Infiniti M35/M45 Navigation System

pat · June 2006

Let's talk about the Nav system here.

rmsko · June 2005

I have an M35x and usually after I start the car the "warning" screen comes on and if I don't hit "ok", after a few minutes it goes to the status screen. However, a few times the warning screen did not come on and the screen just went right to the status screen. Is this normal or am I inadvertently doing something to cause this. It's obviously not a big deal, I'm just curious.

richcream · June 2005

"However, a few times the warning screen did not come on and the screen just went right to the status screen. Is this normal or am I inadvertently doing something to cause this."

No, you are not doing anything wrong.
If you shut the car off while the nav screen is up, then the next time you start the car the warning screen will appear. If you shut the car off with a status screen on, the status screen will be the first one you see when you start the car again. If you then hit the MAP button, the warning will be there, requiring you to give it the OK to access nav functions.

jimbroutman · June 2005

does anyone know of a site that explains how to alter the nav screen to watch dvds while moving?

bdkinnh · June 2005

It's been discussed here before (the reasons/benifits/stupidity, not the steps for the hack itself).

If anyone does post the steps, or a link to a site that shows it, the message will most likely get deleted.

james27 · June 2005

I'm toying with installing a ruggedized PC in an M35x. I'd use it for surfing at hotspots and adding in nav (I didn't buy the nav system). What are the video inputs when the system is in the nav mode? Could I hook up the computer's mic and speaker i/o to the car? It could also be used to play DVD's. Anyone know when the electrical interface diagrams will be available for purchase?

edspider1 · September 2005

My friend has the RL and one of few things on my M that he will admit to is the M's NAV is better. We both really like the birds eye view and the M is a little faster.

pete_l_p · September 2005

I agree with you about the speed of the M's NAV. It's amazingly fast, and practically instantaneous when recalculating after you take a wrong turn (as sometimes happens when you've got the volume too low, and you're not paying attention.)

This really helps, since the delay with recalcs on most systems often cause you to miss the next turn (and the next one etc.) since by the time the recalc is done (on other systems) it's often too late to take the turn they just calculated. Not so on the M.

I love the 3D birdview as well, and also love the fact that you can show the turnlist with split screen, and so easily turn it off and on again with one touch of the MAP button. On complicated intersections, I find it very useful to know in advance what the next few turns will be.

A few more things (there are so many): No NAV I've seen does such an excellent job of showing such a great number of street names in the map views. Each street name has a dot which makes it perfectly clear which road corresponds to which name. And I've seen no system whose blowups are as clear, as precise, or as readable as the M's. My wife's Mercedes CLK, BTW, shows NO street names on the map views, and shows NO blowups EVER. Unbelievable.

But wait, there's more. When you're not sure of the city you're going for and using a very common street name you can go nuts with most systems. The M will list all candidate streets with it's city on each line. A pleasure. The Mercedes REQUIRES a city, and my last LS430 would show no cities in the candidate list (you've got to use an endless trial and error) and it had a ridiculous SORT order that was impossible to deal with. (East Main St. would be at the top of the list and South Main St. at the bottom of the list, and you didn't even know there was an east or south main st.)

Pete

cdnpinhead · September 2005

Thanks much for a very useful post.

I'm a power user of a stand-alone GPS (Garmin) that I use every time I leave the county. Your detailed feature comparison was helpful. I can understand why you like the M's system, since my Garmin has some of the problems you mention.

Still love the portable/stand-alone though, since it's not in my car at the airport parking lot when I'm on a trip -- it's in my rental.

pete_l_p · September 2005

Still love the portable/stand-alone though, since it's not in my car at the airport parking lot when I'm on a trip -- it's in my rental.

Funny you should say that. I've been thinking of getting a garmin just for trips (maybe a NUVI ). I haven't decided yet though since I'm also considering (as an alternative), getting a bluetooth or SD card GPS receiver for my pocketPC phone (a samsung i730). Any thoughts?

Pete

oman9 · September 2005

Pete,

First thank you for great posts on this and at least one other forum I mostly lurk around in.

Here is a great unit which I own and use regularly. For $440 at Costco http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11044251&whse=BC&topnav=&cat=4843&hierPat- h=79*4843*

it's an absolute great buy. Costco was selling this same unit for $600 six months ago.

