A wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto infotainment system for motorcycles is my favourite accessory of 2024.

“Made in China” too often gets a bad rap here in North America. “Poorly built” and “not very functional” goes the xenophobia, usually wrapped up in a flag and lots of wistful remembrance of past industry domination. So, here’s the thing. Not only is this product — which just happens to be made in China, of course — the most useful motorcycle product/accessory I tested in 2024, it is also, by quite some margin, the best-built electronic aftermarket gadget for bikes I’ve ever seen. Probably the most thoughtfully engineered, too. 

INCREDIBLY WELL-BUILT 

In fact, the Chigee AIO-5 Lite may be the most conscientiously manufactured electronic product for motorcycles I have ever seen. Everything from the five-inch waterproof screen to well-insulated wires made of TPE (Thermoplastic Elastomer) clamped by amazingly robust aircraft-style screw-together connectors is top quality stuff. The non-electrical hardware is well thought-out, too. There’s a rubber covering for the micro-SD card port — which stores the dashcam’s recordings — that not only has a waterproof grommet to keep the card dry, but also a teensy little screw so the rubber doesn’t fall out and get lost when you’re switching cards. 

Equally noteworthy — and another of those pleasant surprises — is that all the mount hardware’s bolts are “security” Torx bolts. Rather than a traditional Torx bit — sufficiently rare in their own right — these devices require even rarer versions with a dimple in the middle. They are rare enough that a) they’re included in the AIO-5 package and b) it’s totally unlikely that any thief, equipped with typical, run-of-the-mill hardware-store tools is going to be able to remove the Chigee. It’s so secure, in fact, that I just left my AIO-5 attached to the bike unsupervised wherever I went; good luck to any casual thief that thought some fool had left something valuable unattended. Couple all that with the extremely bright — no problem with viewing the screen even in bright sunlight — 1,000-nit, 1920-by-1080 pixel, five-inch colour TFT screen and you have an electronics system that, frankly, most OEMs can’t match for quality.

SURPRISINGLY USEFUL

It probably shouldn’t be an exceptional thing that connecting the AIO-5 to my phone — an iPhone 12 — was a simple as downloading an app. Or that the connection was always 100% reliable, the Bluetooth between phone and monitor never dropping once in 15,000 kilometres of riding this last summer. And yet having tested virtually every Bluetooth system in both the auto and motorcycle business, I have to tell you that that expectation is not nearly as reliable as you’d think.

That said, the real surprise was how quickly the Chigee became a necessary part of my motorcycling. Offering virtually the same CarPlay interface as an automobile system does, it’s actually more useful on a bike because all but the very latest bikes lack any kind of Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity. 

And it works even better — or, at least, makes more of a difference — on a motorcycle. Where before switching from my iPhone’s Music screen to the Maps app required me to remove a glove while riding — definitely not recommended — or stopping by the side of the road, toggling between apps on the AIO-5 is but a screen touch; a touch which, by the way, can be accomplished without taking your gloves off. Ditto skipping past songs I wasn’t in the mood for or repeating songs that I was. And switching playlists, which used to be impossible, is now a doddle. In fact, music, phone and navigation apps are exactly as easy to work with as they are in your car. Less distracting too, since, if like me, you mounted the Chigee up high, just below your normal line of sight.

WIRELESS REMOTE CONTROL

In fact, manipulating the controls can get even easier. One of the options offered for use with the AIO-5 is remote wireless control. With it, you can toggle between songs, switch apps and change home screens (not just the three major players mentioned above but also a longer list of designated apps available on your iPhone). It also allows you to answer your phone and end conversations. About the only useful thing it can’t do is increase the volume, so should your favourite Strolling Bones tune come on, you can’t use the remote to make it louder. 

Even for an old luddite like yours truly, it takes just a couple of hours of riding before it becomes second nature to flick through screens and navigate functions, at least part of the reason being that placement — at least my placement on my Suzuki V-Strom — was conveniently located just above the left handlebar’s regular switchgear. There are also a few hard buttons on the monitor itself for less-used functions like cycling between the trip data screen and CarPlay as well as cycling through the dash cam views. 

Chigee’s penchant for comprehensive mounting hardware continues with the remote control, the company not only offering various options as to where it can be attached, but also some thoughtful adaptors that will fit a wide variety of motorcycles, one of which proved essential for mounting to the base of the Suzuki’s left mirror.

