Nav Map up to Date ???

[Catlover]

Is my Prius Gen4 sat nav map up to date???     Currently shown as   6.12.OWH   2018v2

[Heidfirst]

No. Latest is 6.13.0

[kithmo]

Depends when the car was registered as to whether you'll get any more for free. You get 3 years free updates and my last free update was 6.12.0WH, car registered March 2016. IIRC the latest update came out just after April 2019, so I missed out on that one (unless I want to pay).

[Catlover]

Thought I had done a reply earlier Keith, saying thank you, but must not have pressed the Submit button. Dummy (me not you)

Keith, mine was registered 30 Sept, so I got just over 5 weeks to go. I will book it in for its MOT, get the map upgraded, and a new wiper blade on the rear at the same time. 

[kithmo]

Or you can download and update it yourself from the MyToyota website. https://www.toyota.co.uk/tme#/my-toyota/

[Mick F]

On 8/19/2019 at 11:41 AM, kithmo said:

Depends when the car was registered as to whether you'll get any more for free. You get 3 years free updates and my last free update was 6.12.0WH, car registered March 2016. IIRC the latest update came out just after April 2019, so I missed out on that one (unless I want to pay).

You can buy a stand alone TomTom with lifetime maps, and before we bought our Yaris Hybrid, we'd looked at a Honda Jazz.  The salesman told us that they come with lifetime maps.

Why don't Toyota cars come with lifetime maps?  Seems daft to me that you pay tens of thousands of pounds for a car, and part of the tech goes out of date!

Mick.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Lifetime maps - lifetime is determined by the manufacturer and products may have product support (software and map updates) withdrawn when that point is reached. For example Tom Tom ceased product support for 32 devices at the start of 2018, where they determined the useful life had been reached.

[Catlover]

Your right FBalls, but it would be nice to have "lifetime" support even knowing that lifetime is not the lifetime of the vehicle owner, nor of the life of the car but will stop sometime. I dont even know if the 3 year I have is across the whole Toyota range.  I do have a TomTom, bought before I got this Gen4 Prius/ I will use the Toyota sat nav until it is out of date to the point it is causing me navigation problems, then go back to TomTom, though by then it probably wont be the TomTom I currently own.

[Mick F]

Three years of maps via Toyota is pitiful.  They should be ashamed of themselves.  Their cars come with a five year warranty, so why shouldn't you get at least five years of maps?

From what I've read regarding TomToms, they have updated their stuff now, and the older units won't update properly.  The devices you buy now will be lifetime maps.  Nothing is forever in the tech world of course.  We run AppleMacs, and the big iMac we have won't run the latest softwares, and is now stuck in the past.

Read this from TomTom.  I'm sorely tempted to buy one as ours is five or six years old and was bought without the lifetime maps offer.

https://promos.tomtom.com/en_gb/eol/replacement-offer/?voucher=REPLAPNOBSall1812#map-updates

Mick.

[PeteB]

I bought my TomTom 6000 4 years ago, and have been mightily impressed.  The traffic avoidance is the best I've seen (although I understand the similar setup from Garmin is as good) and it's the first system I've used that I trust enough to let it redirect me without asking first.  Of course. there are rare occasional where it's caught out, but these are very rare in my experience.

I always pop it onto the beanbag when visiting the nearest large town 5 miles away, as it routinely saves me time by selecting the least congested route and not avoiding the bypass when I would expect it to be bad but it isn't!

A complete reversal of my opinion of them a few years earlier when they seemed to be unable to understand the most basic software requirements, such as tidily handling low memory situations.

Mine is a 6" screen model with "lifetime" quarterly map updates and EU wide traffic updates via the mobile phone data network, free of any data charges.  Lifetime means until the hardware becomes unable to cope with prevailing map sizes or other limitations, but one can expect 10 years or more.

More recent models add lifetime camera updates and WiFi updating so it no longer requires a PC or Mac to handle updates.

 

[Mick F]

Yes, the more I think about it, Toyota should be ashamed.  I'm glad our Yaris doesn't have it.
If TomTom can do it, and Honda too - let alone other makes of cars? - Toyota should do it as well.

Mick.

[Catlover]

Even in a Gen4 Prius the sat nav is all to slow to set up, whereas my TomTom, now probably 3 year old is easy and quick to set up for a journey.  Obviously I going to go with a free update, but then I wont be paying to update in the future.  Travelling far now is usually restricted to 2 hols a year and in the UK, but if I was travelling a lot for sure I would be after a modern TomTom with live traffic updates etc. MickF, that Go Premium X at 6" looks a good deal compared to the 5", still a lot of money but as I said, if I travelled a lot I would be willing to pay that sort of cash. 

