I've got the 8017, and can honestly say that there's nothing that it can't do that I wish it could do. It's great. I've had it for 2 years now in my Tacoma and now in my FJ and the only thing so far to go wrong is that the cooling fan makes a lot of noise when it's cold for about 5 seconds as it's warming up, then it goes all quiet and perfect again. *knocks on wood*
The nav unit does use the touch screen, doesn't it? I know this is a bit of a silly question, but the kenwood site says "RGB input for nav unit". Which I assume they assume will be read as "input and output", or something. Anyway, just want to be stupid-sure.
I'm really tempted to buy a 6019. It looks like it can give me nav and ipod, which are the only things I REALLY want, and for a reasonable price: the nav + head unit go for about $1100 on e-bay, looks like.
Any comments on the Kenwood iPod interface? Can you move between albums, artists, playlists quickly?
I used the PAC SWI-ALP and it works great... when it's working. It has a bad tendancy to only work 50% of the time.
The 8017 has been around for quite some time however, if you need to buy something now, there's not really anything out there that is ahead of this unit with the exception of it's lack of hard drive. If that kind of thing appeals to you, hold out and get a hard drive unit. Personally, the fact that it plays MP3-DVD's is good enough for me. I have most of my CD collection on a few disks that I carry with me. I'm sure in the future, they'll just all have wifi and all you'll have to do to download your new songs is park near your computer and it'll automatically upload your new songs via WIFI. Personally, I will want a hard drive unit in about 2-3 years when the technology is more commonplace and feature rich and my 8017 finally kicks the bucket, but not before that. For now, you'll be happy w/ the 8017.
The TV tuner works better than the TVs in my house. Problem is, next year they shut off all analog signals and HDTV will be the standard, so... It'll be useless, and I'll have to uninstall it.
If you're gonna get this unit, the NAV is what makes it IMO, it's an easy install, but if you're gonna do it, do it in the beginning to save yourself from tearing it all apart again later. Although I bought my system piecemeal, I must have taken the dash apart 10 times putting in each option separately. NO fun.
It will be WiFi all the way and that will be cool. Heck, maybe by then I will be able to get an in-dash ATM and pizza on demand!!! I like the idea of a hard drive. I really do. But then I remember I can store 10GB or more of music on an ipod so why do I need a hard drive? Ugh.. I love the techno times and at the same time I yearn for the string and can!
I am in it for the audio and DVD first and the video second. That's why I am struggling with the nav... It would be way over my budget and how much would I really use it?
Did I mention that I pick up my FJ tomorrow at 3:00PM!!! YIPPIE I have been waiting so long I am going to miss the yearning....
Last edited by ThunderSnow : 11-06-2006 at 07:43 PM.
This Garmin based Navigation unit would not be that difficult to install. Just takes some patience and time. You would need a speed sense wire and have to run the GPS antenna. Other than power for the unit which you may want to set up now for later install so you are not redoing everything. (usually power and a ground). You can find a wiring diagram on this site use search.
The GPS is controlled by the Head unit.
FYI CAS Audio a forum sponsor has this on special with kit and wiring harness. GPS and 6019. for around $1100.
[Edit] a little search and I found the 8017 unit for $699 Kenwood DDX-8017 . One downfall though no bluetooth input.[Edit]
Last edited by redfernsoljah : 11-06-2006 at 08:19 PM.
The nav unit does use the touch screen, doesn't it? I know this is a bit of a silly question, but the kenwood site says "RGB input for nav unit". Which I assume they assume will be read as "input and output", or something. Anyway, just want to be stupid-sure.
I'm really tempted to buy a 6019. It looks like it can give me nav and ipod, which are the only things I REALLY want, and for a reasonable price: the nav + head unit go for about $1100 on e-bay, looks like.
Any comments on the Kenwood iPod interface? Can you move between albums, artists, playlists quickly?
Yes the screen works with the nav unit (DV4100 or G510) so you use the screen as the nav's controller.
The cheapest you'll probably be able to get a nav setup is Palm - Products - Palm TX handheld Palm - Products - GPS Navigator
This is how I do it in the MINI, it's nice because I can use the SD slot for other things like viewing digital cam pics(not while driving) or playing music, while driving. It has bluetooth, Wifi, etc...
I use the kenwood Ipod integration kit with my deck.. I can scroll through playlists and the main library. once you get into either the library or a playlist you have to use the skip track button to jump from song to song. It is not capable of sorting and searching like the ipod does by itself. there is two little switches on the brain box but I have tried all the different set ups possible and nothing changes. If you put the ipod on shuffle and plug it into the adapter it will stay on that shuffle menu, which is usually what I do. As with pluggung the ipod to the adapter, you can select any artist , genre, etc. , and it will play through that list that you select just like it is a CD. FF, RW, pause, etc. It is not the best setup on the market, alpine double din decks have better integration, and they can do anything the Ipod can do through the deck screen. But the key thing here is getting the music signal into the deck at CD quality, not a FM transmitter scratch. I for one like the Ipod set up by kenwood, but I rarely do anything but play shuffle mode or create a new playlist every couple of weeks in Itunes to get constant play of any new music.
Re: Kenwood 8017 or 6019?
Linear Mode
