Zyuan10

What's the best (or most recommended) aftermarket in-dash (and fits) navi out there that can match the TSX's factory navi in terms of feature? like voice guidance, voice commands, etc. etc. I don't know anything about Navi brands and the closest I see was a $2000 pioneer.

So anyone know of this stuff? Search didn't help because most TSX users already have a navi...

clee109

the TSX uses an Alpine navi stock so I'd guess an Alpine aftermarket navi would do the trick

TWONZ

Good Question..... I wouldn't mind replacing my navi unit too

cestmoi

You guys are nuts to be buying an aftermarket navi that fits like the original factory one when there are good portable ones out there now where you are not confined to one vehicle! For example, TomTom.com or Navigon.com

You guys are cuckoos (esp the ones who did not buy their TSX with Navi).

TodaSi

Portable....TomTom One biatches!!!

TWONZ

Alpine makes the stock Navi unit for Acura. If you go on their website you'll see the navi unit they offer is a direct fit to ours and offers TONS of more features. But at a price of 2 grand, I don't think I'll be getting it any time soon.

LuvMyTSX

Some people prefer an integrated look rather than one stuck on the dash somewhere. It's all personal preference.

xenonhid

LOL! That should be TOM TOM's marketing advertisement for bill boards!

cestmoi

I understand.. however, if you made the decision not to buy one with the integrated Navi, you (as in general) are an idiot if you decide to get that installed. You'd apt to spend more $$$ than you otherwise would have AND not to mention if there are any warranty void hassles that you may or may not be dealing with.

Cuckoo I tell ya.

Personally, I've been kicking myself that I didn't get my TSX with Navi (the salesman actually talked me out of it); but I'm not going to go and install one. The portable ones are pretty sleek nowadays and have alot of new stuff - I love the maps where users get to update themselves, share with others as offered by the new TomTom 920.... I'm tempted to put my "old" TomTom model (which I just bought not more than 9 mths ago) on ebay - dang!

Zyuan10

well, I didn't have an extra 2000 to spend at the time of my TSX's purchase nor did I want to ask my parents for it so I'll just live without it. I only travel to some place new like once every half a year so I just stick with mapquest or bring a friend.

Simba91102

A map at Wal-Mart for $5.

ChrismanTSX

Garmin nuvi... love mine!

PACman

Revenant

+ 2

Garmin Nuvi 600 series ftw!

TommySalami

OEM Navi conversion!





haha right....
Garmins are good

HONgDA

iTrader: (1)

I have the Alpine Blackbird that I'm using when I'm driving a car w/o navi. It has music storage too so you can listen to music when you aren't using the navi feature.
I miss the TSX navi though. Hopefully I can get back to an Acura with oem navi.

dwlow

iTrader: (1)

you can try getting a pioneer indash navi. believe the model number is av-d3. you can go on circuity city website to look it up. it cost about 1000 bucks. its a navi, you can hook up ipod (60 bucks additional), you can even put rear view camera. of course that is extra, but its up to you. know people that have it, and are very happy. another option is, if you have verizon wireless, you can get VZ navigator (for about 10 bucks per month) and you have navi on your phone. it works the same as navi for car (points of interest, turn by turn directions etc.) something to think about.

keg1997

Another Garmin Nuvi fan....buddies who know navis all directed me to Garmin and told me to avoid tomtom and Magaellan

Fox137

I have a Garmin Nuvi 200.. Garmin FTW!

cestmoi

Not sure what the hoopla about TomToms but I have the 510 model I believe and have had no complaints so far... other than its size compare to the current models.

Zyuan10

I would like an in-dash navi and I'm seeing some promising product from pioneer... but what I might have a problem with is the navi having a difference voice than my TSX's voice and that might be kinda funny sounding...

VegaTSX

One thing about after market navi installed in the in-dash. You will lose certain functions i have Pioneer Avic-N3 installed since i didn't buy the stock navi when i bought the car. I can't use Blue Tooth function and the CD player AM/FM Radio doesn't work. Keep that in mind if you're looking to get it installed instead of getting the portable unit.

HI OFECR

Hey man ,,,I LOVE my Tom Tom One unit

And i have some spy'd BLACK FRIDAY ADD's that say that Bestbuy will be selling them as a door buster item for lik3 $130 wich is a steal considering i paid 300 a year and a half ago.

