Just received an email offer to update the nav on my 2016 for $99. Worth it? I rarely use it, really curious if much is really updated in 3-4 years.

 

Just use Android Auto. It's vastly superior.

 

That's a great deal. I upgraded my 2014 to 2017 then 2019 and both times I noticed improvements in the functionality and of course road/address/POI updates.

 

Android Auto is just a mechanism to get stuff from your phone onto the native Nav screen. You can use Google Maps or Waze as your Nav system. The CLAIM is that those apps are "vastly superior," but that has very little evidence to back it up and they have their own issues. They do not integrate with the HUD or the central gauge cluster They require your phone be on and used for that application. That uses data. You have to hook the phone to the car via a powered USB port. In my experience the phone runs hot when you do that. It's a pretty klutzy operation in practice. Having said that, the Nav system update at $99 is cheaper than usual, but it still will likely do little for you. Those "thousands" of updates are for all of North America, so the chances that an update will benefit you personally is rather small. If you rarely use the Nav system the update really isn't worth it.

 

I use both, GM Nav and Android Auto based. The android based are not "vastly superior" in fact that are not nearly as feature rich, lack the graphics, multi way point, etc. The other negative is they are real data packet pigs, so if you dont have an unlimited data plan, you may hit limits. The other issue is if you are in an area and lose cell service, Waze or Google, stall until you enter a cell site. I was recently in NV, and lost cell service 3 times, thus losing the nav until I entered back into a cell. Phones use GPS for tracking, but when you use Android navs it must reference a database online fir its mapping references. Using both I still prefer an in dash nav as opposed to Android based, but when you have a vehicle without nav it us a great substitute. I call it poor mans nav.

 

My experience with both GM and Ford nav "updates" has been abysmal... Both cost waay too much and both have left out major highway changes that were well over a year old... The sale price is likely because the "next" version is about to drop and they're trying to clear stock on the shelves.
I have taken to upgrading only every 3 - 4 years...

 

Annual updates don't come out until September. There isn't any stock either, they aren't programmed until you order with your specific VIN.

 

I believe updates are to the mapping information, only. No changes to the firmware of the Nav.

 

Not true. Plus: https://gmnavdisc.navigation.com/cms...en_US/GMNA/USD

 

Please describe any actually useful features of the factory nav that Android Auto lacks.

I find the graphics under Android Auto/Google Maps vastly superior, much easier to look at, etc than the factory nav. The factory nav, by comparison, look childish.

AA has multi stop routes. In fact, you can more easily plan your route in Google Maps on the Web at your desktop and send that route to your phone. And it's about 100x easier to ask Google Assistant to add a quick stop to a gas station.

Not at all if you bother to download map data for the trip you're about to go on, which GM now even suggests to you. Besides, you mean you don't have an unlimited data plan? How cheap are you?

Again, in this day and age, why wouldn't you have an unlimited data plan?

100% false! Perhaps if you were so cheap as to not get a decent plan AND ignored the warnings from GM to download the offline map while you were still on your WiFi at home, then yes, maybe you might have a problem... But in my experience, it's a very rare occurrence when I cannot get AA to navigate for me. And I drive to some pretty remote places.

Yes and aside from ignoring the prompt from GM to download offline-mapping data before you left on your trip when you think about it, you really don't need to be online to reference an online mapping source if all you're doing is using GPS to get to your destination. IOW, you don't need an internet connection to navigate but you do need it if you're gonna look up anything (and again, you were that dumb so as not to have downloaded this offline data when GM told you to do it).

Using the "in-dash nav" as opposed to the Android-based nav is not the issue. If you find yourself in a situation that you are way out nowhere and don't have mapping data (even the factory Nav system could not navigate me out of the Grand Canyon National Park) you could always switch to using the factory Nav if you really feel the need. Note: Sometimes that doesn't work.

Well, I call it the rich man's nav! As I've often said, getting from point A to point B using a GPS based navigation system is simple. All systems do this job well. The real point is how you feed such systems where you want to go and how the UI is. The factory nav on GM is about a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10 whereas GM and Waze are around a 7-9. If you want to hang around at level 3 then fine. But you don't know what you are missing.

 

What the hell are you talking about? That link only pointed to a bunch of navigational changes. It said absolutely nothing about any firmware updates. You do understand that firmware updates are in no way equivalent to just changing mapping data, right?

 

I’ve used all the popular nav devices and apps. They’ve all failed me at one time or another. To compensate, I generally use two at the same time.

$99 seems is cheep. It used to be much more for updates.

 

Auto NAV systems will soon be obsolete (old school). Phones will become more integrated with the car. I much prefer Google & Waze maps.

 

How exactly did they "fail" you? I've never had a single one of them fail to direct me to my destination ('cept the factory nav which one time led me down a dead end that it thought I could continue driving on).

 

You don't like factory nav systems (or are likely just too cheap to pay for them), we get it
I have Android Auto in my 2019 Jeep and it's terrible compared to the factory navigation system.

 

IMHO, I wouldn't call anybody cheap when they are comparing one system to another and the cost of the system that works 100% better is $0. IMO it's a fool who would spend money on a system that is inferior to another system, especially when that other system is free AND is constantly updated. There is no update for the nav system save mapping data. The functionality doesn't change because the software is stuck in the early 2000s...

The factory nav works but if you get into specifics it falls flat on its face as for a UI experience. For example, its voice recognition sucks *****. Other things like map updates 1) cost and 2) aren't very accurate considering how long it takes between map updates. You're limited to 5 stops, etc. These are real factors in using the system - it's not a factor of navigation but usage model and execution.

You say that AA is terrible in your Jeep compared to the jeep's navigation system which is really not an apples to apples comparison. And still, you provide zero details about how and why you feel it's terrible. What was so bad about AA in the Jeep - I'm curious.

 

Well, you said you rarely ever use it. There is no need to update it if thats the case. Keep the 99 bucks for something more useful. I personally always use Waze as it is much more helpful showing cops, routes you around traffic jams and provides better routes not to mention staying updated. And its free.

 

I agree built in nav systems are becoming obsolete. Just thought for $99 it may be worth keeping the system up to date.

 

I rarely use it now... However, I have a 2016 and in the beginning, the 2016's didn't support AA so I used the factory nav all the time. When the firmware update came to support AA I started using AA and really haven't look back. The only times I still use the factory nav is when coming back from a hike and my cell phone is dead and occasionally when I'm missing the turn by turn in the HUD (the one thing I really miss when using AA and as I understand it, it can work if GM changes their firmware to expose the API).

IMHO there are a number of things about Waze that I dislike (Android Auto with Google Maps (GM) vs Android Auto with Waze). Besides, GM now allows you to report "speed traps" (I haven't got it yet but as you know Google does rolling updates), plus I use JBV1 which connects to my Valentine 1 and also gets, from Waze data, those cop reports and alerts you about all of the cops with all the glory of the false positives that Waze gives you.

 

Sixgun, I'd be a buyer at $99. A lot of things/roads can change in 3 to 4 years. It may not get all of the changes as they happen so fast, but it will help IMHO. And, like other I don't update every year.