Haha, yah. I have been trolling the Avic forum a bit now for the past few days. Gotta go visit the kenwood now.

Thanks for your input. On a practical sense, most people should/would get the Kenwood but the "cool" factor is always an X factor in these decisions. Lol. Based on what you have expereinced and heard (open question to all members of course), how often is the Pioneer HU off? And what is not so "slick" about the Kenwood.

I'll be reading up on my own but an open discussion would do no harm right?

 

Okay, so what I have found out so far is that the Kenwood has a better GPS than the Pioneer and supports 5.1 surround sound. Where as the Pioneer shines is in its interface and blue-tooth calling. The response time is immediate where as the Kenwood has a bit of a lag (relative to the Pioneer).

Also it seems that the Kenwood is a bit easier to hack/mod whereas the Pioneer is shut tight.

All in all, pick the one u get a good deal on and you should be happy. One caveat with the Pioneer is that a select few people have shown quite a bit of discontent with the performance of the GPS. Again, its a select few people (maybe in the region they live in).

 

Thanks for the compliment and the suggestion. I'll be thinking about this. I think it's odd to have all of the colors in my interior: black, aluminum, and the grey for the console surround, etc. I saw someone paint their lower console piano black and that looks cool. I was also thinking of aluminum. Either way, the grey may need to go. Black is a good idea, though.

 

Thanks as always, SoCal! Loi PM'd me and I'll work with him when I get back in town - traveling now.

For those that asked about the Kenwood GPS, it is great, particularly if you like Garmin.

 

My pleasure!

The ONLY complaint I have regarding the Pioneer is the lack of great routing in Los Angeles. Everything else about it is amazing!

iPod, Bluetooth, menu and screen navigation, etc...all great.

I have the Tom Tom app in my iPhone and it is truly fantastic. I wish I had this on the Pioneer. If I really am lost or am questioning the Pioneer, I just flip on the ol' iPhone Tom Tom app and it gets me where I need to go brilliantly.

I am not someone who travels to strange places on a daily or even weekly basis. If I did, I would sell the Pioneer and get the Kenwood.

 

I have been out of the loop on car stereo scene. But back when I was blowing all my paycheck on car stereo stuff, Alpine has constantly been the top choice of many. How does the comparable Alpine unit fare between the Pioneer and Kenwood lineup? Does anybody have any experiences with them?

 

Funny, I was thinking the same thing as I read this thread. I used to be an avid Alpine fan. Are they that behind the curve now?

 

Yes, when it comes to Nav touchscreen head units with all the bells and whistles (XM, iPod,Bluetooth,HD radio, etc), the 2 biggest, baddest and best are Kenwood and Pioneer.

 

hey guys,

im about to buy aver nice 2004 carrera 4s cabrio but it has the stock radio (non pcm) but bose premium (yuck) sound.

my old car had a nice 4k$ aftermarket sound system from extreme autosound in north hollywood(los angeles).

can anyone recommend any porsche experience sound shops? with all the difficulty of adapting the bose crap and HU I need somebody help me navigate those waters and I dont feel my shop knows anything about porsches.

the bezel is nice but my stock radio is 996 and so it wont fit ;((

 

Can the steering wheel controls still function with any of the aftermarket head units?

 

How do you adjust the volume on the Kenwood? Is it touch screen? I prefer a volume **** so maybe the less expensive kenwood would be a better option for me.