Looking for a GPS and I found a story about this one made by Sony. My wife and I are thinking about getting it.  Both Japanese and English would be great. The cost is around 50,000 yen though. For me it is well worth it, considering the hours i have wasted get lost and rerouted by my smart navi or the unusable Garmen UUD thing. If we get one I will let everyone know how it works.

http://en.akihabaranews.com/107684/...h-guidance

http://www.sony.jp/nav-u/products/NV-U97V/

I have been looking and it only says English voice guidance. I will have to go an look at one to see if it has English on the maps and the controls to.

Dave,

I sell Japanese Garmins that have Garmin maps and come pre-loaded with about 150 of my saved favorites.  (I clone the entire GPS electronically to mine.)  They are accurate all over Japan.  The UUD versions on the SD cards don't even tell you the correct direction to turn on the next turn.  I own both and have compared them at the same time.  There is no comparison.  The Japanese Garmins are the answer, they speak in English too.  Another few differences is the Japanese Garmins have the telephone search option, lane and junction assist.  I also noticed the estimated arrival times on the Japanese Garmins are accurate where the UUD are not, but as soon as you get close the UUD corrects itself so unless you compared them side by side like I did you would never even know that.  My Japanese Garmins have the new highways also and the UUD maps don't know about them.  The UUD also will tell you that you are on the wrong road coming out of Yokosuka in the opposite direction traffic, the Japanese Garmin nuvis don't do that just ask anyone that bought one from me.

The saved favorites are really cool too, all you have to is select Yokosuka Main gate and it takes you home.  All those gates, on bases are in there already along with restaurants, ski areas, hotels, airports, train stations, attractions etc.

If you want to make an informed decision, email me and I'll send you all the information showing pictures of all GPS's when I compared them side by side to include the non-sense versions offered at the Exchanges, I made that mistake too but I took it back after about 10 minutes.

The only downside to them is the stored POI's when you get to the last page where it displays your choices that is displayed in Kanji, which for me is almost useless.  You could use it to find a gas station or train station by just selecting the closest one, it can also be  compensated for by the saved favorites of all the points you would most likely want anyway, and the telephone search function.  The accuracy of the Japanese Garmin GPS works just like a Garmin in the States does. 

I will never use the UUD non-sense again.

Just another option to consider that works very well for a lot less money.

Anyone that already owns one feel free to chime in.

Yokota, can you explain more about what UUD is? I don't understand the terminology or technology.

Also, please explain your comment "The UUD versions on the SD cards don't even tell you the correct direction to turn on the next turn." How can any GPS not tell you which way to turn? That's kinda the whole point of a GPS.

Thanks

I can answer some of your points - lets see how well I remember from my old research.

UUD is a company who make Japanese maps for installation on a US Garmin GPS system (only certain ones).

Basically, you buy the UUD map, then transfer it to an SD card or directly to the Garmin. Now you have Japanese maps on an American GPS.

UUD maps are limited though, in that they don't "guarantee" that the point you want to travel to is where the directions will lead you to. Also, I remember reading something that if the road is a "small" road, it can't give you direction to/through it

Here's their website - http://uud.info/en/map/ Haven't visited it since I was researching GPS's a few months ago.

I wound up buying one from yokota and am glad I did - haven't had a chance to really test it out, but it has gotten me out of getting lost and got me back home like nothing.

The hardest part is finding the Lat/Long coordinates for any place I want to visit that doesn't have a phone number (or has a "shared" phone number).

That's correct the UUD is a company that makes a map that you can load on a micro SD card or a full size SD card and slip into your GPS port. Just like when you buy maps from Garmin for other countries or from 3rd party developers.

The downside is that there are times when it is so inaccurate that it will cause you to make a few simple errors, and those small errors in Japan will result in spending over an hour trying to get back on track. (Entering freeways with no off ramp) Mainly because of the way the freeways, highways and road structures are set up. It got me a few times and I spent over an hour and some toll money trying to fix it. I have heard stories of people using UUD maps and getting lost for over 4 hours, but I have only experienced an hour or so on a few occasions, and several off ramps, side street errors and stuff like that. They are better than nothing but not nearly as precise as the Asia version nuvi's.

I believe.. Garmin doesn't recognize UUD maps which is why they aren't listed on Garmins website as third party developers for Japan.

The UUD will tell you as an example to make a left turn in 1.6 KM when actually you need to make a right turn in 1.4KM, even the next turn information will wrong that is displayed in the top left corner. The charted route shown in pink will be displayed correctly but the next turn information and voice commands are wrong..... most of the time. The arrival time is inaccurate and the UUD doesn't know about the newer highways that have been completed within the last few years, I noticed that around the Mt Fuji area.

The Japan Garmins like the 1365 and 1480 Plus have a Garmin map which is accurate and they operate the way you would expect them to in regards to next turn, lane assist, time to destination etc.