Great features and functionality...I've found it one of the most user friendly and easiest pieces of electronics to operate. I'd recommend it in a heartbeat. The C330 unit has a hard drive and all the map data for N.A. so if you are considering using it for traveling around the country, I recommend you spend the extra $120 for it http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?prodid=11044262&whse=&topnav=&cat=&s=1

Other than the preloaded map data (and internal battery only lasts 4 hours vs. 8 on the C320 unit) there isn't any difference in the units.

pete_l_p · September 2005

Hi Oman

Thanks for the kind words and the recommendation. That's one of the garmins I've been considering. Glad to hear you like it.

Pete

cdnpinhead · September 2005

I went low-budget, with a Garmin V, which can be had from gpsnow.com for ~$250 (~100 off list - be sure to check their prices, regardless of which unit you're interested in). It doesn't have the memory capacity to store whole chunks of the country, but I've found that with a bit of planning, I can always download a day's worth of travel from my laptop before I hit the road.

It's a relatively tiny unit that can switch the screen for either horizontal (car or bicycle) or vertical (hand-held for hiking) use. Comes with the North American map set on 2 CD's ($130 if bought separately), which I find almost as useful and the unit itself. I can set up my travel using the full-size computer screen for a multi-day, multi-destination trip, then download the chunks I need as I need them.

Let us know what you decide.

pete_l_p · September 2005

Thanks for the input.

I'll be holding of for a while, and I will report back

Pete

undecided7 · September 2005

I had an impossible time yesterday trying to get the VR on the NAV system to recognize Leavitt Street (pronounced LEV-it) in Chicago. I tried several pronunciations and even tried spelling it out and nothing worked. I just ended up following my route by looking on the screen, but couldn't get direct route guidance due to the inability for it to recognize the pronunciation.

Has anyone else had this problem and is there a way to work around this?

edspider1 · September 2005

Speaker independent voice rec is an incredible technology. The M is the 3rd car I've had with it. It's also the only car where it works well enough to really use. That said, it does have trouble with some of my pronounciations. When I say "4" it often hears "5". When I say "Illinois", it often hears "Alabama". In both cases, it works fine with other speakers, so I know it's me. For example, I was pronouncing my state "el-i-noy". Making an effort to speak it "il-i-noy", helped a lot. I'm still working on getting "4" right. I'm not sure how I'm screwing that one up.

edspider1 · September 2005

Speaker independent voice rec is an incredible technology. The M is the 3rd car I've had with it. It's also the only car where it works well enough to really use. That said, it does have trouble with some of my pronunciations. When I say "4" it often hears "5". When I say "Illinois", it often hears "Alabama". In both cases, it works fine with other speakers, so I know it's me. For example, I was pronouncing my state "el-i-noy". Making an effort to speak it "il-i-noy", helped a lot. I'm still working on getting "4" right. I'm not sure how I'm screwing that one up.

pete_l_p · September 2005

The vast majority of time the voice recognition works just beautifully for me, but I do have a problem once in a while.

Here are some things you might try when you have a problem.

- If pronouncing it correctly doesn't work, try pronouncing the street incorrectly as well. (In this case, eg, you might try leave-it) The M has a data base of info based on a human actually pronouncing each street, and they match your pronunciation to theirs. If the person who did that got a street wrong, you'll match it best of you do it wrong in the same way. It might be obvious if you're thinking along those lines.

- In some cases FASTER is better than slower. Since it's matching against a natural pronunciation. its often a closer match when you do it clearly but NATURALLY.

Also just checking, but you know that you enter destinations manually, right?

Pete

undecided7 · September 2005

I was sure one could do it manually, but with yesterday's traffic from the rain both eyes had to focus on traffic and big buses weaving in and out of lanes so I didn't bother with the manual method.

I tried all the suggestions, but to no avail. I'll give the same street another few tries to see if I have any better luck.

dashooter · September 2005

If I goofed an input, sorry. Pete, (or anyone else) I'm going to an event this week end in the boondocks south of Atlanta. They gave us lat / long coordinates. Is there any way to input that into the destination address system ? I couldn't see anything in the Nav Sys book.
Man that would be slick. example 33 - 30.185' North 83 - 59.379 West

pete_l_p · September 2005

They gave us lat / long coordinates. Is there any way to input that into the destination address system ?

