Giving up (next vehicle will have built-in nav system)

I'll bet you'll find the two can work together as the Ford system won't do some things the other can do.

Some inbuilt GPS do not allow any operation of the feature while driving. You have to stop to reroute, for instance. Not sure if this is the case with the newer models. And if it works perfectly, I can find uses for the 785T.
Thanks in advance.

I love the Fords, but it never hurts to have a back up. Your GPS should be small enough to keep in the glove box, unless your family needs it.

Can you load POIs to the Ford's GPS?

WOULD WAIT TO TEST IT OUT BEFORE YOU GET RID OF THE UNIT!

Before chucking the Garmin, compare the cost of map & POI updates of the Garmin (as low as $70 for lifetime maps for the Garmin and almost certainly under $100 from Amazon, etc.) to getting a single (or lifetime, if even offered) update for your Ford unit...unless of course, you plan to sell the Ford before its map becomes outdated.

Who really keeps a Garmin GPS if they have a $2000 factory system that does *almost* everything the Garmin unit does?

Good purchase OP - the Flex is an awesome ride.

From what I can find on the web, a single map update for a Ford Navigation system is $199. Compare that to $50 for a OneTime Garmin update or $70-100 for quarterly map updates for the life of a Garmin unit.

As much as I'd like the features,neatness and convenience of any motor company's built-in GPS units, the cost of map updates (and probably the inability to add custom POIs from this site or elsewhere) scare me.

Note, too, that no one's suggesting he needs to keep the Garmin--we are suggesting he hold off on dumping the Garmin, especially since the resale value of a used Garmin isn't going to be that significant.

Can POI's be added to the built in systems?
And if so, how hard is it to do?
Right now I just hook up the GPS to my laptop & add what ever I want.
Hard to get the car into the house let alone hook it up to the computer.

So can you Rip the Ford version out and take it withyou when you fly across the country and pickup a rental car?????

I'd keep the Garmin for that, plus you can always take the garmin out and run it over when it sends you down the wrong road and you want to pay the unit back for it, the ford one you have to punch the dash, and it cracks and then it makes it look bad.

Agree with the "take it with you" idea, You surely use other vehicles or your family has others. Mike

This is good advice

Exactly....But don't forget to take it out of the rental car when you return it...like I forgot to do..

I have also just bought a new Buick that has the nav system in it and it will not do as the Garmin, the only reason I even got the nav is that it comes with an awesome Bose stereo. I will still have the garmin with me. This nav system can be change as you drive and you can store favorites but you can not set custom POI's in it. It is On Star so we will see.

Thinks that we don't have are always better than stuff we are using

My advice will be to keep stand-alone gps and try built-in system before you decide. Especially, like others said, you can always take garmin with you to other car. And updates of maps are real pain for built-in units.

I have a Ford NAV unit and I rather use my Garmin. The map updates on the Ford are $200.00 per year. You can't type anything on the screen while the car is moving. You can't load POI. The routes are OK and the re-routes are awful. The POI database is small.
I do have a Buick NAV unit and the neat thing is that I can send POI from MapQuest to Onstar and then use them in my NAV unit. I would keep the Garmin since you will be disappointed with the Ford after using it for 1 month

Congratulations!! You just made an excellent decision to support domestic automaker.
Ford Flex is a wonderful vehicle from what I can tell. Great Choice.

A built in GPS would be easier for my wife to activate & use rather than her setting up a handheld unit every time she has a need to (she probably would just leave it in the glove compartment & take her chances). As most local roads are long established, I wouldn't have to buy & load the latest maps. For longer trips where I would be doing the driving, my Nuvi 765T w/lifetime maps would come into play.

Well, as I've indicated on here before, you may have wasted some money. If the Flex is a 2010, it will have Sync 3.0 installed. This system comes with a GPS module installed that will provide you with directions to any location in the U.S.. It also provides traffic and weather, and it is free for the first 3 years ($95.00 p/y thereafter). Granted, you don't have the large navigation screen to look at while you are navigating, but I have found that it will take me to any address and is VERY accurate. Also, I can go to www.syncmyride.com and put in up to 25 favorites that I can ask for directions to (in a short-cut way). In any case, I hope you love your new Flex as much as I love my Fusion Hybrid.