The downside on all Garmins in Japan is that they don't accept a physical address like you can enter in the states.

The US models don't have a telephone search option. But they do have one plus and that is when you use the POI's (points of interest) they will be displayed in Roman Letters, the Japanese Garmins will display Kanji even with English selected.

The Japanese Garmins can be set to English, will speak in English, and are accurate like a GPS should be and what you would expect.

My experience with the other non-Garmin GPS's is that they aren't user friendly, and some of the brands offered in the Exchanges will lock up, freeze at critical points when you need to make a decision and the scratch pads/touch screen don't work correctly.

I have used, Tom Tom, Magellan, Smart Navi, Sat Nav products and I have found them all to be harder to use and not nearly as good as Garmin products. When I travel around Japan and look at the GPS's offered in various electronic stores, I see that Japan has tons of choices for GPS's to include 10,000 dash mounted with DVD players if you can read and write, understand Kanji. For the English speaking population we are pretty much limited to Garmin. That new Sony product is a good sign because they are at least addressing the English issue. Maybe over time with enough competition they will drop the price down and we can get English gps's in Japan at reasonable prices. In the states you can get a decent Garmin gps for 100-150, over here closer to where they are made they charge two to three times as much, I think they just gouge the price personally unless Japan charges some crazy import fees from Taiwan and then they pass that on to the consumer.

The UUD is about a 70-80% solution, the Japanese Garmins are about a 98-99% solution... if they could get Roman Letters on POI's and the ability to add physical addresses in them they would be awesome.

Another plus about the US Garmins is that you can take back to the states and it works normally, but the sacrifice you make is getting messed up for 3 plus years in Japan trying to navigate with a band-aid type quick fix of a gps that kind of works most of the time.

The Lat/Long or phone number is an issue when trying to find a new location, it's also possible to scroll the touch screen (you touch and drag your finger across the screen) around the country and zoom in at the location and then save that point, name it, and select GO and it will take you there. Like if you wanted to go to one of the 5 lakes in Mt Fuji area. But to do that you need to sort of know where the lake is on a map and that may require some pre-planning on a computer or a road atlas map of some sort. If it's a building in Tokyo then you would need a good telephone number or use the Google Earth method to get the coordinates before you start driving.

Another thing I have noticed is that some telephone numbers listed on websites don't necessarily correspond to the physical address of the store, some large stores have a central telephone service and don't provide the individual store number, just be careful.  The easiest way to spot that is to check the number on another store location and make sure it's not the same number.

For 50,000 Yen I can get you two Japanese Garmin nuvis fully loaded, delivered to you and leave you enough money left over to take a family of 5 out to dinner at Mikes Mexican restaurant with margaritas and if you don't know where Mike's is it's already loaded in the GPSs.

Awesome info; thank you from helping me avoid an expensive mistake. I think I'll just stick with my little iPhone GPS. It's worked well for 2 years, it's free (since I already have the phone), and the 4s seems to be better than the 3GS I had before. It has telephone search. And maps are always current since they are downloaded real-time. Of course, this means if you're not on a cellular network, it can't load maps.

A big downside is it won't automatically reroute if I miss a turn; I have to manually recalculate a route if I'm off my intended path. Not really safe to do while you're driving, but my wife is very skilled with it so we make a good team. All the street names are in Kanji, but I find the "Distance to Turn" to be very accurate. At each turn, I reset my odometer to zero and just measure the distance to turn. After getting used to it, I don't miss my turns. Also, a handheld system has no gyro so it can't track my position when I'm in tunnels or not in view of a satellite.

I recognize that a dedicated system has many significant advantages to a little phone-based system, but I find my iPhone to be "good enough" for my needs.

Dave,
Where might I find one of the Japanese Garmins that have the English voice and maps? I really need one. New to the area.

Posted By ThaiGuy on 11-05-2011 6:26 PM
Awesome info; thank you from helping me avoid an expensive mistake. I think I'll just stick with my little iPhone GPS. It's worked well for 2 years, it's free (since I already have the phone), and the 4s seems to be better than the 3GS I had before. It has telephone search. And maps are always current since they are downloaded real-time. Of course, this means if you're not on a cellular network, it can't load maps.

A big downside is it won't automatically reroute if I miss a turn; I have to manually recalculate a route if I'm off my intended path. Not really safe to do while you're driving, but my wife is very skilled with it so we make a good team. All the street names are in Kanji, but I find the "Distance to Turn" to be very accurate. At each turn, I reset my odometer to zero and just measure the distance to turn. After getting used to it, I don't miss my turns. Also, a handheld system has no gyro so it can't track my position when I'm in tunnels or not in view of a satellite.

I recognize that a dedicated system has many significant advantages to a little phone-based system, but I find my iPhone to be "good enough" for my needs.

I am wondering what kind of app you use. I have one and it seems to be messing up quite a bit.

