I'm Looking For Truck "Stereo Shop" ...

The last three Sony units I've had all came with remote controls. So remotes have been around about 20 years. You get to know your controls by heart in a week or two.

Some guy in a Century was ghetto blasting the fuel island and I aimed my remote at his stereo but it was the wrong brand. Would have been hilarious if I could have controlled his stereo.

 

http://www.bigrigstereo.com/

Or

http://www.chromecountry.com/gallery.aspx

I've got a Panasonic from them that's nice and wasn't that expensive, they had several other radios too, you might need the Freightliner adapter, but that should be easy to get.

I changed out the one in my Pete in less than 30 minutes.

 

+1 on just getting a regular single-DIN slide in. Mount it well so that it isn't just hanging off the dashboard plastic (usually a pin or bracket holding up the rear) and it will last as long as a so-called heavy duty unit.

I have a Kenwood KDC-BT852HD that does everything, and has the SiriusXM add-on. Not many buttons to worry about. Volume knob acts like a joystick for most functions. This model is out of production after a year so I looked at the latest on Crutchfield.com - even fewer buttons. You can also adjust the display for bigger font/fewer lines of text to make it easier to see.

I listen to Sirius 99% of the time, so one button to bring up the preset list then scroll and select to change. The mount is clean and factory appearing. Can't speak much to durability - I've only had this one about a year. However, it has been mounted in two different trucks and still works like new.



Edited to add: This radio does BT hands-free phone. You can barely make out the mic under the lip of the dash near the one-o'clock position of the steering wheel. Also: the SiriusXM puck antenna that came with it is stuck on the roof of the cab on the passenger side with 3M mounting tape, with the wire run through and taped into the door jamb.

 

I put a Jensen from Big Rig Stereo in a 06 Columbia and used the plug and play harness they sent with it, when I took the radio out the harness plugged into the factory radio I took out.
They have the same harness for 11/03 and up Volvos. The BT-ISO-DIN harness fits many applications ... http://bigrigstereo.com/harness_plug_and_play.html