no bugs if you get the updated versions which almost everystore has now.

If not you can update it via SD card.

boot up is maybe 15 secs and thats with artwork on the ipod.

The nav will tell you at 1mile 1/2 mile and 500ft (if the next turn is that far)

Nah no voice, but I dont need it, I mean how ofter are you going to need directions? The ipod voice didnt really catch my attention either,its a cool feature,but I dont think id use it

The 8120 does have a mic. Its used for bluetooh and works great.

The blue tooth kicks in about 20 sec after boot up

See now why is it that kenwood can have a multifunction "computer" and not have a rediculous boot up? I mean the d3 was instant and was multi function, although perhaps we once again are being punished for the choice of os or third party programs.

Does the kenwood run widnows ce or a different flavor of os? If it is windows ce, I do wonder what the excuse is now, does voice recognition really take that much time to initialize? If so they shoudl give the option to disable it, especially if it would take 30-45 seconds off the bootup time. Bluewooth is the last thing loaded at around the 1 minute 30 second mark, crazy stuff.

Owell overall the f900bt is a nice unit, I just wish they would of let it bake. I would of been happy to wait an extra 3 months to have a perfect unit out of the box then being obsessed with waiting for updates and being annoyed day after day.

The kenwood is a lot mroe expensive though, 1100 is the cheapest you can find it online. I found the f900bt for 800 from newegg. So is it worth it at hundreds of dollars more?

Heck maybe as an experiment just buy the kenwood, use it until the next update comes out haha. Way to distract yourself from the bugs.

Well I almost got the time alignment set.

This was a HUGE deciding factor on my part. The nav is somewhat important but not as important as the audio

I am currenly running some CDT Es series components and the Kenwood made them shine.

Last year when I had the D3 I was kinda upset that the D3 had a very basic EQ, I just couldnt get it tuned right.

The 8120s EQ is almost flat expect for the 16k 2+db ( i like a little trebble) The sound from this thing is amazing.

Im not trying to knock Pioneer. I have ran MANY Pioneer units in the past and was very happy with them.

If SQ is your goal the 8120 will help you reach that goal with ease.

The time alignment makes the entire setup sound differant. The tweets seem to be more balanced and dont seem to be overpowering.

 

The kenwood is a lot mroe expensive though, 1100 is the cheapest you can find it online. I found the f900bt for 800 from newegg. So is it worth it at hundreds of dollars more?

you can find em on Ebay for 800,they are refurbs which isnt reallya big deal. You can purchase the 1 year square trade warrtanty for under $100, 2 year is like $129

I really do think its worth the extra money if SQ is your thing. If you more concerened about nav then the 90bt might more for you.

Currently, I can find f90bt for about $830 from authorized dealer. At the time when I was buying, f90bt was only $50 cheaper (dnx8120 - $1048) and not shipping. If i'm buying right now i might go for f90bt but no regret on getting the kenwood.

Anyone here using the 8120 with the iphone and bluetooth? I have heard that the call quality is good with the 8120 but was wondering specifically about the iphone. Also the phonebook transfer.....how well does it transfer contacts...AND...if you have multiple numbers under the same contact...ie work, home....how does it display on the screen.

I know the the F series just lists the same person multiple times as it is unable to categorize contacts!

Thanks for the info!

Anyone here using the 8120 with the iphone and bluetooth? I have heard that the call quality is good with the 8120 but was wondering specifically about the iphone. Also the phonebook transfer.....how well does it transfer contacts...AND...if you have multiple numbers under the same contact...ie work, home....how does it display on the screen.

 

I know the the F series just lists the same person multiple times as it is unable to categorize contacts!

 

Thanks for the info!

I have the 8120 and the iphone 3G. They work flawlessly. The phone book transfer was automatic and the call quality is about as good as you can get.

The 8120 has the same problem for a lot of people with iphones that the F series had in the beginning in that the other person can here some static from your voice. There is a workaround that you can do. When making or receiving a call you can switch to the phone and then back to the 8120 and that clears up the signal for that call. This has to be done with every call. I also had several minor bug issues with the 8120 when I had mine. They were all reported to Kenwood. Their product support staff is top notch I must say. Far different world then trying to deal with Pioneer support.

The 8120 has the same problem for a lot of people with iphones that the F series had in the beginning in that the other person can here some static from your voice. There is a workaround that you can do. When making or receiving a call you can switch to the phone and then back to the 8120 and that clears up the signal for that call. This has to be done with every call. I also had several minor bug issues with the 8120 when I had mine. They were all reported to Kenwood. Their product support staff is top notch I must say. Far different world then trying to deal with Pioneer support.

