PRODUCT REVIEW
CHIGEE AIO-5LITE
A wireless Apple CarPlay/ Android Auto infotainment system for motorcycles is my favourite accessory of 2024
REVIEWED BY DAVID BOOTH
“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-5Lite 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-5package 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-5attached 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.