Customer Reviews

Kenwood DNX5120 6.1-Inch-Wide Double-DIN In-Dash Navigation with USB/iPod Direct Control/DVD Receiver

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I also have this radio and think its great.. very easy to use and looks awesome.. Martins wrote in his review "and all the streets are pre-programmed, any updates come straight from Garmin via satellite, " - thats NOT true. Software updates need to be downloaded from Garmins website and burned to a CD and copied over. Map updates are usually done yearly and must be purchased (for $140) from Garmin (or another authorized re-seller) - they are NOT free and are NOT sent straight from a satellite.

It doesn't change how good this radio is, but I just wanted to make sure no one was basing their purchase on an incorrect statement.

The main advantages of this unit over similar units are (i) nav data not DVD-based or hard-disk-based, everything is on flash memory; (ii) name-brand nav (Garmin) and name-brand bluetooth add-on (Parrot), unlike off-brand hardware/firmware on other competing units; (iii) no retractable screen so fewer moving parts to fail.

Basically this is a very good and useful unit. The nav is well-designed and works well. I do have some complaints:

(a) Even though everything is in flash memory, startup is slow. You will be halfway down the block before the nav is ready, and two blocks away before the bluetooth unit has paired with your phone. I have been told that competing units are even slower, so maybe this is an improvement, but technology still has a ways to go. Certainly no reason for pairing to take this long, my old radio paired almost instantly.

(b) Awful interface (except the Garmin part, which is fine):

--The front panel buttons are completely non-intuitive; try figuring out how to turn the whole thing off and on, or how to turn off the radio playing in the background when using the nav. You can get used to it, but it's inelegant to say the least, and 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. (I consider myself to be technically savvy; I installed the system myself.)

--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 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.

(c) If disconnected from the battery, all the settings are lost, and this can cause more problems than just loss of radio presets. I realize that after installation the unit shouldn't normally lose power, but if you take it in for service and they disconnect and reconnect the battery, the backup camera (add-on) stops working!
I thought they cut the cable somehow, but actually 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?)

Kenwood DNX5120
I June 5, 2008, I purchased and had Platinum Audio in Corona, California install my DNX5120. I have had Sony, Alpine, and Kenwood stereos prior and have experimented with iPod connections to these stereos. The stereo's killed two of my iPods. The DNX5120 broke all the rules and really exceeded my expectations as far as the iPod interface. The integration is clean, easy to understand, and faster to use than the iPod itself. Here is an example. I have countless artists on my iPod. Using the scroll wheel it take time to scroll through the artist until letters come up and to be honest with you, it takes me a least two tries to land on the right letter. Using the DNX5120, I can scroll down by multiple artist and even click on slide bar to go half the way down my list or all the way down. All this at the speed of just pressing button and not waiting for the iPod or the stereo to catch up.
The navigation is dummy proof. I have used the BMW, Toyota, Magellan, Tom Tom, and Honda navigation and the DNX5120 blows them out of the water. It does not get any easier than this. I have read that it takes a long time to start up. I don't see that problem. Once I start my vehicle, the Kenwood screen appears for about 5 seconds and I am off to the races. After all, it is not good for the vehicle if you start and immediately drive.
I don't have any complaints about the stereo. Here are some things I really like;
* Knob for volume. It feel sturdy and I like touching the screen less than I have too
* Clean font, easy to read
* Quick/easy/instant access from user interface to navigation and back
* Easy to understand hierarchy of menu
* Garmin Nav. is easy to use and easy to upgrade
* No need for second DVD box for nav.
* Excellent GPS signal quality
* Ability to watch iPod movies on screen
* USB connection...I like putting my on photo as a background
The bottom line is the shop did an outstanding job the installation and the DNX5120 works better than what I had expected. When you put this stereo in perspective, it is combining a tuner, a DVD player, an audio iPod, a video ipod, XM, and CD/MP3 player together into one unit with none to little glitches. And if you are an Apple fan like myself, this works perfectly with the iPod.
That is my two cents and five out of five stars......

