Adding NAV later?
 

Have any of you guys added the NAV system after buying your RX?

I'm currently watching the used market for RXs and I notice that NAV is not a popular option, I guess because of the expense. Has anyone priced what the parts would cost to add it after the fact?

you cant add the factory nav system later, the car must come from the factory with it. to add a nav after leaving the factory it would have to be an aftermarket nav system.

You might not be able to get it as an "option" but you could buy the parts to make it work. Hell, you could build an entire RX8 from the mazda parts department if you had enough money.

My question is what would the parts cost?

If you're looking for a great aftermarket Nav system, I picked up a Garmin 2610 a few months ago and highly recommend it. It has a touchscreen for easy input and navigation.

I got mine from GPSExplorer.com. The people there were very nice and helpful.

-Eric

when i got mine the dealer said for the 2K extra they could put nav into any RX8.

Shocka:

You or your dealer had to be smoking something.

The labour cost would be half the 2K to start with IMHO - the dealer was not 'addressing' a concern of you - at the stage of "I have almost him buying" .

There is not many installed electronic options that are not cheaper direct from the factory line (after negotiation) than installed by a dealer aftermarket in my experience with cars since 1978 - year I first bought a new car.

For example the cassette player for the RX8 as a factory option is $200 less bargaining - the cost of the radio after sale from Trussville is 168 - lists for $215 - then dealer installation !!! No contest.

Once priced installing Air in one of my Honda Accord - about $1000 factory option - kit price from dealer $1400 - then the installation.

Just my 2 cents

John

He's definitely right. The dealer probably had no idea what he was talking about, or he would have had an aftermarket installed for you by dealer. I bought my rx8 fully loaded with every option but cargo tray and cargo carrier, because when you want to add factory dealer options, the price to buy it it and have them install is much higher then if it came factory. Nothing beats the navigation in dash, but you cna buy an aftermarket one that is better and cheaper, only it's an add on accesory, you need to mount yourself, and hide it to prevent it from getting stolen. If you really want NAV, then shop around for the best deal on an aftermarket system.

hey,Sue Esponte, any pics of Garmin 2610 installed in ur car?

I don't think the non-NAV cars even have the right rear windows... the NAV cars have a special antenna. There's also a gyro in the car... it's quite a nice system. I love it.

Somebody did price out the factory NAV parts with an intent to have them installed by the dealer. Just the parts alone cost more than the factory installed version, and the install would recall the complete removal of the dashboard, headliner, and more. ie, the install would cost several thousand dollars, on top of several thousand dollars in parts! It would be cheaper to trade a non-NAV car for a NAV car than to try to install the factory system. There are quite a few NAV cars out there, you'll just have to be more patient - or just get the Garmin 2610!

Regards,
Gordon

Or the iQue br Garmin - that's the one I plan to get for my non-Nav vehicles. It's a Palm based Colour PDA with GPS built in. About $450 - plus $50 for portable automobile mount and $80 for 256MB Secure Digital card. Entire USA map for this price - large amount of USA inboard - Canada $100 and Europe $300.

It plays mp3s and is fully functional Palm PDA.

John

I didn't get the factory NAV system because $2000 is just too much to spend for it when you can get better aftermarket systems for less than half of the cost. Then you can use it in all of your vehicles, including a bike too (which is what I want it for). I plan on getting one eventually.

Portable yes (One for the Aftermarket) - better is a big jump.

Except for laptop based system - all the major portable have smaller screen. One for factory NAV. None have usable voice recognition - so there we have a tie. But they have buttons or screen you must reach out to - whereas the factory NAV has the controls at your fingertips - and can be used blind. Another one for the factory NAV. Price goes to the aftermarket. Finally we have the 'pain' of pre-loading maps to the aftermarket ones (except for laptops and NavMan 700) - whereas the DVD based factory NAV gets another point.

I don't think there's an aftermarket portable system with maps pre-loaded, voice guidance, and larger screen out there - if so please tell.

That said - to each his (her) own.

Zoom - zoom

John

Well... it's only a matter of time before there are better aftermarket ones. There certainly are in Japan and the same manufacturers (Pioneer, Alpine, etc.) seem to be grearing up for the US market now.

I personally wouldn't waste $2000 on the factory nav unit. I don't want a dash popup unit. i want a dash integrated touch screen... like Honda/Acura. I also want at least 5gigs of MP3 storage and maybe Wifi to connect to a home network to load those mp3s and a preset navigation route that has been planned on your PC. This is what I'm looking for... and no one has it. So maybe I'll build it...

This is nowhere near the equivalent of an installed system. I did some extensive posts, one here and I'm searching for an even better one I wrote. (I have two posts on that page; read the one near the bottom about installed vs handheld.)