Hang on a sec there, you're saying that the Kenwood has the same issues as the F series, the Kenwood has been out longer, the issues were resolved on the F-series but not the 8120?

Then you go on to say Kenwoods support is top notch, far different world from Pioneer?

Something just doesn't add up there.

The bluetooth issues are with the iphone only. And it is very usable, just takes an extra step to get rid of the noise. And the noise is not as bad as the issues were with the F series at first. Kenwood support is awesome to talk to. They will listen to every issue you have and will forward all your concerns to the proper departments to have them looked into, I have had far worse experiences with Pioneer as several people on this forum have as well. And yes, I did have minor issues that appeared to be non design problems with my unit. Not anything near on the scope of the issues of the F series on first release however. The main reason I got rid of it was that I just could not love the unit and I felt the F series had progressed to the point of acceptance. I made the right decision in my case. The specs on the 8120 are very much superior then any Pioneer nav unit I have dealt with though. Especially the audio features. The nav was good but I do prefer the F series nav.

The bluetooth issues are with the iphone only. And it is very usable, just takes an extra step to get rid of the noise. And the noise is not as bad as the issues were with the F series at first. Kenwood support is awesome to talk to. They will listen to every issue you have and will forward all your concerns to the proper departments to have them looked into, I have had far worse experiences with Pioneer as several people on this forum have as well. And yes, I did have minor issues that appeared to be non design problems with my unit. Not anything near on the scope of the issues of the F series on first release however. The main reason I got rid of it was that I just could not love the unit and I felt the F series had progressed to the point of acceptance. I made the right decision in my case. The specs on the 8120 are very much superior then any Pioneer nav unit I have dealt with though. Especially the audio features. The nav was good but I do prefer the F series nav.

Why do you believe the nav is better on the Kenwood than the F series.I thought Kenwood carried the Garmin maps which are suppose to be the best.

The 8120 has the same problem for a lot of people with iphones that the F series had in the beginning in that the other person can here some static from your voice. There is a workaround that you can do. When making or receiving a call you can switch to the phone and then back to the 8120 and that clears up the signal for that call. This has to be done with every call. I also had several minor bug issues with the 8120 when I had mine. They were all reported to Kenwood. Their product support staff is top notch I must say. Far different world then trying to deal with Pioneer support.

VBlue42 -

Im not sure what you mean when you say "you can switch to the phone and then back to the 8120." I have heard that there is some difficulty with the iphone, but i mostly heard that you need to turn WiFi off when using it with bluetooth as the wifi is pulling lots of power and the bluetooth signal is already weak in the iphone. Any comments?? Also, i dont know if it matters, but i was planning on using a different ipod for music, not the iphone.......not sure if that had an impact on phone quality if you were trying to use the iphone as your mp3 player and phone at the same time??

A few more things....when you transfer the phonebook to the 8120, does it store it on the unit or just read off the iphone every time.....for example if i am constantly adding contacts to the iphone phonebook, will i need to keep transferring them to the 8120 every few days, or will the 8120 recognize the changes.

Finally.......if you have contacts with multiple #s....ie Jon Doe home, work, cell.....how does it display in the contact screen? I know the F series just listed "Jon Doe" 3 separate times so you had no idea what listing was what.

I'd like to get the unit real soon, but i havent been able to get answers to those questions......its nice to be able to ask a real iphone owner!

Thank you!

I used the previous gen Kenwood for a while and enjoyed it. The only thing that bothered me was the lack of a VSS connection. Particularly when driving through downtown Chicago, I would lose the signal or it'd jump all over the place.

Because I didn't get any better accuracy with the Kenwood that I do with the F-90. As the other poster wrote above, the lack of a VSS connection on the Kenwood did pose problems on occasion for me. Im sure Garmin is top notch but i haven't seen any problems with the iGo nav in the F-90.

Why do you believe the nav is better on the Kenwood than the F series.I thought Kenwood carried the Garmin maps which are suppose to be the best.

Because I didn't get any better accuracy with the Kenwood that I do with the F-90. As the other poster wrote above, the lack of a VSS connection on the Kenwood did pose problems on occasion for me. Im sure Garmin is top notch but i haven't seen any problems with the iGo nav in the F-90.

I just bought the 360 Garmin for my 2nd car.I read all the hype about the accuracy of the Garmin and I feel it's no better than my Eclipse unit which is good not excellent.The Garmin will get me to my destination but sometimes in a roundabout way.I haven't seen any crazy U turns or have me driving in the Ocean.It's ok I like it.

