Home > Consumer Reviews > Kenwood DNX5120 6.1-Inch-Wide Double-DIN In-Dash Navigation with USB/iPod Direct Control/DVD Receiver

Let see, installation took about a hour with my dad and I. Easy to follow installation instructions; Best Buy wanted to charge me $199.00 for that; and we did a better job than they ever could. I have my ipod hooked up to it all the time. By iPhone connected by Bluetooth, I can dial out from the console. Side buttons on the face make switching from navigation to source a breeze. Sound quality is amazing. Sirius and HD radio are easy to hook up and install as well. This is a all in one media hub, you got Garmin navigation built in which works flawless, you can find anything and never will get lost, easy to follow map, and all the streets are pre-programmed, any updates come straight from Garmin via satellite, this unit has a built in 2 gig hard drive for the maps and GPS functions, so no need to put in a additional unit or DCD to read from; ipod, Bluetooth, Sirius or xm radio, hd radio, dvd player, which with special wiring, you can get it to play while you drive so your passengers can watch are all possibilities. You can customize your background, just get a memory stick, hook it up and you can have your wallpapers of any choosing. I could go on and on, I have never operated something easier, the directions are straight forward. There is no getting board here. Customer service is very cooperative, and helps with any questions from small to large. Great experience!! I do not thing anything is better out there for the money, the DNX 7120 and 8120 cost hundreds more for really nothing in return. And they don't have the easy access buttons on the face. Plus the double din face place is permanent in one spot, and does not move, so that is one less thing that will break. On the 8120 and 7120 they are motorized which can break. Anyways thanks for the great unit Kenwood. And to all you, I hope this helps you with buying decisions.

I bought this DD Radio with alot of apprehension. However, it worked out great. Was a simple install and it looks great in replacing the factory radio. The USB cable and a thumb drive works great also, I have my music on the thumb drive (4GB in my setup) and I can take it into work and use the thumb drive there for music also. I also bought a Plug and Play adapter for my siruis setup, and it works great with the radio. DVD is great easy, and is easy to MOD for use while driving. Navigation is Garmin, and is easy to use and it talked loud; like having a back seat driver (LOL), so I changed that right away. Being able to change your background is cool, and the USB makes it a snap. Highly recommend this product.

I recently purchased this unit to go in my 2009 CR-V. I like this unit a lot. The Garmin-powered navigation system is accurate, easy to use, and simple to read. The on-screen-display has plenty of customization options for you to play with. I'll list everything in a pro-con format:

PROS:
- Garmin navigation. Cinch to use, and very accurate. A host of customization options. I particularly like how you can mute the "Recalculating Route" voice, as I find that annoying. It simply just tells you where to go if you miss a route.
- Simplicity of use. Sure the OSD looks a bit outdated, but that's only on the source select screen. Once you're on the source screen, everything looks great.
- Ability to play videos through your iPod connection, although most in-dash units have this feature as well.
- Dual-zone option. Fantastic if you have a rear-facing monitor and need to keep the kids quiet while not going crazy yourself. You can play any type of video (DVD, iPod, etc.) through the back speakers while keeping a main audio source for the front speakers.
- Very responsive. 5-10 second start up time from where you left off, with 15-20 second max of acquiring a satellite. Very little lag time between button presses. Touch screen buttons are huge and easy to press.
- Firm volume knob that also acts as an attend. I looked at the Pioneer series, but couldn't get over the shiny slipperiness of the volume knob. I know that there are custom made knobs that you can but, but why pay extra?
- You can turn this off! It's amazing that the Pioneer series has no "Off" option. Really? A radio that you can never turn off?

CONS:
- IPod control can be more streamlined. Selecting a song on your iPod is a bit confusing and could get dangerous at high speeds. The remote (which I'm told is bigger than TV remotes) can help this issue.
- Connectivity - cannot have both a USB device and and iPod plugged in at the same time, although you don't need a USB device if you have an iPod, so that's nitpicky.
- Bluetooth not included. Not a deal breaker, as I hate talking on the phone in any capacity while I drive.

Bottom Line:
As this is now a discontinued model (that Kenwood is still supporting), you should be able to get unbelievable deals. I wanted a system that was first and foremost an excellent GPS navigation unit, with some extras throw in, and this was all that and more. The Pioneer F series offers more included, such as an iPod cable and is already equipped with Bluetooth and voice recognition for a slightly higher price, but if you are interested in an excellent GPS navigation system that "just works," and don't want to pay extra for all the bells and whistles, then you cannot go wrong with it.

