Buying one of these TODAY! Bought a new car and I need navi...no I can't wait. I see a lot of reviews of the f90bt vs the 8120, but what about the 5120? It has comparable screen size and is about the same price. Since I want the bluetooth and ipod functionality, I can get these units for basically the same price when you add the cost of the accessories on to the Kenwood. Meanwhile, the f90bt *SHOULD* be the better unit with it's list of features. However, the bugs might kill the deal for me. They may or may not EVER be fixed and that's what scares me. Can anyone with HANDS ON experience give any insight into these 2 models? I'm going to drive all over trying to find some store models to play with after work. Wish me luck...

I was in the same boat, jumped on the 900bt (basically the same as the 90) and couldn't be happier. For me it came down to the GUI just being nicer then the Kenwoods. But they both have their pro's and cons. Start up time on the Avic is long, unless your on Am or Fm, so it's not that bad for me. But the best thing to do is find a place with both on display. For me here in So Cal, Frys in Burbank had them both working, I literally spent two hours in front of both of them figuring out which one I liked more.

Startup with XM is pretty quick too.

I was considering the Kenwood decks vs the Pioneers. In the end, the ghastly looking menu and input selection screens on the Kenwood were the show stoppers for me. It's like Windows 95 vs. OS X.

I wish Pioneer had the garmin nav software though. It's superior to the the stuff on the Pioneer IMO.

would disagree here. Unless your primary goal is replacing arrow with a car icon, iGO blows Garmin out of the water with its capabilities.

yes i agree, its really a personal opinion so go to like BB or CC and check them out for yourself. i was in the same boat as well. i was debating on the 900 or the dnx5120. i chose the dnx5120 mainly because of the Garmin nav i came from the avic d3 and the routing and POI was just horrible i always had to check google to confirm the route. the nav is not that important but when i want to use it i want it to work well(map updates are around 54-60 dollars off amazon. the UI is not bad as people make it out to be but i will say this the pictures and videos of the UI does look bad i think its better if you look at it in person. the ipod speed is really what they hype it up to be its really fast compared to the avic. also the radio has rds and you can also search radio stations by: sports, news, weather, 80's 90's music and much more. and also the big fact is their customer service are respectful and helpful.

would disagree here. Unless your primary goal is replacing arrow with a car icon, iGO blows Garmin out of the water with its capabilities.

i disagree 200% the only thing i like about the iGO is the way the maps look but that does not get you to your destination.

Haven't gotten me on a wrong way so far. Compared to other navis I used before, routing was entirely reasonable. Besides, with a bit of work you can change almost everything about iGO (including route calculation accuracy vs. speed). Try that with Garmin...

Haven't gotten me on a wrong way so far. Compared to other navis I used before, routing was entirely reasonable. Besides, with a bit of work you can change almost everything about iGO (including route calculation accuracy vs. speed). Try that with Garmin...

I mean i dont have to change that, the accuracy is already great. and there maps and POI are so outdated.

Well, I've gotten enough bad guidance from Garmin, too, so I can't say that they are better everywhere. Maps on Garmin (depending) may be better in most of the US, but from all I could see, not significantly so.

I've used a Garmin Nuvi system for quite a while, and I've used the F Series for about a month now.

It may be that the iGo/F Series Nav is more customizable and hackable, but the Garmin stuff is easier for me to use. Doing a business/POI search on the Garmin software is much easier. Also, the F Series gives too much guidance in my opinion (i.e. it tells me to keep straight more than necessary, tells me too many times about an upcoming turn, etc.). Hopefully that we be an adjustable feature in the future. In general it just seems like a few too many clicks to get it route you.

A benefit it would have over the Garmin is the ability to search city by ZIP code, but the # keys are usually grayed out.

The Garmin stuff did route me to POIs that don't exist. The F Series hasn't done that as of yet.

It mostly depends on personal preferences, really. Pretty much any modern Navi system will get you where you want to go, and all of them will route you into thin air on occasion, and POI databases are notorious for being inaccurate to varying degrees.

