To Nav or not to Nav.. that is the question

Quick way to test without lockin, borrow/buy (and later return) a portable car GPS system for your current car and try it to see how it changes anything for you.

Usually, GPS comes in use whenever there's any variation in your driving routine, need to find/locate a place, emergencies, road closures, traffic, traveling, etc, especially in urban areas with a lot of strange twists and turns.

GPS has helped me become a "local" wherever I go especially in the myriad of streets and roads in Socal.

 

Not sure how it is there in Washington state, but around here all maps are horrible! Whoever is supposed to update the road info for this county isn't doing their job. It's the same with several paper maps, MapQuest, computer map programs (two I've looked at), and the Prius DVD Nav... they are all outdated.

Roads moved, not reflected on new maps.

Roads closed, not reflected on new maps.

Roads built, not reflected on new maps.

Perfect example: a local plant was expanded over 30 years ago, and as a result a road was dug up and built over. All of the afore-mentioned maps still show that road existing. I've found dozens and dozens of examples around here.

So I would suggest you look at your local paper maps (and/or MapQuest) to see how accurate they are. If there are too many mistakes, then your DVD Nav likely will be just as innacurate.

For me, the only reason to have the Nav option is for Bluetooth cellphone use. Of course, one day I'll probably take a road trip to an unfamiliar city and use it, however it might help.

 

To address your points:

1. The NAV's coolness factor will be most apparent early in your ownership; once you get used to it, the novelty will (eventually) wear off, so the "coolness" factor isn't one that I'd think would increase with age.

2. Yes, NAV is extremely handy if you go to areas you're not familiar with; sometimes, even in areas you *are* familiar with.

3. Don't get the NAV option because of resale value; the difference in resale value will never be as much or more than the premium you pay to have it installed as an option -- especially since most of the functionality can be added via aftermarket GPS units.

Now... having said all of that...

I absolutely love my factory NAV unit. I'll be the first to admit that I got the feature because I thought it was neat and I also wanted the air bags and HID lamps and the 6 CD changer, etc. It was a convenience feature -- a nice way to plan routes to places when I wasn't entirely sure of the best way to get there, if nothing more than a way to eliminate the need for MapQuest. But...

When I evacuated Houston for Hurricane Rita, the NAV unit saved my butt. You think NAV would make you a "local" when trying to cut across town during rush hour? How about being able to instantly look a few miles ahead down the road for possible detours? How about taking an unmarked, unlit, 1.5-lane road (that no standard highway map would show) off the side of an evacuation route with all the other drivers thinking you're insane -- but having confidence because the system shows that road will bypass traffic and take you where you want to go? Furthermore, at the end of that road, I encountered a police roadblock that was preventing traffic from crossing an evacuation thoroughfare through the middle of a small town. NAV let me weave through a maze of residential roads and cross some railroad tracks over to a place where cross traffic was *not* blocked and I could continue on my route. The thing even alerted me to the presence of my next turn *before* I could really see the road in my headlights.

I can't tell you how much I would've paid for that functionality that night had I not already had it. I also don't know if I'll ever need it in such a way again -- and I hope I don't. But after that, I don't regret purchasing the option one bit.

So, yeah... if you're on the fence and you know you can afford it... why not? It's somewhat of a safety feature as well as a novelty. If it strains your budget too much, it may not be worth it. It's not like we were unable to navigate without it before

 

I, like you, windstrings, usually know where I'm going. I can easily read maps, and didn't really think I'd use NAV much. I got it as part of the package I wanted with Bluetooth.

Now, I like the NAV a lot more than the Bluetooth.

It can really surprise me. I was in downtown Portland the other day and was going home. I set my destination as HOME and got directed through some side streets to a freeway on-ramp I didn't know existed. Once on the freeway, I suspended guidance since I knew where I was going.

I often use it the other way too: I'll put in a destination by address at home, select the route, start, and then suspend the guidance until I'm fairly close. While the NAV lady has a pleasant voice, I really don't need her to tell me to get on the freeway and keep on the freeway and get off the freeway; just guide me the last mile.

Brian's right though. If Mapquest or Yahoo doesn't cover your area well, the Danso NAV may not either.

 

For me, Nav is must. Not only I use it for traveling to the unfamiliar location, I use it in my daily driving. Mainly I use it to estimate the time of arrival to work and home. Nav displays the exact travel time. I know exactly (minutes) if I am going to make it for the meeting or to my daughter's school play. Especially during the heavy traffic, I know the ETA and allow me to make the appropriate plan and action. Like drive little faster or relax because I can make it well before the meeting.


My recommendation is buy.

 

That's why we named my car Dora (the Explorer).

Even to those places in which I've been a million times, and I thought I had the quickest route, she's proven to me that I don't know everything and has come up with some great alternative ways to get there.

In the northeast, it seems no roads are straight north/south east or west - always curvy, and the kids steal street signs. When I have a new client to go to, she has always gotten me there without fail. And she never lets me get lost, even though I sometimes refuse to follow her directions.

She's not perfect though. Several times she's taken us to phantom restaurants. But supposedly that's the fault of the database; which I assume will be continually updated should I choose.

But on the whole the NAV has become indespensible for us. With fuel prices climbing - efficiency is a must. From this point forward, we'll always have a NAV package in our future cars.

