Factory installed Navigation vs. Custom

I am looking at buying my tacoma should i get the factory one or do a custom one and install myself....what does the factory one do vs another brand

 

Taco doesn't come with one

 

its an option

 

u can only get nav in a tundra not an option in taco.

 

then why is it an option online??

 

Buy a Gamin nüvi 1490T with BT and have BOTH. One thing about after market is you can make adjustments while driving. A lot of factory units don't allow that. Plus Maps can be updated (some units free for life). sell the truck and keep the Nav unit...or sell it with the truck.

You can "hardmount" the Garmin above the mirror and run the cable to a 12volt extension down the right A-Pillar over the glove box and plugged into the right 12v socket. It is a pseudo hardwired mount that involves no cutting of wires, no separate fuses. All can be removed and left completely intact Starts up when the truck starts and the BT works flawlessly as well (which is why I initially wanted it hardwired) If I replace the stock radio I will still keep it though. I prefer separates to all in one units.

Window tint hides the units



12 volt Extension attached to Garmin DC cable
ON/OFF switch on extension purchased from Radio Shack for $12.99

 

I would do that except i want the in dash cause its so dope looking and i dont have to worry about losing it haha

 

Well then you would have to buy an in dash radio with a NAV and DVD screen. A lot more money.....a lot less dope.

 

I'm with you. Portable gps units are a pain in the ass and look easier to grab by a theif. Get and integrated unit aftermarket. I just did and ditched the portable unit.

Check out the Kenwoods, as they have Garmin GPS built in. I got the Sony with Tom Tom, but the Sony menus for ipod and bluetooth are seriously anal. The nav is great and everything functions great, but stupid shit like this are idiotic:

-can't jump to the first letter of an artists name, you have to go page by page, thus I find myself listening to artist whose names begin with A through C.

-if you are listening to a given artist, and want to see the list of artists, it won't start where you left off, it starts at A again. So if you are listening to "Rolling Stones" and want to switch to another album of theirs, you have to go to "A" and start scrolling through 15 pages, one by one, until you get to their name again.

-won't quickfill names in phone contact list. It will only accept the first letter of the last name and you have to scroll through lists of contacts from there.

-it only accepts 300 contacts from your smartphone, yet mine has over 500, and it won't let me pick and choose which ones I want uploaded to the unit, it just grabs 300 random ones (it doesn't pick all the "A," then all the "B" until it fills up, it only takes some of the "A," some of the "B," etc.)

-there is a legal disclaimer that you have to accept when the unit starts up, every freaking time, and then another one when you switch to navigation mode. I think the legal warnings are more of a dangerous distraction for a driver than they are making the world safer.

If I had to do it over again, I would try the Kenwood with the Garmin support for $200.00 more. Kenwoods are by far the most popular and they have a major label GPS as opposed to a proprietary white label.

 

Ya.. There is no option for a navi on a tacoma. Only aftermarket.

Err a iphone4 with tomtom? You dont have to worry about taking it down. I place mine on the bottom left of the windshield. Look great. Can use it as a gopro

@nova, a lots of people get broken into because they saw the holder for the gps on the windshield. Meaning theres probably a gps hidden in the vehicle. Take that sh*t down before leaving and dont leave anything valuable in view

 

The Scion Navigation/DVD unit will plug and play in a Tacoma.
The steering wheel controls even work.
I did have a experienced tech install it, he overrode the DVD in motion safety feature.
You will have to get a Double Din bezel

 

did he just say "its so dope"?

 

I personally would not sleep well at night, or enjoy a night out on the town, with a scangauge and a portable gps sitting in my truck, out on the street like this:



And that was part of the problem: stowing away my portable every time, and having to set it up and boot it up all the time. I am more comfortable with my in-dash all-in-one, and a two way car alarm installed, which is what i have now. Also, all those cords, and the ipod, navi, cell phone chargers competing for the 12V cig plug outlets, it gets messy down there in the console, especially when you want to put a hot cup of coffee and a bottle of whatever down there as well.

Also, OP, I would bet the factory in dash nav costs about $3K as opposed to $1K for a flagship Kenwood or any other major brand flagship.

