UKSaabs

Hi all,

Having now "fixed" a very annoying earth loop issue with the Denso head unit in my 95 I now hate it a bit less than previously. I have seen that there is a 2018 maps update DVD available for Saab Denso units, which also features a number of firmware updates. It is going for £29 on a number of sites.

Does anyone have any experience of using this maps update? Does it make any of the rest of the Denso system better?

My guess is it changes pretty much nothing, a part from potentially the battery disconnection clock issue, but thought worth asking here just in case.

Many thanks!

Had one for the grundig/Delphi in the 9-3 and it was frankly rubbish. Couldn't search by place, voice commands were not good and major roads were missing. Had two sent to me neither worked, instant refund. You might be lucky though as you gave a different type.

9600 - would be interested to hear your experiences of you do try it but, like you, I don't hold out too much hope of anything worthwhile

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

_________________
'75 Vauxhall Viva - '91 Eunos Roadster - '91 Mini - '94 SAAB 9000 - '97 SAAB 9000 - '08 SAAB 9-5 TiD

I upgraded our MY06 in June 2019 immediately after collecting it from Yorkshire. It had the original 06 DVD and the upgrade I got was a “2018” disc.

1. As you would expect, the maps are more up to date. Far from perfect but “2018” is the DVD pressing date; the map content can lag some way behind and is also subject to data providers such as local authorities being up to date, eg its got early stuff around here for the Olympic Park, but none of the recent 2015+ developments.

2. The firmware was useful to get a MY06 car to use the later format map data, but does not include a fix for the GPS week rollover. That would require GM to have asked Denso for one specific to Saab, so fat chance of that. Then again we should be OK now until 2038 when the next rollover happens.

I can’t really comment on other benefits of the firmware upgrade as my only use of the original firmware was on collecting the car, when it was obviously not 100% as my attempt to steer a course from the edge of the Yorkshire Dales to Nottingham (Saab) resulted in me being taken deeper into the dales Pandemic permitting, I hope to get a chance to test that again this summer and see if there really is a homing pigeon inside it.

As expected, she rarely uses the inbuilt SatNav, it took years to get her to move from TomTom to
a phone App, so I expect another 2-3 years to make that transition.

As for me, I am a real man and don’t need a SatNav. But I do like the pictures.

Bernard - since, evidently, the 2018 disc is working for you, can you say where you got it, please?
Finding a reliable source of replacement discs is at best hit-and-miss, so any personal experience of one that actually reads and operates as it should is worth sharing.

_________________
I had a meteoric career.
Meteors plummet in flames.
Career is what happens when you lose control.

I made my own from bits of string and Nanny Goats tails.

I built a DVD from hosted and shared files on the Cloud (Mega). Its a bit of a grey area but I am ready to stand up in court and say the owners orphaned the technology and so I had no choice but to find another solution.

I needed a disc with the 2008+ firmware update to get my unit to read later maps. I used to use Mega for cloud storage and found a hosted file there. Its still currently available (to Mega users but its free to sign up). Not much use if all you want is the latest maps as map data is probably about 2013, so only of use if you need that firmware update. If its agreed by the powers that be, I am happy to come back and edit to put the link here <Mega hosted Denso map with firmware>.

There was a later version of the maps on Mega too, but I have lost that link. If I find it I will update this post.

I could never get a straight answer from map DVD sellers as to whether their discs also had the all important firmware update, so went this time-consuming route. Much easier to get the DVD from a seller but it did give me the opportunity to control the creation of the DVD, eg. best quality, dual-layer (needed as its 5GB+ of data) disc and created at the slowest possible burn speed (2x in my case) with full error checking and verification. You will need to sleep on it as it will take hours. That way the SatNav DVD drive has an easier time too.