LAMTTO 11-inch CarPlay Screen review: easy to use, but let down by its mount

Disclosure: LAMTTO supplied the screen for review.

Project XYZ has changed hands. The former Petrolblog Fabia vRS is now owned by my eldest son, who is racking up the miles, using it for the daily commute and a recent 800-mile round trip to the Lake District. The perfect opportunity to give the LAMTTO 11-inch CarPlay screen a decent workout, then.

The packaging makes a good first impression, and the unit feels solid and robust – perhaps more so than the CarpodGo T3 Pro we’ve used in the Toyota Camry. The display is crisp and sharp, with less glare than on the CarpodGo, although the Fabia’s smaller glasshouse and absence of beige might play a part in this.

We’re reviewing the CarPlay system here, not the included reversing camera. The Fabia had an awful aftermarket screen and reversing sensors fitted by the previous owner, and enough electrical gremlins to keep us busy. Removing both fixed many of the issues, so adding another piece of kit would feel like a backward step. Besides, it’s a small car; it doesn’t need a reversing camera.

Set-up is almost plug and play. We had it up and running in no time, and the system fires up automatically when the car is restarted – a nice touch, just like the CarpodGo.

But there’s more to the LAMTTO than phone projection: it runs its own Android system, with access to Google Play apps, built-in GPS and support for downloaded offline maps. It can split the screen between CarPlay or Android Auto and another app, and offers Gemini AI when connected to a hotspot. LAMTTO lists the display as 1920 × 720 at 60fps, with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

Those are the headline features; in everyday use, my son sticks to Waze, Apple Music, BBC Sounds and Apple Podcasts, so we haven’t tried most of the extras.

The Fabia’s original stereo has no Bluetooth, so the audio is fed through the LAMTTO’s FM transmitter. It’s not ideal, but it works well enough. The volume is a little low, as it tends to be with these systems, although it’s better than one of those cheap Bluetooth-to-FM adapters that plugs into the 12-volt socket. My son says the screen can be a bit laggy at times, though it hasn’t been a deal-breaker.

The real problem is the mount. LAMTTO’s ‘Warm Tips’ sticker – not ‘Hot Tips?’ – says to stick down the adhesive base and wait 24 hours before using it. We did. It fell off. We cleaned the surface, tried again with the spare adhesive mount and gave it time. This time it lasted about three weeks, including the Lake District trip. Then it came off the dashboard and hit the Škoda Symphony stereo, breaking its on/off/volume knob.

So much for preserving the original head unit. Not happy.

Maybe it’s the angle of the dashboard, maybe it’s the material, or maybe 24 hours isn’t long enough. Whatever the reason, my son is now using the windscreen suction mount, with the base of the screen resting on the dashboard. It feels more secure and easier to use on the move. And it hasn’t fallen off. Yet.

Once fitted, the CarPlay system is straightforward and as easy to use as the one in a modern car. But an 11-inch screen is a lot of screen on a Fabia dashboard, and the power lead trailing to the socket doesn’t help. It looks a bit messy, and my son isn’t keen on leaving a large, removable screen on display when the car’s parked.

On the plus side, the supplied 12-volt plug has a USB-A port, so you can charge your phone while the screen is using the cigarette-lighter socket.

A double-DIN stereo upgrade would look cleaner and feel more integrated. The LAMTTO offers more features than my son needs for Waze and music, so its value depends on whether you’ll use the Android extras. The failed adhesive mount doesn’t help its case. But if you want to add CarPlay to an older car without replacing the original head unit, it’s a usable solution – provided you trust the mount you choose.

Buy direct: LAMTTO – use code Petrolblog for 20% off.

Amazon: LAMTTO on Amazon.com – use code DD9DSRD6 for 10% off