Cheers....... Joel

I have a 2007 Lexus in dash nav system and a garmin 1490T. I bought the Lexus in 2006 and it had most of the features that portable units are now just coming out with. In my opinion there is no comparison between the two units in searching, size of screen, blue tooth, rear camera, street identification while driving, smoothness of operation, voice activation, no cords, hiding the unit, and on and on and on. Can't install POI's but searching by category, street address and phone numbers is good enough. I recently replaced the DVD for $50 (got a special at a Lexus dealer) and installed it myself in less than two minutes. I love my Garmin unit also for my second car and rentals but as far as the overall operation it is not in the same category...They both have there place in the GPS world but are totally different. I cannot speak for other car manufacturer units.

That's the extra Toyota wanted. It's overpriced by $2,000.00 easy, and adds little to the resale value.

To each their own, I guess.

It is all about how much you can afford...
I am happy and satisfied with my Garmin GPSr, so far.

Built in flip uptray with 750 in my Frontier

Build in GPS are not good for nevigating while on bike or walking

I have a 2009 Lexus RX350, with Nav, and I won't get rid of my Garmin. Yeah the Lexus has a nice system, but I can't add POIs, No Traffic Updates, the Garmin routes better, can't use the Lexus Nav while moving other than voice commands, etc....

Keep em both, it's silly to get rid of the GPS you already have. You'll no doubt find, that you'll use the Garmin, just as much, like I do.

Good luck with that rash decision.....using my Garmin while traveling on vacation in a rental car with all my pre-planned trips and POI's is one of the best tools in years for traveling. Oh, and if I my car is in for repair, well, you get the picture....

the garmin then paper maps.

Well it doesn't make sense to get rid of the Garmin and I doubt that it is going to happen. I think that even having 2 Garmins' is a good idea, even if you have it built in. My sister has a top of the line Mercedes with built in everything and she admits that the Garmin works where her car doesn't. It's cheaper to keep her.

Don't know where you get your numbers from but you are way way off. To each his own...like I said I like them both...and of course portable units can go with you...duh!!!!and no I would not get rid of the Garmin....

There are some freeware and pay/shareware tools available to help you put POIs on a factory nav DVD. I know that many of the BMW nav units will support POIs.

Still... like many others on here I personally wouldn't get rid of the Garmin myself.

- Phil

In my opinion, what you get with in dash Navs is just not worth the price.

I have a Toyota 4-Runner with a built in GPS it cost me 2400 more, It works ok but not like a garmin.Its two years old now and if I want to update the maps it will cost me 300.00 plus I cant install POI's. So I would never get one built in.

Steve620, Actually it's a mere $200 plus installation . The local Lexus dealer charges $40 to pop a DVD in, since the DVD unit is in the trunk and you have to take out the tool kit, they extort another 40 bucks. Took me 5m to do it myself.

Still $200 is crazy, considering you can buy a NUVI for less than that.

quote: Some inbuilt GPS do not allow any operation of the feature while driving. You have to stop to reroute, for instance.

That's definitely a deal breaker for me.

There are pros and cons both ways and it is considered a safety issue. I have seen those trying to use their GPS's both in dash and portable wandering all over the road. My Lexus lets you use the phone and a couple of other features but not all of the search modes while driving. You can use all the features stopped or 5mph or less. I personally don't have a problem with it. Do love my Garmin also...

I have given up on Garmin. I have owned 5 models; 205, 405, 350, 750, and 765T but those added up to 9 units b/c of faults that required they be sent back to Garmin, (both the fitness units have been problem free) it would have been 10 but decided to void my warranty and open my 765 to fix the great bricking that occured from last years update. With an average of 9 days for the turnaround and $10 for the shipping I was minus my GPS for 54 days, and out of pocket $60.
Garmins one saving grace has always been their CS dept and they still do a good job if you have 30 minutes to wait on hold to actually talk to them, everytime they tell you "We are hiring more people" but that has been going on for 2 yrs now. Just having that long a wait sets off alarm bells that they recieve that many calls. This problem hit home this weekend as I decided to buy some Mad Maps for a spontaneous trip up the PCH, when trying to download them to via MY Garmin it kept seeing my 765 as my 405 and would not allow me to download, I called Garmin which had a recorded message about this problem so they already knew about it, by the time I got thru to CS I was already on the road and had to get a refund. Ended up fiddling with the routing to keep on Hwy 1 b/c the unit defaults to the 101.
Sadly I have stopped reccommending Garmin to friends and family b/c most including my Mother have had the same problems I have had. Now I just say "I cannot reccommend Garmin and I do not know enough about other makers to reccommend them".
I think next time I will also go with an indash unit combined with maybe the Tom Tom or Navigon app for my iPhone.

