Kenwood Kiv-700 AM FM iPod(R) iPhone(R) Receiver

The Kenwood Kiv-700 AM/FM/iPod(R)/iPhone(R) Receiver features 3" Full Color LCD Display, iPod/iPhone Video and Audio Playback,USB Video and Audio Playback (MPEG/WMV/H.264),Ripping from USB to Internal Memory (512MB),Video Output for Backseat Monitor, Microsoft Zune Playback (Audio Only) and Bluetooth-ready.

Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
This head unit seems to be getting a lot of negative reviews on here, so I figured I'd post my experience with it. I'm using it with my iPod nano 6G. I've had it installed about 6 months now. I'm fairly familiar with car audio, although this is my first Kenwood product (I'm an Alpine devotee, but I really don't like the direction they're heading, so I figured it was time for a change). Haven't tried the video playback yet, so I can't comment on that, but I think the screen is too small for practical video use anyway.First, the bad: 1. It occasionally will not start up when I start the car. To get it to work, I actually have to shut off the car and restart it - you can't just press the unit's power button to turn it on manually. This happens maybe once a month, and the car is my daily driver, so maybe once every 50-100 starts. Updating the firmware might fix this, but it hasn't been enough of an issue for me to bother with it yet.2. The glare on the screen can be pretty bad. I need to see if there is an anti-reflective coating or wrap I can apply to it. Also, I plan to tint my windows in the near future, which will probably help a lot too.3. The image on the screen will disappear if you're wearing polarized sunglasses and looking at it at the right angle. Then again, I'd bet the majority of head units do this.4. Basic controls are straightforward, but I'm still not totally comfortable with searching for songs. Admittedly, I don't do it too often. Seems like searching could be a bit more intuitive, but this is really nitpicking now.Really, those are the only problems I have with it, and they're all pretty minor to me. Now, on to the good:1. iPod connectivity works as advertised, no issues detecting the iPod or anything. "Shuffle all" (or whatever it's called) works fine for me; I just leave it on random most of the time, unless there's a certain song or album I want to hear. Plug in the ipod, start the car, and I'm good to go - no messing with settings or anything.2. This thing is -packed- with features for the price point; I cannot emphasize this enough. Heck, it almost competes with my old top-of-the-line Alpine CDA-9887 that cost around $400. The KIV-700 has DTA for time correction, 5-band parametric EQ, adjustable high pass crossovers for mains (and low-pass for sub), fancy uncompression algorithms for MP3's (the ones here don't over-emphasize highs or lows like most other algorithms I've heard), etc. Also has three sets of 4V preouts. Oh, it also has speed-sensitive volume control, but I'm not really sure how this is implemented, since as far as I can tell it has no way of knowing how fast you're going.3. The image on the screen is really clear (when the glare isn't too bad). Nice colors, crisp images, etc.4. The variable-color illumination for the buttons is nice to have, although one of the preset colors matched my lighting well enough that I didn't mess with the custom color selection.5. To me, it looks a lot cleaner than most other similar HU's (less cluttered, doesn't scream "steal me").6. The screen is a bit bigger than some of its main competitors (3" screen).To summarize: the head unit has a few very minor issues, but overall I'm extremely satisfied with it, especially considering the price. I definitely would not hesitate to recommend it. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars were the minor issues I pointed out in the beginning of the review.