Four free navi updates. But how?

[dick w]

Press Release:

"The system includes free map database updates for up to 5 years (initial purchase plus one yearly update each year for 4 years).​

Navigation OM:

"Obtaining a Navigation Update
Honda is continuously updating the navigation system.
Navigation system software is usually update annually.
Please contact your Honda dealer for information regarding the update program available for your vehicle."​

Updating a handheld Garmin requires their "Garmin Express" Windows or OSX app, a PC/Mac with it installed, a Garmin account associated with your license to get the updates and which maps for which device, and a USB cable connection to the device. Maybe Garmin Express is the "program" the Honda dealer is supposed to be able to tell us about? And we get a Garmin account how? The handheld device has a "B" connector. So unless there's another USB connector hiding somewhere, an A-A cable would be required to plug a laptop into the Civic navi and both sides would have to support OTG like USB host/client swapping functionality. Wonder what they are thinking here… (Or maybe they haven't figured it all out yet?!?)

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[dick w]

Another Navi tidbit. The difference between an EX-L and an EX-LN at MSRP is $1,000. The difference between the head units:

2016 Civic Sedan EX (Leather Navigation) Continuously Variable Transmission

Part Name: AUDIO UNIT (MITSUBISHI)
Part Number: 39101-TBC-A61
Honda Code: 9704714
MSRP $2,239.08​

2016 Civic Sedan EX (Leather) Continuously Variable Transmission

Part Name: AUDIO UNIT (MITSUBISHI)
Part Number: 39101-TBC-A41
Honda Code: 9704628
MSRP $2,239.08​

Oh, and they both have the same $24.67 GPS antenna, and all other parts are identical too. Looked at this way, the $1,000 Navi option is buying four database updates and a one digit difference in part number of the head unit. Back in 2009, I bought "lifetime updates" for a Garmin nuvi 1350; it cost me $119.99. A Garmin nüvi 2797LMT 7-Inch Portable Bluetooth Vehicle GPS with Lifetime Maps and Traffic--and its own CPU, 7" display, case, touchscreen, …--is selling for $211.91 this morning on Amazon.

I like the integrated navi. It just works. Don't have to plug in the phone or have coverage or anything else. It integrates with the car and its driver interfaces. I've paid for integrated navi three times now when buying a car. But $1,000 for adding navi to an EX-L is just *crazy*. I bet they sell way more Tourings than EX-LNs. And the navi portion of that $2,800 will still be terrible value for money.

 

[anckentucky]

I like the integrated navi. It just works. Don't have to plug in the phone or have coverage or anything else. It integrates with the car and its driver interfaces. I've paid for integrated navi three times now when buying a car. But $1,000 for adding navi to an EX-L is just *crazy*. I bet they sell way more Tourings than EX-LNs. And the navi portion of that $2,800 will still be terrible value for money.

I think a lot of people will take advantage of Carplay or Android Auto and utilize Google or Apple Maps as a means for navigation instead of upgrading. I could be wrong however, but that is my plan.

 

[mjones5]

I would do that as well but it does use your data plan doesn't it ? So if you don't have unlimited data aren't you paying while using your phone the Apple Play? I am guessing here and really don't know for sure .

 

[dick w]

I would do that as well but it does use your data plan doesn't it ?

There's that issue; though you might be able to work on downloaded/cached data. The other issue is that both Android Auto and CarPlay require the phone to be plugged in. So if you din't pop it out of your pocket and plugin when you got in, and then decide you want to navigate, you have to deal with that. Integrated is clearly more friendly. But $1k more?!?

 

[anckentucky]

There's that issue; though you might be able to work on downloaded/cached data. The other issue is that both Android Auto and CarPlay require the phone to be plugged in. So if you din't pop it out of your pocket and plugin when you got in, and then decide you want to navigate, you have to deal with that. Integrated is clearly more friendly. But $1k more?!?

Yeah, it does use data unfortunately. I have Sprints unlimited data and I currently already plug my phone in each time I get in the car because it's an aftermarket deck and I bought it before bluetooth was an available feature. I'm sure it will be an annoyance for some, but I've found it to be just a part of my routine. Takes around 5 seconds to plug it in once I sit down in my Fusion. I'd rather keep that $1,000 in my pocket.

 

[dick w]

The answer was posted in another thread:

garmin is updated via thumb drive.
https://honda.garmin.com/honda/#getStarted

Note that the time estimate, excluding the time to prepare the USB stick, is 1 hour to download to the stick, one hour, engine running, for the car to update from the stick. And you will need a PC or Mac to do it.

