Aftermarket Nav - Anyone Seen One Or Done It?

[streetsmart]

I'm about to inherit a 2005 GX without nav. I really think the portable Garmin-type devices look, well, tacky in a car as fancy and expensive as a GX (just my opinion!) and the idea of taking it down every time I park somewhere annoys me. I've been researching aftermarket navigation systems but I can't find any information about one being installed in a GX. I did find a dash kit for a double DIN radio/nav for the GX but it is black and so wouldn't match (not sure why it's black...).

If anyone knows ANYTHING about installing an aftermarket system I'd love to hear about it.

[1990LS400]

Your "fancy and expensive" GX is a Toyota Prado with a different name. For a few hundred bucks you could hang a Garmin or other brand of portable nav on a bracket and it would be better than what Toyota/Lexus offers. Here is a bracket for your GX from the same company from whom I bought one for my 00 LS: http://www.pro-fit-intl.com/Adobe/MV-50-03-L-p2.pdf

I almost never remove my portable nav from the bracket. It's hard to see from outside the car so I don't worry much about it being stolen. I powered my portable nav from the car's accessory circuit so that it turns on and off automatically ... the power wire is hidden behind my car's interior trim.

[streetsmart]

Well gee, maybe to some people a GX isn't much, but I happen to think it is a rather fancy and certainly expensive car. Anyhow, thanks for the link to that bracket thingy. I would still prefer an in-dash system though, although it's looking more and more like I'll have to go the portable route. I am aware of the Lexus/Toyota nav system and also find it terrible to use and I wasn't looking to have that system installed if that's what you thought. I am looking specifically at Alpine, Kenwood, or Pioneer in-dash nav systems but can't find any information on them being installed in a GX. I just wish I knew that it COULD be done, but I've yet to see or hear any evidence...

[denslexusgx470]

Are you talking about the NAV HU like the Pioneer AVIC-F700BT, AVIC-F90BT, Kenwood DNX5120, DNX5140, type of navi headunits?

Those can be installed on the GX. Personally I do not know how to install it but stereo shops will know how to make it fit and somehow make it blend with the dash (which may be a little difficult because the dash on the GX is sort of rounded not flat)

[streetsmart]

Are you talking about the NAV HU like the Pioneer AVIC-F700BT, AVIC-F90BT, Kenwood DNX5120, DNX5140, type of navi headunits?

Yes, exactly. You've heard of it or seen it done? Excellent. I suppose I just need to find somewhere reputable to do it. Anyone know of a place near NYC???