[Mick F]

Yep. Me too.  I'd buy it like a shot ................... if we needed it.  Rarely go anywhere away from down here in the Far Southwest.

We had a Fiat500 for a couple of years and bought the TomTom outfit that slotted into the port on top of the dash.  It "talked" to the car via bluetooth and we could check trip data and even answer the phone with it.  I was a member of the Fiat Forum - still are but don't go on there now - and tried to sell the whole outfit to no joy at all.  We bought a suction unit for the front window and now use it with the Yaris occasionally for longer trips ........ but not very much for navigation, more like the ETA for our destinations.  We bought a new map and traffic info for it after a few years, but we wouldn't bother again. Traffic has expired. Far better to buy a new unit like I linked with a lifetime map and traffic etc.

This is still for sale .......... but no-one has even got back to me, so we use it every now and again.

https://www.fiatforum.com/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=35396&cat=4

Mick.

[Seamaster73]

1 hour ago, Mick F said:

Yes, the more I think about it, Toyota should be ashamed.

Remember this is the Toyota that is still selling brand new cars in 2019 without CarPlay.

They have no shame.

[Catlover]

i Not conversant with the spec of that unit Mick, maybe it has something wonderful, but you can buy brand new TomTom for £100 and less...... so maybe the price is too much. Maybe, just a thought. 

[AndrueC]

3 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Lifetime maps - lifetime is determined by the manufacturer and products may have product support (software and map updates) withdrawn when that point is reached. For example Tom Tom ceased product support for 32 devices at the start of 2018, where they determined the useful life had been reached.

Yup and older Hondas were dropped completely a year or two ago by Garmin.

[Ten Ninety]

Everything will be a subscription service before long - ownership of software is getting very rare these days. Mind you, ownership of cars seems to be getting rare as well, so it all fits in really. I note that BMW have made access to Carplay a subscription service recently, along with a few other 'services' so the others will soon follow. Although maybe not Toyota, as they can't even manage to offer Carplay at all.

I can't really understand why anyone would pay to update the built-in Toyota Nav, given how hopeless it is. Out of date maps hardly matter when the routing algorithm's so shonky, and the supposedly 'live' traffic is nothing of the sort. Surely it makes more sense to save the money and buy a phone app or a separate unit? TomTom might be a cretinous, customer-hostile bunch of shysters who routinely shaft people who purchase their products expecting long-term support, but they do actually have a decent navigation product with sensible routing and superb traffic functionality.

[kithmo]

1 hour ago, Ten Ninety said:

Everything will be a subscription service before long - ownership of software is getting very rare these days. Mind you, ownership of cars seems to be getting rare as well, so it all fits in really. I note that BMW have made access to Carplay a subscription service recently, along with a few other 'services' so the others will soon follow. Although maybe not Toyota, as they can't even manage to offer Carplay at all.

I can't really understand why anyone would pay to update the built-in Toyota Nav, given how hopeless it is. Out of date maps hardly matter when the routing algorithm's so shonky, and the supposedly 'live' traffic is nothing of the sort. Surely it makes more sense to save the money and buy a phone app or a separate unit? TomTom might be a cretinous, customer-hostile bunch of shysters who routinely shaft people who purchase their products expecting long-term support, but they do actually have a decent navigation product with sensible routing and superb traffic functionality.

And the option to change to funny voices 

[Mick F]

13 hours ago, Catlover said:

i Not conversant with the spec of that unit Mick, maybe it has something wonderful, but you can buy brand new TomTom for £100 and less...... so maybe the price is too much. Maybe, just a thought. 

Yes, I know you can buy a basic TomTom for a hundred quid.  The mount that fits into the hole in the top of the dash and connects up the power etc is £70odd though.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mopar®-Authentic-Accessories-50926347-TomTom®/dp/B07L4VS6SL/ref=pd_sbs_263_3/259-8595893-0389313?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07L4VS6SL&pd_rd_r=9fda0d32-71f6-498b-ad98-056417587b1d&pd_rd_w=dW9cF&pd_rd_wg=LWjV1&pf_rd_p=7f9048ad-9bda-4493-8578-13e4eff8da65&pf_rd_r=PRKX206YKWGB53B9YSYD&psc=1&refRID=PRKX206YKWGB53B9YSYD

The whole lot is not worth selling for less the a hundred quid.  I could sell the mount and a cable or two though, but £100 for the whole lot is a good price.  As it's not selling, we'll continue to use it.

