Can anyone recommend a good replacement for my C6 stock NAV system?

 

I replaced the one in my 2009 ZR1 with a Kenwood DNX-6140 after 2 months of frustration with the GM / Denso POS. The Garmin Nav engine is intuitive.

I had the Kenwood in my wifes 2002 coupe, since they would not give me anything for when I traded it in, I put the stock unit back in.

Required a different interface kit and steering wheel control adaptor. The only down side is that the Nav stuff is no longer displayed in the HUD.

Plus I had a lifetime Sirrus and FM traffic on the unit. I'm a happy camper now. Any of the new Kenwood are fine.

 

Any of the high end units from Kenwood or Pioneer. Kenwood DNX9960 is the top-of-the-line unit from them now and can be had for around $1200 at discount retailers.

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/Car_Entert...gation/DNX9960

 

Really like my Kenwood DNX5120. I bought this one to get the Garmin nav and it was worth it!

 

Might want to ask Bing (forum name "simplicityinsound"). He's currently installing aftermarket nav/sound stage in my C6, and walked me through the pros/cons between the Kenwood & Pioneer nav head units. Of course, I was looking for it to be a music playing machine, not just a nav, so that factored into my decision!

In the end, I chose the Pioneer Avic Z120BT, their current top of the line unit. For one, I was never a Garmin nav fan (I've owned them before) - and Kenwood uses Garmin. Second, and this was the more important decision for me - the Pioneer interface was much more intuitive to me. I went into some car audio shops and tested some floor models out for each, and the Pioneer UI really was easy - very much like Mac, iphone UI's - or perhaps I should say, felt closer to those types of interfaces than the Kenwood did. There are some YouTube videos of the Pioneer units that show it in use, which may be helpful for you (same goes for Kenwood).

Here's what Bing said about each of K & P's top of the line units in his proposal to me for my install (which is being done at the moment btw :-)):

"Kenwood 9960: this is the top of the line kenwood. it has everything the lower ones have, but more features, including voice input of address also have 3d renderings of buildings within Cities, this is probably one of hte most feature packed nav units out there:

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/Car_Entert...gation/DNX9960

Avic-z120BT. compared to the kenwood, it has a navigation system that is less easy to use but have more functions and user tweakable options. it also have BT by parrot, and other features. it does not however, have the FM traffic updates as far as i know. but it does offer a MSN direct update, but i dont have much experience with it.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PU...ms/AVIC-Z120BT "

He definitely seemed to be more of a Kenwood guy, and I've always had great luck with Pioneer car audio - so I went with the latter. I also liked that it was XM ready, and Pandora internet music compatible (I can stream my Pandora music stations in my car, with a full interface to give thumbs up/down on my nav screen!). I didn't really need or want the live traffic updating, as I remember using that with my old Garmin and it wasn't really accurate.

Both are 7" and play DVD's.

Also, I don't know if the stock vette navs come with a rear backup camera, but it's a sweet feature and I've added it to my setup - using a rear license plate frame with camera built-in. Had the frame custom painted at the same time I had the car re-painted, so it's a beautiful match. Cool thing is you can also select the rear view camera as a source while driving, to see behind you (not very functional ever, but fun to have).

On a final note, while I'm going to use an ipod cable to attach my iphone for music, I'm also keeping the usb cable accessible *just in case* I ever drop the iphone for another smart phone - as the droid and others are all recognizable via usb as discs w/music files for the head unit.

Hope this helps!

 

Will the 9960 play Pandora off of I-Phone?

 

Here is a link to the 9960 forums they have allot of good information there.

http://www.kenwoodforums.com/viewforum.php?f=23