Elijah J

Truths can be found in your statement, but portable navis doesnt/wont offer the oprotunity to drastically enhance a car's AV potential. Additionally, the majority of the warranty violations that would result in a head unit swap would only extend to the rest of the AV system--and if a person is going to drop a few grand on a deck they might as well antie-up and instal some dessent speakers.

...hhhhmmmmmmm, I think handhelds come with headphones though...

Sclass88

I have a Magellen. Works great for me, I'd recommend it to a friend.

Soccer_playa1579

or you could do it the ghetto way.. i have the tl /w navi but my mom doesnt let me take it when i go far out places like the dfw area... Soooo i just bring my laptop and find a hotel and jack their internet incase i get lost or something =).. or sometimes if i actually know where im going i just mapquest.. but they bot work =)

Zyuan10

It is now February... and I still don't have an in-dash navi for various reasons that I can't seem to find the answer to.

1. I searched and searched...all sites that have their "car fit guide" shows that there is NOT A SINGLE in-dash navi that fits the 07 TSX (but they somehow fits in my mom's 2003 Camry). WHY?!

2. Will there be two separate car voices in my TSX? one from the bluetooth and one from the navi? I think that's kinda... i don't know the word for it but it's not a good thing i want to say.

3. Bluetooth... my TSX comes with it... seems redundant to have one in the navi's I'm looking at. (Pioneer N4)

4. gaps after installation (where they are and how much...etc).

5. One thing (and probably the only) I want on the navi is to be able to input voice command and being able to "talk to the car" like the OEM navi but that feature comes bundled with just about every other redundant stuff like bluetooth, etc. etc.

I'm guessing the reason why there isn't any aftermarket navi that fits the TSX is because they're aimed for "normal" mid-priced cars such as the older camry/accord/small cars/etc. and because you're "supposed" to have a navi in your TSX anyway...sigh

To those of you who does have an in-dash navi somehow... can you show me a picture of how it looks installed? Thanks

The navi I'm currently looking at is the Pioneer AVIC-N4 and the Z2... and the Alpine NVE-N872A if I can find out more about it. I emailed to those companies asking to see if it fits or not. I can't seem to trust those "car fit guides"....

clee109

it's because the stereo unit and what not is "molded" into your car, you would have to have it custom installed.

khj94704

Have you heard about the upcoming AVIC "LINC"? I originally passed on the factory nav since I thought there must be an aftermarket model that would have better ipod integration. Little did I know you can't easily swap out the head unit on the TSX (shares the pcb with hvac controls and stuff like that, nobody makes a dash panel so you'll have to get it custom made, etc.). I was very tempted to get an alpine/kenwood/pioneer single din flip out to install with the mp3 cdplayer adapter that eats up one of the storage compartments but couldn't convince myself that it was worth all of the compromises (screen covering hvac controls when out and not tilted past vertical to make it easy to view because of the overhang of those controls) on top of the ~$2k for hardware and installation.

This new Pioneer unit will give you a lot of the features of Microsoft's Sync with the main benefit that you won't have to buy a new car, and a Ford at that. It just plugs into the line in to patch into your audio system so that's one less thing to worry about if you're not unsatisfied with the sound in your car. Here's a link to CNET's initial write-up after CES:

http://ces.cnet.com/8301-13855_1-9841339-67.html

I'm probably going to pick up one of these shortly after they're released. I'd rather not have it sitting on top of my dash so I'm probably going to attach it to those storage compartment doors somehow. Maybe even something as pathetic as velcro to start out with.

DLTSX6MT

I've been looking around at porta-navs for our other, no-nav cars.

I tried a TomTom recently. Didn't love it.
Then tried a Garmin. Don't love it either, but kept the Garmin over the TomTom.

TSXEd05

I have had my Magellen for about 6 months and I really like it. Very user friendly and accurate.

PACman

What didn't you like about the Garmin? Which model btw.

DLTSX6MT

Nuvi 200.

First off, I can sum up a lot of my dislikes simply by saying that it is a portable. There is a laundry list of things I don't like that are inherent in porta-NAVS. But since you ask about specifically about the Garmin, here are my quips that are specific to the Nuvi.

Here is some, but definitely not all, of my complaint list...

