3rd gen newest Map SD card update

You can run Google maps offline.

 

I also always have a car with stock NAV with updated map as a good backup NAV.

For example, there are still lots of areas in TX that has no any kind of high speed data connection. And unless you want to keep an offline copy of the entire detailed map of US on your phone taking up memory, you could end up in a situation where you didn't download the map, your phone has only basic voice service, and you are in the middle of nowhere. Happened to me once when I spec'ed my POS 14 Evo without NAV. Every car and truck since then has had it.

 

I like my Garmin (with free lifetime updates) better than the OE. One thing I really like is it will tell you what lane to be in and give you an actual picture showing what it looks like. This is great when you fly into a large city you are not familiar with, especially when it's dark and you are in an unfamiliar rental car. Even though I have lived here all my life, I still have some WTF moments if I go into LA for something. The bay area is even worse. Lots of freeway construction came along after those cities were well established and some of the interchanges are not intuitive or in odd places. When we go see a show in the old theatre district, there is an onramp onto the 110 IIRC, that is like a Hot Wheels track. You go through what looks like an alley behind an LAUSD bus park, and then the ramp curves around like 270 degrees and rises steeply. You have to hit it too or you will be in the way.

For off road, I like Gaia on my ipad. Topographic maps and the ability to mark routes feels familiar to me.

 

You kids... we made do in the 20th century with gas station paper maps.

Love OEM GPS navigation. I hate squinting at my phone screen and inevitably someone calls me when the phone NAV is running, clearing the map from the phone screen.

And Carplay/Android Auto both suck. Buggy, unstable, and easily wrecked by "updates".

OEM navigation FTW and I don't want a car without one.

 

I'd pick paper maps over paying $300 from a dealer for OEM map updates.

You can't beat the clarity and detail that you get with Google maps though. After having satellite maps in my Audi and Tesla, I couldn't go back to using 2D/3D navigation. Carplay and Android auto are pretty solid, especially in the Tacoma since it's wired. Neither will be wrecked with updates since they are authorized to use with Apple Car Play/Android Auto HUs.

 

That is nice if you get turned around or it gets dark. I've used that feature in the slot canyons at Anza Borrego. Some mountain areas have so many un marked logging/fire roads, it's easy to get turned around and the trees can make dead reckoning difficult.

 

Exactly! I actually have really good trail memory but it still happens from time-to-time, especially on un-marked trails or in areas where I’m exploring other trails.

I also like that the breadcrumbs seem to stay in memory. Last weekend I was four-wheeling in the area where I got turned around on the ridge and saw the breadcrumbs marking the trails I’d been on a month earlier.

 

One question I do have about the stock Nav, is there a way to display the current elevation? I use a Garmin in my Silverado and enjoy noting elevation changes when I’m on long trips.

 

That would be cool. I usually carry an altimeter, but you have to baseline them for the air pressure.

I would like to see some stuff like altitude, barometric pressure, sunrise/set, maybe other telemetry. I have never looked, but I wonder if our nav can use UTM, which is what I usually use on maps. I also have no idea if the system uses magnetic north or true north and accounts for declination.

The Gaia ap gives you elevation, ascent, speed, sunrise/set, a bunch of stuff that's cool if you like and/or use that data.

 

Can't believe no one has mentioned Waze. I use it on our 750 mile trip to see the grandkids. It (usually) warns me where the cops are and guides me around traffic jams/closed highways.

 

I agree with this.

 

Yeah. I use Waze as well. By the time traffic starts slowing, Waze has already calculated a new route around the problem.

 

Can nav. be enabled on a 2021SR radio?

 

I hear you but if you run Google maps next to OEM NAV, it is completely different. It picks the stupidest routes and often doesn't recalculate to the different/better route but instead continues to recalculate to the previous worse route. On the weekend the entune NAV tried to make me turn onto an ATV/rail trail. I ignored it but it kept trying. It's never been a road. ever. It may end up getting you somewhere but it's going to be indirect and longer

 

Tho the link shows a $148 price tag, they can be found on eBay for around $40.

 

Is it possible to activate navigation on a 21 Tacoma that didn't come with it? Can I just buy the latest update and install that or is there some process to getting it activated on the system?

 

Just use Apple Car Play or Android Auto.

 

Yes I understand this and I already do, but I'm just wondering if it's possible to install navigation, without going through the dealer, on a radio that has the map button but no navigation installed.

 

I believe the only way to do this without dealer intervention, is to buy a head unit with the option installed.