In short, the installed system has gyro, so even if you drop signal with the satellite (which happens all the time) the installed system keeps tracking your car's movement. Handheld doesn't. Installed audio comes through car speakers; handheld comes through tiny 1" PDA speaker. Installed has entire US with massive "points of interest database". Handheld, you load maps of your desired trek before leaving home. If you decide to go elsewhere, you're outta luck if you didn't load the maps first. Installed has TWO widely-spaced antenna which vastly improves position accuracy and speed-of-connection to satellite (coupla seconds.) Handheld has one antenna. Accuracy is not as good and the Garmin routinely takes a minute or two to connect and initialize. Don't forget you are routinely dropping sync with satellite, so you can easily pass by your turn before the handheld figures it out and alerts you.

Edit: Found my other link here. It says essentially the same thing with longer explanation. If you want to sticky a POS to your dash and look like a cheapskate, use the handheld. If you want a quality navigation capability, get the installed system. Read my other posts.

8_wannabe

No argument here - I have the factory NAV - and agree with you about the factory system.

But getting the iQue for my 4 other non-NAV drives.

John

Holy smoke, man, how many cars do you need? What are your other rides? How do you decide which one to take out when?

Forget how many cars, I have two GPS's. I know where I am coming and going. ;) With the Garmin you can load the maps onto a memory module and quickly change that (plugs in). The 2650 has "dead reconing", if you loose GPS coverage among tall buildings. Its' colour display is 3.3" X 1.7".

I have both a GPS III+ and Streetpilot III (both older Garmin units). They work fairly well, and the Streetpilot will direct with voice. I found them very useful when I drove into Seattle (at rush hour). Nice to know which side of the 8 lane highway the exit is on long before you get there!

Oh, and there is a road so wild you loose GPS coverage on it. Highway 99 in BC between Pemberton and Lilloot. In the mountains, "slow to 10 km/hr" corners, 18% grades. Love that road - built for RX's!
<- Hey, that's it in my avitar!

No pics of it installed since it's portable. My wife and I swap it between our cars all of the time. It sits on the dash and plugs into an outlet for voice and electricity. I've taken corners very hard with it on the dash and it's never budged.

I can probably take some pics of them on the dash if you'd like. Just let me know...

-Eric

I have the NAV in the 8. I also have the Garmin Streetpilot III.

The Garmin unit has more POI data by far.

The NAV is integrated and calculates much faster.

I know the new Garmin units are probably better and probably still have more POI information, BUT the NAV being integrated is so much nicer than using the portable. It was just another bag being taken in and out on a daily basis. The portable mount is never as good as integrated (shake, rattle, roll).

Yes, it was a lot of money, but it definitely is worth it! When I bought the Streetpilot III it was a lump sum expense. The NAV option is about 3X the price, but it's just a part of my car payment so it's a long term tiny hit ($$).

I'm keeping the Streetpilot III for out-of-town trips. Nothing like dropping it into a rental car and never having to ask for directions.

Tinkerer

I have the garmin 196 aviation unit. It does street(land) water and air navigation. I love it. I wanted the built in nav but could not find that exact car with the nav.
I was told the add-on could not be done. Has anyone gotten an add-on of the factory nav system?

no one has done it because it is rediculously prohibitively expensive to do so and even if someone were willing to pay that rediculous amount no mazda dealer people would install it because it is rediculously labor intensive and mazda does not want them to do it. so you would have to find someone to do it or do it yourself. why go thru all of that hassle when you can get an aftermarket system?

Does anyone have an idea how much the motorised screen for the NAV costs. Or not even the screen, but the motorised housing? This is the only major benefit in my eyes, over the factory system, as it allows the unit to be hidden out of sight when not in use.

If you could purchase the motorised housing with/without the screen, it would be fairly easy to hook up an aftermarket (Alpine, Clarion etc) NAV unit to it, and still retain a factory "look".


-andy-

Pioneer and Alpine makes 7" screens that hides away at about 1500+ each. That is with the headunit capability with DVD/CD/MP3 Playback..etc etc etc. Then you need to buy one of their Nav DVD devices, another 1500+... so fun stuff.

The ridiculous cost part people keep taking about is the replacement of your dash to mount the motoried screen. So to go for an "integrated" aftermarket navi you have 3 choices...

1. Get the "navi tray" from canzoomer and mount your screen fixed in the stock location. Mount your DVD drive under the passenger's seat or wherever and off you go.

2. Replace the headunit with the navi/stereo/dvd unit by Pioneer, kenwood, etc. (this is 1 din) Touch screen, regular display of stereo function when retracted. Downside is that when the screen is deployed it will block your a/c vents and generally look like and eyesore in my opinion.

3. Get a 2din headunit replacement with navi, touch screen, etc. built-in. The screen mounts on the front of the headunit, so everything just blends in with your dash. Downside is that kenwood and a couple other companies haven't released their JDm units in the US yet... the closet is a unit from kenwood that is like with w/o nav.

... 4. Wait for the above to be released in the US or hope for someone to "build a better mousetrap" and buy it from them...