See post #6 in this thread on how I get map updates for our Toyotas for $143.65 through the Costco Auto Program.
Sometimes map updates include minor firmware updates but rarely anything notable.
My wife and I each have our own very nice Garmin units and like them a lot. I even thought about working at Garmin after I retired from my "real job" in 2008 since I could almost hit their headquarters with a rock from where we formerly lived in Olathe Kansas.
Based on complaints about the Sienna navigation system on this and other forums, I dutifully carried my Garmin in the glove compartment of our Sienna for the first year of ownership assuming that I'd be frequently using it since the Sienna navigation system was supposed to be so horrible. Guess how many times I used that Garmin in the Sienna - ZERO! I have no problem at all getting the nav in our 2014 Sienna Limited to do what I want and I use the Sienna nav many times each week and sometimes many times per day.
Maybe I adapt to Toyota and other in-dash systems better than most since I've spent most of my work life working in or on the fringes of technology. My recently retired CPA wife, however, is as non-technical as they come. She spent years using one of her series of Garmins weekly in rental cars all over the U.S. as she traveled for work. I thought she would want to use her Garmin in her Prius, but, no, she never uses it and always uses the in-dash nav. Instead of sitting at the breakfast table loading up her Garmin with destinations like she did for business trips, she can now load her destinations for personal trips into Saved Destinations in Entune on her phone and then have them sync up with the in-dash nav in her Prius.
I think what is going on is that the Toyota navigation interface is substantially different, more complex and less intuitive than interfaces commonly used for portable navigation products. It reminds me of a cultural stereotype that recounts how the first thing a typical Japanese product buyer does is to thoroughly read the instructions before ever trying to use a product whereas an American tends to dive right in and use (or assemble!) a product without ever reading the instructions. I certainly have found that to be the case with the supposedly highly educated engineers for whom I've sometimes written technical instructions. Attached is the Dilbert cartoon I used to have on my office wall.
BTW, we still use our Garmins but only in rental cars.
