I have read many posts here that just rip the Toyota Nav system to pieces. I have not used mine that much so I have stayed in the background reading other's issues. This weekend I had two 100+ mile trips to places without a lot of direct routes. The shortest and quickest routes take a lot of local knowledge with a lot of turns. When I preset both of these destinations, the Nav unit surprised me and selected the same routes that I would normally use, including the ones that I thought would only be known by locals. Also, while returning home, I took some short cuts that I use on the return trip from work. The Nav recalculated the routes correctly each time I made another turn not on its original route. I have not had a problem with my Nav to date and, so far, am very satisfied with it. I am now glad that I did get the Nav even though I did not originally intend to get it due to the price.
+1 - I'm happy with the nav unit too. I particularly like the multiple destinations feature, and how you can sort them.
+1. Didn't want it (was happy with my $200 Garmin), but have learned to like it. I like having a choice of routes (instead of fighting with the Garmin), and also like voice operation. Also love the backup camera on the large screen. Pet peeve: I wish the compass simply used letters (NE, SW, etc.) instead of a traditional compass needle from which I need to orient myself -- I can do without having to make that extra calculation.
If you want a detailed compass rose showing NE, SW, etc., press the compass button right above the On button in the left corner. A screen will come up with choices for Single display, Dual display or Compass display. If you choose compass, the diplay will be divided in two, with one being the map and the other a large compass rose with the NE, SW details along with latitiude and longitude coordinates. Maybe this is what you are looking for.
Thanks for the tip -- I'll try it out, but I'd like to have the NE, SW direction without losing half of the screen.
I particularly like that the route recalculation is quiet, none of that pesky "Re-Calculating".... Gee been so long since I've used my Garmin the phrase skips my memory.
I agree. It would be nice if the compass arrow in the top left corner had the compass rose around it.
I miss my Garmin... the menu system in this NAV is really quirky. Some things are nice, but some are silly. Like if I try and enter an address that is newer than the dbase, the Garmin does an interpolation between 2 known numbers and gets me there. The Toyota just sits there looking stupid. Many more user unfriendly issues.. maybe a SW upgrade in the future will help fix some of these. And I DO miss my Garmin saying "recalculando" over an over every time I don't follow its advice .
I was driving from Atlanta to Birmingham AL one time using my Garmin Nuvi and the Interstate westbound was under repair from some damage so we had to share the eastbound lanes for about 35 miles. That woman was going crazy! She was really upset that we were not following her instructions to exit and she kept recalculating for a really long time until we got back on the right lanes. It showed me that the GPS was reasonably accurate if it could tell the difference of a median.
I have a 2008 with Nav. In 2 years I managed to find 4 locations the Nav could not find. In each case it was because the address information I was using was INCORRECT!!! I would find that the street had a N,S,E,W prefix on it, and if you do not enter the correct address, it will not get you there!! Each time, once I understood the street labeling, the system then found the address I was looking for. I wonder how many other folk are running into problems, only to find out they also tried to input an incorrect address!!! H'mmmmmm
When you enter street names, leave off prefixes and suffixes. For example, if your target street is "N First Ave", just enter "First". After that it will display a list for your selection. That way you don't have to guess how it is named in the data base. I always work backward with address entries: I start with the State, then go to City, Street, and finally Street Number. That way the pick lists are progressively shortened. Tom
At first I wasn't the biggest fan of the Nav in my 2010. Once I got used to it I now like it better than my Garmin. I just wish the passenger could enter an address while we're traveling. I hadn't planned on purchasing the Nav but I'm very happy that I have it.
So far my experiences are a wash. I was happy with its performance on the Monmouth Beach trips. However, on several commutes (Cinnaminson NJ to Hightstown NJ) it wants to send me through PA at Burlington. It also wants to put me on I-295 instead of staying on US130. So, sometimes it works as good as or better than my Garmin. Other times it is worse. We'll see what happens on the NY trip this week.
That's odd - I just did that this weekend and it didn't work. I was in L.A. and typed in an address (right off a business card) for Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. It gave me the list, but none of the results were in LA or Hollywood. After a couple of futile attempts, I typed in the business name and discovered that the navi referred to the street as WEST Sunset Blvd. The card only referred to it as Sunset Blvd. Later, heading back to USC, it directed me to the 101 Northbound Freeway. As I turned onto 101N, she advised me to take I-10W. Alas, when she made that command, I caught a fleeting glimpse of the 10W on-ramp 3 lanes over to my right as I passed it by at 50MPH. Usually she will let me know in advance if I'm going to make another quick turn. She never even told me to stay to the right in order to make the next leg. I miss my Acura's navi. It seemed much more user-friendly --- and it could be accessed while in motion!
I am not a big fan of the Nav. The features and graphics are outstanding, but it's logic on entering or adding locations is poor. You have to spell the street EXACTLY as it's entered in it's database (which is not always correct). The Garmin logic is way better. (Much more intuitive).
Once I got used to the Nav, vs. using MapQuest or google on my phone, I've been loving it. Never once have I had a problem entering an address while driving, because the voice recognition has been excellent. One quibble is that voice rec won't do business names, but that makes sense... Voice control works because street names have phonetic coding. That coding is used to pronounce names and to search based on the syllables you speak. (That's why the alternate suggestions are for names that sound alike, not spelling.) Doing that for all the place names would take up too much DVD space!
