New owner, navigation frustration!

On one trip my old Garmin wouldn't find the address. It tracked the route fine into the development then I drove right off the ends of the Earth. If your address/street/development isn't in the database there is nothing you can do. It seems to take about 3 years for the map databases to get updated but don't expect pinpoint accuracy.

When sitting at your home set the current location as HOME. I have the route trace active on both my Garmin & the Denso so trails are generated. The unit will get you close to the destination but it will get confused and the directions will be worse than useless when it runs off the map.

Ask your friends with portable nav units, particularly those with free map upgrades, if they can find your address. If they can't, then it is a database issue. If they can, then it is a map version issue. For what you'll pay Toyota for a map update you can buy a portable GPS.

 

i've been having some frustrating nav issues on my 2010 III as well

to solve your problem of not being able to locate your home


while parked in your driveway

got to the map

hit setup, then Nav and you will see a button for home.
hit that button and then rather than entering the home as an address, you can find it on a map based on your current location. just use that location...

I can't solve the "no road" issue, but at least you car will know where home is


today I was toying around and put in a few locations . but when I changed my mind on where I wanted to go, once I got driving, i was unable to cancel the current trip. the damn thing kept trying to reroute me... ARGH....

and I'm not sure but I think it is either constantly in day mode or night mode...I found the switch to switch it. but not sure if there is an "auto" feature.

time to get the manuals out... I'm so used the "garmin" operating system....its a shame the car makers would not adopt a tried and true system, rather than making up their own...

 

I just got my 2014 #3 and I have been using the Nav... and I Dislike it. It seems to nat have expressway roads and is very confusing (I never have done so many u turns). Is there an update?

 

I found out the that "day/night" view is attached to the headlight switch.

on my trip to work..... yes I know where i work... I plugged my work address, and the direction it was going to take would have gotten me there, it wanted to take me on a less direct, longer and slower route.

I know on the garmin you are able to select, a method for the GPS to direct you. "shortest route" and "fastest route" anything like this on the Toyota?

And I did locate the "delete destination" button...

 

On your 2010 look for Route Edit when setting a destination. It will give you 3 choices, shortest, quickest and an alternate.

There are also settings for selecting Expressways, Toll Roads, etc. There are settings for your different driving speeds on different types of roads.

Also, take the time to read your Nav Manual. It is not very intuitive but all of the different settings information to match your driving habits are in there.

If you will take the time to set the Nav up correctly it actually does a pretty good job. It is not a Garmin though.

 

I have had an extremely sub-par experience with the nav in my PiP. I'd be ticked if I'd actually paid for it. The interface is so slow to use that it's barely worth the effort, and in at least 3 separate occasions (I've only used the thing maybe 6-8 times) it has directed me to an entirely wrong location, despite accepting the address. I can have an address looked up and loaded in my phone in about the time it takes me to navigate to the field to START typing the address on the screen, and on the phone I know it will get me to the right location, usually with the best route chosen as well.

I did find a setting just this week that at least forces it to give you several route options and allows you to choose the one that suits you, which is a big improvement. Still, the best thing they could do in the future is give you the option of just displaying the maps from your phone on the screen.

 

JD.

I did not see those. I'll have to try it out again after work.

Wife thinks I'm nuts. I've spent the last couple evenings just sitting the car hitting buttons and "gasp" actually reading the manuals but the manuals are not the best....but at least I have them.. Some cars I looked at did not have any manuals..

 

Understand, my wife thought I was nuts too when I first got the Prius.

I have 26 mile one way commute to work every day with mostly highway driving. So I had the ideal situation to try different settings on the Nav unit until I understood the settings and tweaked them until I had them dialed in to match my driving preferences.

 

jd,

sat in the car for about 40 minutes tonight pushing buttons.... found the "route preference" thingy and played with it some. still not the most intuitive... but I can see how you adjust which roads it selects, ect... I could not get it pick my route that I take every day.... but that being said, if I am in an unfamiliar location, I'd likely never know the difference.

 

Is your route the shortest or quickest? Main roads or back streets?

I have a route to work that takes local knowledge short cuts. My Nav will not select this route. As I drive it will recalculate but will not select it.

If someone did not know the area I would not recommend this route. The route that it selects is probably the route that I would recommend.

 

its a mix of 4 lane divided and some "in town" one route will use my route 90% of the way, and then it separates for the last 3 miles. I know the traffic when I come and go so there is no way I'd completely use the suggested routes. but if I had to direct someone the toyota routes are ones I could suggest.

funny though the garmin chooses the route I normally take.

the route I take, when I plug it into mapquest, is the shortest route...and arguably the fastest, at least during the am and pm rush...

it will take some tweaking thats for sure...

 

Have you set your speeds for each of the three different road types? This will affect the shortest, quickest, etc.

 

The NAV in my prius almost never gets used. I use a Garmin. There are tons of unfavorable issues and comments on Toyota NAV, it is simply out dated and way over priced!

 

JD

yes I looked at that page and I put in speeds 55 35 25 since those are posted limits on the roads I travel around home. Not a big deal...probably just a different set of algorithms and programming.

Bob, I don't see myself using it much either but the more I use it now to learn it the easier it will be to use it when I actually need it on a trip.

 

Yes it is not intuitive to learn but once you do it works well, for me anyway. The convenience of using the built-in Nav outweighs the use of external devices that need mounting, etc.

 

Looks like U have the Denso made Premium system.

Did U get the Delux solar roof package? if so you are also on the Premium system.

 

JBL... denso....its all the same right but yeah it has JBL on speakers usb connection and nav...not a bad setup. better than my gm/delco units...