Can anyone recommend a cheap double-DIN head unit with a touchscreen that doesn't have a slow/poorly designed user...

Get a good head unit of the vintage of your car that can accept an aux input and mount a used brand name 5 or 7 inch tablet. If you do something else you'll be spending more to get less.

Which head unit? Black plastic and custom lights is all i want

okay, I know its 250 bucks, but this uses android lollipop and has two sd card slots, please at least check it out. i want other opinions before i buy it for myself.
carjoying.com/head-unit/universal-car-head-units/7-double-din/joying-2016-usa-warehouse-latest-android-5-1-1-lollipop-head-unit-7-inch-double-2-din-gps-navigation-system-hd-1024-600-car-audio-stereo-for-universal-support-mirror-link-wifi-obd2-bluetooth.html

Pioneer fh-x721bt
It has a silver center knob but it's not bad.

For what purpose? Any of the apps they mention require an internet connection, and unless you already have a tethering plan, it'll be useless. Wait a while longer and get a head unit that will actually be a companion to a smartphone rather than a pain in the ass.

Have you looked online or just in stores. Most store head units suck these days. It took me a long time to find one I liked. But that's because my requirements are a bit stricter. I settled for a custom color one so I could match my interior lighting. I've bought 2 custom colors ones since I made that decision. The pioneer one and before that a jvc head unit. You turn the demo screen off and set the color to your instrument cluster and cabin climate control color and it blends in about as well as you can find.

Slightly different question, looking for a double din with nav and preferably Android Auto, but with physical volume and preset controls.

Budget of $750.

Anything out there?

The better units are quite customizable and blend in pretty well without being gaudy. Sure, you can pick bright gaudy controls and move them into weird gaudy patterns, or arrange buttons in "F U" pattern, but why be deliberately bad?

In a lot of ways, they're more versatile than the sterile OEM ones. I'd continue to go to the double-DIN aftermarket, but my latest GM car integrates some controls into the touchscreen, so I am no longer able to get rid of the factory radio touchscreen unless I want some car controls to be gone too.

You can get a much better quality regular radio with Bluetooth music streaming/aux plus a phone mount for not much more than that.

Also, getting a 2013 Nexus 7 and mounting it in place of a double din radio and hiding the receiver behind it or in the glovebox is also a popular option. There might even be a write-up for your car.

here is how you do it
Get a few amps, a tablet or phone that fits perfectly in the 2din hole

Any tablet or phone running Android or iOS is miles better than any shit you will find, even BBOS and Windows10 tablets are better than any 2DIN touchscren head unit you will find

anyway plug the audio out of the tablet to the amps, and the amps to the sound system of your car, get a car power converter to get a 5V power supply for your tablet, hook it up on its USB port and you are golden, just find a way to place the thing on your dash in a way you like and you will never have any problem ever again
if you get a tablet with 3G SIM support you can even stream web radios/videos/movies on your car

Joying makes some good ones dude. Way under your budget too.

OP here.

I've realized that I'm going to have to pay at least $250 to get a touchscreen that's half decent, so I'm going the cheap as fuck route with a single DIN that looks refined.

Currently looking at this, but I'll post more as I look.
m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=1BE-0006-00002

Sexy head unit thread

Pyle is not a manufacturer I would recommend. I would look at more reviews before you bought it.

That's a shame, because they have some of the cleanest designs of what I've seen so far in my search.

amazon.com/dp/B004S50WPG/

Apparently both of these have lights around the volume knob. This shit is cancer.

I've now gone through every option on Amazon, Newegg, Google Shopping, and Crutchfield, and this is the only single DIN that doesn't look like ass. But apparently the lights are more pink than red, and can't be dimmed, so they're too bright at night.

So, fuck it. I'm buying a cheap Chinese touchscreen, and hopefully I don't kill myself from software gore.

amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01FSJ4K2G/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1478812333&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=Blaupunkt&dpPl=1&dpID=51ceNVhy+AL&ref=plSrch

Blaupunkt makes nice looking clean designed units you should look in to there stuff

...

With rice shit you can usually change the color to something not-obnoxious like white, or just turn it off entirely.

lel

This is some next level shit

Boss is supposed to be shitty too. I have a head unit I bought to install in a car I was gonna sell but decided I should just buy another pioneer unit instead. I don't have personal experience but basically the mp3 system doesn't allow you to browse folders or sort or anything. And the fm radio doesn't have station locking and stuff.

i just bought this one (minus bluetooth) for around $50 a couple months ago its been great imo, and the lights look red to me..

Definitely get an android touchscreen if you get a 2 din, don't settle for some shitty proprietary OS. Having apps gives you so much freedom. You can even get a $10 bluetooth obd2 adapter and link it to the torque pro app on your touchscreen and clear codes, monitor temperatures, watch your rpm, etc. but your car needs to be 1996 or newer since thats when obd2 came out.

I got this touchscreen. a.co/9AHwtBn It's pretty good, though i got the dual core version so maps are a bit slow. But you can change the color of the buttons and the head unit can stay booted up for 10 minutes so it doesnt need to reboot constantly if your making lots of quick stops.

JBL Legend CP100

Car audio aficionado here.

Go with something Power Acoustik or Soundstream on the cheap. ok, sound, DSP Processors(rare), decent interface(usually non capacitive though... Just use finger nails) and full GPS at 160+ and the GPS is pretty good.

I have a flip up GPS model. Its pretty based.

Try pic related.