I was a proponent of in dash units once, but after seeing how well the portables worked and how expensive and infrequent the map/poi updates were for the in dash units, I'm a firm believer in the portables. Through use, I've found that I very seldom use the built-in POI database, relying instead on files from this site. I'd hate to move to a unit that didn't allow my custom set of POI's.

My Garmin Nuvi models last about 2-3 years based on average 1 per week usage. Here are the most common problem.

1. Power switch
2. Battery
3. Speaker

My Lexus built in has never had one single problem and have never had to call anyone regarding a problem. It is four years old now and works just like new. Updated the DVD with a year behind the current one for $50 and it took 2 minutes or less to load it. Didn't notice any significant changes other than restaurants that have opened or gone out of business. I think both types of units have their niche...

Yes, the Flex gps can be updated with a pocket drive.
I load the files from my pc to the pocket drive then plug it into my Flex gps to update.
Looks like my Jag is history.

I would ask where you get your numbers from, but you don't actually give any, you only say that the poster you are quoting is way off, but give nothing to back that up. His $3500 number (which you avoided quoting) seems correct and in the ballpark of what I have been quoted, and I'll assume he got it by comparing prices at a dealer for cars with and without the options. The $2000 number is only slightly more subjective, but I would say it is fair, my own estimate of how much one is being overcharged for the electronics being built in was higher ($2500-3000). And obviously, I don't feel that built-in GPS systems can justify the price, although there are clearly people who don't consider the price or the options.

I can't justify the cost of the in-dash systems compared to my nüvi. My current unit does everything I want or need. The "cool factor" just isn't worth the extra cost or the extra hassle regarding updates, etc.

I have the new kenwood in dash unit and the nav interface is by Garmin so pretty much all the features, menus and screens are the same as a high end Nuvi. I update the custom POI's by loading them to a SD card instead of the unit and then just plug the SD card into the Kenwood and it loads them into memory. Maps are updated the same way and I have the 2011.10 maps now. Also have traffic built in with both Navteq and Clear Channel lifetime. According to Garmin the Kenwood part of their business is getting very large and they anticipate offering the lifetime map updates for these units also.

Biggest advantages over the Nuvi 885T I just sold are the huge 7" screen, don't have to be constantly mounting and dismounting, always with you and ready to use, much faster operation and the nav is integrated with the audio system so nav voice instructions come through car speakers are very clear and easy to hear.

I really liked my 760 and the 885T I had but the new Kenwood/Garmin in dash is far nicer and way more convenient to use.

Well I do have numbers to back up my statement. I purchased a 2007 Lexus ES350 in May of 2006 and the sticker price was $2600. A Nuvi 350 which was a piece of crap sold for over $800. My built in then came with blue tooth, rear camera, speech recognition and was far superior to any portable on the market. I have had to have zero firmware updates, no battery issues, zero other problems and zero unit replacements. My built in unit still has features that portables do not have. I will repeat that they both have a niche in the market and I have one of each. I had a nuvi 750 which had to have over 16 firmware updates to fix problems and still didn't work right. Bought my son a 750 and he had to have it replaced twice due to battery issues. I recently had two 765T units that were bad and still have a keyboard and calibration issue that Garmin has been aware of since December. It takes several hours to install a new map on the portable units and takes me two minutes or less to install a DVD in the built in unit. What I am saying is I don't like someone downgrading something they have never used, tried or owned.

I haven't seen an in dash model that I like yet. Yes, they look nice but that's about it. Also, obsolete very fast.

You couldn't be more wrong...tell me how they become obsolete....which have you owned or tried?

Yeah I agree with you guys.. The in-car systems can't load camera locations, easilly load POI's, etc. I'm amazed that the $200 Garmins kick the you-know-what out of the $2000 car systems

You have obviously never owned one. At least a good one!!!!

Neither have you, if you have the same unit as my 2009 RX350

$2000 is quite pricey.