I want to update my original Navigation system (98 GS) to the latest release... The maps, picture quality, and processing speed on the navigation in my 03 GX470 (which is DVD based) is significantly better/faster than on the GS...

My question is.. If I get the latest HD update for my GS... will the actual "SOFTWARE" (processing speed, picture quality, etc) be updated (better/faster like the Dvd based) or will there just be more streets added?

thanks

 

i hear there are more POI's, but visibly, the screen seems clearer to me and the green parts on the map (parks, major grass sections, etc...) seem greener, if that makes any sense

I have the Sept 03 update (latest)

 

Is the processing time pretty fast? (ie.. when you dont follow the navigation directions and it has to REROUTE you...) It is INCREDIBLY slow in my GS when compared to my GX. Often you are already PAST the next best alternative route by the time it recalculates..

Wondering if anyone has experienced both the 1st Gen Nav (hard drive) and the 3rd or 4th Gen Navs (DVD).... Im wondering if the "look" and processing speed is updated on the HD updates... because the screen currently looks like an old video game compared to the new nav screens...

Bottom line, if I pay $400-$500 for a nav update... i want to see the transition from "Atari" to "Playstation" rather than just more streets on the Atari..... Know what I mean ??

Was your original nav the HD or DVD based nav? Can you post a pic of your current Nav Screen...

 

I believe the system got a little faster when I went from the 99 software to the 01, but don't think it got faster after that. The look and feel is the same too. It's not going to be as fast as the DVD one because I don't believe the processor is the same.

Original nav was hard drive. DVD came later. Remember the nav came out in 97, when DVD players barely existed.

 

yup i think the new nav is just a different system. dvd based one is quite a bit faster than the hdd one. and i believe the old upgrade it's mainly on the POI?

 

actually if you think about it from an IT standpoint,

HDD is DEFINITELY faster, because all the data is cached for immediate access, whereas the dvd needs to spin and access the data (there is no cache with DVD)



with that said, the reroute time is dependent on the area where you are and how fast you are driving-I have had no troubles

If I was that lost, I would pull over and wait for it to reroute, that simple

 

You would THINK so huh? but then you'd be wrong .. The DVD is much much faster... so theorhetical IT reasoning doesn't really apply in this case... You may have had no troubles with the processing speed... but then you are not using the GEN 1 Nav like I am...your using DVD. I don't think comparing an older version dvd system with a newer version dvd system will reveal the dramatic processing speed differences like comparing a HD sytem to the DVD systems. If i pass a destination street in my GX ('03 dvd) I am usually re-rerouted before I get to the next possible street... in my GS ('98 HD), I may be PAST the next alternative route before the new route shows up! ... and then of course I am rerouted again.

Not a MAJOR MAJOR deal here... but to use the video game analogy again... If you currently owned an old Atari game system with a stick figure football game in it.... would you want to want to upgrade as close as possible to the new Xbox/Playstation style games... or just the same style atari game with Michael Vick's jersey on a stick figure. The latter is not worth $500 bucks to me...

I really need the advice of someone very familiar with BOTH systems to get the answer im looking for. Are you out there somewhere?

Thanks people

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by GXLUV
You would THINK so huh? but then you'd be wrong .. The DVD is much much faster... so theorhetical IT reasoning doesn't really apply in this case... You may have had no troubles with the processing speed... but then you are not using the GEN 1 Nav like I am...your using DVD. I don't think comparing an older version dvd system with a newer version dvd system will reveal the dramatic processing speed differences like comparing a HD sytem to the DVD systems. If i pass a destination street in my GX ('03 dvd) I am usually re-rerouted before I get to the next possible street... in my GS ('98 HD), I may be PAST the next alternative route before the new route shows up! ... and then of course I am rerouted again.

Not a MAJOR MAJOR deal here... but to use the video game analogy again... If you currently owned an old Atari game system with a stick figure football game in it.... would you want to want to upgrade as close as possible to the new Xbox/Playstation style games... or just the same style atari game with Michael Vick's jersey on a stick figure. The latter is not worth $500 bucks to me...

I really need the advice of someone very familiar with BOTH systems to get the answer im looking for. Are you out there somewhere?

Thanks people
[/QUOTE

actually my car is an 00, so I do have HDD based Navi

]

 

u all may be right.... however, I really hope they are not charging us $400-$500 for additional streets only...on an outdated piece of technology. I mean, the graphics on the DVD system are soooo much better.. I would hope there's maybe a memory upgrade or something for the HDD systems... I believe it costs MORE to upgrade the HDD system than to buy the latest DVD version with better speed, graphics, etc.. The upgrade doesnt have to be the SAME as DVD... but I would hope it would be close. I mean...How many of you would buy a $500 computer NOW that only ran DOS?

 

From my observation the software does not change substantially from version to version, just minor tweaks and fixes. A company is not going to spend big $$$ to update an outdated piece of equipment. The HD costs $300 or so and you do get extra streets plus lots of expanded points of interest. For example, there are one million P.O.I.s on the 2003 HDD update versus 700000 on the Fall 2002 version.

The update isn't going to make your screen brighter, wider or the hardware faster. You're comparing a 1997 hard drive to a 2001 or (faster still) 2004 version nav in RX, LS DVD too so it isn't apples to apples. The Fujitsu nav in my GS (Eclipse) is the same as the new LS and it'll plot east coast to west coast route in less than 6 seconds.... faster than my LS400 HDD based nav takes to fully plot across town.

One other note - I've read the HDD update for 2004 is NOT going to be released because the 'hard drive is full' on the last release. I personally would rather have less points of interest and more new roads. There is a major new highway in Charlotte that the nav thinks is cow pasture I want on mine.

 

well theoretically yes, if you compare the same system but one using hdd and one using dvd. however, the two nav systems are completely different, so that's no comparison anymore. i bet the new nav has a much better processing unit, and probably even different kind of software written. and maybe even a lot more memory on the new dvd nav. with all those factors, then the reading speed of the dvd being longer than hdd becomes nothing anymore

and i think most of the upgrades they are more about POI or road corrections. that's why me being in big citiies, i really don't plan on getting new dvd every time (even though it's 2xx ONLY comared to 400 for the hdd).

 

An HD is faster than a DVD in seek time but I suspect the new DVD system has a lot more memory than the HD one, so it doesn't need to go back to the media as much, plus it's just newer software, running I suspect, on a much faster processor.

The re-routing on the newer DVD system is faster, I suspect because of CPU and RAM.

Oh and Henry, the upgrades are more than POI, they definitely add roads and one upgrade fixed interstate exit numbering for example when that changed in Georgia and Florida a couple of years ago.

I *believe* I read the 03 HD upgrade is the last and final one.