Reviews

Bought the JVC KW-NT1 for my H3 Hummer and added a rear license plate back-up camara and JVC compatible Sirius radio adapter/interface to it. Also had the DVD/parking park setup disabled so it plays while in drive (illegal in most states so check). We drove to Montreal from CT the day after it was installed so I had plenty of time to fool with it. The Navigation system was easy to use and spot on. At one point I thought it was wrong as it instructed us to turn left at 300' when we could plainly see the Richelieu river on our left! Well, guess what? We turned left at 300' and there was a ferry waiting for us! After that I learned to trust the GPS. The video controls are touchscreen and easy to navigate and eject a CD/DVD. Bluetooth was easy to setup. In fact, once I set it up, it automatically connected to my phone everytime I got in the H3. Voice connection via bluetooth is clear and problem free. IPOD hookup was easy to use. Just plug it in the front jack and push play. I also like the feature that lets you put in a greet and exit voice for when you turn it on and off. I put in, "Hello Handsome" to my wife's chargrine! Having a detactable plate is a great option because of the theft of GPSs in our Mall parking lots (stop being lazy and put them away or you will find your window smashed when you return to your car!) The only gripe I have with the unit is there is no 'OFF' button. It only turns off when you turn the car off and open the door. All in all I am happy with the JVC system and would recommend it to my friends.

I have owned this unit for a few months now. This is a very solid unit. I haven't experienced any glitchy behavior like lock ups and everything works pretty much the way it should. I have a 16GB SD card loaded into the unit that is filled with MP3s (JVC does not list the unit as SDHC compliant but it is). It is a no frills unit though. Screens cannot be customized and look very plain when you are just using the AUX input. No Bluetooth audio streaming, no upgrade path to HD Radio (if that matters to you), and DVD playback is stereo only. DVDs look and play just fine, though I rarely use that function. The unit loads up very quickly though, routes are calculated very fast, and the everything is laid out so simple there is really no need to even read the manual. No problems with Bluetooth; people I talk to report they can hear me just fine. I just have to figure out how (if possible) to get the unit to display the caller's name. Right now it only displays the incoming phone number. Since I don't memorize all of my contacts' numbers, I may not know who is calling. And yes, I did transfer my contacts to the unit. I wish the built in crossover had a little more flexibility, but that is to be expected for a unit like this. It powered my factory speakers just fine (much better than the factory unit), but I eventually disabled the built in amp when I upgraded speakers and added an external amp. Make sure you ground the parking brake wire to get full functionality when driving. This head unit has a detachable face. Not too many double DIN Nav units like this have it and it is one of the reasons I went with this unit. The only real shortcoming I feel this unit has is the volume control. It is touch sensitive and the area where you control up and down is really small. It will not work if you are wearing gloves. It will take time to get used to it while driving (trying to keep eyes on the road) as you initially fumble around trying to find it. It is further obstructed if you plug in a USB flash drive. I eventually ditched my drive and went with a SD card. I'm okay with the volume now. Lastly, you can use any composite video source with the front A/V input. Just buy a cheap iPod or Zune A/V cable with a 1/8" minijack. Next spring I am going to add a back up camera. Overall, I like this unit a lot and really have no major complaints.

I have had the JVC stereo for about a month. Installed it myself in a Ford truck. All that was needed was a wiring harness (recommended) and a dash kit. Bought both of them at alocal electronics store for about $40. Took about an hour to wire everything and about an hour to install in the dash, run the GPS and Bluetooth cables. EASY! Unit fired right up and works like a charm. GPS is better than in my Lincoln! Love the DVD player. All features can be used while driving if you ground the emergency brake wire coming from the unit, however illegal in places. Haven't noticed a volume control problem like I read about in other reviews. Only wish it had a remote control.

