Adding factory navigation to my 11 GS
05-23-2016, 07:11 AM
#1
Pro
Thread Starter
Adding factory navigation to my 11 GS
I'd like to add factory nav to my 11 GS. I have the 3lt package in my car. My question is what all do I need to accomplish this?
05-23-2016, 08:12 AM
#2
If you have a Bose system in the car now, it's a walk in the park.
With the Bose system in the car, the needed VSS connector plug is just taped back to the main harness, and all you have to do is untape it to plug into the OEM nav deck.
On the nav antenna, you can double side tape it very close to where it would normally mount up in the dash anyways.
This leaves just installing the Mic, and you can either cut in the hole for the mic (wiring is already there) or just pick up another A column cover with the mic hole already cut into it.
As for the last thing, once you have the oem Nav in the car (pulled out of another vet), as soon as you start the car, the nav unit will go into lock mode. If you know anyone that has a Tech II to remarry the Navv unit with the car, Bonus. If not, then the dealers will charge you around $120 to do the 3 mins of work with the Tech II tool to remarry the radio to the new vets its in instead.
So, cost of picking up a used Nav that is the same year or newer that your car (don't get a older one that the model year of your car, since it may not have the options like USB that you want, and may sure it comes with the needed discs). Nav antenna will run you around $50, the mic with trim ring around $30, and then there is the dealer fee to remarry the unit for around $120.
The pro's of the OEM nav, it will interface with your HUD to give you turn directions. Aftermarket navs will not do this, but offer a lot more options over the OEM outdated nav deck instead.
With the Bose system in the car, the needed VSS connector plug is just taped back to the main harness, and all you have to do is untape it to plug into the OEM nav deck.
On the nav antenna, you can double side tape it very close to where it would normally mount up in the dash anyways.
This leaves just installing the Mic, and you can either cut in the hole for the mic (wiring is already there) or just pick up another A column cover with the mic hole already cut into it.
As for the last thing, once you have the oem Nav in the car (pulled out of another vet), as soon as you start the car, the nav unit will go into lock mode. If you know anyone that has a Tech II to remarry the Navv unit with the car, Bonus. If not, then the dealers will charge you around $120 to do the 3 mins of work with the Tech II tool to remarry the radio to the new vets its in instead.
So, cost of picking up a used Nav that is the same year or newer that your car (don't get a older one that the model year of your car, since it may not have the options like USB that you want, and may sure it comes with the needed discs). Nav antenna will run you around $50, the mic with trim ring around $30, and then there is the dealer fee to remarry the unit for around $120.
The pro's of the OEM nav, it will interface with your HUD to give you turn directions. Aftermarket navs will not do this, but offer a lot more options over the OEM outdated nav deck instead.
Last edited by Dano523; 05-23-2016 at 08:15 AM.
05-23-2016, 12:40 PM
#5
Le Mans Master
If you have a Bose system in the car now, it's a walk in the park.
With the Bose system in the car, the needed VSS connector plug is just taped back to the main harness, and all you have to do is untape it to plug into the OEM nav deck.
On the nav antenna, you can double side tape it very close to where it would normally mount up in the dash anyways.
This leaves just installing the Mic, and you can either cut in the hole for the mic (wiring is already there) or just pick up another A column cover with the mic hole already cut into it.
As for the last thing, once you have the oem Nav in the car (pulled out of another vet), as soon as you start the car, the nav unit will go into lock mode. If you know anyone that has a Tech II to remarry the Navv unit with the car, Bonus. If not, then the dealers will charge you around $120 to do the 3 mins of work with the Tech II tool to remarry the radio to the new vets its in instead.
So, cost of picking up a used Nav that is the same year or newer that your car (don't get a older one that the model year of your car, since it may not have the options like USB that you want, and may sure it comes with the needed discs). Nav antenna will run you around $50, the mic with trim ring around $30, and then there is the dealer fee to remarry the unit for around $120.
The pro's of the OEM nav, it will interface with your HUD to give you turn directions. Aftermarket navs will not do this, but offer a lot more options over the OEM outdated nav deck instead.
With the Bose system in the car, the needed VSS connector plug is just taped back to the main harness, and all you have to do is untape it to plug into the OEM nav deck.
On the nav antenna, you can double side tape it very close to where it would normally mount up in the dash anyways.
