Adding Nav to a non-Nav Touring
 

Just picked up the Z this week (MB, Touring + Sport) and have been thinking about adding an after-market nav in place of the small storage area. I just couldn't bring myself to pay an extra $1800 for the stock nav.

I stopped by Car Toys last night to get a feel for the shop and see what they could do. I've heard some horror stories on the net but they were very helpful and knowledgeable. They weren't slinging me any BS and weren't pushy at all.

I'm looking for recommendations on the Nav unit itself. In an ideal world, it would simply be a Nav and DVD player. I don't need bluetooth or any other options as the stock system meets my needs well.

I'm new to the aftermarket arena but have been doing some preliminary research. I don't think such a device exists - they generally have a ton of features I don't want.

It looks like I may need to go with a portable unit and forego any notions of playing DVDs. We're considering a Navigon that perhaps flips down when you lift up the compartment lid.

Any ideas? Anyone have any experience with Navigon? Would love some help and I'm willing to be a guinea pig for the rest of the non-nav touring owners. :)

Did you get the Touring model without the nav, but with the Bose system?

Yes. Sorry if I wasn't clear. She's a Touring model, which has the integrated Bose system. I don't want to replace it.

Options are limited and vendors like ProClip have not yet made their mounts for the 370Z. As of yet no one has made anything to replace or fit in the flip-up console lid area.

When I bought my '07 Z the dealer promised he would put in the best aftermarket navigation possible (after he promised he would install a factory unit into it, which he also said he found out was impossible) into the small storage compartment....when I arrived to pick it up the Avic-N2 was installed, but to my dismay not in the small storage compartment...the dealer told me it was not possible to put in there (probably a lie---but I'm not sure)....the model I had was a touring edition ithad the bluetooth and bose system...and when they installed the new nav they had to disconnect the factory bluetooth and eventually disconnect the bose system because it made a loud buzzing noise everytime you pusshed a button on the touch screen....boy had i wished i just bought an expensive portable nav and never missed with the "best" aftermarket one with all of the extras....so I think you are making the right move by going with the navigon

Thanks for the info SMcK23. Sounds like you maybe had a crummy dealer who didn't know what they were doing. :(

The more I think about it, the more I think a portable unit will fit my needs. Easier to update. Easier to replace. Cheaper to install. More options when it comes to the storage area.

Now to decide on which unit. I like the Navigon's UI but don't want to buy a crappy unit just because it's pretty. Trying to find decent reviews of various units is hard. CNet's are all pretty old.

i got touring without navi but with bose as well. i'm going to wait it out. the car is too new. hopefully a good 6 months down the road, there will be something that is good and affordable.

I'm leaning the same way, but the 370Z is so tightly designed that putting it somewhere is going to be the trick. The best mount I have seen in one on the steering column of a late model Mini, but that's because the instruments are shared with the middle of the dash.

sounds like they wired your N2 straight into the harness for the audio of the car which is the wrong thing to do. most vehicles that have a "brand name" (ie the Bose system in your altima, or in a Z) have external amps, usually under the front seats or somewhere remote from the head unit (usually a cd changer). whenever you hook in the aftermarket stereo, it's amplified internally and that signal goes to your amps and screws with them. this can be avoided two ways, either bypassing those amps all together and taking them out, or running the sound to the factory amps out of the RCA outputs that are supposed to go to aftermarket amps since that signal is unamplified:tup:

your best route is probably to get a handheld unit (or possibly investigate getting a nav system through your cell phone provider if your phone is capable of this). or going ahead and replacing the head unit all together with a good aftermarket double DIN dvd/nav system. i have the pioneer avic-d3 and i love it. i've got it bypassed (VERY easy to do) so it will play dvd's anytime and the user interface is top notch. although it's not made anymore the replacements are pretty nifty too and most come with bluetooth built in, some with voice commands for hands free use. if you would like to investigate this route, check out avic411.com, that's a good forum for avic users, lots of info there

edit: you may be hesitant to replace your stock head unit so quickly after buying a new car but trust me, it will sound better than stock (when hooked up the right way, lemme know if you decide to go this way and i'll try to do what i can to help and get info on that) and be worth the upgrade, also it doesn't have to stay with the car if you decide to get another one a few years down the road so you can always keep the stock bose unit to put back in it. i've got my crappy single disc player that came in my truckup in the attic, it only stayed in my dash for 3 days while i waited on my dash kit to come in from crutchfield

I'm not particularly known for my patience. Once I have a wild hair about something it's hard to drop it. Is there anything out there for the 350 that was built for similar needs?

You're right. I am pretty hesitant to go with a new unit with such a new car. I'm honestly pretty happy with the bluetooth sycnh and the sound out of the factory BOSE system. I also like how clean and integrated everything looks. I can't really justify (especially to the wife) that we should put more dollars into it when we opted for the Touring (though we did seek out a base, there were none with the Sports Package in the area).

I'm heavily leaning towards a portable nav with a custom cradle in the storage area. Still...I would love me some DVD. :) Of course now we buy everything in Blue Ray.

yea that's another thing to consider is waiting to see if blu ray becomes the standard media for in car video anytime soon, only way to do it now is to hook up a ps3 and input the video but it would only be 480i to any head unit on the market today so what's the point lol. i took some pics of a volvo that had 2 HDTV's in it with a ps3 in chicago, the thing was wicked cool (it was a swedish generals vehicle from WW2) so that transition to blu ray has already started in some ways

I doubt Blu-ray will enter into the car audio/video sector this year, if you want it you can do it besides using a PS3 but at what cost? Also, screen resolutions will have to be increased and do we really need more than 800x480 (or similar) in a car?

