Alright so my trial of Panasonic's DD video units is a mixed bag. Great functionality easy hacks, and the ability to use an aftermarket GPS unit like the Garmin GVN 53. On the other hand I don't want to have 2 remote controls in the vehicle because the lack of touchscreen compatibility (/w GPS) and I'm runninig out of places to tuck stuff. Menu LCD and Buttons work well but the graphics are well, lacking. Fit and trim are a bit lacking, and the absence of a loudness button kills it for me. The unit sounds great when you have it cranked especially having onboard DTS, but I like to listen to all of my music at all volumes, I have the speaker and amp power but I'm not one of those obnoxious guys sharing my music with others at all times of the day.
Also not thrilled with the preformance of my Motorola HF850 Bluetooth speaker (LG pairing sucks too). So I'm going for the whole shebang in one shot, DVD nav, 5.1, Bluetooth. Why because I have a 7 mile commute but still rack up 15k a year... having a backup camera for towing is sweet btw.

So my two picks:
Clarion MAX685BT
Kenwood Excelon DNX8120

Both Units drop next month and both have built in bluetooth. Each have their strong points and weaknesses. I think the Clarion is a better looking unit (interface and trim), but the Kenwood one upped the entire market by making the GPS built in the box (similar to the AVIC Z1/2) but uses flash memory intead of a HDD so speed and lack of moving parts to break and worry about tempature extremes. The Kenwood also won me over by offering the following features:

*The Nav is actually built for them by Garmin (using the premium Navteq)
*Bluetooth was seperately designed by Parrot (big BT player)
*Screen will tilt downward as well as back (huge benifit over others)
*Dolby 5.1 built into the HU without need for extra processors (nice feature that the Panasonic did right)
*Mini XM tuner built in (I'll be Ipoding most of the time, but xm trafficnav thumbs up) False
*USB input in the back
*2 switches for things like garage door openers, lights, hydrolics/air...


It sounds like I've made up my mind but I'm still picking apart little details.
Anyone either or both brands recently and have any words of wisdom?
I owned a Kenwood (non excelon) deck back when people used them fandangle casset tapes, great sound reproduction, but have always been impressed by friends Clarion units.

My revised PLV-7 ships out from Alpine tomorrow... I gots work to do

Fofiddy, I think you are better off with the Kenwood also. The Clarions have gotten bad raps about their routing formulas. Kenwood has plenty of add-ons for their head unit which will drive up the price, but keeps the guess factor out of getting cameras and monitors to work with it.

Still waiting on more info about both units. Kenwood's site is stingy with the info and if you watch the Youtube video's the Kenwood spokesperson... well he's niether eloquent nor informative. Just looks like some poor highschool kid stuttering and crapping his drawers infront of a camera reading text from a brochure. Kinda reminded me of Sean Wiliam Scott's Charecter in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. I too wanted to toss him out of a moving van and call him a "Sheep F-er". As usual I digress.

Oh Got the PLV-7 Back from Alpine after another 2 months of waiting and being given some snow job of waiting on a revised PDX amp. They replaced a DC to DC converter and shipped it back, with the same exact problem I sent it there with. Raised hell on the phone with them today. How can you send a defective item to a repair/replacment depot 3 times and get no results? I'm not kidding in 8 months of owning the unit it has spent 6-7 of them at Tweeter or Alpine. Consiquently both will never see another cent from me.
Angry Consumer SMASHHHH!

Any one looking for Info on the ship date of the Kenwood DNX8120, I spoke with them today and it looks like the end of the month. It appears there was a software update that necessitated stores to ship back all the units that were to go on sale this week.
At least it will be warm when I finally get to install mine.

Woo Hoo Triple post.
OK so DNX8120 first impressions:
Firstly your probably not going to see many pictures and videos from me just yet as I will be funneling all my free time to tweaking this beast. 4 main factors made me choose this unit over say a Pioneer Avic Z2/3, or the new Alpine 505:

1) 2 external switches for auxiliary toys (I see a Holden or Xmitter light bar in my future )
2) Negative tilt on the screen (for the Single zone H/AC pathfinder it is the perfect viewing angle)
3) Built in Blue tooth and Nav (that’s right no aux boxes to worry about mounting and wiring)
4) Flash based GPS (faster and more reliable than HDD based setups one less POF)

The let downs:
So the built in XM receiver was a bit of a hoax or misinformation. Not that Kenwood released much info so far and a few people already have this unit. So end result you still would have to purchase a separate box/antenna for XM. For my grueling 15 min commute I can't really justify the cost or the HW and the subscription. Although the nav traffic and weather features would be super sweet.
The Ipod control is great... that is as long as you have a Nano, Touch, classic or 5th gen Ipod I didn't think the Ipod photo was that obsolete. My Girl's Ipod works beautifully though.

