Sat Nav - Updating

[Arifax]

Does anyone have any experience of update dvds from here: http://www.sat-navi.co.uk/?

Given they are about a third of the price of the official ones, I assume that they are illegal copies or rubbish, or both.

Geoff

[Jan&tone]

Does anyone have any experience of update dvds from here: http://www.sat-navi.co.uk/?

Given they are about a third of the price of the official ones, I assume that they are illegal copies or rubbish, or both.

Geoff

I have never bothered with updating the SatNav on my gen2 or the gen3.... reason is twofold, firstly they are expensive and secondly let's be honest, how often do roads move? There will be the occasional addition or 'dualling' of a road, there will be changes in one way systems and removal and addition of roundabouts, but the basic direction and road number will remain the same. SatNav's are for guidance only, not for blind obedience!

[korat102]

SatNav's are for guidance only, not for blind obedience!

Based on the number of lorry drivers who take their trucks down narrow country lanes and the number of car drivers who happily drive off the end of piers, that statement would be far more useful on the startup screen than the silly "don't use this while driving" warning that everybody ignores anyway...

[timberwolf]

Does anyone have any experience of update dvds from here: http://www.sat-navi.co.uk/?

Given they are about a third of the price of the official ones, I assume that they are illegal copies or rubbish, or both.

Geoff

I wouldn't buy from that web-site, as you don't know who you are dealing with - no name, no address, and only a hotmail address for contact - I think you'd be better off just driving along, opening your window and throwing the money out (obviously you can't do this in reality because you could be caught and fined a large penalty for littering :) ).

[Peter Sale]

Such a professional outfit that they think the car is a Pirus !!

Wouldn't spend my money there.

[Jan&tone]

SatNav's are for guidance only, not for blind obedience!

Based on the number of lorry drivers who take their trucks down narrow country lanes and the number of car drivers who happily drive off the end of piers, that statement would be far more useful on the startup screen than the silly "don't use this while driving" warning that everybody ignores anyway...

Yup!

[Arifax]

In the absence of a flood of comments "Yes they're great - buy from thenm with confidence" I think I'll have to go down the offical Toyota £150 route.

The disc in the car at the moment is 2006. I do need to update, partly because the centre of Bradford ahs been demolished and replaced with a huge pile of rubble (covered with grass for when Price Charles passed through) and a bizarre one way system.

So I will update to 2011. But I don;t think I'll be doing at again.

TomTom was so much better - £60pa got me four map updates, user map updates, traffic and cameras for a year.

Geoff

[Jan&tone]

TomTom was so much better - £60pa got me four map updates, user map updates, traffic and cameras for a year.

Geoff

Ah maybe, but the TOmtom can be stolen if inadvertently left in the car, the OEM one can't be! (at least not as easily)

[Bibsy]

TomTom was so much better - £60pa got me four map updates, user map updates, traffic and cameras for a year.

Well, just to put the cat in the melting pot, I also recently purchased a Gen2 Prius and it has a 2007 satnav DVD.

What I do is run TomTom on my iPhone, as it outshines the internal satnav in almost every area. However, I keep the iPhone down in the centre console, feed the audio to the car, but have the Prius satnav map showing, without putting in a destination. So no fiddly and ugly mount.

That means you get the TomTom instructions, which are up to date, the map on the big screen which 95% of the time matches the instructions, and the RDS traffic displayed on the big screen. When the instructions don't match the screen at a new roundabout or something, follow the instructions.

As the iPhone TomTom has HD traffic on it too I get the best of both worlds.

It's not completely perfect but it's a lot cheaper than £150, especially as I already had the TomTom app on the phone, and you get all the major advantages of the iPhone satnav combined with a big display, mostly.

[kithmo]

TomTom was so much better - £60pa got me four map updates, user map updates, traffic and cameras for a year.

Well, just to put the cat in the melting pot, I also recently purchased a Gen2 Prius and it has a 2007 satnav DVD.