What we will see probably is a move to hard drive based systems, SSD drives are becoming extremely cheap and have increased capacity quickly, not beyond mechanical drives but maybe in 2-4 years.

agreed dreamer, there isn't much need for HDTV on a 6 or 7" screen, but as a storage medium it'd be nice to have 40gb discs full of music, i've got almost all of my mp3's on one dvd that i just leave in my avic all the time and just scroll through to find what i want to listen to when i'm not on random

Yep, but I see hard drives being the next step in cars before Blu-ray even before just storage medium. I think Blu-ray is going to end up being a great home theater media, but outside that there are better products, hard drives (SSD, mechanical, flash, SD cards, etc.), media players (Zune, iPod, Archos, Creative, etc.), and of course just DVD.

the more i think about the navi, it just makes me want to get a handheld one. because with all the fancy all in one navi's out there, i just want to have a navi installed in the cubby area. i don't want to touch the stereo and all that stuff. i just want a basic navi for my car without all the dvd stuff.

If you beat me to it, I'd love to see what you came up with. If not, I'll post up pics and as much about the install as I can.

As for blue ray in cars or not - I'd love to see larger hard drives become the standard. It boggles my mind that 9 GB is presented as an awesome feature. 50 GB and I'd be more sold. Cars are waaaay behind the technology trends when it comes to in-car entertainment.

I also wouldn't ignore the market share and sheer brand power that Blue Ray has, useful or not.

I went the cheap route. Don't think that looking down at a nav in the radio spot is a good idea while driving. These Nuvis have the Garmin maps and database, and line of sight is good in this position. Doesn't look bad either imo.
I ran the cord down behind the speedo and behind the center to the ac plug in the passanger footwell (unscrewed the bracket and placed it up under the dash so it's hidden).

I agree, I really don't like looking down at mine because the road isn't even in my peripheral edge vision when I look down. That's where text-to-speech is a godsend.

that actually doesn't look that bad. can you post pics on how you've hidden the wire?

Actually... no. Because I can't see it. As you can see in the one picture posted, the cord drops straight down behind the guage pod and dissapears. It comes out in the driver side footwell below where I simply routed it behind the center console and out into the pasasanger side footwell. I unscrewed the bracket that holds the ac plug-in and after pluging in the cord, placed it up behing the dash in that area where it is out of site. A couple of zip ties and everything is secure and invisible.
The nav comes on with the ignition and the really nice thing is the touch screen is right there at your fingertip off the steering wheel. The screen is plenty big enough to read easily that close and you never lose your vision of what's up ahead when you look at it.
The possible downside is that the disk that you need to stick down on the dash is likely to leave a mark if you remove it after it's been there for a long while. Those things really stick so it's best that you consider the disk as permanent.
Also you lose the use of that ac plug on the passanger side so the one in the center glovebox will be the only one left unless you opt to hardwire the cord into a ign hot source.
Doing it this way is pretty much instant gratification as it was basically plug n play that took all of about 15 minutes.

^ okay i think i know what you are talking about. i think i'm sold for a handheld navi like garmin nuvi 885t. looks good and it's got voice command. but i dont' like to have that little remote controller thing for the voice command on the steering wheel. hopefully i can find a better place for the remote controller.

You should also check into the Navigon 7300t. It has a built-in mic I believe. It's not out yet but should be out this spring. They have quite a few others as well. Some mixed reviews but I love the UI.

Products - Navigon USA

hmm interesting. i'll wait for some reviews of the product. i need voice command. and if the new one is a lot better than the previous models, i guess i'm sold.

does anybody know if they came out with the double din dash kit for the non nav with bose system yet?

Looks like you can just buy the double din bezel, from Nissan, the one that would go on a base model. See other threads where people have done that, including the Kenwood install thread.

Here's a simple, handy mount I just whipped up. I only use my Nav when traveling so I don't need it mounted all the time. This Installs/removes in seconds and puts your Nav exactly where you want it. It would be nice to mount it in the Cubby, but the angle of the lid when open is kinda goofy.....I'm going to refine this a bit as I make Nav holders for Audi's and have some other hardware to play with . This is just the first pass...

More pics at the link below..

http://images49.fotki.com/v1489/phot...MG_1436-vi.jpg

http://images49.fotki.com/v1459/phot...MG_1430-vi.jpg

http://images44.fotki.com/v1486/phot...MG_1432-vi.jpg

Real quick:

I have a Touring 370z with No Nav. I absolutely hate the Bose Stereo system and I figuring on killing 2 birds with 1 stone and install an aftermarket Nav/Stereo.

I know as of right now I would have to get the Non Nav/Touring Dash Kit for my Touring Z. My question is, anyone know what the exact size opening it is? I'm looking at a few different Nav options (Pioneer AVIC-F900BT) to be exact and the specs are 6.5 x 7 x 4 inches.

Does anyone know if this will fit flush?

I ended up deciding to save the money and went with a cheaper solution. It's not as clean but after talking it over with friends, I don't want to have to get the work redone when I decide I want a different nav unit somewhere down the line.

Costco has a good sale on the Magellan Roadmate 1412. It does pretty much everything I need it to and looks decent to boot. Hard to beat for $100.

I did play with the Navigons, and while the display is sexy as hell, the UI is just too cumbersome.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3332/...1249c963_b.jpg

I need to work on hiding the wire a bit better. Any ideas on what to tack it down with?