How would I make a navigation system work for my 1999 LS400? I'm planning to buy and install a stock navigation system...is it just "plug in and play"? Or is it more of a complicated process??

 

please search, it is not in any way as simple as plug and play.

 

It involves A LOT of wiring, and the HDD system in the 2nd gen LS is horribly outdated.

An easier solution would be to install an aftermarket 2DIN dash kit and installing an Eclipse AVN series or an Alpine IVA series with the NAV dock. You could go Pioneer or Kenwood too, but Eclipse and Alpine are close to the OEM systems Toyota and Honda use, respectively.

 

thanks alot bro

 

You're better off going with after market i had one installed in my 1996 ls with a double din kit, ipod adapter and bluetooth, it was a pretty nice setup and very easy to use ,it was a pioneer avic d3, unfortunately i had to get rid of the car and pulled it all out, still got it if interested

 

Could always just go with a Garmin, TomTom or something else along those lines. THAT would be the simplest navigation solution

 

I would be concerned that a double DIN nav in a 98-00 LS400 would be very low in the console -- I think nav's should be higher on the console for safety. Whether or not you should, you will be finding yourself frequently looking at the nav screen while driving.

It's certainly not as "pretty" as an in-dash nav but it was cheap to buy and mount an inexpensive portable nav on a bracket in my similar 2000 LS400.

The power cord for my portable nav is plugged into a $5 DC extension cord which is hardwired to the car's accessory circuit. This allows the portable nav to turn on and off automatically with the ignition key. The power cords are hidden behind my phone console and the carpeting on the transmission tunnel.

With the car's tinted windows and the portable nav not being on the windshield or dash top, I don't worry much about it being stolen. I only remove the nav from its bracket when I take it to use in rental cars, when it is super hot or super cold, when I take it into the house to load it up with addresses and POIs I'm going to need, or when I plug it into my computer to update the nav software and maps.

My old Magellan portable nav is about two years old but still works quite well. A Garmin with more features than my Magellan currently costs less than $200. The way I mounted the Magellan, I think it would take less than 15 minutes to convert over to a Garmin with most of the time being spent on attaching a Garmin adaptor to the bracket.

I used to think navigation devices were only for the "geographically challenged". Gosh has my opinion changed -- I use it all the time.