I ditched my old JVC for a new Kenwood KDC-X995.

I've never owned a Kenwood head unit (was a fan of the Sony Mobile ES line until they halted the line).

I took some time debating a navigation head vs. just music, and I decided to save the coin. I have a Garmin Nuvi with lifetime maps, and an iPad on a mount with Navigon, and my Android phone with GPS, so it didn't make sense. I know some Navi units make you buy the upgrade DVD's, I didn't really need DVD playback, so I saved a good grand by keeping my Garmin, and the 10" screen of an iPad will never be matched by an in-dash unit.

I mounted mine with the pocket up with a mount designed that way - I have a KUDA mount for my Garmin Nuvi and it would block the display. The mount (Metra I think) had two tabs designed to go around the two lower pins on the back of the dash, but I tried for a good 20 minutes to get them through the opening and they are just too wide.

I have a Yaesu 7800 VHF/UHF radio as well, so I cut a small notch out of the back of the pocket to run the remote head wire for the Yaesu and the power/traffic cable for the Garmin through the pocket:


I hated to do it, but I cut a small USB port in the dash. I didn't want to only have the iPod cable (wanted to be able to switch to a thumb drive if I wanted to). I taped off the opening, cut the major amount out with a dremel and used a razor knife to straighten it out and take out the last small amounts:





Pros:

• HD built in
• Bluetooth handsfree built in (speakers for sound, dedicated external mic for your voice)
• Variable face color
• iPod "by hand" control - can control it via the head or at the iPod - AND it charges!
• DSP is awesome
• 3 sets of rca outputs (front, rear and sub)
• Lots of display configurations - can have separate colors for buttons vs display
• My favorite - you can run your Pandora through the head unit.

Cons:

• Face is bowed...if the sun hits the seats just right, it reflects and washes out the display
• No front USB port option - you have to run it behind the dash with an extension or cut the dash like I did

Overall: LOVE the unit...not a top of the line unit with every bell and whistle, but it has exactly what I needed with a minimum of 'cons'.

 

Great job Robert, thanks for sharing!