The Good:
Everything, there are so many infinite sound adjustment you can make from the size of the individual speakers, to the sound positioning with SRS-WOW, to what type of vehicle you drive. This will take a while...
Navigation; is awesome. Sure it lacks the ablity to tilt the POV in 3D, but if I needed to see the horizon I'll look out the windshield. The interface is fast easy to use and there are a ton of choices for your vehicle pointer. That might seem trivial, but I currently have mine set to the Station Wagon (deluxe family truckster) from National Lampoons Vacation ( Holiday Ro-o-o-o...). Tons of POI setting and additions can be made from the built in flash drive. I'm compelled to say; too many options (just the way I like it.) and the detail of the maps is phenomenal to me so far.
Usb connector for those of you anti-Ipod folks works great (no video playback from USB... to my knowledge (haven't tried throwing a DIVX format file on the USB to test it out.) I didn't think I would ever use it but until I get a new Ipod it's a pretty acceptable fill in.
The Ipod list can bee scrolled through with a slide of the finger and when you go back from an artist or song it only goes back one level unlike my old Panasonic which puts you back to square one. I'd actually consider this a safety feature as it takes less time and attention to make the changes you would like.

Bluetooth is perfect. This thing put's my Motorola HF850 to shame. Audio is loud clear and paired with my LG9900VX on the first shot. You can do SMS messaging on supported phones with it, switch over to handset with a push of a button, and go through your entire phonebook all through the GUI.

It's not going to cost over 2k, listing at $1600 might not seem cheap but considering the factory Nav option doesn't do Vid playback and the price of other units out there with comparable features and Nav; this thing is a bargain at the $1000-1300 online.

Fofiddy, it sounds like you have a winner on your hands. Oh and thanks for putting the song in my head, i'll be listening to that all day. Can't wait to see the pics of your new system. At least you got the alpine amp thing done, so you can enjoy it all together. Are you planning on putting in a rear camera?

The rear camera is a definate, just trying to get a few different opinions of whats out there. Nothing is really hitting me as "the right way to go" for it and I'd prefer something that doesn't draw attention. Nothing screams "Smash my Window and take my HU" like an obvious camera, gawdy extra chrome trim, or Vinyl/stickers advertizing your stereo of choice.
I'd like something I could mount a little higher ideally in the high centermount brake light area.

What about removing the rear window washer nozzle and using that? Of course you would lose that functionality and I'm pretty sure the surface isn't flat so you'd need a button hole camera that can have it's angle adjusted or fab some sort of shim with the correct angles to it to aim the camera more downwards.

It would be a consideration if I didn't use it soo much. Especially in the Winter... You can't keep that glass clean,

OK so here are some Pics, I'll post some more of the Nav later.


This angle is the problem with mounting most after market DD Units in the Path's (glare city):

Luckily the DNX has a negative tilt feature wich eliminates all the glare issues with other units:

These pics don't really do this unit justice. Here is a shot of one of the near infinitely tunable audio settings. I've recieved nothing but complements of the picture quality

Garmin Nav Built in and yes it is the station wagon from National Lampoon's Vacation. The downloadable one even has the leash hanging of the rear bumper The side bar is super configurable with settings for both navigating a route or just putzing around with the map function on.

The behemoth remote and GPS antenna.

One last shot of the negative tilt. no issues with sun glare so far.

very nice.

Hi there, new owner, I posted a thread in the New Members topic. I'm going to be installing the Kenwood DNX8120 soon, in fact, I wouldn't even look at a Pathfinder LE that had the factory Navi cause I wanted to install this one and didn't want to have to deal with the climate controls and what not.

I know the previous generation had problems getting aftermarket HU's to work with the bose system. Does anyone know if I'll have that problem here? Do I have to do anything special to get the bose system and amp to work?

Fofiddy, do you still have the pictures of the DNX8120? I can't seem them above.

What dash kit did you use? are you happy with the plastic/color matching?

Did you wire in the bluetooth mic? If so, where did you mount it?

Sorry for all the questions, but I always plan everything out before I start modding. I'll be sure to conribute pics and my review of the unit once i'm done.

Thanks!

hey slim, I reorg'd my photo bucket so it will take be a lil bit to fix the links. As for the Faceplate I used the included Scion adapter and trimmed it to fill in the gaps. Other than that the 8120 was a direct drop in... the Surround plastic material is quite glossy so it stands out a little.

I have the "El Cheapo" XE/S model so I didn't have to worry about the aftermarket amp, just the aftermarkets ones I dropped in. Bluetooth is mounted on the A pillar and works phenominally. I had a Motorola HF850 which sucked alot. Connectivity was spot on but I couldn't hear anything over 60mph.
Here are some of the pics I have now, I'll take some more of the BT and post them later.

Some Cons on the 8120 tho:
Touchscreen, stomps my panasonic video wise, but the absence of knobs can be a little frustrating. The new AVICs knob is a really nice feature and they have a considerably more attactive interface. The Skins are limited to 3 and are ok I prefer the red\flame theme as it doesn't distract me as much as the blue theme does at night.

Yeah thats the remote, it's a little tough to learn by feel but isn't too bad once you learn it
The GPS Antenna is a bit of a pain to decide where to mount it so I just popped mine on the dash as you can see in the above pic. I worry about that stuff standing out so I installed a custom cover for it:

Now It looks like I'm some sort frat kid not like there is a GPS antenna on the dash.