Kenwood owners - downloading topo maps onto in dash GPS

[Dunbar]

Found your update in the Definitive 24k topo Kenwood thread. I will watch it for more updates but am thinking of waiting for droid head units and going with stand alone Garmin and XM components for now. They can be swapped around vehicles and the house and boat for the XM.

I think we will see vastly improved options next year.

 

[davegonz]

I do believe I finally see a topo map.

Just had to come up with 200 more bones to buy a unit with SD card support.....

So what model was this one?

 

[Jacket]

My Streetpilot 7200 with XM died and I am shopping in dash options like the Kenwoods. I have read about slow response to button clicks and problems updating maps. How do you like this one?

Thanks,
Dunar

So far, so good. I get what people are saying about performance with the dnx6980, but it hasn't really bothered me up to now. It's definitely not "instant", but it's also not as bad as changing a channel with Directv. I've never had a standalone Garmin Nav unit, so I can't compare its performance, nor have I had other in-dash GPS systems to compare to. I also don't know if there has been a degradation in performance as compared to earlier Kenwood models (i.e., 6140 or 6160). Performance was similar with the dnx5180 that I traded in for it. I don't use the bluetooth so I can't comment on that either.

I'm not a big fan of having a bunch of devices and cords running every which way in the cockpit, so I'm happy to have everything built in here, and I have a 60CSx when I need to leave the truck and go explore.

The street nav works well, the Ipod interface is reasonably cool, backup camera, dvd video, installation was a breeze, and my kids brag to their friends about the cool new video screen in my truck - can't beat that....

 

[Jacket]

So what model was this one?

I traded in my dnx5180 for a dnx6980. There's very little difference in functionally (6980 has built in Bluetooth and a longer warranty), but through a long and painful process I was able to figure out that having an SD card reader in the unit is the only way to get the XX80 models to read in supplemental (topo) maps. dnx6980 has a microSD slot on the front face of the unit, and I believe the 7180 and 9980 have an SD card slot behind the touch screen.

 

[davegonz]

Good info, Matt. Did Kenwood's software patch fix the slow performance issues with that unit?

 

[Jacket]

You know - I haven't loaded the 1.6 software update at this point for fear of destabilizing something on the map loading side of things. I have a trip into the Maze next week and I want my topo maps functional for it.

 

[Andre Carmona]

I do believe I finally see a topo map.

Just had to come up with 200 more bones to buy a unit with SD card support.....

Hello friend.

I own an 6180 system. How did you tranfer the file into the unit? When I get to the "Volumes Avaliable"menu when I brownse the options (Disk / SD Card / USB FLash / Alternate File System / DVD)bold are the avaliable ones.
All I found was "/" at the top of the screen and noting else. Tried to put the files at the root of the USB drive, inside garmin folder but no sucess.
Can you tell me what magic did you do?

Thank you

 

[Jacket]

Hello friend.

I own an 6180 system. How did you tranfer the file into the unit? When I get to the "Volumes Avaliable"menu when I brownse the options (Disk / SD Card / USB FLash / Alternate File System / DVD)bold are the avaliable ones.
All I found was "/" at the top of the screen and noting else. Tried to put the files at the root of the USB drive, inside garmin folder but no sucess.
Can you tell me what magic did you do?

Thank you

I didn't transfer the file. I tried to use the method you are describing but I ended up with the same result as you - just read only access to the root directory. I'm guessing Kenwood/Garmin saw what folks were doing with their "Developer only" tools and disabled them on the XX80 units. I was only able to get it load the new maps using an SD card on the dnx6980 unit. I think your dnx6180 is the same as my old dnx5180 and does not have an SD card slot in the unit.