Toyota Navigation or after market navigation?

just like the front end bra! Why dont third partys or toyota support the newer models

 

I have the Garmin Nuvi 350. Garmin offers free software updates over the web, and it is very easy to do. The unit is GREAT, and the portability factor is a plus.

 

I was originally going to go with the built-in NAV but decided the after market is vastly superior.

1. cheaper
2. more features
3. portable

Haven't got it yet, planning on getting a Navman iCn750. Retail around $800, street price knock off several hundred if you invest time searching. This model is ideal for people that love to have the latest toy (soundls like Pirus owners) also a boon for people like salesmen, anybody returning to multiple destinations and needing help with directions.

The "new" thing on this model is it has a built in camera. The idea is you snap a picture of a restuarant or fun spot or anywhere you want to return to and then instead of loading in a street address just select from the snap shots of your destinations that gets loaded into memory. Also comes with a 'go home' feature that gives you directions home at the push of a button.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonnycat26 @ Oct 3 2006, 12:23 PM) [snapback]327366[/snapback]</div>

Ahh, as I thought...the stuff that I can never seem to understand in the first place!

I think for those of us who still flinch at basic technological challenges, the lack of features and 'built-in-ness' of the stock navi unit are actually benefits.

For those of you with a greater aptitude for this sort of thing, however, sounds to me like it's definitely a disadvantage; aftermarket units would be a better choice.

Don't know how often I'd need to update the streets database, though...I shudder at the thought, actually!

 

Garmin has units that connect to the wheel too (the 2660, though I think there's a newer version now). Must be professionally installed, of course.

 

Seems like a good number of prius owners dont care much for the toyota NAV.I got my car 4 months ago and i still havent figured out how all the nav works.From what ive used it for,its done a good job.I too dont care too much for the disclaimer screen but i live with it.Voice commands can be used while driving to find new destinations!So grayed out areas on the screen dont bother me too much.I havent seen any of the other gps units yet!so i cant say anything about them.I wish toyota would bring the cost down on updates and let you download them from the internet like others do.I really like the large screen!guess i got spoiled!the portables look to tiny for me.Take care all!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(stanlwyjohn @ Oct 5 2006, 05:58 PM) [snapback]328659[/snapback]</div>

This was part of my point. With my Garmin 2620, I never needed to crack the manual. When I did discover new functions, it was "Cool! It can do that!" not "how the hell do I...?"

Though my 2620's screen is smaller, they layout is cleaner; I find it more usable.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(stanlwyjohn @ Oct 5 2006, 02:58 PM) [snapback]328659[/snapback]</div>

There's a couple of wires you can cut (and add a switch) which will take take of that.

 

I was told that the Prius Navi doesn't have text-to-speech when it comes to street names. Huge disadvantage IMO. A $300 Tomtom can do it.

 

I have had builtin-nav on both my 02 and my 07. With the 07, I got the Coastal mod that automatically acknowledges the initial disclaimer screen and allows you to program destination while moving.

While I have never had a 3rd party, I definitely like the builtin-ness of the Toyota Nav. I also think is does most things pretty ok, although you have to be a little understanding of its quirks.

For example, there are some places that the Nav is unwilling to send you. These places tend to be country roads; I assume they have not been checked out in detail. If you follow the directions you will not be wrong. You just may go a few miles out of the way. Last night I was in the back seat and my daughter was driving; the Nav had us to a VERY weird thing...get off R2E go 15 miles, turn around and come 16 miles back, when we should have gotten of R2W in the first place. This is the first time this has EVER happened. If you have a general idea where you are going and don't act totally oblivious, it is still helpful. I think it is not perfect, but to me, it is worth the money.

Burns

 

No, it doesn't announce each street. I does announce the names of state highways and interstates, though, which is an improvement over earlier models.

 

A peculiar disadvantage I observed with the factory satnav in my (dearly departed) 2007 was the phenomenon of "roads with incomplete data." These were displayed on the screen, in brown, but the navigation engine treated them as if they didn't exist.

This may be less of a problem in other parts of the country, but here in central Florida, it's not an exaggeration to say that 80-90% of the roads had "incomplete data." Only the major arterial framework (shown on-screen in blue) was used to generate routes. This led to the bizarre phenomenon of being directed, say, 10 miles NNE, to turn around and go 10 miles SSE, to arrive at a destination only a mile due east of the starting point, because the direct route would have involved a "road with incomplete data."

I know that any GPS navigator will have occasional quirks, flukes, and plain old incorrect map data, but I've NEVER seen one as strangely crippled as the Toyota factory system.

 

In fairness, what you describe is an error in the NavTeq data and is not actually the fault of the Toyota NAV system.

In fact, you can report these errors to NavTeq using their "MapReporter" to be corrected in future updates;

http://mapreporter.navteq.com/dur-web-external/

 

I was actually surprised to learn that the NAV pronounces the Interstate numbers when I ventured across the border into Buffalo last year.

Here in Canada, we don't have "Interstates" and all of our highways are simply referred to as "the (current) freeway". It does pronounce the exit numbers, though...

 

I can understand the frustration, but what you describe is definitely a regional issue that happens in more rural areas, which I imagine would be your situation?

From what I gather, the reason it tells you this is because detailed street information (speed limits, one-way streets, etc...) are not known, so it would rather leave your visual map for you to follow. Presumably, this will get better with each successive map update.

Living in or near a large city, you will seldom get this message...

 

OK, I guess it depends on what you consider "large," but Ocala is a city of over 50,000 people, and the factory satnav could not successfully complete navigation to the city's largest hospital, located (predictably) at the confluence of several major highways. So no, this isn't simply a gripe about not being able to find Uncle Clyde's dairy farm out in the big country.

The Toyota system seemed to have roughly the same completeness in terms of roads displayed as most aftermarket systems I've used (TomTom, Garmin). What was far, far weaker on the part of the Toyota system was the navigation engine's ability to actually use the roads to construct a route.

 

I'm happy with the navigation in my HP hw6515 PDA/phone/GPS. I just want a better mount. Good thing is I can take it with me when I use another car like when I take a 4x4 out bush. All my favorite locations come with me too and it allows me to ring ahead because a lot of the favorite places have phone numbers programed in. I use TomTom software and maps.

 

We love our new car – but can’t believe it will not accept our very own home address in the Navigation System. The dealership representative said it would be a Toyota software problem – but I have used a Garman Navigation system for a very long time and never had this problem. I.e. it retrieves my home address using the old township instead of my correct address as any other nav. The representative at the dealership where we bought our car said it does the same thing for her home address in Bristol, Tennessee – she said it shows the old township instead of the current city for the address. I really believe this is unacceptable as I didn’t even know my address used to be a township and I’ve been here over ten years. Am I going to have trouble with other locations I enter in the future by not knowing the correct “township� Toyota wrote me back and said I have the current software and suggested posting to this forum. I just wish the addresses were like the US Post office!

 

Obvious differences between built-in and third-party navigation systems are the prices and the rapid technology improvement. We plan to keep our Prius for 10 years and I believe that any built-in GPS will be outdated well before that time. I expect that we will spend a couple of hundred dollars for two or three new third party GPSs during that time, rather than a couple of thousand dollars for one that is built-in.