Is navigation upgrade worthwhile?
 

Bought my 2002 SC430 in May 2001, have more or less figured out how to use the navigator and it has been handy looking for addresses in unfamiliar urban locations. The voice feature is annoying and I have never quite managed to turn it off though.

I understand that Lexus modernizes the map feature annually and that the upgrade is quite expensive, so I have let a couple of years go by but am thinking of doing it now. Your opinions about taking this step are earnestly solicited !!!

As I understand it, the updated DVDs do NOT update the base software (menus, basic operation).
Streets & POIs are added or modified.
Bummer -- the newer menu systems are a little more friendly.

I have the base DVD myself. I asked my service manager about the update. They found that the 2003 update does not contain any changes for the Dallas area (street-wise, at least). There are major highways that have been added -- I've floated over several non-roads! :)
So I'll wait until they update the area.

Some info on the 2003 DVD:
http://www.lexus-parts.com/partdetai...bCategoryID=73

And some details from the Lexus site - Owner's section - Community - Customer Service:
(quoted)
8. Who makes the Lexus DVD Navigation System software?
The navigation mapping software was created by NavTech. The Lexus DVD Navigation System, including the mapping and operational software, is assembled by Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), Japan.

I was told by my SA that the 2003 version is buggy and has been withdrawn. They'll sell you 2002 (for $350!) but suggest you wait a couple of more months for the 2004 version.

George

buggy 03?
 

I have seen several threads about the 3.0 version and have not seen anyone (until now) say that it is buggy. I am hoping to upgrade my V 1.0 directly to 3.0.

Anyone else heard of bugs in V3?

GW

I upgraded my 2002 SC430's software (original version, car delivered April 2001) to the latest version and think it was a waste of godd money. While there are some added POI's and updated maps, it was hardly worth the $288 I paid for the upgrade. In addition, I have noticed some addresses are now 2 or 3 blocks off. Would recommend bypassing the upgrade and waiting.

Me? I'd probably pay money to have my 2003 SC430's system DOWNGRADED to the 2002 system!

I can't shut the damned nav voice off.

Every single time I get in the car it automatically resets the nav voice to ON.

Every single time I get within a couple miles of home it comes on and interrupts my music and gives me unneeded directions!

I'm about ready to tear the voice wiring out of there.

For me, two of the selling points about the car were the fantastic soundsystem and the fantastic nav system, and the two are very much in conflict at the moment.

Also, does anyone have directions/information on how to wire a bypass switch for the speed sensor in the SC430 nav system? It seems it's easier to get to in some of the other Lexus vehicles (GS, etc). But I would really like to get this bypassed in my vehicle.

This is a rather wonky example, but not being able to change from one destination to another almost got us in an accident on friday night! :(

(short story here, OT)

My company hosts the web page for the Oakland/East Bay Symphony, oebs.org. They gave us some comp tickets so we decided to check it out Friday night. I'd planned a nice dinner for us before the show if we had time, and programmed both destinations into the nav system.

We ran into a TON of traffic on Hwy 880 due to the ballgame, and had to skip dinner, but there was no way I could switch from one destination to even a previous destination while the vehicle was moving. We had to pull off the freeway completely, press 4 buttons (dest, previous dest, renew, start), and get back on the freeway. Of course my fiancee could've done this easily and safely from the passenger seat (just use the sensor that's already built in for crissakes, the car knows when there's a passenger or 'other' thing in the seat and even disables the airbag automatically).

Well, the place I pulled off the freeway at was a total ghetto/run down section of Oakland, and some idiot gas station had a guy waving a sign saying 'FREE GAS'. So every hoopite car and his brother was pulling into the gas station, finding out there really was no free gas, and pulling out pissed off.

One of these idiots didn't want to wait, and instead of waiting for a gap in the traffic at a light, literally all but rammed into the SC430 by pushing the nose of his gas guzzling piece of crap SUV into the 2 feet between my car and the car in front of me.

Luckily the light changed just then and I was able to get out of the moron's way. Popped the EDFC into full firm mode and just took off back onto the freeway as fast as my little V8 could take me.

:egads:

Christ, all this because they won't let me switch destinations or do anything while the car is moving!

Please, SOMEONE TELL ME HOW TO BYPASS THIS! :\

This is the first post that says that the upgrade screws up the Voice prompts. I was assuming that the firmware was not upgraded with the DVD.

Since mine is the earliest version, can anyone say that it would be safe to upgrade to V2? My wife has the Toyota Sienna with NAV and I find many of the "features" annoying, especially the Voice prompting.

Thanks.

GW

I have the earliest NAV system (April 01) and have upgraded the DVD once, about a year ago.

I don't know if it was worth it or not, since there is no way to compare the maps, because you cannot use the old DVD because of the upgrade to the operating system. Ver 2 had newer maps in some parts of the country, and added Canada, at least those parts of it that have roads.

The voice prompt default to ON has nothing to do with the disc being used. About a year or so after production began, Lexus changed the NAV system so that the voice prompt (the map *****) is on whenever the car is started up. I don't know why. The early cars, like mine, retain the on/off setting until it is reset by the user. As far as I can tell, this is hard wired into the system and cannot be changed by software. That's too bad, and I would think it was a bad mistake, but for the most part is not something a user would discover until owning the car for a while.

I figure this just makes my car more valuable.

The new upgrade to the NAV DVD is mostly the addition of many more POI (gas stations, ATM, restaurants, etc. . .). That would be nice, but I think I'll wait another year or two.

DVD revisited
 

I just saw version 3.2 of the DVD (2003) from a friend's ES330.
There are now dual-layer burners on the market now (haven't tried mine yet because I haven't found any discs for it yet).

Anyone care to guess if a burned copy will work or not?
(Has anyone tried it yet?)
I'm starting to have my doubts -- the ML in-dash system has problems with CD-Rs!
Who knows what the DVD-ROM drive will do.

For us Dallas folks, I found that there ARE some updates from the (original) 2000 version.
All previous posts said otherwise, as did my service manager, but I noticed that the GBTP (190) is complete on the 3.2 maps.

Hmmm. Experiment with the NAV? Gotta find some dual-layer DVD+/-Rs first.

Right you are -- an ugly faux pas on my part. The NAV DVDs are copyrighted material.
Seems the geek in me got a bit too aggressive on that one. :egads:

my GS430 is an 02 but my navi is V3.1 wouldn't an 02 be V2.0. i can't say how much of a difference there is. i know my 02 has a calender, a few more features, more zoom in and calculate destination faster.

not really, version number and yr are two different things

The original SC's (March - end of 2001) came with the original DVD, v1.0.

As I understand it, an update would not provide enhancements to the software -- only the maps. It seems the menu & apps are hardware-based.

I live in Dallas- thanks for the heads up.

NavTech also does the maps for Yahoo maps. See if the new roads show up on that site.

I think that there is some upgrade to the software or to the operating system with a new version of the DVD for the NAV system.

When I installed my new NAV DVD upgrade a year or so ago, I know that the system upgraded itself, and previous discs became unreadable by the newly installed system. I thinik that the documentation indicated that the "operating system" was being upgraded, but who knows what that means.

The new maps have some new roads in some areas, and cute little colorful Interstate logos on the maps. I did not see any new "features." Be aware, however, that once you upgrade to a newer version of the DVD, you will not be able to use the older DVD in the car (although I can't imagine why you would want to).