DTDriver,
I was told by a salesperson that the Nav radio includes XM, but it does not. I test drove an EX model with Nav and it did not have XM built-in. My in-laws' Odyssey with Nav came with XM, but it's still a $700 accessory for the Civic. I wish it were included, because now I have to fork over the extra money to have it added.

S2000 Driver makes a good point about limited coverage of nav maps, but there are always updates. My first in-car nav system had very few of my local roads, but it didn't bother me because 1) I don't often use the nav system in town--I usually know where I'm going and 2) the DVDs that contain the map data are usually updated once or twice a year.

Eric

'06 Magnetic Pearl HCH w/nav

'04 BMW M3

'05 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali

if your going to get an aftermarket nav id suggest the pioneer avic d1 i put one in my 05 and it looks factory. If you have the option to get nav i would get it from the factory, they are alpine systems with the most state of the art technology, my friend works at alpine on the honda units plus everything is integrated, you can also get an alpine adpater that you can convert the screen to video and ipod control.

Nav updates from VW were 500$ each....

Ouch. Sounds like your dealer was taking you to the cleaners. You can get maps from Navteq for about $200 (I get mine there and they have VW's). This still isn't cheap, but it's part of the price you pay for such luxuries.

Eric

'06 Magnetic Pearl HCH w/nav

'04 BMW M3

'05 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali

I bought the Tom Tom Navigator 5 and use it on my Treo 650 phone and love it. It is portable from car to car and small enough to use on foot. It may not have the largest screen (2" x 2") but it works fine for me. The voice prompts are loud, directions and POI are all very accurate. Plus, it's only $300.

Also consider the Garmin streetpilot 2720, which I have... beautiful display, accurate routing, etc.

The main thing you lose with an aftermarket is you get a smaller screen and also the dealer one has voice recognition I think.

Well here is another persons (Input).

Get the Nav. from Honda because when you do there is alot of functions that it allows you to do besides just directions.

I really suggest that you get a hold of a (Owners-Manual) for say a 06 EX Civic and read what the many functions are that the Nav. unit affords you as an option.

I have a 06 HCH W/Nav. coming and have had the Nav. unit on the Accord 6-Speed Coupe and I can tell you it allows you to do alot of different things and way to many to try to list on this post.

Reconsider is my best (Advise) to you.

HTH

Terry

BTW; I have found over the years you get what you pay for and (NO-MORE)

One thing about most OEM nav systems is that they're hardwired into the car-- so if your GPS signal fades, the car still knows where it's going. I've got a Mitac MIO pda with GPS (iNavigation software bought separately has the best route planning I've found; it's almost always what I would have done). My PDA will often get confused going over overpasses that criss cross over each other. Directions get messed up in this situation and you need to know what road you wanted or else it'll confuse you.

My wife's Lexus nav system has more POIs, I think, than my PDA. She found the "Ross" clothing store in her's. My PDA, on the other hand, displays the planned route better than hers. It's a lot easier to know what street's it's taking you down ahead of time and can avoid certain roads much more easily. Unfortunately, that's not one of the things you'll be able to know until you have worked with the different software programs.

Also, be careful about aftermarket software / map companies. Most, if not all auto makers use Navteq maps. I find these to be quite good in Southern California. I've had bad luck with Teleatlas maps. A MAJOR exit was missing to the airport and that particular program routed me miles away before getting there via the back route. All maps will have errors but it's been said that Teleatlas does better for country roads than city. Again, it'll be something you need to try in your area before you can tell.

Another feature that might be worth considering is traffic updates. I hope Honda strikes a deal with XM NavTraffic, but I don't anticipate it working. Tom Tom's service is cheaper anyway.

Finally, if you're going the aftermarket route (epsecially if you rent cars frequently), I'd recommend a PDA with either built-in GPS like the Mio's or GPS via bluetooth. You can potentially get a lot more functionality out of such a device than a stand-alone GPS unit. Your pick of software is much wider too. If you get a PDA phone, that's one less thing to carry to boot!


-- Frank

Does the Nav have a 3D mode?
All the pics on Honda.com has birds eye (classic) view only....I really like the 3D view I have with my portable Navman PiN.

PS One more freebie that come with the Nav is the memory card reader correct? Is this in CF format? Can you view pictures on the screen/save your own startup image? Finally can you watch DVD movies?

Wow thats alot of questions I suppose....

No.

Yes.

Yes. Also supports 'Flash ATA'

No.

No.

All easy ones though!