What I do is run TomTom on my iPhone, as it outshines the internal satnav in almost every area. However, I keep the iPhone down in the centre console, feed the audio to the car, but have the Prius satnav map showing, without putting in a destination. So no fiddly and ugly mount.

That means you get the TomTom instructions, which are up to date, the map on the big screen which 95% of the time matches the instructions, and the RDS traffic displayed on the big screen. When the instructions don't match the screen at a new roundabout or something, follow the instructions.

As the iPhone TomTom has HD traffic on it too I get the best of both worlds.

It's not completely perfect but it's a lot cheaper than £150, especially as I already had the TomTom app on the phone, and you get all the major advantages of the iPhone satnav combined with a big display, mostly.

That's all well and good if you already have a £400 iPhone

[Seamaster73]

It's still only a fraction of what Toyota charge for their p¡ss-poor OEM nav!

[Bibsy]

That's all well and good if you already have a £400 iPhone

Obviously.

[Arifax]

I have lashed out the £150 for an updated disk and have received four, so that I can now navigate msyelf safely and in detail to the top of Norway, the toe of Italy or somewhere near Moscow.

Which doesn't help a lot, given that all I was really bothered about was several new housing developments in the Leeds area, the wierd one-way system in Bradford and getting to the UEA in Noriwch when my daughter goes there in 2012 (fingers crossed).

Distraught (and have I ever been otherwise?) to find that they have sent me the 2010/11 disk which claims to use maps "up to date as of September 2009".

Which means that within a few months, or even weeks, there will be a 2012/13 disk up to date with maps from this month rather than two years old already.

Also disconcerted that my run into work this morning only returned 33mpg when it managed over 50mpg the rest of the week. Presumably it has taken into account the fuel it burned to keep me warm while stationary on the drive last night playing with the sat nav and other buttons.

Geoff

[sushd]

According to the Toyota website (FAQ), updates become available, approximately once a year, in Q4 of that year.

The latest (current) version for the various systems are also listed there.

Did you buy it online or through a dealer?

[pobrown]

The new discs are generally released every Oct/Nov - I've bought them every year for the past 5 years! (expensive, but I use the SatNav in my job quite a lot). The latest version is 2010/11 which is known as 'E13'. Another few weeks and 2011/12 should be released. In recent years the discs have been interchangeable between various Toyota/Lexus models, although you do need to check compatibility before buying.

Be careful of cheap eBay deals and other 'too good to be true' prices on sites - you could end up with a DVD-R copy. The firmware of the SatNav systems was updated a few years ago and now the units will not read DVD-R discs. The firmware of your system automatically updates when you insert a newer navigation disc.

[sjrainsford]

I'd love to borrow a disk for 10 minutes off someone just to update the firmware of mine to enable it to be used whilst moving. I'm not bothered about my maps. They're 2007 but fine for me. Any offers from anyone local to me?

[timberwolf]

I'd love to borrow a disk for 10 minutes off someone just to update the firmware of mine to enable it to be used whilst moving. I'm not bothered about my maps. They're 2007 but fine for me. Any offers from anyone local to me?

I have guessed that the sat-nav application was loaded straight from the DVD into RAM memory and not flashed to a ROM chip. The reason I came to that conclusion was based on various posts on the internet and from the Prius repair manual where the sat-nav seemed to be able to fail due a scratched DVD or faulty DVD drive.

[pobrown]

I'd love to borrow a disk for 10 minutes off someone just to update the firmware of mine to enable it to be used whilst moving. I'm not bothered about my maps. They're 2007 but fine for me. Any offers from anyone local to me?

Where are you based? Alternatively, I could post one to you.

[pobrown]

I have guessed that the sat-nav application was loaded straight from the DVD into RAM memory and not flashed to a ROM chip. The reason I came to that conclusion was based on various posts on the internet and from the Prius repair manual where the sat-nav seemed to be able to fail due a scratched DVD or faulty DVD drive.

