'06 Prius owner with new '12 III - Some disappointments

Why would anyone buy a 3 for a 2012....it comes with navigation....I use mapquest on my IPhone and it works wonderfully. Tells me when to turn and I do not have to upgrade it.

 

My Garmin 2455 & Toyota's unit are about equally retarded. At the resolutions I use neither shows all (or most) of the street names. Entering normal addresses is easy enough but highways are a bugger. Is it NJ3, Route 3, Hwy 3? Is it US130 or Crescent Blvd? Both units have the problem.

Each unit has missing POI. Toyota's has nonexistant POI. The Garmin might but if so I haven't noticed.

It's a PITA to remember to change regions on Toyota's. I also have LMT on the Gamin. The northwest section of the beltway around Charlotte NC was missing on the Garmin. I didn't notice (or don't remember) if it was on Toyota's but I suspect it was. That Interstate didn't look new.

I am still looking for a suitable mounting solution for the Garmin. The windshield is not an option.

Traffic advisories are hit & miss and, so far, haven't given enough warning for an alternate. Some warnings are false.

Voice recognition is hit or miss. Sometimes it is wonderful. Sometimes it is awful. There's never a median.

Overall, operationally they are tied. The Garmin wins on price, map upgrades & portability. Toyota's wins for integration.

Am i going to drop the $$$ for the nav next time? Probably. I doubt it will be better than the Garmin.

 

JimN, I believe that jhg meant the streets themselves disappear when you zoom out. I noticed this during my test drive. At least once, the route was shown as a blue line on a green background with POIs or some such clutter on the screen. I didn't take the time to figure out what all the things floating around were trying to tell me. As someone who wants to understand the route I'm taking rather than simply turning when told, I found the NAV to be really disappointing. I'm hoping it could be made a bit more informational via options or future upgrades.

Regarding address entry, does anyone know if the 2012 NAV can use Bing to search for an address? In a world where Google knows that "123 Main MD" means "123 Main St., Happyville, MD 21201," there's no reason for a NAV to force the user to enter all address parts.

 

We still have a long way to go in terms of user interface and friendliness. We will one day be able to have the NAV detect the pre-set destination in our iPhones/Androids (whether in Google Maps or Calendar). Nothing to enter. Of course that feature will appear first in the high end Lexus then migrate down to Toyota.

 

Husband hates the Prius because his sunglasses don't work (polarization?) and he also believes the voice recog is so beyond bad, he insisted I ask about it here. Good to see that apparently it's "working as intended."

Curious, with the voice, can you get it to use one of the preset destinations? I got bored fighting with the car to take me "Home" but admittedly I haven't played with it much.

 

Is your Entune-nav anything like this ?
The Top of the line nav 7" "Toyota Toch-Pro which is only available in the Prius isn`t shown .
People have been impressed by the voice control of the "Toyota-Toch&go" navs !

 

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Since you have both models the 2011 and 2012,can you tell a difference in road noise ?
After all toyota claims they added insulation to the 2012 so it should be more quiet than the 2011 !