 

[Canonite]

Don't forget that the Navi option also makes keeping a song library functional by adding the voice commands that should be standard, such as "play artist", "play album", etc. Those features are not on the standard EX system, they are only on the navi system.

 

[Design]

Depends which function you're using and from where. AA, Carplay, Siri Eyes Free and Google Now all offer voice control from the phone through Bluetooth/USB.

 

[dick w]

I want to be able to play by genre, artist, or album from USB. Don't really care if this can be done by talking to the car and getting lucky, or requires touching it.

<VR_rant>I've had four cars with VR now. ('04 Acura TL Navi, '07 Honda CR-V EX LN, '09 BMW 135i, '12 Ford Focus 5dr Ti w/ MyFordTouch.) VR in the Hondas has worked so-so. VR in the BMW was pretty good but had a very limited feature set since it was just associated with operating the paired phone, not all manner of other car stuff. The Ford VR, after all four or five updates, each of which was supposed to improve VR accuracy, remained essentially useless or worse. It was far more likely to recognize wrong and do something you didn't want than what you asked for. The distraction of that was far worse than just looking and touching. So my expectations of VR in a car are very low. I do wonder how the engineers who design this stuff, and release it as the best they can do, feel about it when they test it in real world conditions in running vehicles. If it's raining, or the defroster/fan is on, or the sunroof is cracked open, or the pavement is rough, or… they just perform very poorly in my experience. If you are parked with the windows closed and the fan off or low, they usually do OK. Except for the MFT. It still was unlikely to get anything right.</VR_rant>

 

[Design]

The only ones I trust are Siri and (though a distant 2nd) Google Now. Both have speech recognition algorithms that self-adjust with increased use. The only limitation is that it requires an active network connection.

EDIT: You mention pairing with the phone on the 135i. Makes me wonder if your BMW VR was server-based using the cellular network?

http://www.bmw.com/com/en/insights/...ive/2013/connectivity_technologies/index.html

 

[dick w]

EDIT: You mention pairing with the phone on the 135i. Makes me wonder if your BMW VR was server-based using the cellular network?

Not in '09 for the phone only. Can't say what an '09 1 Series Navi did, but I don't think it was going overboard either. There's all kinds of voodoo the iDrive cars do. Last one of those I drove was a '12 5 series. It seemed to work pretty well. It was also a $55k car.

 

[Canonite]

I want to be able to play by genre, artist, or album from USB. Don't really care if this can be done by talking to the car and getting lucky, or requires touching it.

A few weeks into my 2016 Civic EX ownership and a TON of fussing with the system and reading the manual, I'm under the understanding that you *may* get this function that you want if you get a model with Navi, but otherwise you do not get this feature.

I cannot search or sort by artist/genre/album from USB or BT at all. I can kind of search this way by using Android Auto.. but with AA you can only see a few things before it cuts you off from scrolling the screen. Voice recognition works pretty well with AA if you know what you have on your phone and just tell it by voice. I really hate this though because I'm a fan of using a USB thumb drive, and I'm certainly NOT a fan of plugging in my phone. Isn't that why we get cars with Bluetooth and Keyless entry/button start, so we don't have to get things out of our pockets??? All three of my vehicles have USB ports and it's very handy to just plug in my thumb drive and go (but usually the stick stays in just the Civic which is the daily driver). Super major epic fail on Honda's part to not give us VR and sort options for USB. And super fail on my part for assuming it would have these features. My salesman didn't know squat because the cars had only been on the lot a couple days and he was not trained on them. I just ASSumed a car with VR, USB ports, and a color touch screen would have such basic features. Huge disappointment.

 

[dick w]

The manual, p 263 and several subsequent, describes these kinds of features in the context of iPod via USB connection. Is the ipod providing those features? The similar pages for a USB storage device, starting at p 273, do read differently. Seems odd to leave out such basic capability for USB. Not excusing it, but wondering if they didn't want to deal with malformed or non-compliant/inconsistent metadata written by an infinite number of tools? (The iTunes generated data on an iPod is probably a reasonable guarantee of well-formed metadata.)

 

[Canonite]

The manual, p 263 and several subsequent, describes these kinds of features in the context of iPod via USB connection.

Anyone have an iPod they can use to test this? I might buy an iPod just to leave in the car if it would fix my audio library woes.

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