Gblock1

There have been many threads with regard to whether or not the Coastaletech Navigation/BlueTooth override works on a 2007 GX-470.

I must admit that it was a bit of an "oucher" to shell out $300 for this override , especially for me since I am an installer, but at the end of the day, this mod works well. I ordered the Ultimate Lockpick 3+ and installed this on a 2007 GX-470. What's interesting is that it came with both a Lockpick 3+ and a Lockpick Basic. This was confusing (and the instructions are the world's worst) because I thought the Ultimate Lockpick 3+ would be the only harness that I was going to install behind the Nav system. But it turns out that they send you a Basic LockPick too, and this harness needs to be installed under the passenger seat which is very easy to do...., plug 'n play.

So... here's the exact vehicle we are talking about and options:

Lexus GX-470 with Mark Levinson Stereo and Navigation System. No DVD or Rear Entertainment System or any other options...., just the normal plain old GX-470 with Nav. There seems to have been some confusion whether or not this product would work with this configuration, but I can now confirm that it does.

This GX now has the following functionality:
The "I agree" function goes away upon start up of the vehicle.
Full BlueTooth capabilities with direct number entry while moving.
Full Navigation override capabilities while in motion.

While this kit did come with audio cables for Aux input such as Ipod, I did not try to install this option as this vehicle already has an Aux input and therefore this was not necessary. So for this vehicle, I did not install the video/audio interfaces, and cannot report on this feature.

However, the functionality of these features are awesome and for those of you that were wondering, now you know that it does indeed work.

tyoung88

That is great news for the 2007 owners out there. Unfortunately for me I have a 2005 with the 6.1 Nav and as stated on the Coastaletech site:

* NOTE: IF YOUR VEHICLE IS EQUIPPED OR YOU UPGRADE TO NAVIGATION MAP DISK 6.1, THE LOCKPICK1 WILL NOT BE ABLE TO UNLOCK THE ADDRESS INPUT FEATURE OF YOUR NAVIGATION SYSTEM. THE VIDEO, AUDIO, BLUETOOTH AND "I AGREE FUNCTIONS" WILL STILL BE OPERATIONAL*

I've resorted to the manual DVD bypass, vaistech, and shortcut for nav bypass.

Gblock1

There is a way around this problem but it involves burning a new DVD and overwriting the Load.kiwi file from the previous version Nav disk to the 6.1 version that you currently own. It's discussed elsewhere in this forum and is not the easiest thing to do, however, once done will in effect fake out the Nav system into thinking you are still running the old firmware, but with all of the new maps in your database. This should work with the Coastaletech system. They of course will not mention this because it does involves a firmware hack which is not for your everyday person. Your biggest problem will be to find the older disk or somehow come across the Load.kiwi file from that disk if you have another Lexus Nav system that you own.

Gblock1

I may have been a bit premature to say that everything on the CoastalEtech Navigation System Override is working properly. As it stands at the moment, the I agree override is functional, the Bluetooth override is functional, but the Nav Override is presenting a problem.

While it does allow me to enter a destination while in motion, after the Ok button is hit to accept the destination, the red arrow on the Nav system seems to float all over the place and does not stay on route. What I mean by this is that if I am travelling on a highway interstate, and the highway comes to a curve at some point, while I negotiate the curve, the red arrow seems to just continue to go straight on the screen and not follow the highway route. I am in touch with CoastalEtech about resolution of this problem and will report back when I have an answer to this.

stormj

Mine didn't work at all.

I'm sure they think I messed it up, but just the basic unit (all I wanted) couldn't be an easier install. The 5 minutes on the instructions is a long time. It can be installed in 30 seconds.

Mine had no effect. Maybe a bad unit, I figured. When I looked up their return policy, basically, they make you buy a new one and can decide whether to accept the return. They don't pay for shipping, and only accept returns by Fedex, DHL, or UPS. So you pay for shipping three times.

Thank god I bought mine on my Amex.

What's bad about this news is that while having the I Agree gone is nice, I really would just like my wife/passenger to be able to enter destinations in motion.

UPDATE:

You should search this board for "coastaletech." There are a lot of complaints about their service in addition to mine. My guess is that they are basically just some guy with some electrical engineering skill. They don't have any idea how to treat customers or do quality control.

Having said that, there are enough people that claim theirs works to give it a shot. I'm also going to try the DVD-based mod.

echrist0

That's not a small thing that it doesn't work. I hate not being able to enter destinations while moving. Guess we'll just have to wait until someone comes out with one that works. Sure would hate to pay $300 just to get rid of the "I Agree" PITA.

echrist0

That's not a small thing that it doesn't work. I hate not being able to enter destinations while moving. Guess we'll just have to wait until someone comes out with one that works. Sure would be unhappy to pay $300 just to get rid of the "I Agree" PITA.

Gblock1

I have an email into them for support on this. At the end of the day, believe me it will be resolved one way or the other. I too have this on my Visa credit card, and if it doesn't work out, I'll return the merchandise and have the charge reversed. I am hopefull however, that Coastetech will come to the table on this and either replace the unit or tell me whatever to get this thing working. The last thing they want is a reverse charge on the credit card. The shipping thing doesn't bother me so much if we can get this problem resolved. I will report back to the group with the results.

