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Want To Add Navi To Your Is?


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Didn't realise the factory fit Sat Nav units were motorised so I've just gained a bit more knowledge on the subject.

The idea I had was a simple open and close tray, some sort of bracket to slot my Tom Tom into and run the power feed down the back to the cigarette lighter, no messing about with electrics.

I just thought it would be neater to slot my Tom Tom into the space when using it, pop the lid down or just slide it out when it's not required. I wanted a second centre, pop up unit to play around with in terms of fabricating a bracket as I don't want to risk damaging the original.

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That's the stock Lexus one. They did a 7" version too (same, just bigger screen - fills the whole front) and it's these that people modify with up to date aftermarket nav units;

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I like the idea of the motorised dedicated nav too, and I'm not saying for one minute that it's not worth doing. However for me, I use nav in my car maybe once every couple months, it's not worth the hassle or expense - figure a motorised unit is going to cost upwards of £100, a TomTom or other nav is another £50, plus time, and a few more quid making it all work together; to me that cost isn't worth it. If I was using it everyday then sure, but for the rare occasions I use nav in my IS, it simply isn't worth it to me...

I also hate things stuck to screens, which is why I don't use the little baby TomTom I had as a spare, and instead use my iPhone - which spends it's life (when it's in the IS) clipped to a dedicated holder next to the head unit, connected to a Grom for charging a music playback;

ojqjc4.jpg

Load up Maps on that, and not only do I have GPS guided turn by turn, but Siri also gives me voice instructions through the Grom, attenuating the music when needed, and restoring the volume when not.

Back to the TomTom - it was something I discussed at great lengths with some very clever electronics people, who have done the retrofit nav's to IS's on another forum, and the general consensus was that the only real way to get it working was as I outlined above - rewiring the whole power switch set up to the buttons on the left and right of the unit. The way the power switch on the TomTom is, means you have to manually turn it on and off.

I did get hold of a cheapish (£45) Chinese GPS 7" touchscreen Window CE tablet, that runs iGo nav, in an attempt to get TomTom Navigator running on it, but to no avail. For a start I'm a Mac man these days, and don't have the Windows equipment to be messing around with WinCE, and also it's notoriously hard to get TT Navigator running on a WinCE device, as it can be very picky as to which ones it will and won't run on, often with seemingly no pattern as to which it likes and which it doesn't.

I could still use my motorised unit to have a reverse cam running, just depends if I can be bothered!

I have to admit i hardly use the nav also so i understand where your coming from. What your saying makes perfect sense. I was also thinking along the lines of Barney thinking it would be straight forward, but from what you've said it seems it is indeed easier said than done. That is also the reason i thought someone might be interested in my original link because from what i can see the hard work has been done for you and all you have to do is slot it in but does make me wonder how it powers up after what you said

BTW just a thought for you, you do realise the reverse cam practicality and accuracy is limited vs a beep indicator or metre readout to show you exactly how far a object is from your car. Ive seen reverse cameras and they are useless for judging distances.

Windows CE - When tomtom first came out i quite easily installed it on my CE device. this is going back maybe 6 or 7 years now not sure what problem you might run into except knowing where the maps go which if i remember is in the root on SD. If anything apple is more restrictive

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Regarding the eBay item at the start of this thread, the seller has accepted a best offer...............I was going to ask him if it powers up and down, unless it's someone on here I'll guess we'll never know.

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Windows CE - When tomtom first came out i quite easily installed it on my CE device. this is going back maybe 6 or 7 years now not sure what problem you might run into except knowing where the maps go which if i remember is in the root on SD. If anything apple is more restrictive

apple is way more restrictive when it comes to mobile devices, yes. But I don't actually need to do anything to my apple device to get from it what I want - well, other than press the Maps icon!

I read up quite a bit on getting TomTom on the Chinese WinCE GPS's, and it's very hit and miss nowadays, mainly because of 1) the variations in the hardware in the devices, and also 2) because TomTom isn't "approved" for use on these devices, so there's no official installers, it's all done with patches and modified root files, etc. Some have got it working, some haven't. I tried, and it wouldn't boot. Tried again in a different way, and it booted, but wouldn't load any maps and kept error'ing. So I gave up - because it wasn't worth bothering with really.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ian,

The GS looks good! When are you showing it off?

Any details about the Rother Valley meet? (That is if 5-Series are welcome if the 9-3 has gone) :whistling:

Eyup Ray, how's things?

Will be posting pics up soon, having it valeted by a friend first. The rother valley meet probably wont be till next spring/summer, but you are welcome at the plank and leggit.

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Ian,

The GS looks good! When are you showing it off?

Any details about the Rother Valley meet? (That is if 5-Series are welcome if the 9-3 has gone) :whistling:

Eyup Ray, how's things?

Will be posting pics up soon, having it valeted by a friend first. The rother valley meet probably wont be till next spring/summer, but you are welcome at the plank and leggit.

All good here Ian. Rother Valley is only 20 minutes from me so that would be good. Becks Vier on draft too!

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Yeah, turbo went a few weeks back and left Manchester in thick white smoke.....

Taken the head off to check for damage and all is OK. Replaced the big end shells and mains and the head gasket while it was all in bits.

New turbo and it's all OK. All in just under 200 quid plus 18 hours of my time.... ***** timing chains :crying:

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Yeah, turbo went a few weeks back and left Manchester in thick white smoke.....

Taken the head off to check for damage and all is OK. Replaced the big end shells and mains and the head gasket while it was all in bits.

New turbo and it's all OK. All in just under 200 quid plus 18 hours of my time.... ***** timing chains :crying:

Like this? :lol:

Saw this vid ages ago and thought of it lol

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I honestly don't see the point in getting a top tray sat nav. Just upgrade youre current stereo system do a double din cd/DVD and sat nav combined unit and kills 2 birds with one stone. Not only does it give you easy to use sat nav but also upgrades the dash to modern da spec . Or am I missing something here ?

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I honestly don't see the point in getting a top tray sat nav. Just upgrade youre current stereo system do a double din cd/DVD and sat nav combined unit and kills 2 birds with one stone. Not only does it give you easy to use sat nav but also upgrades the dash to modern da spec . Or am I missing something here ?

i can only think the word "angle" :shifty:

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I honestly don't see the point in getting a top tray sat nav. Just upgrade youre current stereo system do a double din cd/DVD and sat nav combined unit and kills 2 birds with one stone. Not only does it give you easy to use sat nav but also upgrades the dash to modern da spec . Or am I missing something here ?

i can only think the word "angle" :shifty:
i agree with this. If mine didnt already have it I would of deff just killed the two birds lol. However bc I already had navi I just got a grom type device so now I have all I need and I must admit prefere the oem look
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I honestly don't see the point in getting a top tray sat nav. Just upgrade youre current stereo system do a double din cd/DVD and sat nav combined unit and kills 2 birds with one stone. Not only does it give you easy to use sat nav but also upgrades the dash to modern da spec . Or am I missing something here ?

i can only think the word "angle" :shifty:
i agree with this. If mine didnt already have it I would of deff just killed the two birds lol. However bc I already had navi I just got a grom type device so now I have all I need and I must admit prefere the oem look

And the beauty of the Grom device is you don't need a separate sat-nav! Open up Google (or Apple) maps, and have live sat-nav running, and if you like the voice directions, have it go through the Grom and out the speakers - while you also play music!

I was going to do the top tray sat-nav mod, but since I began using my iPhone's turn by turn nav, I just don't need it. It's a real shame that the iPad Mini is just that bit too big to fit in the standard nav housing, cos that would be superb

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