 

Theft is not a major issue for me...But I understand that issue for many who travel in youger circles at clubs at night and such.... I would think Most people first look for an $800 radio as opposed to a $100 GPS that may be hanging over the mirror. The Scanguage cannot be seen at all through the tint nor do most thieves looking for a fix...know what that even is..

That said...I only use one outlet..... I am never in the truck long enough to need my phone charged. Don;t even have a car charger but i do have an extra Captivate battery in the center console. That would be at least a 10 hour drive without stopping at all......to even need that.

The Ipod lives alone in the glove box on it's own connector.

The second 12Volt socket has an never used cigarette lighter in it.

The issue I have with "all in one" units is if there is an issue.....All is lost. And then there is the "nanny" issue of not being able to use certain features while driving. Not to mention the high cost of a quality unit.......all that to free one outlet for a second cup of coffee?

 

Pics or it didn't happen, the SCION unit is not a standard D-Din Size.

 

The picture

 

Thats pretty awesome, how did he modify the dash kit?

 

I believe it's a Scosche but not positive.
I had to open it about an 1/8 inch so the door of the unit would open without catching the bottom edge.

I don't know what he did as far as the wiring to make the DVD play when driving. All the other wiring was plug and play

 

I live in Mid City New Orleans so we probably have more of a crime issue here, and it looks like you have a garage as well, whereas I park on the street. Theft was a consideration when I was looking at all-in-one h/u's, and I wound up getting it, and installing an alarm. Some people think a clean all-in-one looks factory, and less a target than an aftermarket single din stereo, but some people think its more of a theft item. Likewise, some people think alarms are a waste of time, and some think that even a blinking light on the dash is enough of a deterrent. So its a guessing game and what level of comfort you have with the choices you make.

But regarding the convenience, it wasn't just about the chargers (I have an ipod, and phone charger and a portable gps charger, and another charger for a different media player, all of which I was using). It was also about the PITA it was for me stowing all that stuff in my console vault every time I parked. But more importantly, I use the gps every day, traveling around covering news assignments in different places all over the city and state. The hassle of taking the gps out, waiting for it to boot up, waiting for it to find a signal, entering the address, then stowing it every time I parked was just too annoying.

One good thing about an all-in-one is that the gps is always on when you are driving, so it is usually locked onto a signal. With a portable, if you turned off the unit in a different location than you parked, it took a while to find the satellites. Since the h/u always turns off right where you parked, it usually finds the satellites within a few seconds, so the convenience factor for me was huge. For example, recently there was a fire that took 8 people's lives here, and I had to respond at 4 AM. Waiting for the gps to boot, find signal, program address, was maddening, because if I got there after the bodies were removed I missed the most important part of the story. I actually just made it before the last of the bodies were loaded into the coroner van. Sometimes its a race against the clock for me with breaking news stories, and when your adrenaline is pumping but your departure time is slow, its not good.

Also, since I am driving around a lot, the hands free bluetooth features are indispensible. I now have quality sound and voice dialing, so I can conduct a lot of work calls in the car easily, with both hands on the wheels. Now my ipod (its just a nano), stays plugged in, and tucked in the glove box, so any time i want to listen to mp3's, I just use the touch screen and I have music...I don't have to reach and fuss with pulling it out and hooking it up. So all in all, for me its a lot of solutions in one package, and hopefully with the two way alarm, it will deter theives or at least allow me to intevene if there is a break in.

I did used to be very modular with different devices, but the driver distractions and inconcenience of messing with each one ultimately caused me to have one clean and safer solution.

 

Understood. I actually bought the GPS for the BT function. I don't really need GPS much. It does come on when the truck starts though and locks before I am in gear. Heck my phone locks in less than 10 seconds.

I was kicking around buying a radio with BT instead but if I got a radio I wanted a decent one and wanted the Steering wheel controls to work and all that jazz. I did not want to spend over $150 for BT functionality so the GPS was the best choice for $139. The Scanguage is a toy LOL but could come in handy for both vehicles throwing codes and to see some issues before they become problems (like charging voltage)

I am not ready to spend $400-$500 for a middle of the road radio for 14 miles a day I put on the truck in the winter and in the Summer I use my bike 70% of the time so it basically sits garaged most of the time from April through October.

Driver distractions are definitely an issue with more displays and buttons to mess with