Kenwood DN X5120 6.1 in. Car DVD Player

I'd initially considered a portable GPS navigation system for my car (2007 Hyundai Sonata) but while I was looking around the Kenwood DNX-5120 caught my eye & I was hooked. The only problem as I couldn't afford it until now!

This unit solved many problems for me, I wanted HD, possibly XM too & a DVD player for the kids on long journeys. I could have bought a HD radio, plus an XM receiver, a portable DVD player for the kids in the back & added that to a portable in-car GPS navigation system, but I would have ended up with a Frankenstein like installation & maybe even ended up spending more money that the $700 the DNX-5120 cost me to buy & install.

I decided to save money & do the job myself so I had to buy a Double DIN slot dash adapter for my car. Luckily I was able to find something that didn't look out of place & the actual physical & electrical installation was easy enough although I am an electronics engineer with 22 years experience so I'm used to things like this. I needed an adapter (not supplied) to connect the speakers to the unit but after that it was plain sailing. The instruction book was fairly easy to follow, gone are the days of literal translation from Japanese that make no sense at all (sometimes with hilarious results) but some fiddling was required to make it all fit.

o far I have not added the XM, HD or TMS traffic modules, nor have I installed rear screens for the DVD player as I'm waiting on new headrests with built in screens to arrive. Accordingly I can't yet comment on DVD, HD or XM radio performance.

Certainly for use as a CD/FM/AM radio it's pretty easy to use. The 4 channel 50W mosfet amps are as good as you can expect from anything in-chassis (ie, not adding external amp blocks) & offer performance that is enough to stretch the factory fitted speakers in my car. I'm not too keen on the more complex equalizer settings, which bewilder me with too many options. I like simple "Rock", "Speech", "Flat" & Classical" & even that's more than I'll ever use. Other setup features are easy but I got stuck occasionally trying to assign presets & had to refer to the manual. No big deal.

I simply ADORE the GPS navigation. Now I have to explain something that all parents will understand, navigating with kids in the back isn't always easy, even if you have someone in the front passenger seat assisting you. But with the DNX-5120 it's a piece of cake. Instructions are clear, concise & supremely understandable with plenty of warning. I can't count the amount of times I've missed turns (Left turns especially) due to a road sign that has been obscured or is too small or isn't illuminated. This device cuts down on wrong turns, getting lost etc, & ANYTHING that reduces the amount of time you have to put up with "Are we there yet…. I need the toilet… I'm thirsty…. I'm hungry…" etc is worth its weight in gold. The kids also find it hilarious, for reasons I've not yet fathomed. Again this is a plus I'm not going to question while it lasts but the repeated "Make it say something" is getting tedious!

Programming the route requires a steep Learning Curve but it soon becomes easier with practice. Since this is still early days for me I've not really explored the POI menu (Points of Interest) but we have a long road trip to Utah coming up & we will be using this feature to full effect to relieve the monotony.

As I haven't yet added HD or XM, as mentioned above, the Aux input allows the easy use of an iPOD which is always a great feature. Also the disc player can pretty much play any MP3, WAV, or other such digital media which is similarly great for adding material to the mix. As far as I can tell u can drive your iPOD from the screen but so far I've not got this to work with my original house-brick sized iPOD so maybe it's my iPOD not my Kenwood at fault.

The ease of use is obvious, most functions are little more than one or two pushes away from the main screen. The screen itself is magnificent, over 6" & you definitely need this when setting up large routes.

What don't I like? Well I'm still not used to a touch screen for operating the radio & CD etc. I could drive my previous, factory fitted radio by touch without taking my eyes off the road. I can't with my DNX-5120 & there have been occasions of "Damn! What did I just press?" & that's never a good thing when driving. The target areas of the screen are generally well mapped & accurate but I often find my finger skids off where I wanted to press & has hit another feature. Some of the icons are also pretty small on occasion too. Maybe I'm old fashioned & I know it would possibly take away some of the space from that terrific screen but a row of actual, physical buttons for the radio presets would be my preference.

What do I like? Although adding all the possible options puts it in competition with much better systems the advantage of the DNX-5120 is that you can add what you want when you want it without paying for stuff you don't need or will never use. For me that is a huge issue. Plus it all works, its easy to use once you get used to the new concepts involved & is fast (unlike some I tried which were snail paced to use in Navigation mode).

On the whole though I think it's been a revolutionary step for me. On a recent occasion I programmed in a route to a friend's house for a party & it found a quicker route, saving me time & gas. ANYTHING that saves mileage these days is going to save you money although you still have to remember that steady speed driving on a Freeway to get where you're going is going to use less that going across town even though it may be shorter & quicker. So far there's not been too much of that & I've only ignored the given directions once. It does have limitations, I hike a lot & many of the turn offs to trail heads aren't listed, so you have to get creative when setting up such a route, but you can't have everything & covering such unusual situations as these is no something you're going to get at this price point.