 

NAV is definetely a personal choice.

As others stated, it's a great feature to have. I use it even when I'm not having it guide me. I'll have the map screen up and may decide to take a different road, since I can see it will get me to the same place. I'll also sometimes just drive different ways to see other ways to get home or get to where I'm going.

I drive 30k miles a year and each day go some place different. Most of the time it's places I've already been, but I do every so often go some place new. It's very nice to have - I used to use Mapquest or my Pocket PC with GPS but I haven't touched either since picking up my Prius.

 

I have used the Nav to 1) get me around detours and/or blocked roads due to crashes, 2) find a local restaurant or other thing I wanted, 3) show me that a "best" route I thought I knew, actually wasn't the best.

I love it!

 

hmmm....

if you want the other things that come with nav, then i'd say to go for it - i really, really doubt you'll ever 'regret' doing it.

if you aren't sure you want the other things that come with a loaded package, then consider getting an aftermarket dash unit. it won't be as nicely integrated by a long shot, but it will do all the nifty nav functions and then some. then you don't have to be a 'map' person or a 'consumption' person - you can have both! the best part: if, 3 months down the line, you are thinking "damn, this thing is such a waste of my $800!" you can always pack it back in its box, and sell it for a hundred or two less than you bought it for. Take the $200 loss and say "boy am I glad I didn't take the factory nav!"

 

I'm not planning to get nav when I get my Prius in January.
Figured I'd post here so you would get to hear from both ends.

First, I think nav is REALLY cool.
But, I'm a frugal person and I really don't see a need for it in my circumstances.
I travel the same route to work every day and on those few occasions when I am travelling to less familiar destinations, I usually have a phone number I can call on my cell phone should I need clarification of directions.
If it was much much less expensive, I'd consider it but for me its cool but not cost effective.

 

I just picked up a small Garmin unit, and managed to load the detail
maps into it [bloody windows crap...]. Haven't done too much
actual driving with it yet, but already I can see that *it* knows
which roads are coming up and simply says so at the top of the
display, which around the Boston area is *really* nice since they've
got this habit of only sporadically labeling the side streets and
almost NEVER labeling the more major street you're actually *on*.
Thus, if you come out of a side street and wonder "okay, what's this
larger road I just got onto?" you're hosed, but if the nav unit can
tell me then it's all good.
.
So I think it'll be a good decision, and of course this one cost an
order of magnitude less than one built into the car.
.
_H*

 

A navigation system saved my mariage........................

No to be serious. On holidays my wife always tells me how to drive in Europe. She has the maps of several countrys and regions. Sometimes she told me the wrong road. And sometimes she told it wrong. so by accident I entered the centre of Paris.
Now I have a navigation system and I love it. Never a wrong road.

 

I went through all of the thoughts that you did and decided to opt out of the NAV. Events got me my Prius much earlier than planned, and a package 6 with the NAV which was not planned. I am in Washington State. To be honest, I don't know how I ever lived without the NAV. Even if I know where I'm going, it helps to watch the ETA to plan my trips better, knowing when there is time for a BRB or not, etc. There has been only one occassion where the NAV was not of help, and that was out in the boonies. It was not an issue as I had gotten backup directions anyway. Overall, I would say it is definitely worth it. So nice if you are out and about and hear about a store or restaurant you want to try. Enter the address or find it in the POI, and be there in a flash. Yes, I could live without it, but I would rather not.

 

Get a portable nav and save $1000 at least.

I asked for 2006 package 6 or 7. If Pkg 6 available, I'll take it and buy a portable one. You can take portable with you when you travel to other city with a rental car.

 

Yes, I'm embarassed to say that I found a short way home from work, even though I lived my whole life in San Diego and had been working at the job for months. I will say that my original plan was to get a #5 and get a portable NAV system. That didn't work out, but I'm not sorry.

 

Are there any "aftermarket" systems that integrate with the MFD? I bought an '05 Package 2, and after getting a little lost on my way to a B&B in PA this weekend, I was thinking of getting a GPS system of some sort.

Obviously there are lots of systems to buy. So, in lieu of something that can be integrated with the MFD, is there a decent, well-price (i.e. LOW) unit available? I'm pretty good with directions, it's just every once in a while it'd be nice to have a little help, especially on a trip.

Thanks.

 

The only reason I have the NAV system is that the only Prii on the lots were all package #6, and even with all of the bells & whistles it was much less expensive than the Avalon without the NAV that I was thinking about buying.

It's much more useful than I thought for the same reasons as the other posters have mentioned. Even though I've lived in DC for 15 years, it's nice to be able to take a quick look at the NAV and see if there are other routes available, especially when there is heavy traffic.

On the otherhand, the routes that it chooses in DC are generally not the routes I would pick. One of the main routes I use, Rock Creek Parkway, has traffic restrictions at different times of the day and it seems like the NAV avoids it completely rather than risk suggesting a route that may not be valid.

The other enviromental advantage is that I'm not printing out Mapquest/Google Maps anymore, saving paper

The other feature that has a nice coolness factor is using blue tooth to dial the destination. For example, I can pick out a restaurant, set the destination and then call for reservations on the way, saving a bit on 411 calls and making life easier.

Cheers,
Jeff