I have an iPhone and therefore no phonebook in the kw-nt1. The kw-nt1 will not download a phonebook via bluetooth. The phonebook needs to be uploaded which is something the iPhone does not do. I didn't have this problem with previous radios. This would not be so bad if I could manually add phonebook entries into the kw-nt1 but there is no option for that. So basically, I have no idea who is calling unless I know the number and unless I know the number I can not call anyone. I have to make calls with the iPhone and then choose the kw-nt1 as the output. The microphone is a disappointment. My calls are short because no one wants listen to the echo or my voice clipping in and out. I've had much better mics in the past. There are no Nav map updates. Crazy. There are 6 million POIs but the ones I'm looking for are not in there. I use my iPhone Where app to find the address and then plug the address into the kw-nt1. Disappointing. You can add new POI with the Street Director Assistant. This is a horrible application. Search for the same thing twice and you get different results. I was also surprised to find that NY State only has 10 bars. I thought there would have been more. Use it and you'll see. If you do find your POI, you can add it to the SD card (only up to 99 POIs on the card). You then need to put the card into the kw-nt1 and leave it there. It does not copy the new POIs over. Disappointing. Also logistically, it's kind of silly. How do I know what POI needs to be added to the card until I already need it? Maybe I just need to browse through the 6 million to see if everything I want is there. Disappointing. Playing music for my iPhone is ok. The interface is a little clunky (compared to the iPhone) but very usable. My only complaint is it takes 5 seconds to load the album art. During which time, you can not move to another song. And it does this for ever song even if it is in the same album and already has the art work. It does not offer HD radio. The button colors are blue and do not change to match your dash. Disappointing. With all this said, it's still one of the best options out there (sadly). I haven't found any truly spectacular radio. They all have major flaws. It so happens that I can live with the kw-nt1s flaws balanced by it's pluses (detachable face, fast route calculation, iPhone music control, bluetooth and nav are integrated, steering wheel controls module, fast boot speed). Most of the flaws can probably be fixed in firmware updates. JVC does not list any future firmware release dates so who knows. It would be great if they made it open source. Then we could fix it all ourselves. One last thing, the firmware version that came with the radio did not work with the iPhone. I had to upgrade to the latest version before I could play music.

Well initially I was very impressed with the JVC KW-NT1, if you're staying put and don't plan to travel then I highly recommend it. On the flip side, if you're in a position where you want to take your car to another continent, or to a place on the same continent, that isn't included in the somewhat lacking map set, don't bother buying this. Simple reason, really. Unlike most Satelite Navigation these days, the JVC KW-NT1's map database can't be added to or altered. You have the maps that come with the system, and nothing more. I recently decided to buy one and while having the cool facade, it sadly is very, very lacking. In short, you won't have a clue where you're headed, but on the plus side you'll be able to listen to european radio stations because the tuner can switch ranges quite easily. So, at least you'll have music while you fumble around with your A1 paper map. :) Biggest waste of money I've had the pleasure of dealing with.

Reviews

I bought this along with my KVT-512 a while back and have been using it for a couple months. I refuse to use ANY other GPS system than Garmin because it is the only one that has not failed me. The install is so simple. When I opened the box and found a bunch of loose end wires I got scared but after looking closer I saw how easy it would be. It took about 45 minutes from the the time I opened the box to the time I was testing it out. The hardest part was finding a place to put the navigation unit as I wanted it to be completely hidden away. I ran the antenna under the dash panel as close to the front of the windshield as I could so that nobody would be able to tell I had GPS. The unit is very responsive and I have no signal problems under there. The navigation screen is slightly lower resolution than that of the portable units but it is very easy to read and customizable. Start up time is great and the price of this unit is pretty good in my opinion. So just to sum it up and maybe add a few things: Pros: Easy to install Seamless integration Very responsive Good price Garmin is the best navigation product I have ever used Cons: Slightly lower resolution screen (may be my head unit) Overall I am very very impressed with this product. I use it all the time and it rarely has any issues navigating me to my destination, only on extremely remote and brand new roads.

I was planning to upgrade my stereo in my Jeep Grand Cherokee along with installing some component speakers and ran into this nifty add-on to the Kenwood head unit I bought. I'm not great with cars so I brought it in to have professionals install this along with the headunit, the KVT-614. Since then I've tested this GPS unit many times and played around with most of the features. I have to say that this add-on GPS is on par with some of the comparable $700 Garmin standalone GPS units. It is very accurate, and if you have the WAAS turned on, it will locate your position within 5 feet. There are many common features you would find on a typical Garmin unit, such as road avoidance (tollway, highway, small roads, etc.) and Food and Hotel searches. The turn by turn instructions are dead on, by which I mean they give you a voice confirmation at just the right time for you to make your move. It works harmoniously with the KVT-614 head unit; you can switch between controlling the GPS and controlling your ipod with a press of a button and the touch screen works flawlessly with address or word input. The only gripe I have with this GPS, as well as other Garmin GPS, is that the search function usually only works for restaurants and hotels. I have two other Garmins at around the $600 range and they do the same thing. What I mean is that they can locate restaurants and hotels near you, but will not always search for other things. I've tried searching for local schools, IKEA, and several other non-food/hotel related places and the GPS just will not find it through the search function. The only way for you to get direction to these places is to first find the address of the place you want to go, and then inputing it into the GPS. Definitely update the maps if you can, but buying them from Garmin will cost an additional $99. I would highly recommend this unit if you are going for Kenwood stereos that do not have GPS built in. If you won't be using the search function all that much, then it should give you no problems. Never get lost again with this accurate hideaway GPS unit, you won't be disappointed!