 

VBlue42 -

 

Im not sure what you mean when you say "you can switch to the phone and then back to the 8120." I have heard that there is some difficulty with the iphone, but i mostly heard that you need to turn WiFi off when using it with bluetooth as the wifi is pulling lots of power and the bluetooth signal is already weak in the iphone. Any comments?? Also, i dont know if it matters, but i was planning on using a different ipod for music, not the iphone.......not sure if that had an impact on phone quality if you were trying to use the iphone as your mp3 player and phone at the same time??

 

A few more things....when you transfer the phonebook to the 8120, does it store it on the unit or just read off the iphone every time.....for example if i am constantly adding contacts to the iphone phonebook, will i need to keep transferring them to the 8120 every few days, or will the 8120 recognize the changes.

 

Finally.......if you have contacts with multiple #s....ie Jon Doe home, work, cell.....how does it display in the contact screen? I know the F series just listed "Jon Doe" 3 separate times so you had no idea what listing was what.

 

I'd like to get the unit real soon, but i havent been able to get answers to those questions......its nice to be able to ask a real iphone owner!

 

Thank you!

When you make a call on the 8120, as soon as the call connects, there is a virtual button to the right of the DTMF button that has a graphic of a speaker to phone on it. Its the privacy button allowing you to quickly switch to privacy mode if you dont want everyone in the car to hear your conversation. Switching that button on then off will clear up the audio problem of digital static from your voice to the person your talking to. And WIFI on or off makes no difference, at leased not in my case. Several people use the privacy button as a workaround to the bluetooth problems as Kenwood claims there is no fix for it on their end.

I do not use my Iphone as my principle music/video source. I use a 160 gig ipod classic. I do however use youtube mobile from the iphone as well as several radio apps through the Apple composite cable connected to the aux in giving me the ability to view youtube and radio on through the system. I do this now with the F-90 by Y adapting the Apple and Pioneer cables through the same Aux input allowing me to use both the Iphone and Ipod. It works out great. The 8120 has two different sets of inputs so I didnt have to use Y adapters at that time.

Your phonebook question Im not sure of but I am almost positive it reads from the phone in real time. There was never a "phonebook transfer button that I had to hit. You just pair the phone with the unit and your able to access the phonebook and call history. You can also set up 6 presets for quick calling. Viewing text messages however from the unit is not supported from the iphone. I cant remember if the unit can differentiate from multiple numbers from the same contact. I believe it can not just as the F series cant. Also Kenwood has a great support staff that will be glad to answer any questions you have in this matter. I called them several times before I got my unit. They were awesome. I will be glad to answer anymore questions you may have though if I can remember. I only had the unit about two weeks before I switched to F-90.

Looks good... I just cant get over the the push button volume.

Kenwood has an iPhone specific Bluetooth update for the DNX8120 and the KCA-BT200 used with the other DNX units. You just have to call them and they will email you the update

Kenwood has an iPhone specific Bluetooth update for the DNX8120 and the KCA-BT200 used with the other DNX units. You just have to call them and they will email you the update

Do you have experience with this iphone update? Did it improve the performance or anything like that?? Im so close to buying this unit, but still trying to make some final decisions and come to terms with spending 1500! If you have experience with this update and iphone usage on the 8120 it would be greatly appreciated. Thank u

Do you have experience with this iphone update? Did it improve the performance or anything like that?? Im so close to buying this unit, but still trying to make some final decisions and come to terms with spending 1500! If you have experience with this update and iphone usage on the 8120 it would be greatly appreciated. Thank u

I have a DNX5120 and an iPhone 3G. The update made the sound quality excellent. The update is 1.61 and Kenwood emails it to you. I've also read on other forums the same update is available for the 8120 and works great.

I would like to know if the 8120 is by-passable yet as far as DVD's and nav while moving and such

yes it is. i know on my 5120 you dont have to bypass it for the nav to work, but vidoes yes

Well how do you by-pass it...........I plan on getting one within the next month for my cross country trip

you just ground the parking brake!

Ok, I have had a decent offer for my D3 and was considering an upgrade. I was going f90 but now I am looking to the dnx8120. As having used nothing other than pioneer decks for the last 13 years, I am very leery about this. Just a few questions, How is the Sirius interface, can you see multiple lines of text. What do you need to be able to get the sirius hooked up to the dnx8120. And is the video and nav bypass really as simple as just grounding the parking break wire, seems to good to be true.