FUNCTIONALITY

There’s lots more functionality to the AOI-5 Lite, most of which, I’ve got to admit, I didn’t use very much. There is, for instance, an instrument cluster that will display a cellphone-sourced speedometer (a lot more accurate that the Stromtrooper’s notoriously optimistic reading) as well as direction and, if you have the optional TPMS sensors, a tire pressure monitoring system. There’s also a “meter” page, which displays battery voltage and elevation as well as throttle position and engine temperature. They all work a charm if you want to use them. I didn’t. 

Being an aged luddite, I was just so happy to have a completely convenient navigational aid and sound system, I couldn’t be bothered to use the rest. That said, there’s lots of how-to videos not only on Chigee’s own website as well as on YouTube if you really feel the need to access a wider range of functionality. I have no doubt that it’ll work a treat.

SUPPLIED DASHCAMS

In fact, I only have one serious complaint about the AIO-5’s operation. Included in the kit are two high-definition, 1080P cameras. They can be easily mounted to the front and rear of any bike via the high-tack double-sided adhesive provided. Their wiring, like that of the main screen, is also of extremely high quality. The video recordings are of sufficient resolution and the main unit will accept micro-SD cards as large as 256 gigabytes which means you can record a helluva lot of video. So far, so good, right?

My compliant is that, as delivered, the cameras are only programmed as dashcams. What that means is that recording is constant, the image capture continuous until whatever micro-SD card you are recording to is full up. Then it simply starts to over-ride the previously saved data. You can save a specific recording — which you can pre-set to be in 1, 2 or 3-minute increments — but it is the most fiddly function in the Chigee’s operating system. Worse yet is that, when you do later go searching for the short vids that you recorded, they are lost in all the automatically recorded garbage which, if you have a 256GB card in there, is about 16 hours worth of footage. In other words, using the AIO-5’s as a simple video camera is compromised by its programming as a dashcam. And yes, I did ask; there’s no way to override the dashcam operation.

NOT MADE TO RECORD YOUR RIDE

On the other hand, it’s obvious Chigee designed the camera system as a safety device. The footage from both cameras is automatically saved if an accident
is detected. And likewise, if your motorcycle is jostled when parked, the AIO-5 Lite will automatically save the event. Lastly, the rear camera also serves as a lane warning system, though this is of limited use because its wide-angle lens doesn’t offer much long-distance warning. 

Nonetheless, while there are plenty of people for whom the security of a dashcam surveilling the traffic around them — both to prevent accidents and record them — is of paramount importance. For someone like me, being able to switch the modality from dashcam to a simplified — say a single toggle on the wireless remote-control unit — recording device would be a welcome improvement.

The only other recommendation I was going to make was for the company to build an upmarket model with a larger screen. Judging from the company’s promotional literature, the AIO-5 was designed primarily for use on naked bikes and its five-inch screen is perfectly sized to fit on a handlebar. 

It appears I wasn’t the only one that made the suggestion, because Chigee announced a new AIO-6 version with a six-inch screen at this year’s EICMA show. Few details are available other than it will offer its own 4G network and an upgraded interface. I hope it’s backwards compatible. If so, I’ll be upgrading to one soon. 

PRICES VARY

At the time we went to press — Chigee’s prices vary according to the loonie’s foreign exchange rate — the base AIO-5 Lite lists for about $850 in Canada. For those like me that don’t require the dashcam function, you can buy a version called the AIO-5 Play sans cameras for about $570. There’s also a new XR2 system that keeps the two cameras but uses a smaller 4.3-inch screen with a few less features that retails for $550. 

As for accessories, there are many but the most important, besides the remote wireless controller ($140), would be an adaptor ($180 or so) that allows you to use the Wonder Wheel on BMWs to control the AIO-5 and a Tire Pressure Monitoring System ($134) that can be had with external or internal sensors. And, most recently, they’ve started offering a OBD Wireless Module ($155) that lets you monitor some real-time engine information. I’ve got that one on order ‘cause I do like me some data.

If you go top-of-the-line and add a few accessories, you’re looking at $1,000-plus. Even on the low end, you’re looking at half a grand. Neither option can be considered cheap. On the other hand, the build quality is beyond compare, the functionality excellent and the reliability, judging by my year of hard use, exemplary. That’s why the Chigee AIO-5 Lite is my favourite motorcycle accessory of the year and a must-have I never thought I needed.

Oh, and by the way, despite having to come from afar, shipping was reliable and fast. For more info go to chigee.com.