A newer Nav DVD updates the firmware of the unit and it stays like that even if you put an older DVD back in. I've had this happen to me a couple of times when I've changed cars, but I've kept the newer DVD for my next car and put the original supplied disc back in the car. The Nav unit will still fail with a scratched disc or faulty DVD drive as the disc is still checked at each boot up.

[timberwolf]

I have guessed that the sat-nav application was loaded straight from the DVD into RAM memory and not flashed to a ROM chip. The reason I came to that conclusion was based on various posts on the internet and from the Prius repair manual where the sat-nav seemed to be able to fail due a scratched DVD or faulty DVD drive.

A newer Nav DVD updates the firmware of the unit and it stays like that even if you put an older DVD back in. I've had this happen to me a couple of times when I've changed cars, but I've kept the newer DVD for my next car and put the original supplied disc back in the car. The Nav unit will still fail with a scratched disc or faulty DVD drive as the disc is still checked at each boot up.

Thank you, that's good to know if it does also work that way on Prius Sat-nav.

[sjrainsford]

I'd love to borrow a disk for 10 minutes off someone just to update the firmware of mine to enable it to be used whilst moving. I'm not bothered about my maps. They're 2007 but fine for me. Any offers from anyone local to me?

Where are you based? Alternatively, I could post one to you.

I'm in Lichfield, South Staffordshire. So the lend of a disk or even a copy just to update the firmware would be very much appreciated. I just hate not being able to use it whilst moving in slow traffic for instance if trying frantically to alter the route or whatever.

[Opifex]

I'm in Lichfield, South Staffordshire. So the lend of a disk or even a copy just to update the firmware would be very much appreciated. I just hate not being able to use it whilst moving in slow traffic for instance if trying frantically to alter the route or whatever.

Here’s a cautionary tale for anyone who is tempted to do anything with the sat-nav while on the move.

A few months ago we were driving along an empty dual-carriageway and decided to use the sat-nav. My wife started to set it but was having trouble finding a POI and I glanced at the screen to see what the problem was. When I looked up I found a girl on a bike in front of me. Luckily I had just enough time to swerve to miss her. Since then we have had a rule that neither of us touches the sat-nav unless we are stationary and the brake is on. It’s not worth the risk.

[Jolly English Gentleman]

Distraught (and have I ever been otherwise?) to find that they have sent me the 2010/11 disk which claims to use maps "up to date as of September 2009".

Which means that within a few months, or even weeks, there will be a 2012/13 disk up to date with maps from this month rather than two years old already.

Geoff

Thanks for this. I have been thinking of updating mine now that the new A16 road to Peterborough is finally open - looks like I will have to wait until next year as the final section only opened last week so probably won't be on the 2012/13 disk.

If only there was some way we could get stand alone solutions such as tom tom or garmin to link up and show up on the display screen.

[Bibsy]

Thanks for this. I have been thinking of updating mine now that the new A16 road to Peterborough is finally open - looks like I will have to wait until next year as the final section only opened last week so probably won't be on the 2012/13 disk.

If only there was some way we could get stand alone solutions such as tom tom or garmin to link up and show up on the display screen.

Mr Google he say:

http://www.coastaletech.com/lockpick3.htm

No idea if it works, but seems to imply it unlocks the Prius screen for video in, so you just then need to get video out of whatever you run your TomTom/Garmin on. Easy enough if you have your satnav on a mobile device I guess, dunno about the standalone units.

[Peter Sale]

I really like the built-in sat nav and thought it was wonderful, warning me about a traffic queue until...

Driving along the M56 towards junction 10 it advised me to leave at the next exit and follow the signs to Norwich !. Apparently Northwich does not exist !!.

This was confirmed again two days later on a similar route !

Wonder how many other pronunciation howlers there are - Chorley tends to sound more like Chorlea ....

Peter