I came from a Pioneer D3. This unit does some things better and some not. The D3 is also an older unit. Obviously the Garmin Navigation is the way to go. They make the best portable units, same applies here. The audio/video UI is not the greatest I'll admit that. I liked the D3 better. That being said the 5120 has a better Sirius interface and I believe HD Radio is too. It can show much more info at a time instead of hitting buttons to scroll through. That and the flash based navigation is what made me change. Having to put in a disc for navigation is just plain silly. Installation for add-ons was also easier with the 5120. No power required for the bluetooth or satellite boxes. Just plug in the communication cable, pretty simple. I'd have no problems recommending this to a friend. It does everything good enough.

This is a great unit. Overally I am quite happy. I have the KCA-BT200, the GSM10 traffic receiver, the connection cable for Sirius (CA-SR20V) and the SCC1 sirius tuner, the ipod cable, plus boyo VTX420 backup camera. I did the install myself. Looking back was probably more work than I planned but outside of battling with trim pieces the wiring really was quite straightforward.

Now, on to the various bits and pieces of the unit and accessories:

I love the GPS, it's like the suction cup Garmins with a bigger screen. You can even interface it to a computer using the mini-usb plug on the back, just like the standalone garmin units. Using this connector you can swap out the voices, customize it etc. I have read where some people plug in a cable and leave it somewhere accessible so they can reach it easily without pulling it out of the dash. However, this is also where the GTM10 traffic receiver plugs in, so it diminishes the usefulness for me. Nonetheless, this isn't even an advertised feature, so I can't hardly fault them for not making it more convenient to use. The "official" method of updating maps and firmware is to use CD's / DVD's in the unit's drive, and this works well. One thing to note, however, if you receive a unit that has garmin firmware < 2.5, if you are upgrading to 2.5 you have to unplug the GTM10 traffic receiver or it will freeze up during upgrade. I thought I had bricked my unit, but found some hints online and managed to get the thing upgraded by temporarily unplugging the traffic receiver. Ironically, V2.5 actually fixes the problem where it hangs on firmware update when the traffic receiver is plugged in. I would highly recommend the GTM10 unit if you live in the coverage area. It's really cool to be able to have your gps take you home and route you around car wrecks and such. Also, it's easy to add custom POI's using a burned cd (or usb connector in the back).

The bluetooth: I like the way the bluetooth sounds (mic placement is key), it connects reliably. The whole hands-free-to-shift-and-steer-and-talk-yet-not-commit-vehicular-homicide feature is nice too. And it is kind of neat how well integrated it is with the phone. I see the battery strength, the signal strength etc up on my display. My blackberry 8830 (sprint) syncs fine, the phone book syncs fine, everything works the way it's supposed to. (If anyone is having issues with their bluetooth connecting to their blackberry etc, make sure you're on the latest firmware of both the deck and the bt unit itsself.) And now the bad: Voice dialing. My blackberry actually has very competent built-in voice dialing system. When I use my motorola earpiece, I can hit the button on it and say "dial so and so mobile" and it usually gets it right. However, the kenwood / parrot unit completely bypasses this functionality and replaces it with its own subpar system. Subpar is overly generous even. It's truly horrible, to the point where it's unusable. To voice dial, you have to: first record yourself saying the person's name. Then, after you have that person recorded as a voice dial preset, you have to hit the button for voice dialing, say the name, cross your fingers and hope it recognized what you said, then if all goes well it shows you the person's name, then you have to select the number, hit the button again to dial. It's far less accurate than my blackberry and I didn't even train it. It's easier just to use the 6 preset buttons they give you on the main screen . Less button presses overall, too bad they only give you 6. Still though, I like having my bluetooth integrated with my stereo, I like having the volume cut when I take a call automagically, I like not having to drive down the road wearing my earbud, or worse yet forget I have it in my ear and walk into the store and be "that guy".

Sirius: This interface is actually very nice. I will recommend that you switch to the 2 line display so that you can see the song info etc on the same screen with the presets. But this works great, very well integrated.

iPod interface: Poifect. One suggestion though: Make sure you leave the cable to where you can easily pull out the USB connector for use with thumb drives etc.

Sound: The unit sounds very good, much better than my factory deck (though that's not saying much). It even has a parametric EQ! That being said, it might be more usable if it had some low / mid / high knobs somewhere on the front (as someone else pointed out), but hey, if you're truly into tuning your sound, 3 band parametric EQ is nothing if not tunable. Not to mention complete overkill, but I digress... 99% of the population is going to look at "Q" and go "wuuuh?" Also it looks as though it has a built in xover, though I haven't dove into these features since I'm not using external amplification.

