GPS issue-

[Moose381]

I have a 2020 Ram 1500 Laramie. I love this truck. I hate the GPS. The route it takes me is consistently 20-50% longer (in both time and distance) than Google maps. The settings are the same as my Google Maps. This is unacceptable to me. I recently got an offer to upgrade it for $99. Have any of you done this? Will it help? I'm not willing to spend 100 bucks to make it work unless I'm certain it will make it work properly. This is ridiculous for a truck that cost over 60k to have a pitiful substandard GPS. Is it just mine, or is this the standard for newer Ram trucks? I've been a Mopar guy all my life. Started out with a 71 Charger Hemi. Now have 3 Ram trucks that I love. But what is up with this GPS? any help would be appreciated.

 

[djevox]

Welcome! I can’t answer your question except that I prefer app-based gps since I don’t have to worry about new updates or the fact that RAM’s updates are old by the time they are released.

 

[Cbty2050]

Update your maps and let us know if it fixed the issue

 

[SD Rebel]

This is kinda why some manufacturers are dropping their NAV and just having a Android Auto / Apple Carplay interface, since most people use those anyways.

Google spent a lot of money on traffic avoidance systems and you see that when you use their NAV. The big manufacturers aren't going to beat Google when it comes to navigation, especially with the constant route updates Google Maps does. Paying $100 for a factory NAV update is factory robbery to me, and only good for what, a year or two before you need another update?

I only used my truck's NAV a few times, each time was because I left my phone somewhere else. Each time I said to myself why on Earth would I use this over Google? I can just say "Walmart on G Street", and Google will know right away and I'm off. The factory NAV, I better be specific with the address or spell the name correctly, otherwise it has trouble finding it.

Why bother? The only good thing about my 8.4 NAV is the shiny black bezel that makes the screen look bigger than it is, I do like that about my NAV system.

 

[HSKR R/T]

Factory nav just sucks. The update will only add new roads, won't do anything to change routes, unless you have new roads in your area that are part of update. I never use my factory navigation. Will always plug in phone and use Google maps. It's easier to enter an address and select a route, and has never led me astray

 

[bucolic]

Ditto on what everyone else is saying. Factory Nav on ANY vehicle will be sub-par to Google maps.

The factory nav doesn't collect any data. Google collects tons. You can't have all the features of Google maps without collecting data. It's hard to beat Google Maps. The only time I use the factory nav is if I have a problem getting cell phone coverage and forgot to download the offline maps.

 

[LaxDfns15]

If you upgrade your 2020 Nav, which is actually 2018-2019 maps, you'll receive 2020-2021 maps for that $100. So you're paying a hundred bucks for year+ old maps that still won't work if you live in an area with new construction.

 

[aussie_ram]

I honestly only use the on-board nav when on longer roadtrips, or going places that are relatively easy to get to. When it comes more time sensitive routes or hard to find places, I always use Waze or Google Maps.

 

[SD Rebel]

I honestly only use the on-board nav when on longer roadtrips, or going places that are relatively easy to get to. When it comes more time sensitive routes or hard to find places, I always use Waze or Google Maps.

Makes sense, like a long road trip on the freeway with an easy established route, I have an older phone that may not like doing too long of trips.

 

[aussie_ram]

Makes sense, like a long road trip on the freeway with an easy established route, I have an older phone that may not like doing too long of trips.

Yeh basically, or also stuff outside big cities. The on board nav doesnt seem to do well in cities with lots of traffic, road changes etc however if I'm driving in rural areas or outside big cities, it does well. I will usually double check the route the on board nav gives me vs Google or Waze quickly to make sure they match.

 

[Jako]

This is kinda why some manufacturers are dropping their NAV and just having a Android Auto / Apple Carplay interface, since most people use those anyways.

Google spent a lot of money on traffic avoidance systems and you see that when you use their NAV. The big manufacturers aren't going to beat Google when it comes to navigation, especially with the constant route updates Google Maps does. Paying $100 for a factory NAV update is factory robbery to me, and only good for what, a year or two before you need another update?

I only used my truck's NAV a few times, each time was because I left my phone somewhere else. Each time I said to myself why on Earth would I use this over Google? I can just say "Walmart on G Street", and Google will know right away and I'm off. The factory NAV, I better be specific with the address or spell the name correctly, otherwise it has trouble finding it.

Why bother? The only good thing about my 8.4 NAV is the shiny black bezel that makes the screen look bigger than it is, I do like that about my NAV system.

I have that $800 bezel also, at least we got something for the $800. Of course if I take into consideration some of the aggravation I have had with this nav it is a big loss.

 

[HSKR R/T]

Yeh basically, or also stuff outside big cities. The on board nav doesnt seem to do well in cities with lots of traffic, road changes etc however if I'm driving in rural areas or outside big cities, it does well. I will usually double check the route the on board nav gives me vs Google or Waze quickly to make sure they match.

If you are going to take the time to compare factory nav to Google maps, why not just plug in the phone and use Google maps from the start?

 

[Rlaf75]

I only used the factory nav 3 times in the 9 months I've owned my ram and it sucked all 3 times. I got an email to "update" a few weeks ago but I will not pay $99. for the same crappy service. I'm not a fan of google but I dont think there map service can be beat. I plan to use google maps or the Waze app in the future

 

[aussie_ram]

If you are going to take the time to compare factory nav to Google maps, why not just plug in the phone and use Google maps from the start?

I like to have the nav directions in my heads up display and on the cluster. On the longer trips (we just drove 1000 miles around rural Utah last weekend) I only used onboard nav once we got out on the highway from Vegas... it's nice to have the directions on the HUD for what turn offs to take out on rural highways, and out where we were there was literally 0 cell service for hours at a time ... Google is useless in those parts.

 

[HSKR R/T]

I like to have the nav directions in my heads up display and on the cluster. On the longer trips (we just drove 1000 miles around rural Utah last weekend) I only used onboard nav once we got out on the highway from Vegas... it's nice to have the directions on the HUD for what turn offs to take out on rural highways, and out where we were there was literally 0 cell service for hours at a time ... Google is useless in those parts.

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It's not useless as you can download offline maps and use them for navigation even if you have your cellular data turned off