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Who actually owns a Kenwood DNN990HD and your thoughts please.

24K views 67 replies 26 participants last post by  DMZamora 
#1 ·
I've just recently had one installed into my vehicle. Upon starting of the car, I've noticed that it takes a while to actually boot up. Now it's safe to say that with the features afforded via this hu it's got a lot on its plate. Also sometimes when I go to swipe to change menus, I have to do it a couple of times. No big deal as it's probably still going through a break in period. To be honest I haven't even got 5 hours worth of play on it. Last thing is when I use my iPod or a BT enabled device, sometimes it drops it like it's doing a reboot then it comes back as if nothing had happened.

Now no way am I bashing this unit, but I'm reaching out to other owners in hopes of comparing notes per se. So if you own one and have observed anything that you would like to share, I would appreciate it. :D
 
#2 ·
I have been doing some research on this head unit and I keep seeing the same things your saying. There are a lot of unhappy ppl due to these issues. Sloooow start up is the main and blue tooth dropping is a big issue too. I was looking to pick one up but I think I can wait till CES to see if something new comes up.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Don't get me wrong as I have gone through a lot of double dins, and all seem to have their share of headaches. My feeling is that with my single dins, as soon as I turned the car on, my music was there. I guess as I've gotten older, I have no tolerance for lag lol.

I'm going to do some more research and see if there's a way to maybe bypass all of the things that has to be started also. Now I must say this WiFi is the business. I like being to read my mail and send photos on the fly. Hopefully with more time spent with it, I will overcome its shortcomings.
 
#4 ·
Don't get me wrong as I have gone through a lot of double dins, and all seem to have their share of headaches. I guess my feeling is that with my single dins, as soon as I turned the car on, my music was there. I guess as I've gotten older, I have no tolerance for lag lol.

I'm going to do some more research and see if its a way to maybe bypass all of the things that have to be started also. Now I must say this WiFi is the business. I like being to read my mail and send photos on the fly. Hopefully with more time spent with it, I will overcome its shortcomings.
I began judging dvd players that way before the advent of blue ray. It seemed some of the budget units from reputable brands took 2 ages too long to boot up enough to use. The least it could do was let you hit the eject button before complete boot up occurred....back when people still watched rented movies lol

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2
 
#6 ·
I have one. I'm actually on my second. My first one was number 18 so it was pretty early on and had a LOT of bugs. It would not take the firmware update, would show the little android robot on the operating table with a big red uh oh symbol.

My current one does exactly what you talk about. It will just restart at random. It normally doesn't make any difference because I'm listening to satellite radio through the Sync interface and the sound will just go away for a second. I have not updated the firmware on this one yet, I've been told that fixes most of the little bugs like that.

Killer deck though, does take a while to start up. I wish I had time to go through and try all the features and really get the most out of it.
 
#7 ·
Kenwood AVN units have historically been known for being slow. The DNN units have a better and faster interface, they are still slow. I've installed 3 in the past 2 weeks and I completely know where you're coming from OP. If you can overcome those annoying things, it really has a lot of nifty features.
 
#8 ·
Mine is slower than Christmas to start up too...I figure I'll deal with it or all the other features it has.
 
#9 ·
Ok here we go again, this thing is SLOW. I've been able to start my car, open my garage door, back out of my garage, close my garage door, and backed into the street BEFORE it even boots up. Went to do an update as I figured that was the problem, nope update has already been done. I can honestly say I've had some slow units in the past, but this one's the champ. Maybe just maybe I am being too hard on it. I had to remove my iPod from it as with it, it was dropping my iPod and then finding it again. Started using my phone with Iheart as my music source, and that still drops. The last and only music source I haven't tried is an usb.

The Bluetooth is nice and clear, and the navi is nice and precise. I placed a DVD in the slot to see how it does with movies, and I think it took less time to make the movie, then it did for it to start. Once and I mean once it started, playback was crisp and clear. I was out in my car in the garage from midnight last night until 6 this morning trying this radio out. I hate to rate this radio on a scale level yet because there are others who have it and may not be having the issues that I am having. But for me, it's not a radio that has made me happy. :(
 
#11 ·
Just read all that... Rutro.. Sounds like that Kenwood isnt going to make it in the Subaru long at all. Damn this is up setting. After waiting all that time for the silly thing. I was going to pull my CD7000 tomorrow and put my DNN in. Its alot of money to work half assed or intermittent. I could deal with it taking a little while to boot (I think). Im sure Don will take care of it if you wanted to trade/return but now what.. Whats next to try.. Im speaking to soon. Need to get mine in and play, it has all the features I really want on the go. Plus I got that cool back up cam too. I can see behind my little xB just fine in the mirrors, I got it for checking out chickies I cant see behind the car. hahaa. Wait, thats weird.
 
#13 ·
I haven't had any issues at all other than slow start up. I leave my iPod hooked up all he time via a port the truck came with in the upper glove box that I wired into the iPod input on the HU and it's never dropped out or anything. I listened to it almost exclusively on my trip from LA to Vegas last weekend and it was perfect.
I used Pandora via BT a little bit on the way back and it stayed connected also. I still need to set the phone stuff up and try that...maybe I'll work on that today. There's a lot to learn with this unit...more than I've had time for.
 
#14 ·
Again gents I have to emphasize this just all may only be my head unit. My iPod I've wiped clean and am going to load again via a higher bit rate and with everything else turned off. Scratch that, I'm going to my local Best Buy and purchase another new one. Since everything else is new in my system, why compromise now.

Also this will be made to work as I refuse to add another radio to the equation. I soo want an earlier model Eclipse (7200) installed but I'm going to work on this radio everyday until It gives me what I feel I deserve. So either I will be writing the next review on this Kenwood, or the Kenwood will be writing my obituary lol.
 
