{"id":77,"date":"2010-08-25T00:59:27","date_gmt":"2010-08-25T07:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shivdev.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/25\/kenwood-dnx-6160-review-and-installation\/"},"modified":"2010-08-25T01:01:23","modified_gmt":"2010-08-25T08:01:23","slug":"kenwood-dnx-6160-review-and-installation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/shivdev.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/25\/kenwood-dnx-6160-review-and-installation\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenwood DNX 6160 Review and Installation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I recently got a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kenwoodusa.com\/Car_Entertainment\/Mobile_Video_n_Navigation\/Mobile_Video\/DNX6160\">Kenwood DNX 6160 Bluetooth\/Navigation system<\/a> installed in my wife&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/shivdev.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/21\/my-toyota-rav4-vs-subaru-forester-vs-honda-cr-v-decision\/\">Toyota RAV4<\/a> and this is an initial review after using it for a few days.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Things to know, before buying an expensive in dash navigation system<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Kenwood DNX 6160 costs about $800 and comes with Garmin Navigation (which has it&#8217;s own antenna) and Parrot Bluetooth (which comes with an external microphone). It plays DVDs, MP3z. Has an AUX input on the front, supports USB, iPod\/iPhone. It is HD Radio and Satellite Radio ready, which means you will need to buy the Tuners and pay for Satellite Radio subscription. It also supports backup camera.<\/li>\n<li>The mircrophone is usually placed just above the driver between the visor and the mirror<\/li>\n<li>The Garmin&#8217;s navigation antenna is usually placed near the front windshield so that it can pick up the satellite signal<\/li>\n<li>I don&#8217;t think you can hack it and get to the Operating System, though I&#8217;ve seen some stereos support Windows. When is Android coming to an in-dash system?<\/li>\n<li>You could buy it from Crutchfield and attempt to install it, but IMO it&#8217;s better to have the folks at Fry&#8217;s or your local Best Buy insall it. Especially, if your car is new.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Things to buy along with the stereo <\/strong> (prices may vary)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dash Kit to get the stereo mounted on your dash ($40)<\/li>\n<li>Wiring Harness that acts as an adapter to the factory cables ($25)<\/li>\n<li>Recommended: Installation by an experienced technician ($100)<\/li>\n<li>Optional: iPod interface cable ($20)<\/li>\n<li>Optional: Steering Wheel Interface so that the steering wheel buttons work ($70) + installation ($50)<\/li>\n<li>Optional: Backup Camera ($100) + Installation ($100)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review<\/strong><br \/>\nAfter using it for a few days here are initial thoughts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pros:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Garmin Navigation is awesome. It even tells you the speed limit and your current speed.<\/li>\n<li>Bluetooth integration is flaky, but once paired with my Blackberry it works pretty well.<\/li>\n<li>DVD support, MP3 support, Backup Camera support, USB, AUX support. HD\/Satellite Support. What else do you need? A browser would have been good. :)<\/li>\n<li>The color of the lighting on the buttons can be changed to match the lighting on your car.<\/li>\n<li>CD or DVD can be loaded directly, without tilting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Cons:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Boot up time is at least 10 seconds. Which means only 10 or more seconds after starting your car, will you hear the radio.<\/li>\n<li>At high speeds, the microphone sometimes picks up disturbance and the caller might not hear you clearly.<\/li>\n<li>iPod integration is not easy. I&#8217;ve been able to see the music but not play it.<\/li>\n<li>AM reception is terrible (but it&#8217;s probably a lose connection) and I&#8217;m taking it back to the installer to get it fixed. It&#8217;s supposed to use the car&#8217;s antenna.<\/li>\n<li>User interface is hard to use and most of it has to be done from the UI.<\/li>\n<li>I would have liked physical source select buttons on the side instead of having to do it through the UI. So far I see only 3 buttons Nav, Tel and Src along with a Volume knob. I would have liked the Seek to be a knob as well.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Overall, its pretty nice for what it does and the plethora of devices it supports, but it&#8217;s still very expensive. Not to mention the other costs (dash-kit, harness etc.) of getting it set up in your car &#8211; you&#8217;re looking at $1200 easy. Earlier, I was too tempted to buy a Factory-Fit Chinese Navi\/Bluetooth stereo from eBay and install it myself, but then I thought I&#8217;d take the safe route and go with a reputed brand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I recently got a Kenwood DNX 6160 Bluetooth\/Navigation system installed in my wife&#8217;s Toyota RAV4 and this is an initial review after using it for a few days. Things to know, before buying an expensive in dash navigation system The Kenwood DNX 6160 costs about $800 and comes with Garmin Navigation (which has it&#8217;s own [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/shivdev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/shivdev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/shivdev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shivdev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shivdev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/shivdev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/shivdev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shivdev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shivdev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}