As a new owner I noticed a lot that I love but would like to talk about the GPS and Sat radio. At first I was frustrated with the gps. So much I keep my Garmin in the car. But I havent used my Garmin. The gps does have a learning curve. I like it now. I use Bing with it which helps. When searching with the gps only it seems to limit itself to the zipcode area. It could still be me. I have taken several weekend trips and use it a lot. I have to put in the city or zipcode to complete a search. As for the Sat radio it is frustrating! I used a portabla car one for years. Never had a reception problem. Always good sound. Now I lose the signel going down a highway, not a secondary secondary road but a highway with trees on both sides sides of the road. Is this because it XM? I end up playing my own songs or going to FM. In the open no problem. I may cancel my service if it does not improve.
I complained to my dealer about the maps being out of date for my area. The dealer said that maps were updated once per year and that I should complain directly to Toyota as Toyota listens to their customers more than their dealers. I have portable Garmin and TomTom units that are updated, for free, 4 times per year. I lose the XM signal when I am close to trees or buildings higher than 2 stories and that impede the view to the south. Given that I used to have an XM radio with an antenna attached to the front windshield and did not have problems I believe the issue is the Toyota antenna.
I've used my factory NAV very little. So far, no complaints. I love satellite radio and have been a continuous subscriber since 1993. I've had signal loss in every car since. I can only remember one signal loss in five months with my Prius. I assume the satellite antenna is integrated with the AM-FM roof antenna on the Prius. For those switching to the shark fin antenna, I would anticipate reception problems.
