2016 Volkswagen Navigation Map DVD V9 Australia for RNS 510 Maps VW OEM Pre Order

[arcadelt]

Well if they are so much better use one and dont growl about the price of manufacturers prices.

Yes, quite right. But like you and your Passat, I am locked into the proprietary solution. If I had understood the ongoing cost and availability of maps when I chose to upgrade I probably would have gone the CarPlay route that I was also considering at the time.

[The_Hawk]

It's amazing how cheap 3rd party stand alone units are vs built in ones. I think some of the manufacturer prices are set so high for two reasons:

1. Individually they have pretty low unit sales therefore have much higher licencing costs vs TomTom who will be outselling them by an order or two or magnitude.

2. They can.


Given how (relatively) cheap mobile data is and how good something like Google/Apple Maps is AND it's free to use... we *feel* like a few hundred $$ is expensive. Consider the cost of a a printed UBD map for each state is what you're getting in digital form it's probably not all bad... but yes you're paying for stuff you'll likely never use.

These days my usage is pretty split. Getting home is almost always using the built in system when I can simply press "take me home" and away it goes. Heading out somewhere is mostly using my phone since it's usually easier and quicker to enter my destination into Google Maps (or talk to the phone!). But sometimes I do use the built in units.
(We have an RNS in the Golf and a Pioneer AVIC in the Multivan)


If I had my time over today I'd probably lean towards something with CarPlay (or whatever the Android equivalent is called) over a dedicated unit, but ultimately would probably buy still buy something with it's own nav/maps onboard because I feel that a built in unit tends to integrate with the speed sensors and compass etc to keep working based on other inputs when you lose a GPS signal (like in a tunnel or in a city). It's also handy to have completely offline maps for those times you're out of mobile data range (yes I know there are stand alone apps but I've never bought/installed one and who knows if they work with CarPlay if you care about those things).

Bottom line, yes built in systems tend to be worse/less featured than stand alone devices or mobile apps and yes mapping data tends to be far more expensive for built in systems.. But then you have lots of choice! Even if you never upgrade or use the built in system maps, the pretty screen still looks pretty




On a side note, I understand that the built in double din market is pretty small and niche these days, but I'm still a little surprised that TomTom or NavMan haven't made their own 1st party unit (or even a co branded unit with Pioneer/Sony/Alpine etc etc). For some reason they all seem to end up creating their own software which tends to suck and/or miss key features the other little portable units seems to excel at.