Sam Khoury

When GS430 GUY and myself were comparing DVD Navigation units at the Northeast meet on Sunday there were some distinct differences between the interface from the one in his 2001 GS430 and my 2002 GS300 SportDesign. Mine seem to have more features and options but he had the more up to date DVD for 2002. The DVD in my unit was from 2001 (don't ask me why). I think it said 2001 V1. Maybe GS430 GUY can help me out here. My disclaimer screen when you first turn on the car had the option to choose between French and English, his didn't. Mine had plus and minus signs for zoom in and zoom out and his had the words on the screen. There were other obvious differences between them in terms of the menus and stuff. At the next meet I want to take pictures of the differences and post them up.

I'm wondering if these differences are a result of the "operating system" of the navigation system or what's on the DVD itself. The reason I'm asking this is because he had a newer DVD but it seemed like mine had more options. I don't want to upgrade to the new DVD and lose options because I think once I put new DVD in the system, I can't go back to the old version.

If anybody has any thoughts or info, please let us know.

(Moderators, I wasn't sure if this should go in the Lexus Electronics section. If it does, could you please move it. Thanks.)

theanimala

I had no idea there was any difference. I would say check out what the dealer has on their lot and compare it with yours. If not now, they should have cars with a newer DVD then yours soon.

I have a 98 GS with the HD based nav. I upgraded it once in 2000. I firmly believe that you do not have to update these things each and every year. Even the new one did not have every updated road. Unless a specific area is added that you need to have, I would not upgrade more then every other year. That being said, by version 2000 software works perfectly and get's me every where I want to go.

VVT-i

The 02 has more features and totally difference looks on the screen. Your DVD said version 01 because it was designed in 01. All the new features in the 02 are in the operating system/hard drive and not in the DVD. The 01 and 02 system is not interchangeable either. Which mean I can't upgrade my 01 to 02 and that s%ck.

GS430 GUY

VVT-i,
So I am stuck with my 01 interface and will not be able to upgrade to the 02 interface that Sam has? That stinks

I upgraded my 01 NAV from DATA 2000 ver.1 to DATA ver.02.1. Next meet I am going to have to mess around with Sam's NAV and see all the different features. Sam was nice enough to show me you can change the color hues on the screen and he had a whole bunch of more options when the Menu button was pressed. My question is can a person with the 02 NAV upgrade to the DATA version I have? I would assume so if the features are in the Operating System and not in the DVD. I wonder if Devil Dog or Lexus-Parts knows the answer on this for confirmation. Oh well, I will enjoy my 01 NAV, maybe it's better that I don't mess around with the 02 NAV and see what I am missing out on, ya know?

GlobeCLK

iTrader: (5)

at least you guys get the widescreen and the nice detailed stuff. We 2000 and before people are stuck with a small screen and bad colors! yah.:eek:

joedoe

VVT-i , I'm not sure you're right. I think you can upgrade 2000/2001 DVD system with 2002 upgrade. This upgrade not only adds maps but also changes the operating system as well. It is why after you have done with the upgrade you can't go back and downgrade system to 2000 or 2001 version of DVD.

DevilDog

Sorry, but VVT-i is right.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Upgrades are provided for each system, but basically there's 3 systems (at least):

'98-'00 (hard drive)
'01 DVD
'02 DVD

They're either different hardware, or firmware or something else.

So you can get new data discs (hard drive or DVD) for all 3 systems but that will never make them the same.

As far as yearly upgrades, each year has definitely brought operational improvements to my older HD-based system so even if I don't get more roads, it's worth it, since I use my nav a LOT. A guy I work with also has a 2000 GS (like mine) only he hasn't upgraded his system (it has '99 HD data, and mine has '01 data I guess). He noticed mine operates a lot faster than his indicating performance optimization has been made. Also, mine never used to announce 2 turns at a time but it does now ("right turn ahead and then left turn at the light" for example).

joedoe

I think we're mixing two different subjects here. Yes, 2002 ES300 DVD system is different from GS DVD based system. But the real question is: is 2002 GS system programmatically different from 2001 GS, or will 2002 GS DVD work in 2001 nav system? I'm not sure that it won't.

If somebody disagree with me, please explain why.