Mick.

[Catlover]

A bit specialized then. I always reckon whatever you selling there is a buyer....it depends whether they looking when you are selling.

[Heidfirst]

On 8/20/2019 at 2:56 PM, Mick F said:

Yes, the more I think about it, Toyota should be ashamed.  I'm glad our Yaris doesn't have it.
If TomTom can do it, and Honda too - let alone other makes of cars? - Toyota should do it as well.

Mick.

Toyota's map updates tend to be at the better value end compared to most car manufacturers. From reading various car websites etc. my impression is that there is a strong chance that Honda has the worst infotainment systems of any.

On 8/20/2019 at 7:34 PM, Ten Ninety said:

Everything will be a subscription service before long - ownership of software is getting very rare these days. Mind you, ownership of cars seems to be getting rare as well, so it all fits in really. I note that BMW have made access to Carplay a subscription service recently, along with a few other 'services' so the others will soon follow. Although maybe not Toyota, as they can't even manage to offer Carplay at all.

*BMW don't offer Android Auto  at all though, even in the US where Toyota already offers CarPlay & Android Auto. According to Devon Aygo noth CarPlay & Android Auto coming in Europe with the C-HR 2020 MY refresh with MM19 so presumably will then be rolled out to other models*

I can't really understand why anyone would pay to update the built-in Toyota Nav, given how hopeless it is. Out of date maps hardly matter when the routing algorithm's so shonky, and the supposedly 'live' traffic is nothing of the sort. Surely it makes more sense to save the money and buy a phone app or a separate unit? TomTom might be a cretinous, customer-hostile bunch of shysters who routinely shaft people who purchase their products expecting long-term support, but they do actually have a decent navigation product with sensible routing and superb traffic functionality.

Tbh I find Touch 2 with Go OK. I think that I have a fair grip of why it is suggesting what it does & why it may not suggest routes that a true local might. Of course, in much of Scotland you don't have too many choices of route ... 😛

& who supplies Toyota's "live" traffic? That's right, TomTom ...

[Ten Ninety]

19 hours ago, Heidfirst said:

Tbh I find Touch 2 with Go OK. I think that I have a fair grip of why it is suggesting what it does & why it may not suggest routes that a true local might. Of course, in much of Scotland you don't have too many choices of route ... 😛

& who supplies Toyota's "live" traffic? That's right, TomTom ...

Yes, TomTom do supply the traffic info and before getting my car I was hopeful that this would mean I could actually not bother with the TomTom app and rely on the Toyota unit to get me to and from work. I don't need directions, I just need traffic info. However, the problem I soon discovered is that, of course, you only get live traffic for the planned route so if that planned route is completely shonky it will be giving you traffic for roads you won't be using and missing traffic on those you will!

Maybe, as you say, with a limited number of options the routing works OK, or perhaps in less congested regions it is more effective. But for me the usual result is a route that is both longer and slower than I would get using TomTom or, indeed, a map and common sense.

As it turns out, even on journeys when the routes match, the traffic data you get on the TomTom app is often different (i.e. more up-to-date) from that shown on the Toyota unit even on the same road, hence my comment about it not truly being 'live' at all. It wouldn't surprise me if TomTom deliberately delay sending their data to Toyota, so people still have a reason to buy their devices and apps. 

[Heidfirst]

2 minutes ago, Ten Ninety said:

 It wouldn't surprise me if TomTom deliberately delay sending their data to Toyota, so people still have a reason to buy their devices and apps. 

Cynic! 😛

[Ten Ninety]

😄 Guilty as charged.

[Mick F]

Same subject .......................

We had our Yaris Hybrid in for a warranty issue, and I took a courtesy car, Yaris Hybrid too.  Ours is a 2014 car and the courtesy car was a 2018 one.

The car had the satnav stuff available on the screen like ours doesn't, so I had a play with it.  One thing I noticed even before playing with the satnav, was that the speed limits were shown on the dash within the instrument cluster.   If you exceeded the speed limit, the indication changed colour.  Fine so far eh?

With the satnav on the screen, it also showed the speed limits of course.  Trouble was, they didn't always agree.  Odd, I thought! 

Could it be that Toyota and TomTom aren't talking to each other?

As I only had the car for a short while, I couldn't investigate very much, and also not understanding the issues with Toyota and TomTom, I wasn't best placed to investigate at all ............ I was just a tad confused.

Mick.