Despite what anyone says, I do not believe this can be done, they are completely vehicle specific and must be programmed at dealer I think via TechStream.
The lady did not have the microSD card when she purchased her IS250 from a private dealer, luckily it was under warranty so it was replaced at our Lexus dealer for free.

I did ask out of curiosity what it costs to get one if you're not under warranty and the general consensus is that it's roughly 250-300 to receive (this includes cost and programming).

I believe when buying or searching for a IS250, always check that first thing - unfortunately we did not but were lucky enough to get it taken care of.

 

Check out this thread on the GS forums...if the IS SD Nav system uses the same thing:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...o-sd-card.html

Basically, if you were to buy a brand new SD nav maps from the dealership or online where it hasn't been used with a previous vehicle before, it should program and work itself without needing the dealership to "program" anything

 

^^ Interesting find, that's pretty neat, thanks for that - something good to keep in mind for the unaware (like myself prior, lol!).

Sidenote, we did pop in another SD card from a different IS250 (same year and everything) just to try (figured without it reformatting that it was probably reason why it didn't work) <- and it still kept reading until eventually the commonly seen error message popped up. I didn't see that the sd card could "learn" the new data.

 

Just to clarify, the Navi MicroSD does not need "programming". You simply insert it and turn the vehicle on. The data will load the first time, which takes a few minutes, and that's it.
Any time you disconnect the battery, on the first start it will load the data from the card again...this is normal.

And unlike Toyota, Lexus micro SD cards get "married" to the unit they are first installed in.
So swapping vehicle to vehicle is not possible, so for the person that stole the card in the above video, the only way it would work is if it was inserted into a new or refurbished unit.
Just installing it into another GS would have done nothing,

Toyota's however, do not "marry" the cards, so swapping vehicle to vehicle is absolutely possible.

In Canada to buy a micro SD card, brand new from the dealer, it's $200 plus tax.

 

 

The cost has been stated above, and someone provided a link I think. $200.

My other car is a Nissan and they are transferable...so the previous owner took it with them and I had to buy a new one.

So to comfirm....these cards cannot just be updated online? They have to be taken to a dealer and techstream be used?

 

The card is the card...the $200 is for a new card. You can't program or do anything with the existing card.
Basically you take it out, throw it in the garbage, and install the new card.

 

I bet there is a way to crack these cards. Use software to mirror the drive to another SD card. I bet the there is some .txt folder that has the VIN number typed in and the Nav system checks to see if the appropriate number is in the file. Could easily be possible to make a group buy of 1 SD card, then copy the files over to other SD cards and adjust the VIN in the file. This is all just a hunch tho. I don't see Lexus dumping a bunch of money into making these cards with full blown US Military encryption.

 

Couple thoughts on this one:

• The SD card is married to the unit...so what is it that is actually married? Something from the card must be written to the unit, and vice versa
• What is it about a new card that allows it to be married to a unit that had an old card in it? Probably something to do with that writing process I mentioned in the first bullet

Rather than trying to work with a new card, which is a $200 investment, what about trying to copy a card that's already in a vehicle. If the card can be successfully copied so that the vehicle recognizes the clone, that's hurdle number one crossed.
Next will be to tackle the 'marrying' conundrum. Any attempt to 'unmarry' the card will need a second vehicle to insert the clone to see if it's accepted.

I think a shoutout to all the eggheads on here that want to give it a try is needed.

 

"eggheads" lmao. That was a good Tuesday morning chuckle with my coffee

 

i wish i can update my MAP in my 2014 LEXUS, its impossible.......... i been searching...

i dont want to pay.

 

I'm lost. It has a microSD card. Unless you're talking about just copying the data.

 

u can't find updated map data online without paying.......... i looked............

i got the SD card, but no map update.... its 4 years old.

 

It depends on the map data. Data in some areas may see some updates and some areas may not. It may take a couple to several years for the correct information to show up and even then, it's still outdated. There used to be a Lexus Navigation website where you can see the changes made for each year.

I have to stress this. Lexus DOESN'T does not gather or put together the nav data. It's outsourced to Denso and another Navigation supplier that sells to Lexus and other manufacturers.

 

i've been using my garmin for years and prefer it over the factory navi. i bought this unit for probably $100-$150, 6 years ago and it came with lifetime free map updates. i've only ever updated the maps once, and it was last night. it took about an hour. only downside is that you have to buy your own microsd card and insert it. next to this, google maps is also pretty good off my phone.