Another F900BT is headed back to Crutchfield. I put in the new DNX8120 last Friday and it appears everything is working fine. The bluetooth worked from the git go with no issues and very clear audio using my LG Chocolate. The 900BT never could make an intelligible call. I love the bigger screen on the Kenwood and even though some of the menus aren't quite as pretty, they are done in bigger fonts and are much easier for me to see while driving. The screen is definately brighter. I can see it clearly in daylight under almost all conditions. I also installed the KW HD tuner and the GXM30 XM antenna. If you intend to have both XM and HD radio, you have to go this route since the HD radio doesn't have a pass thru for the KAB bus and neither does the standard XM setup. The GMX30 plugs into a mini USB port. I expect they'll come out with a new one eventually that does have the pass thru. Playing a DVD took a few minutes with Crutchfield support to figure out how to access the enter key from the screen. It is in the manual but I kept overlooking it. Now that I know how it's fairly straight forward. I've put a 2gb SD card into a USB adapter and that works just fine. I'm ripping some cd's now to put on a portable 160gb USB hard drive. I'll post if that doesn't pan out. I don't have an iPod so I can't make any comments on that. Navigation seemed to work fine on a short 30 mile excursion I made yesterday. Both antennas on inside on the rear deck. I wasn't opposed to giving the F900BT a chance with updated sw but my 30 day window to return was running out so I didn't want to miss that window. All in all I'm very happy with the KW, so far! Oh, almost forgot, boot up is much faster too. Installation is in a 08 Altima coupe. I hope Pioneer gets the F series sorted out for those still waiting.

Coming from a KVT-719DVD w/ Garmin GPS, I'm about to dump this F700BT. There are so many problems/glitches with this unit that I can't stand it anymore, I seriously don't know how Pioneer didn't or did knowingly release something with this many problems. Funny part is that I complained about some things with the Kenwood like startup time, slight touchscreen delay and random would repeat the same songs after powering off and on the unit but geez, after this Pioneer, I would take that unit back in a heart beat. So now I'm still debating on either getting the DDX812 or just wait a little and get the DNX8120(but the only reason I would do that is to avoid having to install the seperate GPS module like I did with the 719 cause I really don't use the GPS option, for now at least). So for those with the DNX8120(or DDX812) does random actually work now(leaving random always on) at least?

^ maybe you should wait for the update first before deciding... it's pretty much on the verge of being released as of now, so it can't hurt to wait it out another week or so. It could possibly relieve some of the problems it's having and possibly save you the time and money you'd spend replacing it... and if the update doesn't help you out, then go ahead with whatever you're planning.

Not really telling you what to do or anything, but it just seems that with the update being so close, you could be jumping the gun. If it was gonna be another month or something like that, I'd understand.

Coming from a KVT-719DVD w/ Garmin GPS, I'm about to dump this F700BT. There are so many problems/glitches with this unit that I can't stand it anymore, I seriously don't know how Pioneer didn't or did knowingly release something with this many problems. Funny part is that I complained about some things with the Kenwood like startup time, slight touchscreen delay and random would repeat the same songs after powering off and on the unit but geez, after this Pioneer, I would take that unit back in a heart beat. So now I'm still debating on either getting the DDX812 or just wait a little and get the DNX8120(but the only reason I would do that is to avoid having to install the seperate GPS module like I did with the 719 cause I really don't use the GPS option, for now at least). So for those with the DNX8120(or DDX812) does random actually work now(leaving random always on) at least?

Random works PERFECTLY. I have left it on for days at a time and it works great, turning on and off. Zero issues. The touchscreen is more sensitive than any other I have used. Did you have one of the firmware update units? I know freezing/touchscreen insensitivity was an issue in the first few batches. Go to a local shop and try one out on their wall and see if it works the way you want it to.

Folks, It's been almost three weeks since I started this thread and I'm still happy I made the decision I did. The Kenwood Just Works. I never had anything like this unit before so I can't compare it to anything but I haven't found any complaints except that I have to re-establish the Bluetooth Pairing fairly often and I'm sure that's my Palm Treo and not the DNX.

Like I said before though, there's really no-where to ask questions. This forum is incredible and I wish there was one for the DNX.

You know, I ordered mine before I came across this site. I started reading the horrors, and then started looking for a different one before I canceled my F. But for some reason, after checking them all out and playing with the demos in the stores, I just didn't like them. I like Pioneer. Its like that girlfriend that pisses you off, but you love her anyway. I would rather get an F and hope the new firmware comes out, than "settle" for another. I will just wait it out.

Like I said before though, there's really no-where to ask questions. This forum is incredible and I wish there was one for the DNX.

Maybe you should start one? PM Jason and ask him how he got this one going.

^ maybe you should wait for the update first before deciding... it's pretty much on the verge of being released as of now, so it can't hurt to wait it out another week or so. It could possibly relieve some of the problems it's having and possibly save you the time and money you'd spend replacing it... and if the update doesn't help you out, then go ahead with whatever you're planning.

 

Not really telling you what to do or anything, but it just seems that with the update being so close, you could be jumping the gun. If it was gonna be another month or something like that, I'd understand.

I'm sure they will fix the problems eventually but they won't fix what I don't like, like screen size(mainly font size on the clock, arrival distance, time, etc.) and the washed out look of the LCD in sunlight. Lucky for me my Audi has the time & date in the cluster cause if not, this radio would of been gone already. Fix the problems and give me control of how big I can put the time and I'll keep this, if not, I'll go with Kenwood as I know it already and I can place the clock in any of the 4 boxes in the GPS view, in nice readable font,

the washed out look of the LCD in sunlight. Lucky for me my Audi has the time & date in the cluster cause if not, this radio would of been gone already.

Al & Ed's says the fix proposed by Pioneer will address the poor screen contrast problem:

http://www.avic411.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=108163#108163

But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for them to make the clock any bigger...

Thanks for showing me that thread, it's basically saying that my biggest problem with the F700BT(bootup time) will never get fixed without a revision update, which means I'll start to sell mine today. Now to decide, the DDX812 or DNX8120??? And BTW the problem is not the contrast, it's the type of non-glare screen they chose,

i'm actually pretty interested in running dnx411.com or kenwood411.com. does jasonh actually respond to msgs on this site where i might get an idea of total bandwidth he's using per month? i currently host my own sites, have bandwidth to go around and don't mind registering the domain. anyone that can give me some information?

edit - looks like someone registered dnx411.com already, so are they setting it up? i could help out (i just purchased a 8120 last night)

edit 2 - maybe dnx411.info (i can get it for 2 bucks)