We are unhappy with our Toyota GPS...

It depends on where you live. I get turn-by-turn everywhere in my city/county.

 

I get turn by turn too, and I live in Canada. The nav is actually quite up to date for my city.

 

We are glad to know that Maledyris! Our BP Prius with Technology Package is on order and delivery is expected September or early October.

It would certainly be a disappointment if the car's GPS will not give turn-by-turn directions like our Garmin NUVI 650.

 

This is completely true. Having driven over thousands of miles in many states, I am surprised and somewhat mystified by why some areas have great coverage and some simply suck. With the Gen II data that we have in our 2006, all of the highways in Utah are off by two miles. They physically show up at the proper locations, but the numbering is offset.

When the system has good data, it works quite well. In an area with poor data, it's pretty useless. Given that Toyota and Garmin both use Navteq data, it makes you wonder.

Tom

 

The only issue I have is that there are a lot of new developments and roads here, and it takes 2+ years and a $285 update for them to show up in the system.

 

A lot of people here agree with you. My $169 Garmin Nuvi will do everything our 07 TCH NAV system will do, the Garmin is just slower to find places (initially) and the display is smaller. At $1,800 (more than 10 times the cost of a basic Nuvi!!!) the Toyota NAV never made any sense to me either (yes, I know there's a backup camera and other doo-dads). YMMV

 

Isn't it strange that both negative posters don't own Prius'.

 

Very sorry. I didn't realize that only Prius owners had valid opinions (BTW I do have an 07 Toyota NAV), or that evidently their views are all the same. Again YMMV

 

All of the factory GPS units are bad. I use my Garmin Nuvi all the time. It is fast and accurate. I have a lot of history over the last 10 years with factory GPS units, stand alone GPS units and GPS software that runs on Windows Mobile (Routis, Tom Tom, Mapopolis, and may others)

I do not have a sun roof on my car because of the GPS. There is no way I was going to pay $1800 extra for a GPS unit I will never use to get the sun roof for another $1800. Toyota should let customers buy a sunroof with out having to buy NAV.

 

Mine sucks too. I do however enjoy the map and have it telling me where construction is, lanes closed, etc. I don't think I paid for the navi though, it came included in my package.

 

Trust me, you paid for it.

 

I have tried the navigation system several times.

It gave me turn by turn guidance to each destination I went to. This includes my house (in a development at the north end of Austin), an industrial park in town, and a friend's house in the suburbs. In each case, the turn by turn directions got me exactly to my destination. Most of the time it announced the street names, and occasionally only said "turn right at the next corner".

When I first got my Prius, I looked at the map data. There are some new toll roads near my house which were not in the 2008 Garmin data base but were added to the 2009 data. They are in the Prius navigation system. There is one street which was not in the Garmin 2009 data base but is in the 2010 data base. It is not in the Prius data base. I came to the conclusion that the Prius navigation data base, which was updated in January 2009, is at the same level as the Garmin 2009 data base, which was released in April or May 2008. The 2010 Garmin data base wasn't released until April or May of 2009, so I didn't expect this level to be in the January 2009 update for Toyota.

As was stated previously, the exact coverage depends mainly on the area in which you are traveling. Some areas are covered better than others. So far, I am satisfied with the navigation system in the Prius.

 

Good to know I guess? For anyone wondering whether to get navi or not to get it.....

 

Navteq has multiple levels of data and of course pricing to match. Now I certainly do not have any inside information but which company do you think would go for the highest level data? Is it the one whose primary business is GPS devices or the one where GPS is sold as an option on a small percentage of its vehicles?

 

Folks... you can't blame the Toyota GPS system. There are two main players with respect to data that NAV devices use. One is Navteq and the other is TeleNav (or something like that). What is most important is that the data be up to date for the NAV system to work. With that said, I have a 2004 Prius with a the 4.2 data disc. It rarely fails me. I suggest that it may be worthwhile to move to a new location if you're having difficulty. This will justify your $1,800 expenditure. As an FYI, if you happen to own an iPhone I recommend the Tom Tom App for download. It works great!!!!

 

Re: Happy with Toyota NAV ...

I have to say the NAV seems to work quite well, turn by turn accurate as can be for me. I am sure like any of them they have and I will come across the limitations of the unit..and be frustrated.

The main reason I wanted the in dash NAV was, tired of taking the TOM TOM in and out of the car...it appears a lot of theft comes from those sweet pieces of electronic waiting for the taker! Plus wires absolutely drive me nuts...running them here or there..it's my car and I don't need any more of those darn things cluttering it.

Their have been negative posts with the Bluetooth, but mine is as clear as a bell. Sometimes I think it has to do with the vendor (phone or service provider and coverage area as well). Congested metropolitan area...everyone bleeding across the other.

But I love mine, thus far. Sorry to hear you hated yours....