This leaves just installing the Mic, and you can either cut in the hole for the mic (wiring is already there) or just pick up another A column cover with the mic hole already cut into it.
As for the last thing, once you have the oem Nav in the car (pulled out of another vet), as soon as you start the car, the nav unit will go into lock mode. If you know anyone that has a Tech II to remarry the Navv unit with the car, Bonus. If not, then the dealers will charge you around $120 to do the 3 mins of work with the Tech II tool to remarry the radio to the new vets its in instead.
So, cost of picking up a used Nav that is the same year or newer that your car (don't get a older one that the model year of your car, since it may not have the options like USB that you want, and may sure it comes with the needed discs). Nav antenna will run you around $50, the mic with trim ring around $30, and then there is the dealer fee to remarry the unit for around $120.
The pro's of the OEM nav, it will interface with your HUD to give you turn directions. Aftermarket navs will not do this, but offer a lot more options over the OEM outdated nav deck instead.
Dano's advice about getting a unit from your C6's year or newer is good. More specific Year info:
*If you don't care about USB, then the OP has to at least get a Nav radio from 2007 or newer donor car -- the 2005-2006 Nav radios will NOT work with the Steering Wheel Control buttons that are standard on the 2011.
*If the OP has factory BT, he'll need a Nav radio from a 2010 or newer, as the older radios will not pass the BT steering wheel controls through to the VCIM. (I know, BT started in 2009, but it's not been clearly established that *all* 2009 radios were BT compatible, or whether it started sometime during the production run)
Last edited by Kent1999; 05-23-2016 at 12:45 PM.
05-23-2016, 06:55 PM
#6
05-23-2016, 07:08 PM
#7
Le Mans Master
Nav was a stand-alone option (albeit with a 3LT pre-req) in 2005-2011, and wasn't automatically included in 2/3LT packages until the last couple years of C6 production (2012 and 2013).
Last edited by Kent1999; 05-23-2016 at 07:28 PM. Reason: Clarified 'stand alone'
05-23-2016, 07:20 PM
#8
If I'm not mistaken (I may be on this point), one would have to get the 3LT option to be able to get the U3U (nav radio) option available to them on '11 and older C6s, but yes, the nav radio was a separate option until '12. 3LT didn't come with nav radio, and I think 2LT didn't even have it as a possibility to add on.
05-23-2016, 08:23 PM
#9
Pro
Thread Starter
My radio option is US9. With the 3lt package, the Bose Premium 7 speaker system replaces the std/opt/pkg radio. I do have the BT which is included into the 3lt package.
05-23-2016, 08:46 PM
#10
But were not talking about thru the years. We are specifically talking about 2013. And in 2013 my GS with 2LT came standard with factory nav. So forum member CSF with his 3LT had to have come with nav.
05-23-2016, 09:07 PM
#11
Melting Slicks
Interesting . . . and thank you. I just assumed once the GS was released the 2LT and 3 LT packages stayed constant until the end of the C6 run. You can learn something new every day in this place.
05-23-2016, 09:11 PM
#12
Team Owner
Member Since: Sep 2000
Location: Far NW 'burbs of Chicago
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St. Jude Donor '13
We've driven 130+k miles over most of the USA and Canada using the factory system, often in convoy with other cars that have portable navs or aftermarket installed systems. We've also had 3 phone navs and 3 Garmins. All of them average out to about the same performance, they just have different issues.
The factory nav is highly non-intuitive, so go to talon90's (CF member) website The Red Lion, and get his tutorial for the factory nav. It's a surprisingly good system.
05-24-2016, 12:54 AM
#13
Le Mans Master
CSF, are you asking whether your car came with Nav standard?
Last edited by Kent1999; 05-24-2016 at 01:05 AM.
05-24-2016, 10:37 AM
#14
Melting Slicks
No aftermarket system will give you the turn arrows and countdown bar in the HUD. That allows me to drive with the windows wide open at any speed and/or mute "Bitching Betty" with her nattering nav directions. That's enough to keep me with the factory nav.
We've driven 130+k miles over most of the USA and Canada using the factory system, often in convoy with other cars that have portable navs or aftermarket installed systems. We've also had 3 phone navs and 3 Garmins. All of them average out to about the same performance, they just have different issues.
