Why No Compass

What are you seeking? There should be several screen views as options, and they all should have at least the North directional arrow. Mine (a 2010) allows one screen with a complete compass.

 

Yes, I'm interested in an aftermarket compass, as well as a way to figure out wind direction and wind speed via nearest weather tower while on road trips... Figuring out which way the wind is blowing could net big MPG boost if you can keep a big truck between you and the direction the wind is coming from... Any ideas? Is their an Android app for that?

 

You could always carry a weather radio with you if you want to know the wind speed and direction, but you'd have to listen to a lot of other weather details before they announced the wind speed and direction. Keep in mind that only a head wind (or partial head wind) will affect your MPG. The only way to improve your gas mileage with a head wind would be to tailgate the truck in front of you. That's very dangerous and also illegal. My advice would be that you slow down a bit if you have a head wind and are trying to save on gas.

 

No, the Prius is seriously hampered by crosswinds, even more so than direct headwinds. A long ago thread mapped the drag vs wind direction.

 

Yea but how am I going to know that I have a headwind or a crosswind? I mean we all can look at grass and trees on the side of the road but how we can we get real time data about headwinds and crosswinds while driving? Maybe tornado chasers use that kind of gear?

 

No, sir. Not in the "V." None of the maps has a compass. The ONLY way to figure out which way is north is to change to the "2d North" view, which always puts north at the top of the screen. Kind of a disappointment.

 

they do have the option of software upgrade. a good feature to add to the mapping software. Hopefully in the next round!

 

I think V 5 comes with a digital compass on the rear-view mirror. The others don't. I have my GPS set to North up 2D, so once the car is moving I know the direction.

 

That does seem quite odd. I went to check what mine offers (2010), and I have three screen options. One of them is a split screen where the right half shows a full compass. It also provides real-time Lat/Long information.

 

I wonder if that's GPS information and not from a compass? The way to know is to not move the car when you start, and see if the "compass" still shows the bearings. GPS requires movement to compute the bearing.

 

I'm not certain it makes much difference whether the information is sourced from a separate magnetic compass or satellites, but your question intrigued me to the point where I checked it out in a quick drive this evening.

When I started the car, I waited for the Nav system to come to the ready point. I then switched to the split screen view with compass. It showed the exact same bearing as the car. Wondering whether this had something to do with the fact it wasn't on when I started the car, I made a stop on the way home and turned the car off. When I started the car again, the compass direction point was, again, correct. I had assumed this would be the case as it should be the starting point for the Nav system.

Before going much farther with this discussion, I'll just say my car is NOT a Prius v. I have a 2010 Prius Model V (new name is Model Five), and I entered this conversation just to say that the compass setting exists on my Nav system.

 

Had the dealership take the upgraded mirror w compass in it and move it from the Prius to the Prius V...it makes life much easier.

 

If you have the Prius v (wagon) with Adv. Tech. Pkg. then you can select split screen that shows both Nav map and compass w/ coordinates. To select the split screen press "Map Mode" button on lower left side and select Compass (on 2nd page of options) as the information you would like to display with the map. I also see a compass heading (W in picture) in the upper left corner of my Nav screen next to the North up/Heading up toggle circle-button. Is that heading indicator not on the Display Audio Nav screen?

 

This looks like an updated version of the Nav system in my 2010 Prius V w/ATP.

 

Nope. We have neither the compass nor the ability to do split screen.

 

I'm understanding that is the case, which is a shame. Still, I was reading the question as asking whether there was a direction indicator on the screen. Regardless of the absence of the compass, when you have a regular Nav screen showing, don't you have an indicator in the upper left-hand (or right-hand) corner showing which direction is North? Obviously, in the other screen where the map always is indicated northerly, you know the top of the screen is North. In the other screen, presumably where the car always is oriented toward the top of the screen, isn't there an indicator showing which direction is North?

 

No, not in the 2012 Prius V three.

 

Forgive me for not knowing better, but let me summarize the new information I'm learning on this thread:

1. The Prius V comes with two different NAV packages. A higher-level on the Five and a lower-level version on the Three. (And none on the two?)
2. The lower-level Nav package does not contain either a compass or a north-indicating icon.

Are there other differences in these Nav packages? I've been considering the Three as opposed to the Five, and I'm wondering if there are significant differences I should know about. I've just assumed the Three's Nav package would be similar to what I have in my 2010 Prius V.