Ford Navigation or Garmin

Keep the Garmin with LMT and save your money.
I have never heard anything but headaches from built dash GPS. Oh and the cost of upgrading is expensive.

A friend has 2011 Ford Edge with nav. I've used it and like it. He recently received an upgrade to the system, no charge. Personally, map updates are not that important. The roads do not change all that much.

Given the choice, I would go with the in dash.

Again, just my opinion.

Scott, you've answered your own question. 2011 maps?

Being a Ford Tech, keep the Garmin.

have an in dash in my Toyota. Updates are expensive. True roads don't change that much, but POI's do. I would keep the Garmin

to maintain or keep current and likely they are never going to be as current as Garmin or the POI files you get here.

Have a 2011 Ford Escape....
and a Nuvi 660.

Nuvi 660 wins in a heartbeat.

There is no custom POI's on Ford.
There is no way to avoid gravel roads on Ford.
There is no Lifetime Maps on Ford.
The "One Time" Ford Map upgrades are ~ $200.00 'on sale' (Free Shippng-- WOW)
If you are used to adding a favorite in Garmin 660, doing so on the Ford is an absolute chore, and not at all intuitive.

However.....
Both can at times do strange routing.....

I have a Ford Taurus with built-in GPS and almost never use it. I find the Ford GPS very difficult to use: I can only add 50 "favorite" locations and then each location has to be added manually The pre-loaded POIs cannot be searched or sorted. And I don't think I will be paying $200 for updates.

Perhaps I am too comfortable with the Garmins I have been using for the past seven years or so, but I think the built-in GPS is nowhere near as useful as the Garmin.

We have a Lincoln MKS with factory Nav and a Garmin 2360LMT.

Advantages of the in-dash - mutes the radio for navigation instructions. Built-in, so no dealing with cables and dragging out the GPS - so you are more likely to use it and keep it up.

Disadvantages of the in-dash - map update cost ($200) is more than the cost of a Garmin with lifetime maps. Interface is harder to use - particularly searching for POI's if you are used to Garmin.

Garmin. The Ford in dash GPS is expensive to update and if they change the format which has in a friend of mine's Ford it is outlandishly expensive has you have to buy if thru Ford and they buy if from a third party source. I forget the cost he told me but I was shocked. If you don't mind driving with outdated maps, in dash GPS is the way to go but they are seldomly updated and expensive to ridiculously expensive to do so.

Always stay with the Garmin, I have a Toyota Avalon with Navigation and the system is ok but I always take my Garmin when I go on trips, it is so much better that my car navigation.

Don't know about the Ford Nav system. I have a Lexus in dash Navigation and just returned from a 3,253 mile trip through Washington, Oregon and California. It took and found all the places I asked it to. The map is 3 years old but had no problems at all..If a POI for a restaurant wasn't found all I had to do was type in the address. (Only happened once.) No wires and worrying about theft, charging, etc.

After monitoring the following site for four years I decided there were too many problems with Ford's navigation.

http://boards.synccommunity.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=ford...

I bought an Explorer XLT with everything I wanted with no navigation. It was hard to find. It finally came from 250 miles away.

The last time I talked to Ford about an update, it was quoted at $199.00 for the update.

Did the update have to be dealer installed, or could you do it?

For the annual cost of map updates for a car manufacturer's GPS, it's like buying a new Garmin every year but with less functionality and features than a Garmin. I would stick with the Garmin.

In my original post I wrote "He recently received an upgrade to the system, no charge." I was referring to a system update not an update to the maps. He was given the option of having the dealer do the update or doing it himself. He chose DIY and was given a flash drive with the update.

My nephew have one of those GPS mounted on the dashboard, everything on the map look like just 1 color,look like more like a mono color to me, does not mention street name,but the usualy stuff like in 200 yard make right or left, no store icon,no speed or red light camera warning,the only thing I notice that was working was the line assistance, and $200 for a map update is not worth it. he try to enter a driving direction on his GPS by turning the knob,it took him 15 minutes to do it when it only take 2 minutes to do on mine.

Thanks but no Thanks I stick on my c550 and 1450. they do what it supposed to do and always give me the right directions.

The update comes on a SD card, and is very easy to change, the NAV system will detect the new caqrd and install it.

$200 for a single update, seriously???
I don't care how easy they make it. SD cards the size for a map update cost single digit dollars at retail these days. Ford and any other car maker charging 100's of dollars for a single map update ought to be ashamed. Not to mention the initial cost of the gps system manufacturers charge.
I'll stick with my nuvi and would recommend one. It's expensive enough (with lifetime updates) compared to a paper map where they actually have some cost to produce it.

$200 buys you a good Garmin unit with lifetime maps and probably lifetime traffic too. Rarely use the factory GPS in our vehicles. Much prefer the Garmin 3590LMT.

No brainer, Garmin all the way

Get the Garmin. Ford upgrades are expensive, POI's are not updated as often, and the routes are the not the best.

The last two cars I bought the in dash was a $1600.00 option, as far as I'm concerned that's crazy.

I have a 2011 Taurus Limited with the nav system. I use my old nüvi 760. I like it better. The built-in is fine and works but I don't like the directions as well. I have used the built-in a couple of times but greatly prefer the Garmin.

As stated before I have a Toyota Avalon and the Garmin runs circles around the Toyota navigtator

I have 2 vehicles with the factory Nav but I prefer my Garmin for several of the reasons listed above but primarily for the ability to easily add POI files and that I get four free map updates a year.

I go with Garmin-

Me too.

-Garmin-

My experience is you will always get more updated maps and info from Garmin vs any built in gps. The cost for updates, no matter which auto manufacturer, is always ridiculous and rarely worth it. The one advantage of a manufacturers built in gps is the cosmetics of having it built in.

Not only do I get the map updates for my Garmin (Ford wants $200 for an update) but I still use the old nüvi 760 that plays audio files. I travel for work sometimes and I listed to books either in .mp3 format or (greatly preferred) audible format. The books from audible.com allow bookmarks. They also pause briefly when the 760 gives me directions and then back up a second or so and resume where they left off. Waaaaaaaaaaay better than using the on-board nav system.

Quite often when driving in unfamiliar territory, I find that I'm glancing at my Nuvi to see the speed limit. I have not found that speed feature on the Lincoln MKS navigation system.

I may use the MKS system (6 weeks old), but I'll always take along my Nuvi.

I have a factory system in one of my vehicles (2007 Ford). It's a nice unit, especially the display which is large and has excellent resolution. The voice is excellent as well: it has a friendly "professional" quality to it. I also like the double chime as you approach the point of a turn. The user interface is a little clunky though when entering an address or finding a POI.

It it worth $1000+ as an option? IMO: No. The maps are now almost 6 years out of date because I refuse to shell out $200+ for an update.

I like it but you can't beat the lifetime map updates that came with my 2595.