Kenwood eXcelon DNX8120

Way better than I thought

When I bought this unit I had my doubts.

They were all smashed when I installed it.

Right out of the box the SQ was way beyond the Pioneer D3 I was using.

There are many menus but this radio is not for some one who just plays cds and listens to am radio.

If you are a tweaker and love to mess with time lignment,eq settings, and other sound shapping tools this is for you.

The people that gave the radio bad reviews must not be to tech savy.

I love it

So, So

This product is a fairly good product. The look of the unit is very easy on the eyes when well lit. The unit has some trouble spots the unit screen sticks at times, it often doesn't automatically reconnect to your blue tooth device and at times will not read your ipod and usb device. The EQ has too many different pages and ins't user friendly to someone who inst technologically incline. The dvd picture is very nice. The screen is very easy to clean but it still attract a lot of dust and fingerprints. Its very difficult to upload your own pics and screen savers and to program radio stations. I've own several screens in different vehicles and this one falls in the middle. I do not recommend the garmin. Better to have disc navi, Garmin gets tangled at times and will send you the wrong way and at times will not give you any credible directions at all. The sound quality when hooked up to amps is very good, the installation was very easy. If you're frustrated easy dont buy this product. If you have time to gg through the thick instruction manuel and operate the product correctly then this is the screen for you.

Awsome Buy.

I currently have the 8120 in my 2007 altima. This Deck is amazing, Navi is on point ( i work in jails doing security all over the country) I have never lost satellite signal. The parrot bluetooth is incredibly crisp and the signal is very strong to the deck from my phone even outside of my car. The signal processor and the EQ to me is what makes this deck. I have 2 12's and a PPI amp...My highs are all stock, however this deck with all the eq options it gives you, made it easy for my highs not only to keep up with my bass but stay amazingly clean throughout. Have not gotten a chance to try IPOD...But mine came with a backup camera...AMAZING once again. The only downfall in my option would be that it doesn't have voice activation. I would STRONGLY recommend this In-dash unit to anyone that is looking at eclipse (avn) or pioneer (AVIC).

Kenwood excelon DNX 8120

This is a great product. It is very easy to figure out the menu's and customize to what works best for you. I added the bluetooth adapter which works great with the system for hands free calls. The Kenwood handles the music videos from my I pod great sound and video clarity. The only downside that I can think with this unit is it takes a few minutes for it to boot up when you start the car before your music comes on, but it really is not enough to even be bothersome.
I've had several navigation system and this by far has the best one that I have ever used. I would not hesitate to purchase another unit should I trade cars.

great product

This is a great radio. I recently installed it into my 03 Acura TL-S and it works great and the ipod interface is superfast. The starup for the radio in general takes about 15-20 sec to really turn on.

Dnx8120

I installed this unit in my 07 accord and I'm very happy with it. It has no bugs that I've seen.

BUT because I'm such a picky person I'll tell u everything that annoys me about it.

1. The USB port only plays music and can not play any videos.
2. The music u play from the USB port can not be fastforwarded or rewinded!
3. The buttons on the unit are hard and small, so after a while of turning the volume up or down, your fingers might hurt. This isn't a problem if you can control the unit with your steering wheel.
4. The navigation on this unit is very acutate. However, it's a worthless feature for me because when browsing the map, you have too zoom in all the way to see the name of a small street. So I use my iPhone for navigation. Garmin should take some tips from google maps.
5. The button arangements look like they were thought up by a child. For example, when using the Bluetooth feature, your have to press one corner of the screen to select the person u want to call and then u have to press a button on the opposite end of the screen to make the call. This pattern is seen throughout the unit including in the iPod.

Those are some of the things I hate, but like I said, I'm a very picky guy. Yes I want the perfect unit and I don't think kenwood has any excuse for the things I listed above.

The unit functions perfectly and has never frozen on me.
It does everything that is advertised.
I'm happy with it and I don't plan on changing it.

Good unit with many functions

All in all I'm very happy with the 8120. It does everything I expect it to do. It has a lot of adjustments to tailor the sound to your liking. My only real complaint with the unit is that everything is buried under multiple menus and it's sometimes hard to find the setting you are looking for. Once get used to it it's not too bad but it can be daunting at first. Keep the manual near by.

Kenwood DNX8120 Good unit with Lots of Bugs

Kenwood did a good job packing many beautiful features in a nice unit. the DNX8120 is mighty powerful in many ways. However, I think the unit was rushed out before most of the software bugs are ironed out.
The audio/Video part works great. but the GPS and the Bluetooth telephone connection have some problems. The Garmin GPS loses satellite reception periodically even in open areas on Los Angeles freeways. Also, the unit starts sometimes with the setup screen as if it is the first time you are running the program. You lose all your favorite POI and the unit initial setup. It is annoying to having to input the time zone, date, and other setup features few times a day. Also, the voice is choppy at best.
The telephone has very poor audio quality. Your voice to the other party is very bad quality and very choppy. Useless.
I am waiting when Kenwood and Garmin harry up a software or firmware fix otherwise I am going to return my unit to Kenwood.

DNX8120 GPS in a smart car

I like it except for the fact I cannot get it to alert me when Iexceed a specified speed. There is an option I found that turns speed alerts on, but I cannot find where to enter a speed to triggerit.

Great Unit - Great Value

I went with this unit because it seemed like the best all-around unit, especially for the price. I had good experience with Parrot Bluetooth and Garmin Nav, so a unit that combined them into a single unit with DVD and iPod control is great.

There's a couple of little quircks with the iPod control and bluetooth that Kenwood is working out in the next firmware - but I'm very impressed with the iPod control It's very fast and works with the new iPods like the 3rd Gen Nano. Interface is very easy and reads nearly instantly. The video out is incredibly crisp - I've been buying Music Vids off iTunes and they look great.

You have a lot of control what shows where - like in the song title area and even on the nav screen. I really need to read the manual some day to see what else it'll do that I haven't found yet.

Nothing really locks you out while driving - other than the legal requirement of no video up front... handled only by parking-break wire.

All in all - it feels like there's a couple of things that are kind of "pieced together" about the software, but at the same time, it seems to do more and cost less than anything else I've seen. And it does just about everything - from reading USB to bluetooth audio (which sounds great from my Blackberry). It definitely feels like the most technologically advanced unit I've seen. I also appreciate that it doesn't use a DVD for NAV - since it's onboard, it's extremely fast for lookups and recalculations.

All in all, very happy.