This is an awesome nav unit, with all the quality and expectation that comes with the Garmin name. For even more praise, please see the other reviews (above). =) However, if using it with the Kenwood KVT-719DVD head unit, please know that you cannot access the navigation screen via the main menu "NAV" button; you must use the "V" button to cycle over to the navigation screen. This can be VERY frustrating as I have yet to find this tidbit anywhere in official Kenwood literature. Thankfully, I found a thread from an installation forum where someone else had the same difficulty (I actually almost returned the unit thinking it was unresponsive!). If you've had the same problem, I hope this helps!

Overall good device. I would advise any customer to inquire about where to get the correct usb cord for upgrading the maps on the device. Even though you can use an sd card to upgrade the maps. It can be quite annoying going back to your car and inserting the sd card seeing that the update didn't work.

I have been using this new Kenwood Nav system for months now and it works great everywhere I go.

Reviews

Have used this product for over 6 months and am not totally pleased, guess I'm just used to garmin GPS. It works good mostly but GPS not as easy to follow as Garmin, XM not bad but drops last channel randomly when vehicle is restarted and goes to preview channel, irritating but easily corrected. Also occasionally drops all vidio but comes back when restarted. AM radio not very good reception but FM is however I use XM mostly, occasionally CD, which works as advertised. Audio sounds fine has equalizer, display has many colors and multiple lines so you know song and artist, bluetooth is Ok but not as good as Garmin. Touch screen works pretty good and faceplate is easy to remove.

Overall, the thing is really nice. Pro: Works with an external adaptor that makes the steering wheel buttons work Works with external USB hard drive Works with Divx encoded video (ffmpeg/handbrake using msmpegv2 codec) Works with MP3's on an internal SC card, can read SDHC has a well done equalizer and special sound settings Con: I miss not having a hardware volume knob. *Getting the faceplate off is TOUGH. It takes a lot of wiggling and moving to get it to unclip *sometimes it won't hang up the phone. you press the screen and it just beeps at you and wont hang up *sometimes it goes off to lala land while reading the SD/USB hard drive... none of the buttons work for 20 seconds *Its not 100% iPhone compatble: cant receive text messages through bluetooth, neither the KS29 or KS30 cables will allow you to view video on the screen through the AV input, sometimes it kicks the phone into voice recognition mode and won't get out unless I turn the phone off. *when I step through the sources (SD, tuner, XM, bluetooth audio) even if I quickly skip past "Bluetooth audio" it still automatically tells my iphone 3GS to start plaing a song.. which eventually drains the iphone because it never tells it to stop playing songs... even when I leave the car. Also, "next track" doesn't work in bluetooth audio... however I think its an iphone limitation. *this happens with just about everything now-a-days, but I'd like to own a complex piece of electronics that doesn't take 20 seconds to boot

When I first got the unit everything seemed ok, but after having it for 3 months I am getting problems from it. The first thing I noticed is that the bluetooth isn't that good really the other person can't hardly hear you because u keep cutting in and out. Second I finally hooked the ipod up to the ipod connector and at first it started reading it and i could be driving down the road and it would go out I didn't think nothing of it. It kept doing that for about a month, but now it dont even read it so now I have to go through all the trouble to send it back to amazon or jvc, either way i have to uninstall it and send it off and wait for another one. But if u dont use Ipod or Bluetooth then its a great device everything else works perfectly.

Purchased this for my son as a gift, per his request. Although he was willing to live with the fact that it stuck out about 1" - 2" from the dash, he was not happy with it at all. He said it took way too long to be able to navigate thru songs from IPOD. He returned it for the equivalent with Pioneer and is now very happy.

the radio is very good for dose lookin for one with a navi the bluetooth works very good with the iphone

Reviews

I have had this head unit for about two weeks now. I LOVE IT. its just like the ones that are permanant touch screens but when you turn off the car it folds itself back up. Great when you are in a bad area!! The dvd feature is great. i pod dock is a plus and the sirius is killer. have not tried to use the blue tooth yet but if your intrested in this product buy it here!!! I paid $920 for mine in the store. You CANNOT pass this up. The touch screen is great! And I highly recommend getting it professionally installed. I tried but there is just way to many wires to figure out. BUY BUY BUY!!!

The unit works well however there are a couple of things that is not noted in the manual. First thing is that it does support both XM and HD radio. However as I found out it will only use ONE of them. So you can have either one but not both. This is a real shame and was quite disappointing. The second thing is you can use either a USB thumb drive or the IPOD cable but not both. This limitation is not as serious because if you leave the usb connector withing easy reach you can swap them as you need to. It still is a pain however. I wanted to connect the ipod cable and leave just the end that plugs into the ipod exposed. Now I have to have all 3 wires exposed and have to stop the car and switch them when I want to use a different device. All in all it is a good unit and I like it I just wish that these limitations had been made clear or better yet not had them to begin with. I also tried using a usb hub for the usb drive but it won't read the device. A powered hub might work better but I don't have one that will work in a car to test that.