2013 DB9 Satnav update

[Lanzo 1936]

I have just purchased a 2013 DB9 but I need to update the garmin satnav. Is there a cheaper alternative than to pay £500 for an Aston dealer to update?

[LTP]

AFAIK a 2013 DB9 Garmin nav will use SD cards to update (my 2015 V8V does). The last Garmin AML card for Europe is 2021. If I'm right then it's a 2 minute job once you have access to the Garmin unit, the location of which should be in the Owner's Guide - I certainly wouldn't pay £200 per hour to have a Main Dealer swap an SD card.

I used to use Garmin cards rather than AML cards but the 2021 also included a firmware update.

The Garmin card route no longer works as Garmin changed the format of the card maps from "NT" to "NTU", which doesn't work in the AML unit - ask me how I know

[AM-DB9]

2013 DB9 here...with 2012 maps
I bought a Garmin City Navigator Maps SD card from The GPS Store back in March.
It did not work, it was not seen by the Garmin unit when the SD card was inserted into the SD card slot (Located under the left rear seat, under the subwoofer, little pull down door, you just need to remove the upright carpet piece and move the front seat forward a bit).

Last week I decided I was going to find a way to resolve this problem.
So after a LOT of research I do believe the SD card that I purchased is only for updating the internal memory of a Gramin unit, even though it was the same part # others had reported as working. What I found that works is the type of map file that is read directly from the SD card, not a software install. Here is what that means, the file naming convention on the map we want to use is gmapsupp.img and is unlocked. My non-working SD card map file was named gmapprom.img and is locked and is only for a software install to the Nav unit.

I ended up searching, and with some help, found an unlocked open source 2027 North American Garmin map image file, and it works!
Cost was just an old 8Gb SD card of mine and some time.
Now, not that I may be using it a lot, but I do like knowing that the GPS map is up to date and working.

Also of note the software versions on my Garmin unit are old - just so you know that firmware and other software updates are not a necessity.

Edited by AM-DB9 on Thursday 8th October 06:22

[LTP]

AM-DB9 said:

2013 DB9 here...with 2012 maps

<snip>

Also of note the software versions on my Garmin unit are old - just so you know that firmware and other software updates are not a necessity.

There I'd have to disagree. My Garmin system developed a time fault to do with the handling of satellite time epoch rollover events (I wrote a long, involved thread on this from a few years back which will be in the PH history) that was only fixed by the 2021 firmware updates.

Not all systems had this issue, but the blanket comment about the updates not being necessary is not true in all cases

edited to add
I also note you are in N America and in that you are lucky - Garmin still makes North America maps in NT format; in Europe we are not so lucky as they only supply the non-compatible NTU format, so a lot depends on where Lanzo1936 is based

Edited by LTP on Thursday 8th October 15:07

[AM-DB9]

Did the AML card with the 2021 firmware update require the dealer or just inserting the SD card and letting it do it's thing?

[LTP]

AM-DB9 said:

Did the AML card with the 2021 firmware update require the dealer or just inserting the SD card and letting it do it's thing?

I just bought the card from the MD and replaced the card I'd been using myself. Fired the system up and it did the firmware upgrade. Switched cards back and the satnav continued to give the correct time (and still does), so issue fixed.

I'm currently low-key investigating downloading free open-source maps; I've tried some but some don't work and on others I don't like they way they display - more work to do.

[p102768]

AM-DB9 said:

I ended up searching, and with some help, found an unlocked open source 2027 North American Garmin map image file, and it works!
Cost was just an old 8Gb SD card of mine and some time.
Now, not that I may be using it a lot, but I do like knowing that the GPS map is up to date and working.
[/footnote]

I have been doing that for a few years and recently updated my Virage to Garmin 2027.20 NZ/Aus maps.

I also discovered that you can add your own POI's so created a POI file with all of the local speed camera coordinates and now get an alert on the Nav screen as I approach one.

I spotted last week that Garmin is in the process of converting NZ to NTU though so I may not be able to update the maps for much longer.

[Purosangue]

Lanzo 1936 said:

I have just purchased a 2013 DB9 but I need to update the garmin satnav. Is there a cheaper alternative than to pay £500 for an Aston dealer to update?

book in with Aston installations and have apple car play installed job done