Greetings all,

I'm on a few lists waiting for the right color/options TCH to show up in central Indiana. In the meantime, I'm thinking about the Nav system.

I currently use a Garmin Street Pilot III, which works great. It uses Garmin's MAP SOURCE as it's mapping/waypoint software. Anway...

I doubt that Toyota came up with their own mappings software (am I wrong?) and am wondering what s/w it does use and who makes it. Any links to more information concerning the Nav system(i.e., other than what is on the Toyota site, which isn't much) would be greatly appreciated.

TIA,

John

I have the Garmin Nuvi 350 before I bought the TCH fully loaded. I'm just about 100% certain they don't use the same maps as Garmin. Where I live, the Garmin maps has the entrance of my community off by a few hundred feet whereas the Toyota NAV showed it right on the money which to be honest was a pleasant surprise.

Sorry I can't offer more other than I think it's different.

I can tell you the maps are not all that up to date.

Biggest problem I've seen so far is on Route 64 going to Nags Head, It showed me out in the middle of the water. The bridge was not on the map. While it is probably a fairly new bridge I'm sure it's at least several years old. Also the mall where I shop is not on there (at least 4 years old) and the road names to my house are they old system (changed after 9/11/03). I understand that the updates for Toyota are several hundreds of dollars. I'm not sure there even is an update or you'd think they would already be using it. I'm sure Garmin is more up to date which leads me to believe the systems are not compatable.

Yeah currently the latest version is 5.1 Kinda sucks because when another version comes out in a couple of years we're going to have to shell out hundreds more for it.

Remember the DVD is ONLY the maps not the logic of the system...new maps wont improve nagivation per say unless a road has been added. In my area the maps are pretty good really...if you don't see a local road (like the bridge in the above) it may be because you aren't zoomed in enough...I know the maps (05.1 version which means it was released in 2005) have a road in my area that has only been completed for like 18-24 months. IMO the maps are NOT the weak point of this nav system.

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Just to freshen this thread. My TCH came with version 06.1 of the DVD. I took delivery on 8/26/06. Other threads have said that the Nav system software is on the DVD in addition to the newer maps.

I've been hoping someone figures out how to enable the maintenance screen on the 06.1 DVD since the former way seems not to work on this version of the DVD.
(on 05.1 the menu / volume / icon / blank / icon / blank method is said to bring up the override menu.)

If anyone else with 06.1 can get the override to work, please post!

IMO the maps are NOT the weak point of this nav system.

The new addresses post 9-11 are not in the system. My house address won't show up

The mall we shop at and the roads in that area are over 5 years old and are not in the maps.

The bridge on the 4 lane going towards Nags Head is not in the system, it appeard to be fairly new, but probably a couple of years at least.

The road to Dresten Ohio that my wife says is the main route in to Longenberger Factory was not in the system.

Those are what I've observed so far.

Pacific85:

Can you please do me a HUGE favor when you get a moment?

Can you look at the map of the Grand Rapids, MI area and tell me if highway M-6 (also known as the Paul B. Henry Freeway) connects all the way between I-196 on the western end and I-96 on the eastern end (this should be about a twenty mile stretch of highway). Mine only shows it connecting between I-96 and M-37 (about a 3-mile stretch on the eastern end), and I am trying to get my dealer to "comp" me the updated version of the DVD for free.

Also, for the override function, are you touching the small volume icon in the upper left, then the blank area in the lower left corner, then repeating? It would suck if this doesn't work in the new version, but I might be willing to deal with it if I have full routing capability around Grand Rapids!

Thanks in advance!

I took delivery on 8/22/06 and my TCH has the 05.1 version DVD. Did I manage to get the last car Toyota shipped with the older version of the DVD? I can't believed they switched to a newer version so early in production.

It would be nice if there were some way to know how significant the differences are. I wonder if the differences in the LA area make it worth bugging my dealer about getting a newer version of the DVD?

Jeff, I know it doesn't directly help you but I just checked the Garmin City Navigator V8 maps that I use in my StreetPilot III and it does have the M-6 running from I-196 to I-96 and shows 5 entrance/exit ramps along the way.
Garmin uses the NAVTEQ maps. If you want to see what it shows go here: http://www.garmin.com/cartography/ontheRoad/ and pick City Navigator North America v8 at the upper right in the MapSource Map Viewer.

Joe,
I'm curious if the items you mentoned are in the Garmin maps.



I just paid $75 for this year's map updates and I'm always curious if they are reasonably up to date in areas where people are mentioning that other products are not correct.