I am looking to replace a stock radio DD in an '08 Outlook. I have narrowed it down to the Kenwood 8120 and the Pioneer Z series. A high end retailer in my town is getting out of the car stereo business and will sell me a new AVIC-Z2 for $1000 even....Is this a good deal (and yes, I have looked on amazon/ebay etc...) and how does the Z2 compare to the Kenwood? I looked at Crutchfield and the Z2 got terrible reviews???

Any help in choosing would be greatly appreciated!

Talk amongst yourselves....

I was able to find a new Z3 on the web for $999 from a retailer. So you can do better. Search www.froogle.com. For a Z2 I would search Craigslist for a used one and upgrade. I just found one myself for $650 with Blue tooth. A real steal and he was local. I upgraded to Z3 and I love it.

I don't know the 8120, but my wife has the 7100, which I can't stand it. The Navigation sucks, looks like DOS maps, the menuing is the least user friendly I have ever seen and XM shares the nav antenna, so you have to go through the Nav screens to get to XM.

My suggestion would be to find a retailer who sells both and play with them. Don't ask for help, just see if you can figure it out. Also, while it has been easy to mod and hack the Avic for a lot of things, I could not find any sites for the Kenwood. So that might be something to consider as well.

Good luck!

got terrible reviews from a bunch of idiots with sony explodes who wish they could one day afford a Z2 haha

Thanks for the replies...

Like I said I know I can find it at or near the same price on the net, but the local place is an "authorized" dealer so no problems with Pioneer. Is that worth the $?....I don't know.

As far as going out and playing with each...I have seen the Kenwood 8120 and messed around with it and really liked it. The Pioneer is no where local that I can find. That's why I asked the question on this forum..

All I have seen or heard was from the reviews on Crutchfield...which were not good....even from "idiots with sony's".

So still looking for more "advice" why the Pioneer is better.....

Chime in...

The Kenwood DNX 8120 has Garmin nav and a built-in Bluetooth, I would definitely choose the 8120.