Navigation Map Update 2012 (ver 12.1)
 

So I get an email from Sewell regarding the Navigation Map Update 2012 (ver 12.1) that just came out. Go to look at the application table to see what I need to order for my 1998 GS400 and wouldnt you know, the harddrive version is not being updated...:egads: So anything from 1998-2001 cant be updated unless Im mistaken. I guess i have to accept driving on blank roads for now, watching that little circle floating on my nav screen in the middle of nowhere untill I retro fit my rig. All you 2002-2012 cars Enjoy the update!


Heres the application chart that I was referring too:
http://lexus.sewellparts.com/data/nav2012cy.php

do you mean anything from 1998-2000 cant be updated? either way, wouldnt the version 11 have your up to date roads?

Youre right maxx. its actually 1998-2000 cant be updated...From my understanding and correct me if Im wrong but its old technology. Everything after 2000 uses discs or a flash sticks but for 1998-2000 its a harddrive and I dont think they are making these harddrives to fit in these rides.

Well that's great....

OP welcome back to the boards....

all 98-2000 model gs's use a harddrive.lexus never made a upgrade harddrive past 2004. all 2001+ can be upgraded, they use a disc now.i know sewell just put out the 12.1 disc for the 2001+ models but there are alot of old threads about the harddrive models and them not being able to be updated.

Brian speaks correctly. 98-2000 uses a hard drive with very limited memory. My personal opinion is that was overlooked at the time the GS was built. For some reason, Lexus failed to understand how much memory the hard drive needs to hold for consistent updates or just didn't have enough technology available to them at the time. Sewell is back to selling the updates for the 98-00 models but it's $850 and it only updates you to 2004. I was able to obtain the 04 update on my 2000 GS from a member here and even THAT is a major difference from the original update. Especially here in Socal. So, if you have an 01+ you are very fortunate because you should be able to update your nav for the entire time you own the vehicle

Can a 01+ Nav unit be retrofitted into a 98-00?

^ Yes and there is a thread here where a guy was successful at doing so. The price he paid for it though made me consider another option. You may as well drop the $650 and purchase the 2011 update for 98-00 models off ebay

Repugnante - I saw a past post where you mentioned that you contacted Lexus and they can compress the update to fit on our harddrive...Also to my surprise is it true that our gps unit has a usb port on it? What about a group buy for the 98-00 maybe they will give us a price break on the update. thoughts?

Yea that's the one off ebay that I was mentioning. Its from Lexus of North Miami. From what they've told me, they managed to find a way to compress the entire version onto a USB. They had to remove some of the symbols and icons to allow for the additional freeways and roads that were newly built and that, along with many other reasons why they were able to compress such a big file to the USB and make it fit on our HD. When I think of it, it must have taken them hours to get this done. From my understanding, there is a USB port on our units. Three members on here (one of them an audio/ICE guy) had mentioned that he had seen it and even plugged a flash drive in there.

I mentioned a group buy with them however they never did get back to me on that. I would contact that seller again. Just remember though, this is a dealership and not just one individual selling stuff, so they may not get back to you for a while, if ever.

Thanks for the repley Repugnante. I think I remember seeing the Miami Dealerships listing on ebay and this was a while back. Something didnt smell right and I didnt think it looked legit, Im going to give them a call and get some information on this. Im sure since we havent heard more about this process of compressing that its not a cheap thing...Ill let you know what I find out.

Yea, it didn't seem right to me at first. But I have a lot of IT friends and when I asked them about this, they stated that it can be done, however its very time consuming and expensive. Compressing a very, very large file into something that only allows for limited space can be a tedious job. Especially when dealing with car nav units. The process can take hours even days...

Give them a call or send an email to them and post back on their responses. It's coming from a dealer so I'm pretty sure this is legitimate. Just wish the prices were a bit lower, then I wouldn't mind being the guinea pig. But if they will allow for a group buy, then we all can be guinea pigs. :)

repugnante thread
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...11-2012-a.html

I'm unsure how the Lexus dealer compressed the files to fit onto a 2gig ide drive. I have a Toyota gen 5 disk and compared the files to gen 1 hard drive files and they are totally different.
Gen1 maps appears to be in a M40 file extension by states where gen5 is under a KWI file extension.
ALLDATA.KWI (main gps data file)
DICVCE56.KWI (indexes the alldata file)

Some of us have successfully replaced the hard drives with larger compact flash memory card. Link below.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...placement.html

Anyone with expereince with altering GPS KWI files?

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Good stuff! I read your thread. Now since you made the drive larger, did you try to copy a a nav update from a DVD to a flash drive then try to plug it in?? Did you ever get that far?