#15 ·
Just checked mine...45 seconds from key on to making sounds.
 
#18 ·
Well all I can say is I caved, I gave in to its darkside and I eliminated from thee equation. As you can see in my signature I still stayed with Kenwood, just a model below and LESS headaches. Hey it actually starts when it's supposed to and it actually stays paired up via Bluetooth. Who knew that something like that was supposed to happen with a brand new in box radio.
 
#19 ·
Yeah, I'm sick and tired of my Nav just completely resetting and losing everything. Getting pretty fed up with it and it's in my good truck that I only drive once, maybe twice a week for less than 20 mins. I can't imagine how pissed I would be if it was in my daily. My trusty DNX7100 is still going like a champ in it.
 
#35 ·
After reading the specs and what was possible I was drooling all over the 990HD and even was going to put my 7100 up for sale. After this comment and everything else I have read I guess I am just gonna have to buy the map update and wait till a better Kenwood unit comes out. Dammit.
 
#27 · (Edited)
On paper it is impressive. I read a lot of reviews before deciding on the DNX 890HD, it lasted only a week. The Bluetooth sound was not good and the unit refused to show caller name(just the number) in the unit most of the time. Couple trips back to the dealer and we figured out it wouldn't show the caller name if the number in the phone had () around the area code. Since there was no way(as far as we could figure out) to edit the phone #'s I swapped it for the 990. The Kenwood tech rep, when questioned about the problem, replied "What do you expect? It doesn't have Parrot bluetooth".

So far the 990 has been a big pile of frustration but at least I get caller ID and good bluetooth sound.

Unfortunately, everything that has been said in this thread has been the frustrations we have been experiencing all year as an Excelon dealer.
I feel your pain, after a couple trips back to the dealer I gave up hammering on them, they didn't make the unit and can't fix it. They're great people, no sense busting up a good working relationship over something that's not their fault. I expect some customers aren't as understanding.

My dealer says they don't even mention the Kenwoods when someone comes in for a NAV unit unless they specifically ask(like I did :( )

This would have been great to know before dropping the kind of money it took to get the DNN990 and back up camera at my door step. Mine isnt even installed yet and Im wanting nothing to do with it after reading all of this.

What is Kenwood saying or doing about it? They have to react to these types of concerns..
deeppink, I hope you have a 30-day return policy from whoever you bought it from, I'd suggest you send it back unopened. Sorry, probably not what you want to hear.

As far as what Kenwood is saying, not much. I've opened email tickets and called their TS line numerous times, finally got a tech to admit that the random nav resets were a known issue and would be addressed in an upcoming firmware update. This was early September, last Thursday they released v1.4 of the firmware. I'm cautiously hoping I can finally program data into my nav and have it stay there more than a couple of days. TS is hit'n'miss with Kenwood, sometimes you get a rep that actually knows something but most of the time you can tell they're reading from a menu.

Boot time is 43 sec. to music, 53 sec. to nav ready on my unit. One plus, the backup camera comes on immediately.

No text capability on the unit, if you go to their website and do some digging you'll find it actually works with a couple of phones, none of which are currently being made. There are a few more that the unit will beep and let you know you got a message. Any iPhone doesn't do either.

No way to back up or restore nav data or import data from another Garmin unit. TS rep told me that was not an "advertised feature" and would not be considered in any firmware updates. Arrogant little prick, that one. Unit ships with 2013 maps which were available 2 years ago, currently Garmin is at the second issue of 2014 maps. No map updates available from Kenwood.

But the audio is OK, nothing to write home about, but acceptable through stock speakers and the Bluetooth works really well. I've only had the unit drop the iPhone a couple of times in 3+ months so I guess I'm somewhat lucky.

I could go on but afraid this is turning into a rant, apologies in advance. Like I said, no way would I recommend this unit even to someone I didn't like.

Best,
Bill
 
#21 ·
All I know is if they were to offer me another one for less then $200, I still would NOT do it. My daily is my 2011 Ram and I'd rather stay stock then even entertain the thought of having this in there.
 
#26 ·
This would have been great to know before dropping the kind of money it took to get the DNN990 and back up camera at my door step. Mine isnt even installed yet and Im wanting nothing to do with it after reading all of this.

What is Kenwood saying or doing about it? They have to react to these types of concerns..
 
#25 ·
Don't get me wrong, my replacement radio is operating as well as these radios do. I just from a business stand point justify paying top dollar to be frustrated. That's what marriage is for lol. For my next double din purchase I want it to be as simplistic as possible with little to no bells as maybe that is what's causing them problems. Give me great cd playback, Bluetooth and iPod control and I should be good. I don't need video playback, or rear view camera, I just need it to work.
 
#28 ·
Is Alpine any better? I have an OEM DD Toyota radio that works great (BT, navigation, caller ID). But I have hiss at high volume running it with a DSP since the output of the OEM radio is really low. I was thinking about getting an aftermarket DD but I am kinda concern now.
 
#29 ·
Ok another well written review but sort of reversed of what I went through. Technically I only need three things. Double din to fill that gaping hole in my dash. Bluetooth so that Johnny law will let my people free, cd/IPod capabilities so that music actually flows through my speakers. So I am on a quest if this 890HD doesn't do it to find a simplistic do as it states double din head unit...
 
#31 ·
I feel for both sides meaning the dealer and the consumer. I tried to be as understanding as I could have been with it. But as stated enough is enough. The shame is the real losers of this deal would be the dealers if all of those head units were to be returned. Angry customers do no equate to a fulfilling business. Again if this one acts up, then it will come out and my Alpine single din will go in its place.

Speaking of which when you buy these authorized through the real authorized dealers, how long is the 100% return policy please? Not trying to start anything, just want clarification.
 
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