I bought this DD Radio with alot of apprehension. However, it worked out great. Was a simple install and it looks great in replacing the factory radio. The USB cable and a thumb drive works great also, I have my music on the thumb drive (4GB in my setup) and I can take it into work and use the thumb drive there for music also. I also bought a Plug and Play adapter for my siruis setup, and it works great with the radio. DVD is great easy, and is easy to MOD for use while driving. Navigation is Garmin, and is easy to use and it talked loud; like having a back seat driver (LOL), so I changed that right away. Being able to change your background is cool, and the USB makes it a snap. Highly recommend this product.

I am enjoying this unit, however I did learn of some flaws after acquiring it.

I do like the GPS functionality (this is the first GPS unit I have had however, so the wow factor is big with me). I like how it quietly recalculates routes and I like how the unit does not bark at me when I miss a turn or choose to go another way.

The tuner is ok (I did not get the HD Radio option).

I did purchase the the iPod cable, and learned later when I connected my iPhone that I would be getting the "This product not for iPhone" message. Not a big deal, and I have some products made for my iPhone for which I get that message. The reason why I never gave this a thought during purchase is because it clearly was designed to work with cell phones as it supports bluetooth, and has dialing/phone features built in. So, it just never crossed my mind that I might get this message. My bad.

Must say that using a touch screen system while driving is not a good thing. Obviously I should not use the GPS (interact with it I mean) while driving - but I expect to use the radio (or the iPod screen). So, this isn;t a knock on the product, just a word to the wise. The greatre complexity of the offering (over standard car radios) means a touch screen interface, and it requires more of your attention while operating it. Reasonable minds can have a debate on this point, but so far, I am quite aware of the danger as I try to switch presets on my radio while driving. Main problem here is if the radio screen is not on the presets already. If it is not, I have to press a ver small button once or twice to get it cycled to the presets screen, and then I have to press a small preset button. I can't feel for it by touch as everything is flat on the screen, I have to divert my attention, and I have to be precise. (and btw, this isn't one of the flaws my opening comments refer to - this is a just a reality of using such a system - any system by anyone who uses a touch screen interface).

The iPod feature seems to have a problem at times with my phone, but then again, at present I have 13Gb of music on my phone - but still, it should be consistent. Either it can support 13Gb o music or it can not. Itworks sometimes, and others it does not and I have to keep rebooting the unit and my phone until finally it works. To be fair, it is an IPOD system, not an IPHONE system, so that may be the root of my problem.

The bluetooth system at first did not work well at all - unusable. But a did a firmware update and now it is just barely functional. The root of the first issue was with my iPhone 3G. The firmware update appears to have resolved it. Oh, and the firmware update of the bluetooth hardware is simply ridiculous. You must have a bluetooth PC or dongle to do it. Thank goodness I had a laptop I could use. There should have been a way I could have loaded the update on a CD and inserted it into the unit and it communicated with the bluetooth hardware to execute the update. Way to difficult to get it done the way they have it now. The problem now is that the microphone that comes with it has an EXTREMELY tiny and "tinny" sound, unacceptably so. So, I am going to see if there is any way I can use a different microphone, but have not done this yet.

Oh, another flaw is that the USB drive support apparently has difficulties supporting large drives. I have a 4Gb and a 64Gb flas drive, both formtted as FAT32, and it will not recognize them. I had to put my updated on a 512Mb flash drive for it to work.

Manual says I can upload wallpaper, but what they don't tell you is that you can only upload a single image (and then, of course, I ran into the whole USB drive issue).


In the end, it should be noted that I have no experience with other comparable units. So, while i sit here today thinking surely the grass must be greener elsewhere, I do not know this for a fact. This unit is evidently at its end of life, as I am hearing that Kenwood is coming out with a 5140 (this is supposition on my part about it being at end of life, but I have read comments in online forums that support this). So, if I had it to do all over again, I would not have purchased this unit. This was an impulse buy brought on by a "deal of the day" at Amazon. It is a fair unit, just not the perfect unit for me. If you do not have an iPhone, then virtually none of the issues listed above would apply to you, and this might be the perfect match. If you do, then I'd look elsewhere.