The map/GPS function is built into iPhone. It's free. Just click on the "Maps". Since you can't enter addresses directly, you have to find other ways to input your destination. I use business phone numbers, or you can browse around the map & drop a pin on your destination, or you can find a lat/long on your PC & transfer it to your iPhone. Once you mark a destination, you can save it as a "bookmark" in your map so you can quickly look it up in the future. It's good to save your home & the main gate as bookmarks so you can always navigate your way home when you're lost. I can give you more tips once you try it out.

BTW, it not only gives driving directions, but it's also awesome for train & walking directions. For the train, it will tell you the fare to your destination, what time the train leaves, what station to transfer at, and where to walk to from the train station. Walking directions take you along cool routes, discover new shopping streets, shortcuts, etc. My wife & I use it a lot and it save a lot of time wandering around trying to find our way. When we park in a strange city, we'll drop a pin on where we parked so we can always find our way back to the car. Bring a charger if you use it while walking around; you'll go through the battery in a few hours.

Thank you

Thank you Thai Guy. I will be moving from the lodge to Ikego soon and was wondering how I was going to drive over there by myself. Having the map gudance should help. I have used the free version of hyperdia for train information, but it is good to know that my phone does it without the app.

TT,

I have them for sell under the General Items on this website or just shoot me an email gweider@yahoo.com

Posted By yokota on 11-05-2011 9:15 PM
TT,

I have them for sell under the General Items on this website or just shoot me an email gweider@yahoo.com

Yokota, I sent you an email via the buy and sell page.

I was recently asked if it would be possible to load the Ikego Housing Area onto my saved favorites, and with a little internet magic, google earth, google maps it is now included on all gps's that I sell.  That's a pretty good example of how anyone can preload specific points in their gps.  Then all you have to do is select GO and it will draw your route there with English voice commands all the way.




http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/14668942.jpg

edited out,

(It's easier adding points on a gps that loading pictures on a website)

You can drop this in the search window on google earth to see the aerial view:

N35.30357 E139.590640

or try this:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=N35.3...CBsQ8gEwAA


Make sure you zoom into the street level view to see the location.

The Garmin 1365 is a Japanese Garmin and speaks English. It was switched over to English for us. It does not have a non-garmin map in it either. The information that is added by Yakota before he sells them is just favorites that are areas to where he has been or wants to go. You would do this same thing with your own I suppose so I guess some of the entries might save time.

That's correct, the models I sell have GARMIN maps, not UUD maps. Which is why they are accurate as opposed to the UUD non-sense, I happen to own both versions, and now the UUD gps's I own sit quietly in a drawer.

The nuvi's I sell (Japanese Garmin nuvi's) speak English and best of all they are accurate and the map database is from GARMIN and loaded by GARMIN not a bootleg copy of anything, I spent several years getting the process figured out, and I have owned most of them too. The reason you don't see them available on garmin.com is because these are Asia only versions they don't sell them in the US so they don't pop up on the English Garmin website. When you register them with Garmin they will pop-up as a Garmin product and they will tell you that your maps are current on the English website just like any other Garmin product.

It would be about a 500.00 dollar mistake to buy a Smart Navi, I made that mistake and took it back after about 10 minutes of use. Just ask anyone that owns a Japanese version Garmin or read about it where I posted it. Shoot me an email and I'll send you the information.

I just bought a my Sony and used it for a two days. It does not have English search capabilities, but if you wife is Japanese like mine she can program it for you to get you to work and she will like it because it is a Japanese GPS. What is does do in English is give you directions in English and it has the TV functions. If you are looking for English only go with Yokota's Garmin, but if you have a wife that wants a GPS she can use and you and kind of use I like the Sony. I will warn you it will cost you 55000 yen though. Maybe I drummed up some business for you Yokota. Your welcome.

I should mention.....(or maybe I shouldn't) the Garmin with a few button pushes will work in Japanese too, voice, text, keyboard it's just not too often anyone needs that fuction on these websites. 

(they are Japanese Garmin's) 

55000 sounds like 733.00 USD 

How big is the screen?

Is it portable or mounted in the dash at that price?

What's the return policy? 

I could save you about 450.00....

I love my Sony GPS.

Will that accept a Japanese address in Roman letters? (Using the banchi address system.)

The only drawback I see to the Garmin (Japanese version) is the POI's are in Kanji like your Sony and it won't accept the Banchi Address. The solution I have found to counter that is the saved favorites, telephone number search and even the google earth coordinates technique.

The accuracy is right on target. All commands are correct: next, turn, lane assist and voice and time to destination is also accurate. I also own several UUD Garmin versions and they aren't even close to being as accurate when I ran them side by side.

How big is your screen? The largest Garmin screen is 5.0 but I actually use the 4.3 I find it's easier to carry with me when walking around in Tokyo.

I'm pretty convinced for the money and accuracy the Japanese Garmin can't be beat, I keep several of them in each car just in case I drop one when I'm far from home. I would like to run one side by side with your Sony for comparison.