Do You Need GPS? Consider Aftermarket Units

If you are thinking about adding a GPS system to your new car, or even to your present one, go ahead and do it. They will make sure you get where you are going without getting lost and they will even point out hotels or restaurants on the way.

GPS systems are not factory-only options anymore. You do have some money-saving options available in the aftermarket. Factory-installed systems, of course, are integrated into your car's interior and electrical system and don't look like they were add-ons, but, as you will see, they can save you money and are just as capable as the much pricier ones offered by the factory.

Barely a decade ago, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) were really high-end, high-profit options that you were likely to find only in the top-of-the-line models. For instance, about 1998 or 1999 you were likely to find GPS only in high-line vehicles such as Acuras or Infinitis or Mercedes-Benz products. Typically, these systems not only provided location services, but were also integrated into the entertainment and climate control systems.

Over time, GPS began to move through the lineups of all carmakers. It was almost a matter of faith that what appeared first in the top-of-the-line would eventually appear in the entire lineup. It was a literal example of the trickle-down theory in action. It was interesting when I saw a 2003 Toyota Prius not long ago that actually had a GPS screen in the center of the dash. It took about six years, though, for GPS to trickle down from the Lexus lineup into its lower-cost Toyota stablemates. That's just about right.

Today, GPS is almost de rigeur in any model you buy. You will find GPS screens in middle-of-the-road Ford Fusions, as well as in Ford Focuses. It's just the market at work.

For the factories and dealers having a GPS installed makes sense because it is almost all profit for them. Consider this: the system is basically a color LCD display (been around for years and cost next to nothing), a satellite-capable radio that only listens for the low-orbiting satellites of the Global Positioning Satellite system, and a CD/DVD player that contains information about an area that also contains a microprocessor.

Since all of these items have been developed and have been around for a long time, the actual cost to the manufacturer is really quite low. The cost to the consumer, on the other hand, isn't. There's a fairly good degree of markup in a factory GPS system and it does add to the vehicle's profitability. (The GPS system itself has been around for more than 20 years and is based on a Motorola/Air Force concept of 20 or 21 low-orbiting satellites that are in polar orbit. At any given time a GPS radio can see at least four of these devices. They have a life of about five years or so and then are replaced by another more advanced satellite.)

Typically, you will find a GPS display not only gives you your location or route to a location, but it will may, today, also show you points of interest on the way, list hotels or restaurants and may, in some cases, even give you road condition or weather warnings. It just depends on the software and the DVD the manufacturer uses. You see, the typical GPS system offered by a manufacturer is still based on a CD or DVD player and the company's proprietary software. Periodically, the manufacturer issues a software update that certainly isn't free. It may give you a break in the price, but it will still cost you more than $100 for an update and a replacement DVD (they remain in place in their players so the systems work), should you lose it, is probably going to set you back about $450 or so. You would think that by now the manufacturers have amortized their basic software costs and that updates should be either free or reasonably priced, but that would hurt a profit center and the auto industry is not about to do that.

This brings us to the central question: do you need to order a GPS from the factory or can you use on of the aftermarket GPS systems to get you from Point A to Point B. It's a question that most manufacturers don't want raised because it's not going to help their bottom line.

And, truth be told, unless you are ordering a vehicle with climate control and an advance entertainment system or a system that gives you Bluetooth capability, you'd be better off ordering a Tom-Tom or a Garmin GPS System.

There are some good reasons why this is true:

1. Garmin and Tom-Tom systems are little more than microprocessor-based GPS radio receivers with LCD displays. They take their cues from the satellites and their manufacturers. There's no cumbersome DVD disk to maintain or that can be lost or misplaced and that needs, at times, to be updated.
2. They are far less expensive. The average factory-installed GPS system, when you add in all the bells and whistles, probably costs about $800 or $1,000 or more, while the typical Tom-Tom or Garmin can cost as little as $79.95 or as much as you'd like to spend at Best Buy or Target.
3. Their software can be updated quickly and pretty much on the fly and you don't even have to know about it; the manufacturer just downloads the new software to the devices storage and you're good to go
4. You can get many of the same features from an aftermarket unit as you can from a factory-installed unit. Indeed, you can get hotel listings or restaurant listings or listings of sites of interest. It all depends on the amount you want to spend.

About the only drawback you will find with the aftermarket unit is that you have to set it up on some sort of swing arm and you have to plug it into an external power socket (vehicles seems to have sprouted multiple outlets today so that's really not an issue now). It's just not integrated into the vehicle itself.

Nevertheless, the system still works and works well. Here are two cases in point:

• Some time ago, we had to find our way from a dealership where we were working to a dealership in another state. We simply plugged in the locations into the start/finish menus and the GPS system took over and told us when to turn and which routes to take. It eventually even told us when to turn around and go back to arrive at the destination.
• Heading back to our home base, we just reversed the directions and the GPS system got us back in style and good time, too (the trip was 400 miles round-trip and we did it in under eight hours).

Here's an interesting sidelight: the software was updated while we were driving along and we still found our destination. All this was available for less than $125.

Contrast this with the factory-based system we used some time ago in a trip back from another state. It did the same thing as the Garmin, but the key was that it cost about five times as much and update and replacement disks were in the vicinity of $150 or more.

In this situation what should you do? The best decision is obvious go aftermarket, it will save you. If, on the other hand, you want a unit that looks like it is part of the vehicle and integrates things like entertainment centers and climate control, then you should choose the factory-installed GPS. It will cost you a lot more.