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(More customer reviews)I have been looking for an in-dash Navigation System for the 2010 Toyota Prius for about a year now. The Toyota Dealer wanted a jaw dropping $4,000 for the factory system (yea right). The next best thing I could find was the Rosen a good quality OEM unit but hard to find and pricey.
So rather than give up, I checked out this Myron & Davis unit which is also an OEM type of unit. The photos on Amazon don't really do it justice. It matches the Prius trim perfectly and the screen is much bigger in the car than the photos suggest.
Strangely, the price of this unit changes almost daily from $818 (what I paid) to $1,400+ on Amazon which is a bit weird. Honestly, I would not buy this unit for more than $818 (plus the JBL cable and the iPod cable all extras....welcome to the crazy world of after market car audio).
Seems odd there are no Owner Reviews of the NV7TPR1 so thought I would write one. I am replacing the Toyota JBL Head Unit which I really disliked from day 1 especially the Satellite radio which sounded terrible.
First the good stuff about this Unit:
Only took an hour to install, it really was plug n play.
Matches the Prius dash materials exactly (as I said before).
NAV Screen is not bad, and is a touch screen (updating the map is a PAIN)
The iPod control is good, but I am using an iPhone 4 and the Head Unit will sometimes act like the ipod is playing, (shows song names and elapsed time) but no audio. Hmmm. Finally figured out for some reason I need to go into iPod on the phone and select "Dock Connector" instead of "MD" each time - weird.
DVD Player works well (though I will never use this feature).
Sound quality is far superior to the Toyota JBL Head Unit (obvious right away).
Once the map is updated (a pain - see below) the unit loads quickly and the voice guidance is ok (NOT great)
Steering Wheel controls all work (except the Toyota "talk-to" button)
Negatives:
The NV7TPR1 really feels like a solid product, BUT each feature has its own software that feels klunky and totally separate from the other features.
BlueTooth is so-so. Everytime I get a call on my iPhone, the phone rings but instantly the Head Unit disconnects from BlueTooth. I can make outgoing calls from the Head Unit screen but incoming is flaky (a real disappointment).
There is no way to "hold" the map magnification level once its started on your route. You can + or - the magnification, but the map reverts back to its 100% level in about 5 seconds. Annoying if you need the "big picture" like "Is The Silicon Valley Freeway, east or west of where i am right now?"
Getting the Map SD card out of the unit to update is a nightmare (trust me, trying to buy and install the map update for $59 from some website in korea through PayPal was not enjoyable. Ughh.)
The NV7TPR1 does NOT speak Street Names unfortunately.
If you want to search for a POI (point of interest i.e. Macy's) instead of assuming you want to look in the city where you are, it requires you to type in a city which is annoying. (Who wants to type Rancho Cucamonga over and over to search for McDonald's?)
The unit isnt all bad. I have had success in updating the map finally (also improved the voice making it louder and clearer.) Music sound quality is very good.
Its a geeky type of unit that requires patients to figure all of the features.
I am used to Acura navigation, so needless to say this doesn't compare. But an Acura doesn't get 52mpg either so its a trade off. I have heard the stock Toyota Prius Nav is awful so I can't complain about spending $814.
Overall I am pleased with the unit - having used GPS systems in rental cars etc this one isn't the worst but as I said, after installing and using the Myron and Davis NV7TPR1 I wouldn't pay more than $814, its not worth it.*** Update ***
So, I have been using the NV7TPR1 Toyota Prius Navigation and Media Unit for about 3 weeks. My original review is still accurate, but I wanted to add a few things I have discovered after living with the device daily.
First, I like the NV7TPR1 more now than I did when it was installed. Why?
I am more used to it's quirky software and decided to buy a used iPod Nano to leave in the car and always attached. This makes life easier since I am not constantly fishing for the iPod cable because I really like the interface on the touch screen. I just realized I can select songs from the iPod individually on the Nav touch screen which is really nice.
The NV7TPR1 has a virtual CD function which seems to be commonplace now, but what I dont like is that only commercial audio cd's can be added to the unit's memory (i.e. I have .mp3 cd's but the unit wont copy them to its memory for some reason?)
About the Navigation UI --
I hate to complain since this is a very complex and feature filled device but...
The unit always wants to keep a very close view of the road when driving. Yes, there is a Zoom out button (-) but it takes tapping it about 20 times to get a reasonable "high level" view of the area. Then, the all detail on the map disappears (street/freeway names etc) a VERY BAD DESIGN. The google map/nav on my iphone is so much better. This is still a big disappointment.
I think Myron Davis needs to switch map/software vendors to maybe Navteq?
There is also a problem with the "night" view. When the Prius headlights are on, the LCD screen dims slightly. But its way too bright in a dark vehicle. There are no other settings for brightness (yes in the Nav there is but not for the units other screens i.e. iPod)
I'm still not ready to sell my factory Prius stereo on ebay, I like the NV7TPR1 but I still need to be convinced that it will be reliable. Stay tuned.UPDATE 6/2011
Final update on the NV7TPR1.
At this point, I am pleased that I bought and had this unit installed. I was in a non- nav 2010 Prius recently and it looks really sad without an LCD screen (Toyota should have made Nav standard on the Prius in my opinion.)
The BLUETOOTH problems with the iPhone 4 seem to be fixed and stable. I replaced my black iPhone4 with a new White iPhone4 model, and I really believe Apple improved or fixed some consistent Bluetooth problems with the new model. In short, it works perfectly - in calls, outcalls, history, streaming music etc all work correctly on the NV7TPR1 touch screen (and with the Prius steering wheel controls as I wrote earlier). The unit does NOT give access to your phonebook/contacts, and there is no way to add them to the Nav unit (as I could with the Prius factory JBL head unit) I never used that feature because basically it was a nightmare to setup even the Prius Tech expert at the Toyota Dealership couldn't figure it out.
iPod music, search, etc all work as expected on the Nav touch screen. There is no album artwork as I think u can get on a new BMW.
The weakest part of the NV7TPR1 remains the actual Navigation and maps.
My opinion hasn't changed on this at all. Its really an awful device for navigation - the POI's are minimal and it routinely thinks the destination is on the other side of a freeway. Same problem with my house -- the previous map version didnt have this problem. But the $60 map update (see above) has all sorts of new problems and directional inaccuracies.
It annoyed me that Myron Davis support assured me I had the latest map software, which wasn't true at all. I had to pay for the update after I just bought the NV7TPR1 - not good Customer Service in my view.
The voices used for navigation are really bad, especially the very low volume level. No matter what setting I choose the voice is so low I can't even hear it in the Prius which is odd because the previous software version worked great. The unit also cuts the audio completely when speaking which isnt very pleasant. It should "reduce" the music volume like the iPhone navigation does. Actually, this is really annoying.
I have not used a Rosen unit in a Prius but i'm guessing it would still be a better choice and at $999 from Frank auto in San Diego I wish I had gone that route myself.
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