Just bought a new 05 base and was hoping to add some extras. I had the Lexshield (invisible bra) installed and I am now looking for a GPS system. However, I was wondering if anyplace sold a better/cheaper system than the one the dealership offers?

 

Do you want a screen mounted in the dash (like factory), or do you want a more portable unit?

Here's the thread with my set-up: https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....ellan+roadmate

 

Ignorance or indifference, really. I don't mind having it either way. All I do know is I don't want to spend the 2,000$ having the factory one installed (unless it's really worth it?). The dealer I bought it from said it would be better (and cheaper) to just buy one aftermarket.

I was hoping for something that is in color and that would fit in that center console if at all possible. I can't find my way out of a paper bag; all I know is I need to get one.

Any ideas?

 

I don't know if you are into computers at all but I am installing a carputer in mine for around 1300. It does everything and then more and has a touch screen interface. I wouldn't buy just a gps system when you can build a mini-itx system for in car use for a lot cheaper. Check out the forums on mp3car.com if you want ideas. Its a fun project!

 

how difficult is it to install one of those systems into a z?

I just got onto the website and looked. What all do you have to buy to make it work? I saw screens, harddrives, cdroms, memory, and all kinds of other stuff. I didn't see a package that you could buy with everything included, or was I looking in the wrong place??

 

The dealer cannot install the factory NAV, it only comes equipped from the factory. In other words, you have to go aftermarket.

I would recommend the Pioneer AVIC-N1 for around $1500, all in one DVD/CD/GPS touch screen and you can get it voice activated. Its a single DIN unit.

 

Yeah, that Pioneer is a pretty cool unit, being all-in-one. Helps keep the install costs down. I have an Alpine nav system in my Z, with the screen mounted in the factory location and the nav "brain" unit mounted in one of the "mail slots" behind the seats. Looks very clean and factory. Check the link in my sig if you want some pics. A separate system will probably end up costing more than that Pioneer Avic, though, since you'll have to have an installer do a custom job on the screen install.

 

I would highly recommend a Garmin StreetPilot 2610 or 2620. The 2610 uses Compact Flash for memory and the 2620 uses an internal hard drive to store the local street maps. Garmin is the standard by which other GPS units are judged and wrote the book on consumer GPS.

The 2610 fits perfect into the Nav cubby. I purchased the 2610 a year ago and use it in all my vehicles including my Harley. You can purchase one new at http://www.gpsnow.com for about $650 delivered which includes shipping by 2nd day air.

I'm getting ready to do an install in my '05 Enthusiast and plan to document the process. I purchased an external antenna and power cable which cost around $60. I'm going to place the antenna (which is flat about 1.5" square) between the defroster vents by the windshield on top of the dash. Nobody will even notice it there an it will get great reception.

Do you homework on GPS units before you buy one. Here is a great resource for information.

http://www.gpsinformation.net/

Good luck
BigMike

 

both the alpine and garmin units are sharp! How much did the alpine system run? I am have all these suggested systems written down and now have lots of research to do. Tryin' to get the best bang for the buck.

 

I have the Alpine unit in my car, and also a Garmin Streetpilot III that I used in my other cars. Both are great units. However, to be honest, the Alpine has a couple of features which are just stupid:

1) The colors sort of... well... suck. They made some poor layout decisions, if you ask me, that can make some of the text a bit hard to read in certain situations. It's worse at night. The "night" mode colors are just awful. It's a personal preference, of course, but I don't like them.

2) The Alpine has two types of roads: routable, and unroutable. Roads that are unroutable are shown on the map, and you can drive on them and everything, but it simply will not route you over them. The routing system just pretends they don't exist. It'll guide you all the way right up to the beginning of an unroutable road, then pretty much tell you, "Okay, that's it. You're on your own now." And all the while you can see the road right there on the map. It's the dumbest damn feature I've ever seen in all the gps nav units I've ever used, and it drives me crazy. I mean, the road data is all in there, it's just that Alpine has verified it as "good" data. My Garmin, on the other hand, will route me just fine over those same roads. On the Garmin, if a road exists on the map, it can route you over it. No problem. I don't know how the new Garmins are, but my Streetpilot III is fantastic.

Other than those two gripes about the Alpine, it works fine. To be honest, I'd probably try out some other units if I was doing it all over again. The problem is that I didn't want an all-in-one unit like the Pioneer, so that was out. I wanted a separate nav unit that functioned all by itself.

If you decide to go for one of the new Garmin units, be sure to get one with the entire US data built-in. I believe those would include the 2620 and higher. It's very nice having all the map data built in, rather than having to upload just the stuff you need each time you want to go on a trip. That's what I have to do with my Streetpilot III, since it only has 128 megs of storage. It works, but it's a little bit of a pain if you're lazy like me.

The nice thing about the 2600 series Garmins is that you can actually hook them up to your speed sensor wire in your car and everything so they don't have to rely 100% on gps reception. This is nice when you're in a big city (like San Francisco or New York) and are surrounded by buildings which block your reception. Something with gyro sensors and speed sensor connections can keep going for a while even without gps reception. My Streetpilot III doesn't have those, so if gps gets blocked, the thing just stops working until it can get reception again. It's caused me some trouble a few times while driving through San Fran.

 

That feature on the Garmin is called Dead Reckoning and its available on the 2650 and 2660.

I chose the 2610 (which used compact flash memory) over the 2620 (internal hard drive with all the maps) because I also use my GPS on my Harley. The vibration would totally mess up the hard drive in the 2620. I would probably choose the 2610 over the 2620 because you can buy a 2GB compact flash card and store every road in the program on it (1.6GB). If the CF card bites the dust, you can just replace it. If something happens to the internal hard drive in the 2620, you have to send it in for repair.

But both units rock. If you like the StreetPilotIII, you'll love the 2600 series. Check out the 2610 install in my Z.

https://my350z.com/forum/audio-and-video/115725-gps-install-complete-garmin-2610-a.html

BigMike