I recently purchased this unit to go in my 2009 CR-V. I like this unit a lot. The Garmin-powered navigation system is accurate, easy to use, and simple to read. The on-screen-display has plenty of customization options for you to play with. I'll list everything in a pro-con format:

PROS:
- Garmin navigation. Cinch to use, and very accurate. A host of customization options. I particularly like how you can mute the "Recalculating Route" voice, as I find that annoying. It simply just tells you where to go if you miss a route.
- Simplicity of use. Sure the OSD looks a bit outdated, but that's only on the source select screen. Once you're on the source screen, everything looks great.
- Ability to play videos through your iPod connection, although most in-dash units have this feature as well.
- Dual-zone option. Fantastic if you have a rear-facing monitor and need to keep the kids quiet while not going crazy yourself. You can play any type of video (DVD, iPod, etc.) through the back speakers while keeping a main audio source for the front speakers.
- Very responsive. 5-10 second start up time from where you left off, with 15-20 second max of acquiring a satellite. Very little lag time between button presses. Touch screen buttons are huge and easy to press.
- Firm volume knob that also acts as an attend. I looked at the Pioneer series, but couldn't get over the shiny slipperiness of the volume knob. I know that there are custom made knobs that you can but, but why pay extra?
- You can turn this off! It's amazing that the Pioneer series has no "Off" option. Really? A radio that you can never turn off?

CONS:
- IPod control can be more streamlined. Selecting a song on your iPod is a bit confusing and could get dangerous at high speeds. The remote (which I'm told is bigger than TV remotes) can help this issue.
- Connectivity - cannot have both a USB device and and iPod plugged in at the same time, although you don't need a USB device if you have an iPod, so that's nitpicky.
- Bluetooth not included. Not a deal breaker, as I hate talking on the phone in any capacity while I drive.

Bottom Line:
As this is now a discontinued model (that Kenwood is still supporting), you should be able to get unbelievable deals. I wanted a system that was first and foremost an excellent GPS navigation unit, with some extras throw in, and this was all that and more. The Pioneer F series offers more included, such as an iPod cable and is already equipped with Bluetooth and voice recognition for a slightly higher price, but if you are interested in an excellent GPS navigation system that "just works," and don't want to pay extra for all the bells and whistles, then you cannot go wrong with it.

Edit 09/21/2010: Nav portion of this head unit is now inoperable and a search around web reveals that ours is far from the first to break. Kenwood tech support's only advice is to send the unit in to their service center in Virginia Beach. Others have done so and been rewarded with $500 to $600 repair estimates. Instead, I'm sending it into the trash and if we replace it with another nav system, you can bet your last dollar that it won't be a Kenwood.

Also, as an FYI: These units come with a factory warranty - only if purchased from an authorized dealer. According to Kenwood, no dealers are authorized to sell on amazon, so no Kenwood product purchased here comes with any sort of factory warranty. A most unpleasant phone call.

This household will never ever again purchase anything with a Kenwood label.

Old review: Installed the 5120 in our '08 smart fortwo and it's worked perfectly from the first start-up. Acquires sats quickly, easy & robust Garmin nav (reason enough to choose Kenwood), upgraded to latest operating and nav software in a cinch. Also used Kenwood's ipod interface cable and it works as advertised. Our Touch syncs up just fine, while the 3G iPhone needs a warning (on the phone) to be dismissed, as with 99% of the other cables out there. Once dismissed, though, the iPhone delivers music just fine via the cable and the unit displays its contents well.

This deck was the best decision to buy that I've ever made. It looks great and is very easy to use. The only thing that I will suggest if you decide to buy this deck and want to watch dvds is to get the remote with it, I didn't and I still haven't but I think it will be worth it and I think its only $30. Also IMPORTANT... haha this pissed me off really bad. After you install the deck you come up to the screen with all the options (ex. tuner, dvd, ipod, etc.) you need to go to tuner... there you will hear the radio, obviously, if you installed it properly. Well it did not give me a notice that in order to get sound on the other things like ipod and dvd/cd you need to turn a button on. So you have to go into the tuner and press the "TI" button (have it highlighted red) and then go into ipod and what not and it will work perfect. It will save alot of time, confusion, and frustration. Other than that this was a fantastic purchase, would recommend this deck to anyone.