Remember that your Clarity comes with 5 years of GPS updates, here is how to update!

Discussion in 'Clarity' started by Duxa, Jan 12, 2020.

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  1. Duxa

    Duxa Member

    Hi all, just a friendly reminder that Garmin will support GPS updates for 5 years on your Clarity. They typically release 4 updates per year (once a quarter). Here is how to update.

    1) Grab yourself a USB stick that is at least 16GB in size.
    2) Format it as FAT32. Windows 10 will not let you do this, so use one of many apps out there. I used FAT32 Format. Downloadable from here by clicking the big screenshot of on the page - http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm

    During the format leave all settings on default, and make sure that the drive letter corresponds to your USB stick, you dont want to be formatting some other drive.

    3) Once formatted plug in the USB stick into your clarity, driver side USB port (same one as CarPlay).
    4) Go to Navigation -> Settings -> Device -> Update Map
    5) This process will take a few seconds, it is basically putting information about your car on the stick, including the serial number of you GPS, so do not share this info with anyone.
    6) Bring the USB stick back to the computer and download Garmin Express from the link here - https://honda.garmin.com/honda/site/generalInstructions
    7) Install and run Garmin Express, it will detect your Clarity and let you add it as a system. It will then tell you what version maps you have and when your updates expire. Proceed through the menus and start update download.

    This process will start out saying it will take 4 hours, but it took about 10 minutes for me (highly dependent on your internet connection).

    8) Once it finishes it will look like this - https://imgur.com/a/WkwgRSI
    Take the USB stick back to your car, once there run through the same steps you did in step 4. It will start pulling the maps from the USB stick to your car. This process will definitely take a while, so bring a book, or a gaming console or a podcast to listen to.

    Thats it.

    Hope this helped you guys!
     
    Clarity_Newbie likes this.
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  3. petteyg359

    petteyg359 Well-Known Member

    This should not matter. Like your computer, it doesn't matter where you plug it in, just that it is plugged in. I have always used the passenger side.
     
  4. coutinpe

    coutinpe Active Member

    Same here...
     
  5. coutinpe

    coutinpe Active Member

    Thank you!
     
  6. Duxa

    Duxa Member

    Ah ok, I havent tried the other one, but on most cars (like the Accord I had before, only one USB has data (all 4 pins are wired), while all others are meant for charging and have only 2 pins wired. Whenever I solder a USB cable thats meant for charging only I only solder 2 pins, because requirements for data transfer are a lot more strict as far as the cable is concerned (awg and length). Great to hear that they wired both sides for data!
     
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  8. coutinpe

    coutinpe Active Member

    That is correct. I think the only difference is the amperage. I use 'slot A' for the phone, 'slot B' for playing music/updating maps/loading new wallpapers. So it definitely is a data connection!
     
  9. petteyg359

    petteyg359 Well-Known Member

    Not a good idea if you're ever plugging in anything that needs more than 2.5 watts. Only 500 mA available without negotiation, requiring data connection.
     
  10. Monte Benaresh

    Monte Benaresh New Member

    Thanks for the info, but I had some trouble with this last night. I was looking forward to updating my maps database because I often try to find places that are new in the last 2 years or so, and it doesn't have them. I followed the steps and ran the Garmin app on my Mac, and it told me I have a 2018 database, which is the latest, and there is no need to update.

    Does this sound right? Don't we expect more frequent updates? I didn't get any error messages during the steps, so I don't know what I could have done wrong.

    My Clarity is a 2019 PHEV Touring, made in July 2019, purchased on 9/7/2019. Thanks for any hints on this.
     
  11. Duxa

    Duxa Member

    That doesnt sound right, you may have been trying to upgrade something that is not the maps. Garmin releases an update every quarter, so 4 map updates per year, and has been doing so for at least the last 20 years. This means that since 2018 there has been at least 4 updates. What it should be trying to update is the maps, not the database. Steps on a mac may differ, I dont have one to try it out, maybe someone else does.
     
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  13. KentuckyKen

    KentuckyKen Well-Known Member

    While that may be true for Garmin’s handhelds or units for other cars, I am fairly certain that there has not been 8 updates for my 2 year old Touring.
     
  14. Duxa

    Duxa Member

    Clarity Garmin GPS is no different than a handheld one, there are like 2 or 3 different maps that Gamin makes for 100+ Garmin devices, plenty of handheld devices share exact same maps as Clarity.

    They are CN North America NT maps (standard and 3D variants are loaded), latest being 2020. I did look at history and it looks like they switched to 3 releases per year around 2016. Which, they really didnt, its just before the would overlap numbering across multiple years like 2012.10 would have been in 2011 but then 2012.40 would end up in 2012. Now they all fit within the previous year. So their release cadence stayed pretty much the same, they just changed numbering.

    2018.10 - Jan 19, 2017 (Thu) => 106 days since last release
    2018.20 - May 18, 2017 (Thu) => 119 days since last release
    2018.30 - Oct 11, 2017 (Wed) => 146 days since last release

    2019.10 - Jan 24, 2018 (Wed) => 105 days since last release
    2019.20 - Jun 20, 2018 (Wed) => 147 days since last release
    2019.30 - Nov 07, 2018 (Wed) => 140 days since last release

    2020.10 - Jan 30, 2019 (Wed) => 84 days since last release
    2020.20 - Jul 17, 2019 (Wed) => 168 days since last release
    2020.30 - Oct 30, 2019 (Wed) => 105 days since last release

    Even if for some reason they dont push all updates to Clarity, there should be at least a yearly update, so since 2018 there should have been 2019 version and now 2020 (which is the version I loaded when I wrote up this post a few days ago. I just dont remember if it was 2020.30 or not, but it was definitely 2020).

    There will be a 2021.10 release in about 2 weeks.
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2020
  15. dana

    dana Member

    Attempted to update Garmin maps earlier today since last update was performed May 2, 2019.
    Clarity gave me the same message Monte Benaresh received "there is no need to update" even though downloaded file is dated today 1/15/2020.
    Will try again after 2021.10 release mentioned by Duxa.
     
  16. Duxa

    Duxa Member

    Whats the current version that is on there? You can see whats loaded by going through Settings on the Navigation screen.
     
  17. dana

    dana Member

    Duxa,
    Software Version: 2.08
    Thanks
     
  18. Duxa

    Duxa Member

    Yea, thats something else, probably the OS/Core software that is running on there. Go to Navigation -> Settings -> Maps -> Loaded Maps, I am going from memory but should be somewhere in there. The list should have 3 things:

    OEM North America DEM
    OEM CN North America NT <Year> 3D
    OEM CN North America NT <Year>

    With checkmarks so you can turn off certain ones if you want.
     
    Monte Benaresh likes this.
  19. dana

    dana Member

    Duxa, thanks for the information. Later today, I"ll have an opportunity to verify which version my Clarity has.
     
  20. dana

    dana Member

    Duxa, the <Year> in both cases is 2019.
     
  21. Duxa

    Duxa Member

    There is definitely a 2020 update (as I have installed this on the day I made this post).
     
  22. Rav

    Rav Member

    Yikes, seems like a lot for something I should be able to do over WiFi or something the dealer should just do for me at service. I'll just stick w Google Maps.
     
  23. Duxa

    Duxa Member

    Yea, it may be beneficial to update after owning the Clarity for 4 years or so, that way you get the latest possible maps you can get without spending any money.
     

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