Kenwood eXcelon DDX6902S 6.2" Multimedia Receiver with CarPlay

Screen is very respinsive to touch. I ljve having some manual buttons though and a dial for volume. Vokume dial has positive indentions for accurate adjustments. Backup camera works great, they have it swt where you can use the backup camera as soon as you turn the vehicle on (even before the radio boots). Assume everything works perfectly except as noted below:1.) boot time for the radio is a bit long2.) sometimes it will crash if you connect to apple play while you're doing something else, like say changing input sources, radio channels, etc. if you plug in your phone right as your taping away on the screen, it may freeze and reboot.3.) apple car play is probably the buggiest part and it seems to change what the bugs are everytime there is an ios update. Searching the map is painful. It never finds by voice all the stuff it would fine if you were speaking to the phone. when you go to make a call it can be inconsistent, sometimes it asks you who you want to call and other times it just shows you recent calls and you have to push a few more buttons. Talk to text works great. For the most part people can hear me fine when talking into the microphone (i don't get many complaints).4.). Bluetooth is a bit tricky. Some phones pair easily and immediately while others are just a challenge to get paired. It's hard to tell why because it really seems phone-specific regardless of make or model5.). Bluetooth has the option to play only phone calls, only sound like music or youtube, or both. It seems the default is only phone so if you connect a lot of different phones to your car, get used to working in the bluetooth settings menu.Sound is awesome. DVDs play great (there is a trick to get them to play when not in park, which you may do if you are on private roads/your own private property)Overall, i'm very happy with the purchase and i'd buy this model again!

I wanted a receiver with CarPlay, so that was a bit of a cost-adder. Overall the DDX6902s does everything well. Display is clear, equalization and other signal processing features are ample. Easy control of a separate amp and subwoofer amp.My unit failed catastrophically after about 2 years of otherwise normal use and behavior. I was out of warranty but Kenwood agreed to help with the repair. Going on two months now since the repair and all seems well, but I am a little concerned it could happen again. Nothing is amiss with the install, so it seems mysterious. Anyway kudos to Kenwood for helping. Unrelated to this...the first one of these I bought was a refurb unit through a different vendor. That unit was defective, the radio tuner would not seek/unmute stations correctly. That is the first time I've ever had a refurb-anything not be functionally perfect, so that was a surprise.Other Cons: Power up time is slower than I would like. It is about 15s. Backlight dimmer is binary (pretty common) so not continuously dimming with rest of dash. Display could be brighter in non-dimmed mode. Navigation of files on a USB stick is a bit clunky, but not terrible.

Love it! Sounds good, easy to install.Love the apple car play functionality. They took the smarts from the phone and build a simple interface, its really quote brilliant. And so when it reads my texts to me and takes audio text back, I'm pretty sure I am just talking to Siri but through car stereo. So I expect as upgrades happen, the phone will handle that and now I don't have to keep buying a new stereo every few years. My old stereo was $700 and it didn't have all of the functionality. This one is five times better and a lot less price.Only down side is it only works when plugged in with actual cord, apple car play doesn't work with blue tooth. Just phone and maybe some simple streaming of music.But other than that its awesome. I now have GPS navigation via iphone/car play. I installed a Rockford Fosgate 150w x 4 amp with new speakers and it rocks.

Many reviews here are negative because of the Carplay software, not this particular product. I had this unit professionally installed along with a back-up camera, and everything works AS ADVERTISED. Carplay does not work over Bluetooth, and that's something buyers should've known before purchasing it. CarPlay software is still buggy, and that has nothing to do with this unit. Individual apps can also cause problems or freeze, like Spotify. This is not a Kenwood problem.I have no issue with the screen getting washed out any more than any other large screen that the sun is hitting. I purchased this unit because my 05 Element does not have steering wheel controls, so i wanted one with a manual knob.While the non-Carplay graphics and effects are pretty cheesy, I use Carplay almost exclusively so I don't see the 90s-esque screens often.For the price (lowest among Carplay units), I recommend.

Pro's- Great sounding 22RMS per channel (4) built in amp, HD Radio, 7 Band Equalizer, illumination color choices, Apple Car Play works great, connects to factory OEM gauges like RPMs, fuel, tire pressure, etc. rear backup camera compatible, touchscreen.Con's- pain to install. Need to purchase separate adapters to integrate with your particular vehicle. Novice audio installers need not attempt. Get professionally installed you won't regret it.Pair with nice speakers-mine is paired with Alpine 6.5" component speakers in front and Alpine 6.5" two ways in rear powered by an Alpine 45w x4 inline Amplifier in my 2014 Toyota Tacoma. Not much room to stuff all the wires in the dash of my truck, get professionally done.UPDATE 3/5/217: Car play crashes often. Ever since upgrading from a iPhone 5c to an iPhone 6s Plus apple car play crashes all the time, and quite frankly doesn't work playing music. The screen goes blank, have to restart the radio. I have changed cables, tried other iphones and for some reason the newer iphones(6 and above) do not play right with this. I'm changing my review to 1 star until Kenwood, or Apple fix this. The whole reason for purchasing this radio was for Apple Car play and I can't even use it. That's Bull.