not a bad system, but not ready for prime time

Posted Apr 29, 2008 - ---You will be halfway down the block before the nav is ready to use. --The front panel buttons are completely non-intuitive; try figuring out how to turn the device off and on, or how to turn off the radio playing in the background when using the nav. If you lend your car to someone, they'll never figure it out. --The onscreen menus are a complete jumble, and the manual is incomprehensible. --The mp3 menu is awful, for example you can see tracks sorted by album or artist, but you just have to know how to do it because it is far from obvious. You need to push a button mysteriously marked PLIST. You have to do it again each time you start the car. --The add-on Bluetooth interface is poorly designed, for example you can choose a number by voice commands, but you can't actually voice dial...you have to look at the screen and touch the 'dial' button to complete the dialing process. ---If disconnected from the battery, all the settings are lost, and this can cause more problems than just loss of radio presets...the backup camera (add-on) stops working! That's because the default setting of the Kenwood DNX5120 is to ignore the backup voltage signal. You have to go in and change the setting back. (There is a way to save the settings in nonvolatile memory and restore them, but this has to be done manually every time...why not save all settings in flash memory automatically?)

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Kenwood DNX5120 - exceeds my expectations

Posted Mar 15, 2008 - My unit is installed in a 2008 Honda Odyssey. I enjoy my electronic toys and am one of our office’s go to guys for electronics advice. However, this is my wife’s primary vehicle so not all of the following requirements are my own. She just wanted something that would work and not be too hard to use. I knew that would be impossible with dual zone as one of my requirements, so I had to try and find the best compromise. My Shopping Requirements: 1) DVD - The solution must let the driver navigate through a Disney DVD menu maze without being able to see the rear monitor. This necessitated being able to see video on rear and front monitors. 2) Dual Zone – The Wiggles must not be heard in the front of the minivan when Dad’s driving. All rear participants be able to see the show. Headrest units could not be seen over the child seats in the center row, so a rear flipdown monitor is on my list of accessories. 3) Navigation would be a plus (but not worth more than $300 extra). If it’s there, it better work simply. 4) Steering wheel interface/remote must continue to function. 5) Glove friendly. Volume knob is a bonus. Bigger buttons=better. 6) Simple to use DVD, and Radio operation. The Mrs. is the ultimate judge. 7) The cheaper the better. Cap of $1000. My Researched Competition: The Alpine, AVIC-D3,Panasonic Strada CN-NVD905U, AVIC-Z2, Valor brand systems,ECLIPSE 6610/6620 and Kenwood 7100. Pros: Dual Zone – Not terribly hard to access. It does split the sound between the front and rear speakers. I had worried that it would only send the rear zone output to the rear line level out for use with headphones. Volume knob – keeps eyes on the road and quick turn down for child reprimands Limited mechanics; no flip down door or hard drive Garmin Mapping – very easy to use. It also has user upgradeable points of interest. (I’ve not personally done this yet) www.gpspassion.com/for... Reliable solid-state map storage. Works fast, and recomputes within half a block if you get off track. She also does not nag to turn around like my TomTom unit. Nav speaks street names. Steering wheel control (with optional third party interface SWI-JACK) Good enough audio/video UI interaction. NAV usability is above the competition. USB flash drive access so I don’t have to buy an iPod to hear my MP3’s External A/V input (one on front, one on rear) will let me wire in a game system or ATSC tuner for weather radar checks when I’m stationary. Rear view camera input. Adjustable backlight color. You can set the individual Red/Green/blue mix to create your own color. You can ground the parking brake line so the Mrs. can watch movies/enter NAV destinations on the fly. Cons: The user interface on all of these NAV/DVD units would benefit from software that would simplify the UI’s by removing (rather than dimming) non-installed options like bluetooth, XM radio, or iPod. I could not get pictures to display, or change the background because the DVD and USB would not show any .jpg images on their media. I think this may be a bug in the firmware because others are reporting this issue. – not a show stopper, but something to keep an eye on the bulletin boards about. Front Rear Balance is a frequently used feature in a minivan with kids. It’s a bit hard to get to and requires eye on the radio for all of the units considered. Another knob for balance would be a bonus for my situation. It cannot show the navigation maps on the rear video. If I were to hook up an iPod I would not be able to feed my monitor’s TV audio (or game system) into the rear of the unit. I would have to feed the TV signal into the jack on the face of the unit. It does take some playing to locate all of the options, but once you get an understanding of how they broke up the audio and setup menu’s you can work your way around. The main day to day features are where they need to be. A Wireless Remote control is not included. It is an option that’s described in the manual. Help is hard to find online. Kenwood does not have a nice forum like the AVIC website. Summary: I was able to pick mine up online for $800 + Shipping which undercut all of the local prices on the other units I was considering. By the time you read this street prices should be even lower. Backup Camera, Bluetooth, XM Radio, Ipod – Sorry, I’ve put that off for a future day so I don’t have comments on these features. The DNX5120 was the perfect fit for my needs, and now that I’ve played with it for a couple days, I would likely make the same purchase again. The cons are all relatively minor, and the upgrade options give me a chance to put something on next year’s Santa list. The only feature that that would cause me to upgrade to a different unit would be a navigation system that uses Google’s satellite map imagery (without a monthly fee of course).

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An excellent DVD navigation

Posted 1 year ago - I bought this DVD navigation for update my new SUV. Since the OEM navigation package could cost 2~3 thousand more, I think it makes sense to install by myself when total cost including Kenwood rear view camera, iPod adapter and installation kits would only be about $700. It takes several hours to get everything in place, but if you follow the instruction and install the DVD navigation without rear view camera, you should be able to do it within one hour. The head unit can automatically switch to rear view camera when the car is in reverse gear and return to normal status once in drive. The Garmin gps is fast (IMHO, don't buy any system which depends on DVD, it's very noisy and slow, always buy the head unit with built-in memory or SD slot) and map details are great. It gives you a bird-eye look of the street and voice reminder before approaching turns. You can play MP3 from USB drive or connect Ipod to operate it from the head unit. Most things I am not happy with this unit are caused by software. The DVD play can not fast forward or reverse. The USB drive may need to re-plug each time I start my car. Anyway, these are only minor imperfection and I am really happy with the unit.

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