Navigation units that work in Canada

[googe]

Hey, looking for a nav unit that has real support for Canada. Not the typical 3 cities and trans-canada highway that some manufacturers are doing.

Has anyone looked into these yet? I was looking at the Pioneer unit, curious how well the Canadian coverage is.

[E36M3]

You could buy the Mercedes COMAND system from me for much less than an aftermarket system. It works great in Calgary -- I have had no problems getting around everywhere.

I want to upgrade mine, it is less than 3 months old, Mercedes OEM, but it can work in any car.

Originally posted by googe
Hey, looking for a nav unit that has real support for Canada. Not the typical 3 cities and trans-canada highway that some manufacturers are doing.

Has anyone looked into these yet? I was looking at the Pioneer unit, curious how well the Canadian coverage is.

[googe]

What are you "upgrading" exactly? What do you need that it doesnt do?

[jdmakkord]

Alpine

[rage2]

Garmin Street Pilot 3 has the best coverage... even smaller towns .

It's a portable unit.

My Alpine PowerNav has a 4 year old disc, the newer disc update supposedly has a lot more cities coverage. In Alberta, I only have southern alberta (calgary and surrounding areas)

[E36M3]

I'm getting the European version with television, DVD, smart traffic routing and a couple other goodies. It also allows you to send email rather than just receive it.

Originally posted by googe
What are you "upgrading" exactly? What do you need that it doesnt do?

[googe]

Last I checked, alpines system was mostly useless in Canada.

That Garmin one looks good. Does it actually have within the smaller towns, or just show them on the map?

I have heard the new pioneer unit is really good for the US, accurate enough to show which lane youre in and has restaurants, gas stations, etc. That would be really cool, but I dont know what they have for Canada. Supposedly kenwood has something too.

Anyone have info on either of these?

[E36M3]

FYI - the comand system works flawlessy in Calgary, has Restaurants, Parking, and pretty much anything else you would find in a yellow pages and hasn't disappointed me yet.

Originally posted by googe
Last I checked, alpines system was mostly useless in Canada.

That Garmin one looks good. Does it actually have within the smaller towns, or just show them on the map?

I have heard the new pioneer unit is really good for the US, accurate enough to show which lane youre in and has restaurants, gas stations, etc. That would be really cool, but I dont know what they have for Canada. Supposedly kenwood has something too.

Anyone have info on either of these?

[rage2]

Originally posted by googe
Last I checked, alpines system was mostly useless in Canada.

Like I said, it's got all of GVA, GTA, southern alberta. In Calgary, it's got all restaurants, stores, gas stations, you name it. It doesn't, however, have any 7-11 or Mac's. The Garmin has all that.

Originally posted by googe
That Garmin one looks good. Does it actually have within the smaller towns, or just show them on the map?

Got all the roads in the small towns. Helped me find my way to the dog breeder's place last year in the middle of nowhere.

Originally posted by googe
I have heard the new pioneer unit is really good for the US, accurate enough to show which lane youre in and has restaurants, gas stations, etc. That would be really cool, but I dont know what they have for Canada.

Kenny has the Pioneer unit, but it's broken, so he's never used it.

[googe]

Originally posted by rage2

Got all the roads in the small towns. Helped me find my way to the dog breeder's place last year in the middle of nowhere.

Hah, thats really cool. If only it were a little more visually pleasing. Wonder if I could hack around with it to hook it up with an existing LCD. That mercedes one doesnt sond bad either. Could probably get it alot cheaper too

[t"raver1"smith]

best systeem i know of is the Revolution Auto PC.

[-APEX-]

hey go for onstar or an alpine my buddy in edmontong got an on star in his dad chevy jus talk into it and it finds the place

[tlarkin]

Good Question on the navigation system. I've been researching new vehicles with navigation systems recently. Most specifically the Acura TL which comes with a navigation system. Their web site has an Adobe document entitled "ACURA NAVIGATION SYSTEM WITH BILINGUAL VOICE RECOGNITION." It appears there is very good coverage in Canada. I only recently found out that there are after market GPS systems available e.g. Alpine. They certainly are pricey though.

I have a Garman 196 which is a three way aviation, nautical and land (road) based gps. It is monochrome grey but has terrific resolution. It was only 1/2 the cost of after market vehicle navigation systems.

Like yourself, I'm curious as to how well the aftermarket systems perform. There are some nice new vehicles out there but very few come with navigation systems, at least in Canada. As a result it seems we are limited to after-market systems until the manufactures get the message we want such systems available as a option.

If anyone has any information on Alpine or any other system out there, it would be good to hear from you.

Thanks