2010 Hack question

Rick, how good is the voice recognition in the car? Can you ask it to "Display Restaurants" and it will?

 

After my experience with the gen 2 voice recognition, unless it improves drastically, I will be ordering my next Prius (plug in only) as bare bones. (My gen 2 was top-o-the-line). I think the stereo and nav are better quality as after market installations, and certainly less expensive. Live and learn.

 

Just purchased 2010 Prius with Nav. Believe Nav purchase was a big mistake. The lockout as you've all discussed is irritating and the voice recognition rarely understands me. Get tired of starting over. Will probably go back to my Garmin on the dash. Very expensive useless purchase. I won't ever recommend the Nav and will do my best to let Toyota know how poor their product is.

 

I've had Nav with other cars, drove me nuts. I have not experienced Toyota Nav, but the Garmin is just so easy - intuitive and cheap, this time I did not get Nav, I'll just do the Garmin.
Toyota may have it licked, but I bet the disk to update the Nav data base will cost more than a new Garmin.

 

Amen to that.

I just bought the lifetime upgrade for my Garmin; up to 4 upgrades a year, for the life of the device, for $119, and I can input addresses on the fly. I bought the last update disc for my '05 Prius on eBay for, I believe, $250. I love the built in Nav but I won't be springin' for it when I buy my '10...

 

I purchased my 2010 IV without NAV and then got a Garmin 855t with a bean bag mount. It has voice recognition and a little voice recognition remote control that straps right onto the steering wheel. It works very well and is MUCH cheaper than the built in NAV. Plus, I can take it with me to a rental.

 

it has quite a few short cuts.
you can say "I'm hungry" or "I'm tired"

 

Try saying, "I'm hungry!". Your map will show all nearby food choices.

 

Only problem I found with the voice recognition is when the climate control fan is running high - the noise seems to make my voice not come through clear enough to be recognized by the 'puter. My passenger can hear me fine, but the nice lady in the dashboard hears me better if I turn off the AC... or at least take it out of auto and turn down the fan.

 

Yeah. I did it on my 2010. There is a very simple version of the hack, and a more complicated version that provides some better results. The thread is in the mods forumn.

 

First off, I have no regrets with my NAV in the 2004 Prius. My next Prius will definitely have NAV. One feature lacking in the portable units is dead reckoning. When you lose the GPS signal on a portable at a crucial point during navigation, you can end up missing a turn or wasting time being rerouted. The beauty of the built in car units is that they still function fairly accurately when the GPS signal is lost. I drive in the NYC area and I love driving through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and actually see the NAV track my progress accurately until I resurface in Manhattan. You can't do that with the portable nav units. Say you are not familiar with the area and you have to make numerous turns when exiting the tunnel. Guess what, you're screwed!! First, the portables have been underground for a few minutes (more if there is traffic) so when they come out of the tunnel they have to reacquire a GPS signal which can take less than 30 seconds but try figuring out where to turn during those LONG 30 seconds!!! The car unit also calculates faster than any portable unit I've ever seen. I have a Garmin and a Tom Tom and though I like them for what they are, they can't recalculate or initially calculate a route as fast as the built in NAV unit in my Prius. With the ability to override the system I can use all the features of my built in NAV while I'm driving. I find it easier to use than trying to bend over and punch in directions on the portables when they're mounted on the windshield. Yes, the updates are absurdly expensive which is why I won't buy an update. Last time they built a new road where I live was before I was born!!!!!!!

 

Far too many submenus...The Voice Calling feature requires answering several questions. It should be - 1) Press the voice calling button on the wheel 2) Speak the name and place to call - (ie - "Call John Jones office) & BINGO!
Keeping automated tasks simple enables the driver to spend their attention to DRIVING - not answering questions. I know we should drive & NOT talk on the phone but it is legal...

 

You can skip a bunch of sub-menus, although I agree there are still too many. But skipping some helps a bit. For example, for calling, you can press the button and skip straight to 'Dial by Name', then say the name.

 

So, back to the original question: is there a list of hacks for the new Prius, like there was for the old one?

I can't find ANY hacks configurable from the touch screen that still work.

IN particular, of course, I want to turn that damned rear-gear beep off without having to pay my dealer to reprogram it.