I recently bought an Acura 2004 RL, still w the original GPS disc. It is in sore need of an upgrade.

But the price to buy a the new Orange 2010 one is a whopping $210 counting shipping + taxes. So that got me thinking -- should I just buy a handheld Garmin GPS unit instead? You can get pretty decent units for around $100 these days, and the added advantage of that is that I could move it around to my other cars as well.

Any thoughts? thanks!

 

i was in the same situation before..and here's how i look at it. whenever i see a nice expensive lexus, bimmer, mb, audi, etcc....and a portable gps device stuck on their windshield, i laugh, knowing either they were too cheap to buy it from the factory or too cheap to upgrade the disc. why pay for such an expensive and luxurious car and then go buy a $100 GPS? gotta pay to play.

of course, i forked out the $210 for the 2010 version.

 

if u harass them they'll sell for cheaper.

another angle is, do u want ur windows broken for a 200 dollar gps?

thieves will brake windows for alot less too.

 

Go with the CD. Easier to use (easier to input info on a bigger built in screen) and keeps thieves away.

 

Have you had any success doing this? Also, did you go to the stealer, or order directly from Alpine?

 

OP, I say just get the upgrade DVD.

 

Yup I did this last year. Asked politely if they could do a better price cause the dealer told me it was 150 and that was what I was prepared to pay.

Actually being nice and sincere is the key. They also usually have them for sale at some period or another for cheaper.

 

^
Got it. So Alpine actually does deal.

 

http://www.navigation.com/is-bin/INT...gationMenu=YES

$185 + $9.95 for two day shipping

And yes, call up your dealer they often get them for around $150

 

I wish I had nav

Oh well The Palm Pre works okay.

 

that's not what i was told when i called the service department at my local acura dealer. they said i have to buy it directly from the acura website as they don't have a price or part number for it; only new cars come with them. the local MB and Infinity dealer said the same thing to me also, so i had to purchase one directly from navteq. maybe it varies among dealers in how they go about getting upgrades?

 

Thanks for the input. I'm leaning torwards a Garmin unit though. I mean does the DVD even take traffic into account? For $125 I can get a new Garmin unit that does; it'll also give me weather, movie, stock, gas price, etc info.

 

Dealers vary. Some buy them and some don't I guess

 

I think a standalone unit like Garmin will be much superior to your 2004 GPS system. I use my wife's 350 nuvi in my RL all the time (I dont have GPS system in the car to begin with). As an example, my 350 nuvi outperforms the GPS unit in my brothers 2009 BMW 3 series! Plus the fact you can move it between vehicles (I have three), sold me. If you want, buy a hard-wire cable for the RL to mount it better (cleaner) and use the windshield mount on another car.

 

today, most portable GPS will be outperform any factory unit. but sometimes it's not all about function but more form. in this case, no aftermarket unit beats an factory unit.

 

Stock is limited in features, but to me form beats function as well.

The only thing I do not like about the oem nav is the strange routing it does sometimes where it will take you around a block or sometimes even farther to get to your location.

Other than that you hit detour when you hit traffic and turn on unverified roads and it does a decent job. Better than carrying a map or worrying about someone busting your car window on a trip.

 

I agree about after market being options > form.

I'd rather have the factory one that will talk through my speakers, etc...

 

Don't 1G RL's black discs??