It's tracking resolution isn't fine enough to know where you're going if you get below a certain speed. If you crawl into a driveway, drive slow in parking lots, make tight turns, it will lose you and your direction. If you're backing up, it thinks you're actually going forward, and so if it's telling you to start your trip by turning left (if it even realizes that you're in a driveway at all, that is), well, don't believe it. If you're in the middle of a big parking lot, and it tells you to start your trip by "turning left" onto the road - well, where the heck is the road? Somewhere ahead, to the left, to the right, behind? If signal is lost (i.e. tunnel) it can't guesstimate where you're going (OEM nav can still guesstimate and keep the map updated, based on vehicle speed and assuming you stay on the road).

Doesn't always realized that I've already made it to my destination (and then automatically clear the route). I often leave, and the NUVI keeps trying to tell me to go back to where I just came from.

The low-battery warning comes way too late. In cold weather, by the time you get a low battery warning, it's almost dead. No AC charger included, you the only thing you can do is charge it while your driving (most in-car 12V sockets are not powered when you remove the key, so you can't leave it in the car to charge while parked).

No indicator of which direction you are currently going (it's there when you're not being navigated, but when you have it guide you, it goes away.

Doesn't show the street you are currently driving on.

Can't call up your current location to get street/town information (you only get coordinates).

Can't make corrections to the maps. Every day, it tells me to get on a road that is actually a sidewalk. There is no way to fix it, other than to either hit "detour" or ignore it - each and every time.

No option for QWERTY keyboards. Only ABCD keyboardsIn fact, very few options in general.

Doesn't display any POI icons in 3D mode. Even in 2D mode, only displays POIs that are in the address book.

I find the 2D overhead map much more useable than the 3D map anyways, but the little 3.5 inch screen isn't really big enough to convey any more info. (And don't try to convince me that the way to fix that is to get a bigger, bulkier, heavier unit with a bigger screen.)

No text-to-voice. I knew this one going in. I didn't think this would be a big deal, but it turns out that I do miss it.

No sorting options for the address book, only way to list is from nearest to farthest, based on your current location.

No drop-down lists of recently entered data. I'm getting sick of typing in the same town names (even if it is just the first few letters) over and over. In fact, no lists at all to help with text entry.

Tinny speaker, sounds like garbage. No speed sensitive automatic volume.

While I appreciate the relative light weight of the unit, it feels a bit flimsy and hollow.

Despite all this, I kept the Nuvi over the Tom Tom for three main reasons. It tracks/navigates better, and the windshield mount is much more secure (I have a few dashboard scars, compliments of the heavy Tom Tom and it's cr*ppy mount) and the unit clicks in and out 10X easier. It's smaller and much lighter, and fits in my pocket better (and also hits the ground or my dashboard with less force).

Tsx536

That looks awesome! It does so much and everything is integrated which I really like!! Yeah, just attach it with Velcro. It's not as ghetto as you think. If you get the right Velcro, you can usually pull it off later without any residue. Keep us posted if you get that Pioneer unit though! The Nav Traffic along with the Ipod integration look great!!

xenonhid

^^ Kenny can probably concur as well, being Pioneer's AVIC owners, the in dash series is not too shabby.


The accuracy problem is eliminated for in-dash models because they utilize the cars VSS signal.

khj94704

I saw a few links to this right after CES and have been looking for new information on it but haven't seen much. If it fits where I want to mount it, it's basically what I've been holding out for. I guess everyone opts for the oem navigation so there aren't as many people waiting for one with a touch screen and voice controls that has decent ipod integration? I'll definitely report back after I velcro one of these onto my center console. 3M is an amazing company, btw. The amount of thinking they put into their products is just staggering.

Zyuan10

oh man... that navi sounds great! it's like... a portable in-dash navi! I'll look forward to it... but knowing Pioneer, the thing will probably be around $2000 -_-

I'm also on the verge of finding a the OEM navi and doing a convert... but this looks very good and I will wait for it to come out first. I want to see CNET's review on it...

Thanks for the info!

kdUbz

wow that pioneer does look amazing...i just picked up the navigon 7100 and love it so far..it hasnt got the media attention as a garmin or tomtom but this thing comes packed with features for the price...u also get lifetime traffic and im always in boston or NYC and avoiding traffic is a must! so far i have no complaints and will most likely integrate it in the bins as well..

jsdbmx

tomtom blows