Kenwood vs Pioneer double-din with navigation

[masraum]

Anyone got a Kenwood or Pioneer double din head unit with navigation? If so, what model and what are the pros and cons.

I'm looking at getting an upgrade, and the upgrade is between a 6 or 7" Kenwood or a 6 or 7 inch Pioneer. Probably Kenwood DNX691HD or DNX891HD or Pioneer AVIC-7000NEX.

[MrScott]

If you have an iPhone maybe look into the new models with CarPlay:
http://www.macworld.com/article/2843793/72-hours-with-carplay-test-driving-the-pioneer-avic-8000nex.html

[masraum]

Nope, I'm an Android guy. No iPhone.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I sold a Mazda recently with a Kenwood, the navigation was basically a built in Garmin Nuvi. Not a bad thing really, it was simple and intuitive.

Have you looked at Crutchfield and read the reviews? Much like Tire Rack they do their own tests, and then they have user reviews.

[John Rogers]

I have a Pioneer AVIC X950BH and love it. The shop I bought it at supplied me with the LAN adapter, steering wheel/on star adapter, wireless backup camera and a long USB cable. The navigation updates when it needs to syncs with my iPhone and shows traffic flow, I have a 1T solid state drive with about 8000 MP3 songs and 400 music videos to watch and listen. The only issue is the videos have to be exact size and Codec after you run them through Handbrake.

[RANDY P]

Kenwood uses Garmin, and the ipod interface is dead nuts simple to figure out. BTDT.

rjp

[scottmandue]

I looked at both... no hands on experience... when I was looking the Pioneer had slightly better specs, but like the computer industry it seems car stereos change every six months.
Both are reputable manufactures so I would go with whichever looks/feels best to you.

However, I had a Kenwood and the Bluetooth was rock solid 100% reliable... my new Alpine, not so much... on the Alpine the bluetooth works when it feels like it which is kinda annoying.

As said check Cruthfeild and Amazon for reviews... and as said in a different thread if you are going to have it installed buy the unit from the installer, that is how they make their money and you might have difficulty finding someone to do the install with your unit.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by masraum

Nope, I'm an Android guy. No iPhone.

Don't know if you have dinked with the android/car stereo interface but there are a multitude of apps you can upload to play music/voice from your phone to the head unit. I have ironically been using an app called beyondipod (because it is free and I am cheap). I have gotten into the podcast thing... but I have to use the AUX connecter because the Bluetooth streaming on the Alpine is intermittent... first world problem I know but it pisses me off to buy a new head unit something as omnipresent as Bluetooth doesn't work.

[masraum]

Unfortunately, there isn't much on Crutchfield about either of the units that I'm looking at. There is a Crutchfield video about the Pioneer, but it seems more like they are just regurgitating the marketing material, not an in-depth review. Nothing for the Kenwood. And as far as user reviews, I think the kenwood has 25 or so and the Pioneer has about 10. For each, there are a few that sound like 12 year olds, a few that say "it's great" and then a few that are just *****ing about the lack of features that they want. I can't get a feel for what's really going on. I've scoured the web, and found some failures and issues on both sides.

I think at this point it's like Camaro or Mustang, Canon or Nikon, etc.... They are probably pretty comparable with little differences here and there. Like MrScott said, if I had an iPhone, I'd definitely go with the Pioneer. It seems like the Garmin nav is top notch in the Kenwood, and the nav in the Pioneer may work great or may not, I can't tell based on web research. I'm glad that JR posted above that his is working well. I found a 2 year old Nav comparison by Crutchfield that actually made the Kenwood with Garmin look pretty moderate, but everyone on the net seems to love it.

It seems like these things can change a lot from year to year. I figure I probably can't really go wrong with either one.

Thanks

[masraum]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

and as said in a different thread if you are going to have it installed buy the unit from the installer, that is how they make their money and you might have difficulty finding someone to do the install with your unit.

Yep, I've decided to do that. I found a good installer that's local.

[John Rogers]

As you noted getting a good installer is a great idea. I do my own mainly because I like working on things but the shop I have dealt with for about 12 years is great. They don't BS and told me exactly what I needed to put the unit in my HHR, even to having to cut out the back of the plastic dash are where the unit sits. As far as my car thinks, it still has the original stereo in it.

