Moikoi

I bought a used 05 and I think it still contains the original map, so my Qs are ...How much does it cost for an updated map? worth it? is it hard to install? or just buy a $150 bucks Garmin?

irishbrahm

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...v-upgrade.html

jimbosr1

i would upgrade it. it is very easy to install.

Kansas

A Garmin would likely provide better guidance and could, per my previous post, integrate with your cell phone via Garmin Smartphone Link, I definitely recommend updating your nav - cheap and easy to do. Here is a website about nav updates: http://www.lexusnavigation.com

Gene01

If you do update, it may be worth waiting a month or so for version 13.1 to be released.
I understand that Sewell Lexus sells it for about $160.
FYI, you need the Gen4 disc.

jayclapp

I think it depends on the area you live, travel, and use a lot. You can go to the Lexus site and find state-by-state all the changes that will be incorporated in that state by cities. Those are the street and highway changes, which include added freeways in you area for instance.

The other change, which isn't documented, are changes to update businesses and their locations. That may be useful for travel, but I don't find that a real useful feature even though I live in the Phoenix area.

Do a little research and make you decision then.

AlexusAnja

I have version 4.1 from '04 and to be honest, i have only had 3 or 4 instances where an adress was unknown and I live in NY area where new roads are constantly added. I havent upgraded because i like having the override function instead. When i do find an unknown adress, i use my phone and look up the address and then i look for intersection on the Ls nav. I've been to Chicago, Orlando, Quebec with the LS and never been lost. I dont think at this point I would upgrade ever.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Or if cost is the factor, you can wait and buy the prev v12 disc from someone who upgrades for 1/3 that

daddykay24

I have an 05 also and have not updated the maps because you lose the ability to override the Nav system while moving. If this is not important to you then update.

ayonnebay

Why would anyone pay for a downgrade ? - (Giving up the Override feature)

Just to find a few new streets you'll probably never go to? It's especially silly now that most of us have smartphones.

The override feature is too valuable to me. I wouldn't give it up if Lexus paid ME. I'm certainly not going to give it up and pay THEM !

Kansas

Have those of you who luvvvvvvvv the override ability considered installing one of the inexpensive "lock pick" products that allow using the nav while moving AND allows you to update the maps without losing that feature?

How often do you guys use the override feature? Only once have we needed to stop my wife's car to do something on her 2012 Gen 6 nav that we could not do while moving. I could install a simple switch-based lock pick product on her car for about $50 but I see no need to do so.

I update all our nav devices and systems on a regular basis - but maybe we travel a lot more than most people and are more likely to notice missing/changed streets and POI's. I'll be updating the Gen 6 nav maps when the next update comes out this fall. I update our Garmins - one of which is used regularly (for the next six days in the Hartford CT area) in rental cars all over the US - four times a year.

I didn't used to do all this but I decided I didn't like a nav screen showing I was driving in a field while on an Interstate Highway; have a nav tell me to turn head-on into cars coming at me on a one-way street, or tell me to turn right and cross a Missouri River bridge at Lexington, Missouri that had been removed years earlier. All that and more happened before I decided it was better to keep the maps and POI's up-to-date.

$160 isn't much for a map update. Just yesterday I paid $400 to renew the Safety Connect (SOS emergency button) in my elderly wife's car. (I don't think she would like me using the word "elderly" but what else do you call someone who is long past the age where she could draw Social Security.) We paid a lot of money for these wonderful features when we bought her car and we certainly are not going to waste the original expenditure by "cheaping out" and not doing regular updates or renewing subscriptions for services we value.

Whether a phone works for navigation depends on where you live. A lot of areas in the mid-west and mountain states have "Edge" cell phone service at best if there is any cell phone service at all - even on Interstate highways. You aren't going to be using Google Maps while connected on Edge or if you have no signal at all!

BradTank

No, I think it's a complete rip off.

Lexus really should be ashamed of what they charge for those update DVDs, they have to make all those map updates anyway for their new models every year.

You can buy a complete standalone Garmin GPS device for $99 that runs circles around the Lexus GPS system, yet a dealer will charge close to $200 for a DVD rip that cost about a nickel to make. It should be something like $30 for an update, and that's still making a killing.

The Lexus GPS is just a very dated system, I never use it, it's basically a background slide show on my dash, but it's rare that something like a new road or freeway was built and the Lexus GPS doesn't have it displayed. So even if you have the original DVD, your core functions are still going to be there, I guess it would just be useful if you're doing something like finding a new business that just opened (ie a new restaurant)?

I use my iPhone for GPS which is updated all the time, and I'm glad the automakers are moving towards systems that integrate your smartphone into the dash because the OEM systems are never going to be as good.

jayclapp

I think the Lexus system is great. I just don't have the need to be "connected" to the web and the world every minute of the day to go places and do things, and I live in a metropolis of 3M people. I'll use the navigation for trips and I will pre set the route.

Works fine for me. I don't need constant distractions. I rarely allow the navigation to display. I usually have it set on audio so I can see the albums and song titles while playing my iPod classic in the glovebox.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

The lockpick does not allow you to keep the override feature, it just automates setting the bypass and when the nav map is updated beyond 5.1 it stops working as well. I have it installed on mine and it doesn't work anymore . I've read the Prestigious Society module (forget who makes it but think you can often find it cheaper elsewhere) works but not a lot of people with it installed on our cars (maybe just one when I searched some time ago).


Ultimately I valued the updated maps and POIs more than the ability for the in-motiion stuff.

BradTank

Just because you're using a smartphone for the GPS, it doesn't mean you also have to surf the web and use every other feature it offers while you're driving.