Hi DL.
Kenwood/Garmin.
First of all you should know that I made my head unit upgrade to a 2010 Chevy pickup truck, not to my 2008 C6
quite a few years ago ....okay, many years ago. I considered upgrading my C6 shortly afterwards because they said it would also be no technical problem to upgrade but I sold that car before I made that happen. (Both vehicles in the pictures)
I went with a Kenwood unit mainly for the Garmin GPS which was really important to me for business and pleasure purposes.
It had a touch screen, SiriusXM, Bluetooth for hands-free calls and my music, plus, plus, plus. The technology was top-notch for that time.
I did not change my factory speakers which was a pretty good decision. The much better Kenwood amplifiers really improved all aspects of the sound quality. It was a huge difference from factory. The
lack of distortion at high volume was down right impressive! A couple of guys asked me what make of speakers I went with and they were a bit surprised when I said they were still the factory speakers. Not only did this save a lot of money but I figured the speakers could be upgraded at a later date, if I wanted.
The Kenwood unit was literally plug and play for the technicians. I purchased and had the unit installed by Certified Radio in west Edmonton. Certified Radio is an old, very experienced automotive sound shop that goes back to the 1970s. There were no hiccups .... no backyard butchers for me.
The only issue I had was a software upgrade to the Garmin GPS side of the unit. Garmin locks down their software to put it mildly .... There are a number of back-flips required to download then install their upgrades for proprietary reasons. It took me a couple of tries and about one hour or maybe two?
Good luck and I hope my story helps you make a decision?
