. But, if you go onto Amazon, you can get it for £177.99 - and that's before you apply a £20 voucher. So it's less than £160. And that's for the Pro model, which has a reversing camera thrown in.

Confusingly, though, if you've not visited the Carpuride website before - load it up, don't click on anything for about 30 seconds, and you should get a pop-up inviting you to save "$50" if you enter your email address.

I've no idea how well this works, because I'm not a new customer, or even how much the $50 will convert to as a saving, but it might be worth a try.

It's worth mentioning there's an even bigger saving on Carpuride's flagship model, the W903, which has a similar spec to the W103 in my car, but it has a built-in dash cam. It's usually £300, but it's down to £190.

On Amazon you can get that for a frankly ridiculous £121.54 - and that includes a reversing camera too.

These are Black Friday deals, so they're likely to expire by the end of Monday. But what a great opportunity to transform the tech in your car.

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