I'll make this short and sweet.
You will NOT be able to read the display even on an overcast day!

I installed a painted inner fairing so I removed the Pioneer 7" Flip out head unit and installed the Kenwood KDC-BT955HD. The radio it's self packs one hell of a lot of features.
It is geared toward audiophiles and has enough settings that you will get lost if your not careful.

But the display is so dim, I had a hard time seeing it even on a cloudy day sitting still in the driveway.

So I returned it and bought the new Alpine CDE-HD149BT. I really hope it looks as good and bright as it does in the sample photo's they use for advertizing!

 

Thanks for the review. That helps alot. I am looking at either the Kenwood, alpine and actually leaning towards the pioneer DEH-80PRS. Let us know what you think of the Alpine.

Thanks again

 

I like my Alpine like to here your review of new HU.

 

I am looking forward to the new Alpine. It should be here in a few days and I hope like hell I can see the display better than the Kenwood.

 

I think you'll like display if its similar to mine. I've got Alpine HD137BT and display is pretty good. I believe the newer model your getting has multi color selections which is pretty cool.

 

Yeah I tried to find some user photo's of the Alpine units but did not find much on the new one.
I am basically going by the marketing photo's that Alpine uses. When you look at the entire line up, the new Alpine looks to be twice as bright as the rest of them.
Only one way to find out and that is to install it and see for my self. Anything will be better than that Kenwood unit I bought!
I was a little shocked at the display on that one. I literally could not see the display at all unless it was at night or parked in the garage.

I did some research before I took it out to see if maybe there was a setting for brightness that I was not seeing but no luck. It just plain wasn't designed for use in an open air vehicle.