They seems about the same price - JVC is about $5 cheaper on Amazon.
JVC has 2 yr warranty & the other has 1 yr.
One complain on JVC is that it’s shiny surface makes it harder to read when there is direct sunlight. Another is that Bluetooth will take the USB (it’s an attachment).
It seems close call - if you have any thoughts, experience, pls let me know.
My last unit is Kenwood and had it for about 6yrs and no complaint other than it was stolen. People seems to say the menu options are a bit to navigate on Kenwood.
JVCs are very popular. The Bluetooth goes in the USB plug on the back. Were you going to use that one for something else?
Reviews on most JVCs tend to be critical of their iPod controls. Apparently they are slow and the menus are not as good as other brands. I don’t own an iPod so this is not an issue for me.
A plus on the JVC is that the face color is adjustable to match the color of the other lights in your dash. Both the display and the buttons change color so the unit looks like it belongs in the car.
A couple of the Kenwood models have hideous menus, but most of them are OK as far as I know. I don’t know much about JVC. I purchased a Sony for my last aftermarket stereo. It was a close call between that and a Kenwood unit, but the Sony had better sound when I demoed them side-by-side. One thing I don’t like about the Sony units are their somewhat over-bright illumination for controls, with only two settings available on the one I have.
I haven’t had a Kenwood car stereo, but I have a Kenwood receiver in my home that I’ve had since 1987 with no problems. I don’t think you can fault Kenwood’s build quality, unlike Alpine units, which have a tendency to die it seems.
Alpine got over their quality issues years ago. A 2010 car stereo bears little resemblence quality or designwise to a 25 year old home stereo.
My suggestion, go to various websites (Amazon, best Buy, etc) and read the user reviews, and look on CNet for reviews. If you can, find a display with both and play around with them, see how they work, and if possible how they sound.