Frequency of NAV DVD updates

Wow, that's a lot. I get lifetime updates for my Garmin at half the price then the DVD.

 

Well, I suppose this could be solved if someone has a Dual Layer DVD burner. Wait...never mind i think that's illegal.

 

If they try to charge me $265 for a DVD software update I will go out and buy a dual layer burner download the torrent and pass out the update for free.

The NAV is overpriced to begin with, and for them to try and charge that much to fix their own deficiencies is a big load of BS.

It would be one thing if it was an entirely new UI, but a standard UI update should be free. Plain and simple.

 

Yeah, I could see maybe... $50-$100 MAX being charged. This $250+ is ridiculous.

If I ever care to update my 2006 disk, I'll just download it for free.

 

The fact that things are expensive does not give you excuses to copy it illegally.
That thinking is no different from those folks counterfeiting products in countries like China.

Here in US, you have freedom not to buying it, my friend.
Get a portable unit or class action Toyota.

I own a Mazda CX9. The NAVI DVD update is "only" $199. I don't need to go eBay or wait for discount. Toyota parts and accessories are consistently more expensive than Mazda or Honda. Not to mention services like oil changes ($25 for Mazda), etc.

 

I agree that it is an ugly 'make money on the razor blades' scheme. Toyota doesn't create the map data, they simply buy it from the same people as a lot of other Nav system businesses. They can't even tell you what has changed since the last update. Who wants to pay a few hundred $$ and not even know if there are any changes that affect them?? I suspect Toyota would make a LOT more money on NAV DVD updates if they charged $50. It isn't like the media or copying is all that expensive so it can only come down to whatever financial deal they have with the mapping company and maybe just a little greed.

I think the portables are superior here, you just download the area you drive in when you want to for a much lower price. But the portables have puny little screens, hard to read when you are driving.

 

Garmin is a far superior unit but it you want it built in your stuck with the Toyota. My Toyota unit will not even drive to my house and my house was built in 1971 and the street was put in in 1965. ("Incompete data on your route") Every one of my garmin's will and one is over 10 years old.
Delorme's Street Atlas has for the last 20 years.

Talking price Delorme Steet Atlas is $49 a year and that include all phone numbers not just yellow pages.

Garmin updates are $60 each or $120 lifetime (LIFE TIME OF UNIT SER # KEYED) for 4 updates a year and the make a living off selling this. So I think Toyota is excessive.

I wonder when a company like Garmin will make a disk that will work in the Toyota unit. That is what it will take to get Toyota to lower their prices.

 

Rick,
How do you like the NAV in the new 2010? Is it any improvement over the NAV system in your previous Prius? Do you think it is worth
the $1800 they are charging if, on top of it, you have to buy an update for $265 in a few months? thanks.

 

I agree, this is the one thing I hate about the nav. system. In my 2007 Camry Hybrid, I had to wait 3 years for a DVD update, which came out this spring.....I asked every time I went in for service. Then I about choked when they said close to $300. I'd rather suffer with a nav. system that doesn't have every address, rather than paying that much for an update. I'm glad to hear that the Prius has been updated more often, but not glad that the prices haven't changed. Love the Nav Traffic, and am planning to purchase the XM subscription with it, but am not happy to hear that if the Nav. System DVD isn't up to date that the Nav Traffic may be crap. Toyota does need to improve some things....why isn't this sytem GPS based, like Garmin, rather than DVD based?

 

I had an '07 Camry Hybrid and updated the DVD less than a year into ownership, in November of '08. I went from version 6.whatever to 7.whatever, as I recall.

From what I can tell, whether it's an RX 330 or Camry Hybrid or Highlander Hybrid or Prius the updates are released yearly in October or November, and run about $300 (and are still 2 years behind on mapping any new roads).

And I think you're confusing terminology. Both the Garmin and the Toyota NAV rely on global positioning satellites (GPS), but the Garmin maps are stored on flash memory in the device and on the DVD in the Toyota NAV.

 

Can you only get that stuff from Toyota and ebay? I went to the Navteq website and they didnt even have toyota in their list of manufacturers

 

Anyone out there know what software tools would be needed to customize the NAV DVD? Nothing to extravagant in mind, but I am a First Responder with the Local Fire Department and I would like the map to display Box areas, the Fire Dept breaks up the county maps into boxes, a call may come in as being in Box 3-6 which means Fire Station 3's area Map Box 6, and in that map would also be displayed locations of all fire hydrants. Also my Prius NAV Map has broken up the areas based on ZIP Code and while the Zip Code is for the Post Office in one township, people in two other Townships are still in that Zip Code, example people who live in the Holland, PA area have the same Zip Code as People who live in Southampton, but if their address is 45 Pine St., Holland PA, the NAV won't recognize Holland, so I have to say Southampton. It would be nice to be able to fix this too. I don't know if a CAD program could be used to modify the map and there would just be a simple database program to modify addresses. Then just change those files and burn a new DVD. Should be simple if you have the software tools.