The factory nav is highly non-intuitive, so go to talon90's (CF member) website The Red Lion, and get his tutorial for the factory nav. It's a surprisingly good system.
We've driven 130+k miles over most of the USA and Canada using the factory system, often in convoy with other cars that have portable navs or aftermarket installed systems. We've also had 3 phone navs and 3 Garmins. All of them average out to about the same performance, they just have different issues.
The factory nav is highly non-intuitive, so go to talon90's (CF member) website The Red Lion, and get his tutorial for the factory nav. It's a surprisingly good system.
05-24-2016, 12:23 PM
#15
No aftermarket system will give you the turn arrows and countdown bar in the HUD. That allows me to drive with the windows wide open at any speed and/or mute "Bitching Betty" with her nattering nav directions. That's enough to keep me with the factory nav.
We've driven 130+k miles over most of the USA and Canada using the factory system, often in convoy with other cars that have portable navs or aftermarket installed systems. We've also had 3 phone navs and 3 Garmins. All of them average out to about the same performance, they just have different issues.
The factory nav is highly non-intuitive, so go to talon90's (CF member) website The Red Lion, and get his tutorial for the factory nav. It's a surprisingly good system.
We've driven 130+k miles over most of the USA and Canada using the factory system, often in convoy with other cars that have portable navs or aftermarket installed systems. We've also had 3 phone navs and 3 Garmins. All of them average out to about the same performance, they just have different issues.
The factory nav is highly non-intuitive, so go to talon90's (CF member) website The Red Lion, and get his tutorial for the factory nav. It's a surprisingly good system.
05-24-2016, 01:29 PM
#16
Instructor
OP, don't let the factory NAV naysayers talk you out of the factory NAV. It's awesome if you spend some time with it and learn all it has to offer.
I recently traveled to Maryland and PA on a Civil War battlefield tour of Gettysburg and Antietam. I used the NAV's memory points feature to store the location of the 2 hotels and 3 museums we wanted to visit AND stored way points on specific roads that I wanted to drive because they were seriously twisty and mountainous. No matter where we were at, it was a few touches of the screen to set anyplace we wanted to go as a destination. No adding addresses or trying to find a location on a 6 inch map.
Then there's the 'preview route' feature. This became the coolest feature of the NAV unit for us. Say you're traveling and you want to know what restaurants are an hour ahead of you (or bathrooms, hotels, etc). Turn on the specific point of interest you want, then select Preview Route from the Destination menu. You now get a VCR type control at the bottom of the map display that will quickly move you ahead (or backwards) on your route showing all the available POI's types you've selected for display. And some POI's have additional information, such as phone numbers, menus, company name (like MacDonald's, Burger King) etc. Too cool, and I never had a portable GPS that could do that.
And the HUD integration is a very valuable feature too. I'd want the NAV for that reason alone.
I recently traveled to Maryland and PA on a Civil War battlefield tour of Gettysburg and Antietam. I used the NAV's memory points feature to store the location of the 2 hotels and 3 museums we wanted to visit AND stored way points on specific roads that I wanted to drive because they were seriously twisty and mountainous. No matter where we were at, it was a few touches of the screen to set anyplace we wanted to go as a destination. No adding addresses or trying to find a location on a 6 inch map.
Then there's the 'preview route' feature. This became the coolest feature of the NAV unit for us. Say you're traveling and you want to know what restaurants are an hour ahead of you (or bathrooms, hotels, etc). Turn on the specific point of interest you want, then select Preview Route from the Destination menu. You now get a VCR type control at the bottom of the map display that will quickly move you ahead (or backwards) on your route showing all the available POI's types you've selected for display. And some POI's have additional information, such as phone numbers, menus, company name (like MacDonald's, Burger King) etc. Too cool, and I never had a portable GPS that could do that.
And the HUD integration is a very valuable feature too. I'd want the NAV for that reason alone.
05-24-2016, 03:36 PM
#17
Pro
Thread Starter
Thank you everybody for your responses. I knew the nav wasn't as bad as some people tried to lead me to believe. Sounds like the negative people didn't know how to use theirs. I think I'll take the advice I received in this discussion and look for a good used nav out of an 11,12, or 13 for mine, hopefully here in the forum.
Again THANK YOU for your time answering my question!