I find Garmin to be too easy. I can do far more things with iGO. Granted, searching for a POI category is a bit more difficult than it should be, but at least ZIP entry always worked for me...

If you go to Destination -> Address, and hit the city field, your # keys are functional? I got them not to be grayed out once, but can't remember what I did. Full Screen Cockpit maybe.

They were so far... I usually prefer entering ZIP because it is shorter...

First bestbuy i tried had 4 navi units, and 2 of them were the 5120 and the 700bt. Lucky me! Got to play with them both for about 30 min (I'd probably still be there but the gf started getting restless haha).

My impressions:

700bt-

Very nice looking GUI. Very user friendly. Basically everything I have read about it. It was already on so no way to see the slow boot up of course and I also didn't get a chance to try the voice commands unfortunately. Some of the buttons seemed laggy and I also pushed icons only to find that I had to then push AGAIN harder to make it work. Really nice, but I'm scared that this thing will get annoying fast.

5120-

The first thing that stands out is the old school, cheesey graphics. The garmin interface looked the same as those $100 units they sell. Very cheapy looking. The man menu was not very user friendly at all. But hey, it works! I pushed a button and it opened up what I was going to quickly. Everything just worked the way it was supposed to.

So it's basically form vs function. The F series has so many nice features. If they actually worked it wouldn't even be a contest. The kenwood isn't as nice looking, but everything works the way it should. So hard to choose!!!!

I'm considering either the dnx5120 or the F700 and concur with most of your observations. The Pioneer just seemed a tad slower overall than the Kenwood, but the GUI is so much more polished. Screen is not quite as sensitive, so I found using the back of my finger nail was the way to go with the F700. I also noticed the F700 screen was not quite as contrasty as the Kenwood and the only adjustment is brightness, which solves nothing. Did you notice any major difference in screen visbility?

As for the Garmin nav vs. iGo, it always hard to tell because judgements are so subjective, based on what people expect, where they live, what they're looking for etc. My Nuvi does an OK job but has occasionally screwed up and sometimes gives directions that would have sent me up the wrong on-ramp, for example, had I not seen a sign at the last minute. The Garmin POIs have been extremely reliable for me. I've no experience with iGo but I have to assume it's routing is about on par with TomTom and Garmin. All have their issues IMO.

The price of the F700 is pretty hard ot beat... factor in bluetooth on the Kenwood and it's $200-300 more than the Pioneer. If you're opn a budget, that might be the dealmaker right there.

i got mine for 619.99 shipped there are even some cheaper on ebay. the ipod cable is 30 dollars compared to 50 dollars for the pioneer cable.Also having a USB port was another deciding factor for me. IMO its worth every penny its an all around better product and not a concept.

You got a great deal... I haven't seen the Kenwood for much under $700, even on ebay, or the BT module for much under $150. That makes the package at least $200 more than the AVIC F700, which is on sale at a few places for $580.

yeah it is but again its a better working product

At the end of the day it was time to choose...and I had to go for the one that actually works. I bought the Kenwood. It stinks because I have been following this forum since the F series was announced. It all sounded nice. I wish they would have waited a little while longer and ironed out all of the issues before releasing it. I couldn't wait anymore unfortunately. To those with the F series, good luck to you and I hope they come up with an end all fix. If they do I may have to put mine up for sale at that time and jump on board!

good decision! make sure whoever does the install does it correctly because BB screwed me up and it sounded awful. then i got someone else to fix it and it was perfect. the sound was crystal clear.

Please post your experience with the Kenwood. I'm in the same situation... I really want the Pioneer based on specs. I'm concerned that the reality will be different than the promise.

Do you have Sirius? I hear that the Pioneer Sirius interface is poor. I have not been able to see that yet.

Jack

Will do. I used to have Sirius but I cancelled. I have a 5 minute commute to work so I never even used it. I listen to CD's or mp3's during longer trips so oh well. I will be installing the Kenwood myself next weekend so wish me luck!