I found this shop in Nashville, which is owned by the same family that owns a local chain here, called Electronic Express....authorized Pioneer, Kenwood, and I think Alpine as well. They just got their shipment of D3's, and Kenwood DNX7100's. There's a significant price difference...at MSRP, the D3 is around 1k, and the Kenwood is 1600. They also have a Z1, and a Kenwood DDX6019....so, I have a lot to play with tomorrow, and I have a decision to make. I do know that the Nav for the DDX6019 is the same version as last year...I assume the DNX7100, which is selfcontained, is current.

I know this has been discussed a lot, but any last minute suggestions would be welcome.

I do know that I'm more comfortable paying more, and having local support for the product.

By the way, has anyone played w/the new single din JVC KD-NX500, with 40 gig hard drive? It got a pretty good review, even with the small screen.

Once you get to play with the DNX7100, post back here if you don't mind. I've been wondering what Kenwood was going to come up with, but I haven't seen anyone with one in stock. As for the 6019 and G510 add on, I've played with that a little. My friend and I installed on in his truck, and the nav portion worked great. The routes were always accurate and efficient, but the menus leave something to be desired. They weren't as refined as the Z1 and looked more like something from a video game.

 

The other bad thing from Garmin based Kenwoods is the way they do updates. The hard drive based ones used a secure locked SD card that I've never seen a hack for, and the updates are really expensive.

 

Of course, it remains to be seen whether we'll be able to use, um, backups to update our Z1s to Z2s. LOL

The Kenwood DNX7100 looks much slicker than the 6019....much better looking well thought out GUI....you can customize it as well.....the Ipod interface may be why I cave in and buy it....it's the best I've seen...as far as the updates, you're talking to the wrong guy....I don't find the need to upgrade more than once very 3 years, and I'm OK paying for it (I make my living in a royalty based world and I'm not a fan of piracy). I also like the TTS (or whatever it's called, where you get the street or hwy name at the turning, rather than yardage or feet). I also like Garmin nav, mostly because I'm used to it, and don't have any learning curve. As far as having less POI's, that doesn't bother me....every exit on every major hwy seems to have a bunch of gas stations...I don't need them all. The only thing the Kenwood is missing for me is being able to navigate from a phone number, but I can deal w/that.

The screen is incredible looking!!!