Again THANK YOU for your time answering my question!
05-24-2016, 09:57 PM
#18
Team Owner
Member Since: Sep 2000
Location: Far NW 'burbs of Chicago
Posts: 23,940
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St. Jude Donor '13
As you can tell, I'm quite happy with the factory nav. But in the interest of full disclosure, I do need to point out one negative that no one has mentioned:
We are dependent on GM for updated nav discs. While the C6 was in production, they came out with a new disc each year. Expensive, but as current as you'll get on any disc-based system.
The 2013 (actually late 2012) disc was the last one for three years, GM kept promising updates but they didn't show. Then suddenly, the 2016 disc came out and the price was actually a bit cheaper. Great news.
Hopefully, new discs will come out every year or three. But our 2005 Toyota uses a very similar Denso system, the discs are at least partly interchangeable. And Toyota says right on their website that the most recent disc for our Toyota is the last one that they will produce for those cars.
So, we do have the risk that we won't be able to update the discs at some point and the system will gradually become less useful.
My solution, if I still have the car at that point, is to go to an aftermarket nav if we can't get an update after four years. Until then, the factory system is serving us well.
We are dependent on GM for updated nav discs. While the C6 was in production, they came out with a new disc each year. Expensive, but as current as you'll get on any disc-based system.
The 2013 (actually late 2012) disc was the last one for three years, GM kept promising updates but they didn't show. Then suddenly, the 2016 disc came out and the price was actually a bit cheaper. Great news.
Hopefully, new discs will come out every year or three. But our 2005 Toyota uses a very similar Denso system, the discs are at least partly interchangeable. And Toyota says right on their website that the most recent disc for our Toyota is the last one that they will produce for those cars.
So, we do have the risk that we won't be able to update the discs at some point and the system will gradually become less useful.
My solution, if I still have the car at that point, is to go to an aftermarket nav if we can't get an update after four years. Until then, the factory system is serving us well.
05-24-2016, 10:14 PM
#19
Melting Slicks
As you can tell, I'm quite happy with the factory nav. But in the interest of full disclosure, I do need to point out one negative that no one has mentioned:
We are dependent on GM for updated nav discs. While the C6 was in production, they came out with a new disc each year. Expensive, but as current as you'll get on any disc-based system.
The 2013 (actually late 2012) disc was the last one for three years, GM kept promising updates but they didn't show. Then suddenly, the 2016 disc came out and the price was actually a bit cheaper. Great news.
Hopefully, new discs will come out every year or three. But our 2005 Toyota uses a very similar Denso system, the discs are at least partly interchangeable. And Toyota says right on their website that the most recent disc for our Toyota is the last one that they will produce for those cars.
So, we do have the risk that we won't be able to update the discs at some point and the system will gradually become less useful.
My solution, if I still have the car at that point, is to go to an aftermarket nav if we can't get an update after four years. Until then, the factory system is serving us well.
We are dependent on GM for updated nav discs. While the C6 was in production, they came out with a new disc each year. Expensive, but as current as you'll get on any disc-based system.
The 2013 (actually late 2012) disc was the last one for three years, GM kept promising updates but they didn't show. Then suddenly, the 2016 disc came out and the price was actually a bit cheaper. Great news.
Hopefully, new discs will come out every year or three. But our 2005 Toyota uses a very similar Denso system, the discs are at least partly interchangeable. And Toyota says right on their website that the most recent disc for our Toyota is the last one that they will produce for those cars.
So, we do have the risk that we won't be able to update the discs at some point and the system will gradually become less useful.
My solution, if I still have the car at that point, is to go to an aftermarket nav if we can't get an update after four years. Until then, the factory system is serving us well.
However, with our cell phones, Google maps and Waze for traffic info, I am not too worried about the update discs and wont buy any more. 95% of the roads don't change, and the ones that do will be on those newer devices.
05-24-2016, 10:17 PM
#20
Melting Slicks
CSF's car wasn't in question. The OP's car is a 2011. And it then appeared that the convo drifted into if Nav was standard with 3LT. That's what I was addressing, the idea that since Nav was standard in one year's 3LT, whether that meant it was standard in ALL 3LT's.
CSF, are you asking whether your car came with Nav standard?
CSF, are you asking whether your car came with Nav standard?