Gblock1

Ok... here's the latest.
I never did hear back from Coastletech which does not make me happy. That aside, I decided to give this thing a re-boot to see what would happen. I powered down the DVD player, (by unplugging connector to Lockpick Basic underneath the passenger seat) and reloaded the firmware. I then drove about 600 miles for a planned family trip to give this the real deal test. I have to say that it worked about as perfect as one could expect. I did not experience the red floating arrow that I talked about previously. All I can think of is that for some reason the first time I rebooted, the firmware to the DVD did not load properly. The only other thing worth mentioning is that sometimes when you enter an address while in motion, the shaded out icons do "come back to life" but they also sometimes go out again which can be frustrating. I noticed this pheonomena too in my old 2004 GX when engaging the speed bypass switch that I installed, but there too, the icons would eventually "come back to life" again. I noticed when you drive a steady speed this does not seem to occur so often. So the best time to enter an address while in motion is to do it on a highway when you can maintain a steady speed (or better yet, have the front seat passenger do it). If you enter while on a side road and speed up or slow down, the icons tend to shade out.

Other than that, it appears I am back in business again and things are working good. So I end here at least for the moment saying that it appears that indeed the Coastaletech Ultimate Lockpick 3 Plus (along with the Lockpick Basic package) for a total cost of $300 does work on the 2007 GX-470. I hope this helps others out who are trying to make a decision on whether or not to take the $300 plunge. At least now you know what problems you may be in store for, but save for a few minor problems it should work if properly installed. Don't expect any support from Coastaletech though. Good luck!

stormj

Thanks, Gblock1. My replacement unit should be arriving momentarily. I will let everyone know if it works as well. (Mine is the basic unit only, for destination input and removing "I Agree" screen.)

stormj

My new unit works as promised. Again, I only ordered the basic unit, but it works. It installs in about 30 seconds. So far, so good.

Coastaletech's non-responses and return policy bothers me, but they do ship promptly, and the unit works as promised (so far). Be educated and buy accordingly.

cannga

Hello,

Does your car have the CD changer in the glove compartment?

The reason I asked is the Coastaletech site states the following:

****NOT FOR LEXUS VEHICLES WITH REAR SEAT DVD SYSTEM OR CD/DVD CHANGER****

My car, like yours, has Mark Levinson and Navigation system. It does have a changer in the glove compartment and therefore I am not clear whether it is compatible with the Ultimate Lockpick 3. Thanks in advance.

Gblock1

Hi,

That's exactly why I started this thread...., to clear up questions like this. The answer is that my car is exactly like yours. The cd changer is in the glove compartment. I too was confused by their own statement (which is very unclear) but decided to take a chance on it. So it does work with the 2007 GX-470, Mark Levinson with the cd changer in the glove compartment.

Coastaletech needs to take a lesson on marketing, clear instructions for installation (which needs to be posted at their website for potential customers) and most of all customer support. If they did that, I am quite sure their sales would increase substantially because questions like this should be dealt with very clearly at their website and they are not. Because of this, many people such as yourself are discouraged from buying their product, and rightfully so. Good luck and let us know how you make out if you decide to go for it.

Gblock1

cannga

Thank you for the very helpful reply.
Installation is strictly do-it-yourself and easy? Do I need to take panels or seats off or anything like that? I am "handy" but not an expert. Thanks again.

Gblock1

Yes. It is do it yourself and plug 'n play, but insofar as saying it is easy.... well that's a whole other matter.

In my case, I would say it is easy. But I am familiar with taking apart the front console from my last GX-470. It is actually pretty easy, but you have to get up enough nerve to feel comfortable pulling the panels off. They do come off very easy, but there is a bit of hesitation when you first pull because the pieces that contain the air ducts are on very tight (make no mistake about that) and you hesitate, because you don't want to break any of the plastic. These are the mahogony looking type plastic pieces that are on both sides of the Nav system that contain the air conditioning ducts. It's the removal of those two pieces that causes a chill to go up your spine before you give it that very gentle and careful final pull. Once you are beyond that, the rest of the job is pretty much a piece of cake. The very first panel that you need to pull (dark grey in my case) snaps off very easy.
It just prys off with a very thin flat blade knife or screwdriver. There is a thread elsewhere in the forum that does show a detail by detail pictorial diagram of how to do this that is very useful.

The other area you need to get to is very easy to work with. It is under the passenger seat. You simply snap off the two plastic pieces that hold the carpet down by the frame of the seat, and then you can easily lift up the carpet that is already slit to get to the dvd player power cord. This is where the Lockpick Basic is installed.

Ok... let me just clarify one other thing. Since you are talking about getting the Ultimate Lockpick 3 + this comes as two units (plus audio and video cables if needed, which I did not use) The two units are the Ultimate Lockpick 3+ and the Basic Lockpick. They actually look very similar to each other except for the connectors on the harness assembly of each of the units. Don't worry because you can't mix them up as the connectors will only fit in the intended spot for them to be installed. The Ultimate Lockpick 3+ is installed behind the navigation screen as a plug 'n play item. The Basic Lockpick is installed under the passenger seat as I mention above... also as plug 'n play.

Gblock1