Kenwood Excelon

[ToddG]

Originally Posted by Wizzard005

How can you compair a AVIC-Z3 to a Kenwood? The Z3 is the best radio on the market

Not bias or anything are you Mr. Pioneer dealer?

[Mylt1]

Originally Posted by Inyourface1650

Running what OS?


Its all about the UI man, and there arent any good ones out for touch screen for PC/mac yet

XP with roadrunner. head over to MP3Car.com - Powered by vBulletin there forum is a wealth of information.

[Tank34]

Originally Posted by Wizzard005

How can you compair a AVIC-Z3 to a Kenwood? The Z3 is the best radio on the market

Hey, well it's not the best radio on the market if the Z3 has the same shitty voice as the D-3.

[Wizzard005]

I am just saying, if you go to any car audio shop and said I want the Best in dash double DIN, they would point you to the Z3...

I have worked in a shop for many years and pioneer was the one people most liked. The Voice isn't the best, however they did add a new voice (Jason) witch sounds very good (like a normal person) I believe this is also on the Z3

[chuckles]

The best part about the Kenwood is the Garmin GPS. I looked at 4 or 5 options; I choose it because of the Garmin GPS and the built in Bluetooth. Looks like on the AVIC-Z3 you have to buy Bluetooth as an add-on(correct me if I am wrong). But the AVIC-Z3 does have a hard drive for music, i just use a USB flash drive and my i-pod. The Kenwood has 2 USB cables with it there approximately 2 feet long. This lets you use an ipod or a flash drive with out changing or buying an adapter. I bought an $30 cable for the ipod controls, but I find I use the flash drive more often because my i-pod is never in the truck.
IMO get the one you like the most, go and look at both. That is the best thing I did was looking at the options.

[helotaxi]

The Z3 is EXPENSIVE! Selling for $1800 at Autobacs. The shops push it because they get a better margin on it. The new Pioneer (don't remember the model) has some major bugs in it. They rushed it to market to compete with the 8120 because the Kenwood is simply a better unit than what they had out at the time.

The 8120 fits. The only issues I had installing mine was the trim ring that came with the unit is not usable. I'll be cutting a trim ring out of ABS. It doesn't look bad without it, the wife thinks I'm crazy for worrying about it. Also only 1 of the 4 screws that mount the unit to the stock bracket are usable because the holes don't line up. I think thats more a factor of the factory brackets than the radio. The locating pins hold it securely and keep it aligned with only the one screw per side. The install was quite simple. You'll need a wiring harness and an antenna adapter ('08 Fronty).

The Nav is great. Identical to the Garmin Nuvi that many people love. It's NavTraffic capable if you want/need that. The iPod interface is fast and simple to use. It allows you to browse using all the different methods available on the iPod itself. It had built in 5.1 for DVDs if that's important to you. The EQ is pretty good. 13 bands are more than enough for most people. Boot up takes about 20 seconds which is pretty fast for units of this type.

[Tank34]

I appreciate all the responses.


Once again though... What is the voice like on the 8120?

I can't stand a shitty nav. voice... as superficial as that may sound.

[helotaxi]

It's not that bad. As good if not better than the voice on my wife's Infiniti with factory nav. I don't care what "*****in' Betty" sounds like honestly. Not a factor in my decision on which unit to buy at all. It's a simple matter to turn it off if it bothers you. The nav routing is very good if not excellent and the POI list is excellent-outstanding. Both better than my wife's car not to mention that the maps are more up-to-date and cover the smaller streets much better (really big deal here in Vegas). Really happy with the unit overall. The 5120 and 7120 will have the same nav without some of the other features (DTS, built in Bluetooth, etc...).

[Tank34]

Awesome... thanks bro, I've always been partial to Kenwood anyway.
Is it touchscreen? I've looked it up, but I don't see it listed.

[helotaxi]

There are only 7 buttons on the unit and they're tiny little deals right along the bottom. The touchscreen does everything.