How to Use Prius Navigation System

If only car manufacturers would let you choose what map system you want i.e. by incorporating an interface between the screen in the car and a handheld device such as a Garmin, so that the Garmin map appeared on the car screen if that is what the owner wishes.

I think that by limiting the choice to the car manufacturers offering only they are being uncompetitive. This applies to all manufacturers not just Toyota. After all Garmin and Tom Tom don't make cars do they?

I cannot belive that it would not be technically possible although accept it might be harder to retrofit to existing cars.

 

How do you get to Preferences? Mine avoids toll roads which is MUCH longer. How can I change that?

 

Best fix I found for the navigation system on my 2008 Prius was to buy a Garmin. Works like a dream.
The Prius nav system is a joke. And updating it is cost prohibitive. I can set up the same destination on both Prius's nav system and my Garmin. The Prius nav system almost always will find a route which is longer in mileage and time.
Toyota played a fine joke on all of us. Which is why my other two vehicles are Honda's.

 

So it seems the best fix for the OEM Nav is to get a Garmin, I love my Nuvi, the OEM is great for rest stops and gas stations but not much else.
Oh, how timely
NAVIGATION
MAP UPDATE
$169*
MSRP

V.12.1 map (2012 Version) Maps for Model Year 2012 vehicles equipped with Entune will be available after Jan 2013.

 

I just joined this forum. I have a 2nd gen. and notice that several people have said to "set preferences" but did not say how. I see no way to do that in my Nav. system. I'd like to know how to get to the preferences screen. I also would like to know if once you get to your destination shouldn't the system forget that destination - unless you choose to save it?The only place I have saved so far is Home and it is frustrating that my prius is always directing me home.

 

I have owned a 2008 Tspirit (UK) for over 5.5 years. While I do have a smartphone (iPhone 5S) that I can attach to my lower windscreen so it doesn't actually block my view (I use Waze, Google Maps, and Apple Maps), I do tend to use the built in NAV in my 2nd Gen Prius.

Acquired taste? Yes. It's a bit like trying to punch in navigation data into a Space Shuttle, and occasionally just as long winded.
Actually, the first time I was programming it, I felt disturbingly like Han Solo in the cockpit of the MIllenium Falcon - does anybody remember that scene where he's looking through the NAV system for a suitable destination and chooses the Cloud City of Bespin?
Yeah, it's definitely like that.
Still, I do tend to use it on a regular basis. I use Waze more for updates on my route. I did update the NAV software about 4 years ago and it made a massive difference. Of course it is now out of date again and I do wonder what year the very last update Pack of DVDs for the 2nd Gen Prius was released.

Yes, it's true; unlike a Garmin, TomTom, or your average Smartphone running Google Maps, you cannot enter a full postcode into the Prius II NAV system. Strange but true. It also doesn't calculate for traffic jams when estimating when you will reach your destination - though it WILL still warn you about traffic congestion up ahead and even offer you an alternate route. Paradoxically, the MFD in NAV mode will even show you roadworks or accident spots on your route as you approach them, following a warning about congested traffic.

However, I have gotten used to it, and actually like it's quirks. It's a part of the whole amazing package that is the Iconic Prius II, and I'm certainly getting my money's worth. I've used it in emergency situations, when I didn't have my smartphone handy - and it has been useful.
Once it directed me to the nearest Fuel Station following a NAV voice command for the same. I was pretty shocked when the nearest petrol station popped up on the screen with instructions on how to get there.

I have already entered and save my most regular destinations; namely Home and Work. Other destinations I have initially entered manually (as you do) and they remain on the system, for you to call us whenever you need them. Yes, you have to scroll through like Han Solo searching for Bespin, but, every address you've ever entered into it is all sitting there - waiting for you to retrieve it by scrolling through the list and selecting where you want to go.....it does have a certain quaint charm about it.
I mean, seriously, who else has a SAT NAV system installed under one of their front seats?
You occasionally hear the DVD inside it spinning up or spinning down - only because the vehicle is so quiet.

The reward for actually learning how to use the NAV properly (voice commands and otherwise) is you end up competently operating a weird NAV system none of your friends or peers or passengers have never seen before, and you look like a bleeping genius (or the competent Captain of a Corellian Engineering Corporation YT1300F Light Cargo Freighter) punching information into it and having it eventually respond verbally.

The Prius II might be on the verge of Classic Car-hood, but you can't help but appreciate how well the vehicle was put together, and IF you have the NAV built into your Prius, that piece of technology is also an archaic classic worth respecting - even if the world has moved on.

For all its shortcomings, I love the old long in the tooth Prius NAV system .
And every so often, I'll fire it up and let it keep me company on the way home - why? Because it's there!

 

Hi Hollye, welcome to PriusChat.

I believe the Preferences refers to going to Menu -> Setup, but it depends what you are trying to do. I no longer have a Gen 2, but here is a link to the Nav manual if you don’t have it.

https://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/omnav-s/OM47557U/pdf/OM47557U.pdf

FWIW, I found the voice command versatility much better on the Gen 2 compared to the Gen 3, so enjoy...

Cheers!

 

Unfortunately, the demo is no longer available. ...I got the 404 not found page. A search of the site for a demo or tutorial did not find one either.

 

Since then, I tossed the Garmin and replaced my 2008 Prius with the 2022 Prius Limited. I found there was no change to the Nav system in the 2022 Prius. I had hoped after 14 years Toyota would HAVE to have improved the nav system but no.
And so I now use a far more reliable system: Google Maps.

 

definitely a toyota weak point, the whole of the infotainment/connectivity is pretty awful.