Hi

 

First post here, but been lurking for some time

 

My wife's just bought a Monte Carlo in silver and I'm that impressed, I'm considering one for myself as well

 

Whilst she doesn't use sat-nav and Bluetooth, I do all the time, so the Tech version would suit me much more

 

As our local dealer can't get hold of a Tech, but does have some pretty keenly priced standard Monte's in, he's offered to put together a 'dealer Tech' by fitting the Kenwood satnav system and Bluetooth

 

My question is whether anyone's got experience of the Kenwood system, good, bad or indifferent?

 

Does it work with the MDI just as well as the Amundsen? What's it actually like as a sat-nav? I use a Tom Tom at the moment which is great for finding addresses etc, but a decent built-in compared to lots of messy wires plugged into the cigarette lighter and rings on the windscreen definitely appeals

 

Any advice much appreciated

 

We're both 42 by the way, just to add to the 'how old is an average Monte driver' discussion!

Im guessing they will offer the dnx521

I have the earlier model which is a dnx520 (the main difference is the 521 has dab)

Firstly the Kenwood has its own usb/aux ports built in this will render the MDI and standard AUX useless.

Now its not that bad to live with tbh. When I had my iphone i used the cable and rested the phone in the mdi slot. This kept the cable out of the way. The kenwood and iphone work well with all music and video files easily navigated on the unit.

I have since switched to a Nokia Lumia so now i have a little usb stick (scandisk 8GB from argos under £10)and i have transferred all my favourite itunes music to it. It still remains as easy to navigate as then iphone

As for bluetooth its work well with an old nokia i have for work my new lumia and my old iphone 4s.

Now sat nav wise the kenwood unit used a Garmin system (i believe it comes with traffic alert subscription too)

Ive always found Garmin navs top notch I've not used skodas amundsden or columbus myself but from what ive seen they dont seem all that, but I stress i have yet to use them.

Other things the kenwood can do is play DVD's and has the capability to hook a reverse camera up to it OR add TV (this requires fitting an additional box behind the unit.)

In general I've loved having in the car my main niggle is the touch screen feel out of date (but this is more down to being used to ipads, iphones and latest touch screen phones which are precise in use)

Now the unit new i think is around then£900 mark now had i not got this in my used car would i have had it fitted?

The answer for me is no and this why.

1. The swing radio and MDI would be a perfect match to play my music.

2. I rarely use a sat nav and always tend to have maps in the car plus my phones have sat nav, so for what us it does get it would be worth the extra spend (and lets face it if i need one that bad a garmin sat nav using the system is around £100)

3. Whilst it plays dvds, i rarely use and for safety it doesn't show an image when driving so not even useable for passengers enjoyment.

In summery i wouldn't upgrade from an admunsden to a kenwood unless you heavily rely or regularly use the sat nav or you intent on have a reverse cam or tv added.

I fill the only time its worth considering the kendwood is when upgrading from a Swing

Thanks Crash - coincides pretty much with what I've read elsewhere re: the loss of MDI interaction etc

The reason for considering it is that the price of a standard Monte is so good, that even adding the (hopefully discounted) cost of the Kenwood on, it's still going to be cheaper than the standard list price of a Monte Tech, let alone a full list price Monte with an Amundsen or a Kenwood fitted as an extra!

I do use sat nav pretty much every day (lazy I know - I grew up using road maps and still very competent at map reading but I guess we all follow the path of least resistance eventually!). Bluetooth would be a bonus - not a fan of answering the phone on the move, but again, would be very useful from time to time. Believe the inbuilt system on the Kenwood is actually a Parrot system, so their reputation precedes them to say the least.

All comes down to the deal I guess - I'm tempted by the new Tech estate but for a good deal less wonga, I can get a specced up hatch - the dog will just have to make do with a little less space!

Yes your right its a parrot system.

In my opinion its a great combination of 3 top dogs systems in their respective field (Kenwood Parrot &garmin)

If your likely to use the sat nav every day id go with the kenwood purely as its great sat nav and never put foot wrong.

As i said above its a great system and does what it does well.

I just wouldn't spec on myself as for what i used for on a day to day basis a Swing with MDI would suit my needs

I think I've resolved to keep it simple and stick with the standard stereo and the MDI interface for iPod and iPhone. My stand alone Tom Tom is spot on for nav so the circa £1K that the dealer would want for the Kenwood and Bluetooth just seems a lot to pay for a s****y screen!

If I need Bluetooth, I'll probably just buy a stand alone Parrot for a hundred quid or so

Thanks for the input

If you have a Swing, then you can fit "factory" Bluetooth for about £100 with a second hand Bluetooth module and a set of cables; see the "Swing and Bluetooth" thread.  That's what I've done in mine (although a Parrott came a close second) and it works a treat; you can also have 2 devices connected at once; one for "phone" and another for music.