I am enjoying this unit, however I did learn of some flaws after acquiring it.

I do like the GPS functionality (this is the first GPS unit I have had however, so the wow factor is big with me). I like how it quietly recalculates routes and I like how the unit does not bark at me when I miss a turn or choose to go another way.

The tuner is ok (I did not get the HD Radio option).

I did purchase the the iPod cable, and learned later when I connected my iPhone that I would be getting the "This product not for iPhone" message. Not a big deal, and I have some products made for my iPhone for which I get that message. The reason why I never gave this a thought during purchase is because it clearly was designed to work with cell phones as it supports bluetooth, and has dialing/phone features built in. So, it just never crossed my mind that I might get this message. My bad.

Must say that using a touch screen system while driving is not a good thing. Obviously I should not use the GPS (interact with it I mean) while driving - but I expect to use the radio (or the iPod screen). So, this isn;t a knock on the product, just a word to the wise. The greatre complexity of the offering (over standard car radios) means a touch screen interface, and it requires more of your attention while operating it. Reasonable minds can have a debate on this point, but so far, I am quite aware of the danger as I try to switch presets on my radio while driving. Main problem here is if the radio screen is not on the presets already. If it is not, I have to press a ver small button once or twice to get it cycled to the presets screen, and then I have to press a small preset button. I can't feel for it by touch as everything is flat on the screen, I have to divert my attention, and I have to be precise. (and btw, this isn't one of the flaws my opening comments refer to - this is a just a reality of using such a system - any system by anyone who uses a touch screen interface).

The iPod feature seems to have a problem at times with my phone, but then again, at present I have 13Gb of music on my phone - but still, it should be consistent. Either it can support 13Gb o music or it can not. Itworks sometimes, and others it does not and I have to keep rebooting the unit and my phone until finally it works. To be fair, it is an IPOD system, not an IPHONE system, so that may be the root of my problem.

The bluetooth system at first did not work well at all - unusable. But a did a firmware update and now it is just barely functional. The root of the first issue was with my iPhone 3G. The firmware update appears to have resolved it. Oh, and the firmware update of the bluetooth hardware is simply ridiculous. You must have a bluetooth PC or dongle to do it. Thank goodness I had a laptop I could use. There should have been a way I could have loaded the update on a CD and inserted it into the unit and it communicated with the bluetooth hardware to execute the update. Way to difficult to get it done the way they have it now. The problem now is that the microphone that comes with it has an EXTREMELY tiny and "tinny" sound, unacceptably so. So, I am going to see if there is any way I can use a different microphone, but have not done this yet.

Oh, another flaw is that the USB drive support apparently has difficulties supporting large drives. I have a 4Gb and a 64Gb flas drive, both formtted as FAT32, and it will not recognize them. I had to put my updated on a 512Mb flash drive for it to work.

Manual says I can upload wallpaper, but what they don't tell you is that you can only upload a single image (and then, of course, I ran into the whole USB drive issue).


In the end, it should be noted that I have no experience with other comparable units. So, while i sit here today thinking surely the grass must be greener elsewhere, I do not know this for a fact. This unit is evidently at its end of life, as I am hearing that Kenwood is coming out with a 5140 (this is supposition on my part about it being at end of life, but I have read comments in online forums that support this). So, if I had it to do all over again, I would not have purchased this unit. This was an impulse buy brought on by a "deal of the day" at Amazon. It is a fair unit, just not the perfect unit for me. If you do not have an iPhone, then virtually none of the issues listed above would apply to you, and this might be the perfect match. If you do, then I'd look elsewhere.

Installed the 5120 in our '08 smart fortwo and it's worked perfectly from the first start-up. Acquires sats quickly, easy & robust Garmin nav (reason enough to choose Kenwood), upgraded to latest operating and nav software in a cinch. Also used Kenwood's ipod interface cable and it works as advertised. Our Touch syncs up just fine, while the 3G iPhone needs a warning (on the phone) to be dismissed, as with 99% of the other cables out there. Once dismissed, though, the iPhone delivers music just fine via the cable and the unit displays its contents well.

Two thumbs up for the 5120 from where we sit.