Meh it's a tough call. I got in on a group buy for the corksport kit. Saved like $75. So a little expensive still, but my color match/finish is DEAD ON and I've had ZERO electrical problems. And I certainly wouldn't say it has "gaps" on the sides of the headunit. The bezels kinda erked me before I bought the kit. Once I installed it, it looked ok. And now 8 months later, I don't even notice them and think it looks perfectly fine. Money well spent.

 

Woohoo, I received the shipping email today! They even shipped it next day FedEx. The tracking says I should have it tomorrow.

 

Ok, so I made a decision that I'm not much of an audiophile, because I don't plan to replace any of the speakers in my car. I'm gonna keep the factory Bose speakers and replace the HU only. Also I decided I don't need built-in BT since I basically never use the phone in my car as it is now. All that I want is built in nav and the ability to read MP3's. Most of the time in my car I find that nav is the main thing I'm missing; I'm always getting lost all the time looking for stuff. The 8120 still looks sweet, but all that other stuff seems to be superfluous since I don't plan on replacing my speakers. So the main selling points being the preouts I won't be able to make use of.

At any rate, so I decided to go with either a DNX5120 or a Pioneer F700BT. I read a few user reviews on the F700BT. It seems there was a firmware update to fix a bunch of crap, but the load time is still ~1 minute. Anyone have any pros and cons of the F700 vs 5120? The f700 is even cheaper; can be bought for $580, which seems like a steal. I can find the 5120 for $620. The garmin GPS may be worth the extra $$. How do people like the GPS that pioneer uses?

 

I use the Pioneer D3. I find the navigation to be adequate. Nothing special, but it does the job in a satisfactory nature. I've installed several 700BT's and, to me, the boot time is unacceptable.

 

That's probably why they're so dirt cheap compared to the Kenwood right now. They even have built in bluetooth which the kenwood doesn't. But, that's also probably all I needed to hear as far as recommending against it. Looks like it's the kenwood for me.

 

on a scale of 1-10 how hard are the electronics workings for this kit? 1 being easy.

 

how many installs have you done before?

 

If you've done zero installs and know nothing about this ****: 10/10

If you've done zero installs and know a bit about the car / wiring: 5/10

If you've done a few installs and know the car: 2/10

If you're pro installer and do not know the RX-8: 10/10 (The hidden bolt)

If you're pro installer and know the RX-8: 0/10

 

how do you like the load up time on that 8120? i've heard if you leave it on certain input devices it might take a little longer to load, such as an ipod. i just got my dash kit yesterday and so far it looks ok so i don't have to paint mine. i was thinking of painting all my piano black parts a different color anyways though.

 

8120 takes about 10-15 seconds to boot to full screen. Then another 3-5 if you're running iPod or USB or file-based DVD.

If you're booting into radio or satellite radio or normal CD it should play within 5 seconds before the full screen even boots up.

 

sounds like thats the one i will be getting.

anyone using the relay outputs on the 8120? just curious to see what you have hooked up to it.

 

is there a DIY on this yet?

 

DIY for? My understanding is that you pull the radio as described in a couple other DIY's. Then you follow the instructions that came with the kit of where to plug cables in and how to move over the emergency light switch. Then you push it back in and screw it down. Did I miss a step guys?

 

it comes with instructions.

 

yeah there are a bunch of DIY's out about how to do the radio removal. As for the hidden screw, I didn't even screw mine back in after the first time. I dunno if I will this time or not.

Holy crap. I found a video showing the boot time of the F700bt.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...44097278838184

The guy is like "just a little bit longer, wait it's still booting" lol.
Man they really screwed up on that one.

 

did you also notice what song was playing when it started? "that don't impress me much"

 

haha did notice that, seemed a bit off to me. good catch lol.

 

lol.. "my ipod was playing.. but now it stopped =("

 

Mine didn't, installer.com said they would email them to me once they got ahold of someone at Metra. Unfortunately that was about 4:30 pm on Friday. They said it would be Monday before I had them. Fortunately though, someone on here already scanned and posted their instructions, (thanks for that rollerbldes post # 216). It was for a double DIN and mine is a single DIN, but except for the pictures, I'm sure it is the same thing.

 

Yep.. good old post #216.

 

so let's say I have a friend who ordered a Kenwood DNX5120 and he stupidly forgot all about ordering the steering wheel control module at the same time.
Which one would I tell my friend to get, the Swi-jack from Pac?

 

Yes swi-jack.. you could try the one made by metra.. I'm not sure if its any better. The swi-jack has a 1 second delay in response.

 

Has anyone found their Metra kit at a local car audio shop? I'm on of those "impatient" types that would rather go out and buy it in person rather than order it online...

 

i just ordered the 8120 with the ipod cable and PAC SWI-Jack. can't wait to get it.

have any of you done any hacks or used the relay outputs on it?

 

I changed to a custom bootup image. Otherwise I don't think there are any hacks.. It's linux based so you never know.