That is true about their is a difference in the units suffix between Europe & N. America but that is all the suffix denotes (software), the hardware is the same. I have a Euorpean unit which has been flashed with N.American software. Their are a few places stateside that can do it but I'm not sure how much it costs, mine already came with the N.Amercan flash. The firmware flash takes a little more skill that the regular operating software which I believe is still at 0260 which comes on the Navigation discs and should already go through an update cycle if you are running on older software, I'm not sure where or how you would get or update the firmware without sending it into one of the people that offer it like: www.vagnavs.com ( where I purchased mine) or www.nsxjr.com One of the nice things about the units being flashed rather than a factory unit is that you get the "Video in Motion" unlocked and you don't end up getting the ridiculous lawyer disclaimers that display for a minuted about navigating while driving, the units just boot up right away.