Updating map in 2014 GS300h

[keiron99]

The map in my GS300h is now at least 10 years out of date! I got in a right mess at Manchester airport the other day...

I did speak to the dealer about this last year but they wanted some crazy amount (£300 plus if I recall).

Sorry to ask - I have searched but not come up with an answer - but how would I go about updating this myself? I see many maps for sale online for realistic prices but none that explicitly state they are compatible with my system.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[johnatg]

Try toyotamaps.online

I updated mine some years ago for about £70 - there's a post of mine on here somewhere that details how to do it.

But it won't help with Manchester Airport! They change stuff all the time -  everyone who isn't a regular there gets in a mess!

[johnatg]

Here you go:

(This was November 2019 - I think there are maps updated to 2022/2023 available now but I haven't bothered to update further)

Quote:

When I got my 2014 GS300h a couple of months ago the map update screen showed 'last map update was cancelled'. That irritated me no end so I resolved to do something about it and came across this thread. I visited the link:

https://toyotamaps.online/map-updates/toyota-lexus-navigation-gen7-update

I paid my $79 (£64.10) via PayPal and received a link to onedrive files. There are 8 of them and the total download size is about 14Gb. You then need to extract (one of the files is an extraction program) the files to a 64Gb Flash drive - I had a 64Gb SD card and a USB card reader but that didn't work. I contacted the vendor and he confirmed what I had already suspected - the car is fussy about the flash drives it accepts. So acquired a 64Gb San Disk Cruzer (other brands are available!) and extracted the files again. The total extracted size is just over 32Gb. You plug the flash drive in to the USB port in the cubby between the seats.

Now you go to the map update screen and plug the flash drive in - this time it showed it was ready to update. You take a picture of the screen and email it to the vendor - he then sends you an activation/licence code. When you start the update the first thing is it asks you is to key in the code then it does a software update. This takes about 10 minutes, then you have to stop the car and restart. Now it's a bit worrying - the screen goes black for quite a few seconds but then it comes back and tells you the map update is ready to start and will take approx 98 minutes. (So you'd better be driving somewhere, even aimlessly, if you don't want the car to be idling on your drive for a couple of hours!)

At last it tells you the update completed successfully. The map is updated to April 2019 and it was issued in October 2019, so now is as up-to-date as possible. Very happy!

I know the navigation is nowhere near as good as you get for free on your phone but now my car is working properly for a reasonable cost.

I suspect this isn't quite kosher but hey! it works, it's a reasonable cost and Lexus should offer this service (they used to, but have discontinued it) rather than tell you to go and be ripped off by a dealer!

[keiron99]

Many thanks, I really appreciate your help! I'll give it a go. 🙂

[keiron99]

I went ahead and bought the map from here: https://www.satnavmapupdate.co.uk/

Chap there couldn't have been more helpful and it worked like a charm.

Thanks again for your help @johnatg