# Boss BN965BLC NAV/DVD Receiver review



## shutterguy (Feb 10, 2015)

This is a review of the Boss BN965BLC Nav/DVD receiver. It is a double-din mount with 2 harnesses that handle power, speaker, pre-outs, video, and camera features. It also comes with a remote control and backup camera. I bought this unit as a replacement for my factory radio, it was pretty inexpensive had a few features I liked. 

Pro's: 3 pre-amp outs with sub control and selectable crossover points, NAV/DVD capabilities, reverse camera input, video inputs, MP3/FLAC support, and microSD/USB input.

Con's: Long loading times, resume not available on USB input, no CD-Text support, USB folder order, USB 1.1 speed on port, extra steps to get to balance/sub control. 

This unit installed pretty straightforward using Metra's GM double-din mount, antenna adaptor, and wiring harness. My vehicle has steering wheel controls, I didn't wire them to the receiver. I initally mounted the GPS antenna in the radio cavity under the main vents, however once I put the trim back on no satelites could be found, ending mounting on top of the dash center console. I wired up the reverse camera from the reverse lights to the reverse wire on the harness, the camera has its own ground wire as well. There is also a parking brake wire which can be connected to allow you to watch movies while parked. 

The 6.5" touchscreen display is bright and easily reabable in day or night conditions. You can set the NAV display to change to a dark/night display at evening hours. On the units left side is a few hard buttons (Eject/Mode/NAV/Volume), also an access panel for the NAV card, microSD slot, USB input, and 1/8th AUX input. To access different sources you can press the Mode button or on the screen there is HOME icon which will take you to different sources. You can set your own images on the screen as a background. 

Startup time once the unit is powered on can take up to 8 seconds, not a fan of that. Nav access takes almost 20 sec. from powering on. CD/DVD's take up to 10secs after you insert them before they start playing. I think these times should be cut in half atleast. The cd player does not recognize CD-Text which I'm finding not many do except for the Alpine NAV/DVD units that start at $699 and up. I think this should be a standard on all car cd player units (stock radio had it) especially with the ability to read ID3 tags. DVD player works very similar to a home unit with all the same menu options. THe SD/USB port works with music, photo's, and videos (certain file types), a few gripes with the uSB in particular, the port speed is very slow, took forever to refresh a 32GB flash drive with 10GB of data in it. Also if you turn the unit off and power it back on with a USB flash drive in it, it will not resume from it, instead it will give you an error that there is no "SD/USB". 

This unit seems to be particular about the files are ordered on the USB drive, I put a few albums on there, some mp3 albums, some FLAC albums. It put all the FLAC files in one folder called "UNKNOWN". Some of the MP3 files were out of order from within their own folder. 

This unit has a built in user-adjustable 10-band EQ with 7 presets. The EQ icon alway stays in the upper right hand corner of the screen. However the balance/sub control is buried under 3 screens (HOME>Settings>Audio). The unit also have bluetooth capabilities, you can pair it to your phone and make and recieve phone calls right on the display. There is a mic to right of the cd slot. Calls come through clear and audible. 

The GPS software works well, not as smooth or feature packed as Google Maps. One of the things I am finding is that the GPS time of day is off sometimes, it will show AM when it is PM. To update you put the NAV sd card into a computer, download the NAV updater software and access the card. 

All in all not a bad unit, there is a few things that I would definitely like to see changed. I'm going to keep it for a month or so then upgrade. 

Retail: $269


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## cycleguy (Feb 10, 2018)

Nice review like you say it does have a few shortcomings but I'm sure it will be more than good enough for some that are on a tight budget for a double din unit


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