Kenwood eXcelon KDC-X869 Car CD/ MP3 Player

Pros: 5.0V Gold Preout, Excellent sound quality, sleek design, nice features
Cons: Display options limited, Sirius tuner cumbersome

I recently had a Kenwood X717, but someone decided to smash my driver's window and steal it, so I chose the 869 as its replacement.

This head unit is the first I've seen that has the controls on a seperate panel which folds down from the rest...

Pros: Unit folds out of the way on shutdown. Good ergonomics and solid build.
Cons: Bulky remote (prefer thin card type). Deeply recessed CD entry (can distract driver attention).

I really like this unit. It is well thought out in design, and the recent promotion that includes a Sirius tuner can't be beat. I like the display....you CAN choose (using softkeys) to display Artist, title, or any number of text choices in Sirius, or any other mode (and, thankfully, it remembers these settings for each mode). You can also choose to have it scroll (there is a hard button for this). If you have something against penguins, turn them off or go up to the X969 (that model lets you download your own screen saver images). Overall a very good unit for the money. I compared it to equally priced offerings from Pioneer, Alpine, and Eclipse. The Kenwood was the fastest at recognizing and playing MP3 files. The Eclipse was the best built, with the fastest folding mechanism, but it was lower tech (for example, it would not play MP3's unless you added their $500 Ecomm unit). The Pioneer was OK, but ergonomics and display quality were comparatively poor. The Alpine was nice, except for the annoying fact that it's loading/folding mechanism took forever.

Pros: Great sound quality, Looks, plays mp3, lots of features
Cons: none

This MP3 Car Stereo is by fare the best unit I've ever used. I also used JVC and other kenwood units. I was never impressed with the way kenwood styled their units before but this one has style. The face folds out from the top and has adjustable angle. It's fast and has great sound quality! The display is great, could have a few more options and colors but overall very great quality!

Pros: Looks neat
Cons: Horrible customer service, worse manual.

Mine broke twice - had to send for repair - you know what that's like, riding around without any radio - Finally Kenwood agreed to replace it but they won't send a "replacement unit" until they receive the defective one back. They did not stipulate that the "replacement unit" will be new, may be refurbished. They'll send out in 7 to 10 business days. Here I go again, a month without a radio.
Horrible customer service. Last time I buy a Kenwood.