On mine I did the "bypass" so I could have videos play while the car is moving and the shop said they can not do that as it is a liability issue and possibly against the law. My dogs love watching videos when we take them to the beach and lay with their heads between the seats! Here is what mine looks like with a ZZ Top video playing.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by john rogers

As you noted getting a good installer is a great idea. I do my own mainly because I like working on things

Really, that's my preference, but I've moved from a house to an apt, so I don't really have the space to do that these days. The install isn't cheap, but at least I am fairly certain that the shop that I found will do a good job, and I wouldn't find any twisted together wires wrapped in electrician's tape or wire nuts when they finished. That's the other concern is having a hack do a job and do a lousy job in the areas where they think I won't see.

On mine I did the "bypass" so I could have videos play while the car is moving and the shop said they can not do that as it is a liability issue and possibly against the law. My dogs love watching videos when we take them to the beach and lay with their heads between the seats!

Hahah, that's an excellent story.

[scottmandue]

Don't know if it has to be a double DIN or if you could do a single DIN and add a storage cubby?
When I was shopping for the Miata (NA has a single DIN and a three quarters DIN cubby thus eliminating a double DIN) Pioneer had a uber cool single DIN with a motorized DD size screen that deployed all James Bond like... of course that is a double edge sword in that it is cool AND space saving however if the deployment mechanism ever fails you are up a creek. Price for that unit was above my budget so it was a no go for me.

[John Rogers]

I had a single DIN that had that flip up screen and after 3 years in my F350 it finally stopped flipping! So I went with the double DIN type. The Pioneer GPS/MP3/Video/Bluetooth models seem pretty expensive but they sure work well. If your car has a "LAN" system and is one of those models where the head unit has to be sync'd to the car's computer, the adapter module will make the car's brain think the stock unit is still there!

The draw back of that is there are a lot of solder/shrink tube connections to do like on mine there is the big head unit plug that is soldered to the plug that goes into the adapter and then a plug that gets soldered to the wires in the car. That includes speaker wires, speed sensor, reverse wire, power, ground, etc, etc. Make sure the shop uses a huge ground wire such as 12 or 14 gauge wire otherwise you'll pickup alternator noise. Also if you want a backup camera or extra amp, get it all at the same time as tearing into the mess in the dash is rough after a year away!

One last thing.....mine plays loud enough that I have had rice rocket drivers holler at me to "hey turn it down"!

[masraum]

Originally Posted by john rogers

If your car has a "LAN" system

Also if you want a backup camera or extra amp, get it all at the same time as tearing into the mess in the dash is rough after a year away!

One last thing.....mine plays loud enough that I have had rice rocket drivers holler at me to "hey turn it down"!

1 Nope

2 Yep, getting everything done at the same time, backup cam and amp.

3 Nice!

[onewhippedpuppy]

One other thing, make sure your shop is familiar with doing Porsche installs. You need a dash kit to match the silver on the factory climate control, and will need to either interface with the MOST fiber optic system to work with the factory Bose amp or gut the system and totally rewire. It is NOT a plug and play installation without the proper adapters. Here is the kit that seems to be most commonly used.

Aftermarket Radio Installation Kit:Suncoast Porsche Parts & Accessories

The kit to integrate with the factory Bose is $795, not cheap.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

One other thing, make sure your shop is familiar with doing Porsche installs. You need a dash kit to match the silver on the factory climate control, and will need to either interface with the MOST fiber optic system to work with the factory Bose amp or gut the system and totally rewire. It is NOT a plug and play installation without the proper adapters. Here is the kit that seems to be most commonly used.

Aftermarket Radio Installation Kit:Suncoast Porsche Parts & Accessories

The kit to integrate with the factory Bose is $795, not cheap.

No Bose, but I do have the most system. The place that I found seems to have done a bunch of late model Porsches from Boxsters to GT3s and turbos. The guy even mentioned the MOST system when I was talking to him the other day. In their "gallery" they have several Porsches and in the pics, the bezel looks like a very good match to the factory color.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Sounds like you're in good hands.