Yes there is. It's not an ideal method, but pretty workable.

1 - Turn on the map display of latitude / longitude (Settings>Navigation>Map_Scrolling_Info.)

2) - With your Map in Plan View (Map > Enter > Map_View), zoom all the way out and use the arrows to position the cursor to your desired lat/long. (You'll want to zoom in as you get closer to your dest. The lat/long will be displayed whenever the cursor position is different from the cars current position)

3) When you get the cursor precisely positioned to your desired lat/long, press the M's enter button and choose "new Destination"

Let us know how it goes. The problem may be that since you'll be "in the boondocks" there may be insufficient map data to get you there. If the M calculates a route, you should be good to go, but you might want to check the Turn List in advance to see if it looks OK. (Route > Guidance_Settings > Guidance_Screen_Default)

Pete

cdnpinhead · September 2005

This question, and your reply, are interesting in that they illustrate the difference between automobile navigation systems and "real" GPS units.

Strangely enough, the GPS units are generally much less expensive.

pete_l_p · September 2005

This question, and your reply, are interesting in that they illustrate the difference between automobile navigation systems and "real" GPS units.

I don't think so.

In a recent post I listed several big, everyday advantages of the M's nav compared to other systems including the garmin. A number of responses agreed with my post, including some garmin users.

OTOH this is a feature that 99.99% of users will never have any interest in.

So, I really don't agree that's its illustrative in the way you believe it is. It may, however, illustrate the fact that many portable units are filled with features that most of us will never use, and for that reason may be harder for the average user to learn.

Sorry to disagree, and it's not my intention to alienate any garmin loyalists. I think they make excellent systems (BTW, I don't have Nissan stock, but I am very long on Sirf, which has recently become a garmin supplier

)

Pete

pete_l_p · September 2005

BTW let me add another advantage or two:

In addition to what I've already mentioned: much larger maps with more detail, much faster recalcs, great detailed blowup views, one touch on/off of turn lists, street candidate lists with cities on each line (to make it much easier to find the right street when you don't know the city), I'll add the following M pluses:

1) Voice command for street address and other dest. entry (A huge one for me)
2) Perfect pronunciation of all streets when giving turn instructions
3) Birdview 3d views with adjustable perspective and continuous zoom in plan view
4) Excellent dead reckonning (found in only a few garmin systems)

Pete

moman · September 2005

As a Chicago area M45 owner who once had a problem with the voice recognition on the nav system I encourage you to do the following and I GUARANTEE it will work. Input your destination as before but instead of saying "LEAVITT" say "WESTERN" and when the nav system gets you to your destination, go 2 blocks EAST.

blov8r · September 2005

Speaker independent voice rec is an incredible technology. The M is the 3rd car I've had with it. It's also the only car where it works well enough to really use. That said, it does have trouble with some of my pronunciations.

They've very cleverly made recognition "regional", at least here in the SW. We have Canada here with the rolling "n" (pronounced "con-ya-da") and it's pronounced properly by the system while navigating here. Of course, the street where my office is is La Cholla ("La Choya") and that one comes out Lach-Olla. Oh, well. Overall it's great.

Bart

undecided7 · October 2005

I've noticed that at times my half red/half white compass pointer on the NAV screen points in the opposite direction of my direction of travel. For example, if I'm traveling westbound, the red portion of the arrow points East and vice/versa, at times, but not always. My understanding is the the red portion of the arrow should be the indicator of the direction of travel (which is mostly how it works). If this is the case then at times my arrow pointer seems "confused". My mirror readout is correct, but the red portion of the arrow isn't. I chalk it up to GPS sensors and potential environmental interference, etc., but not really sure.

Has anyone else noticed this? If so is there any remedy? It's happened too often to the point that it's become a small unexplained nuisance.

sjcbill · October 2005

I think the pointer is always supposed to point to magnetic North. At least that's the way it works on my car.

moman · October 2005

You can adjust the setting to have the red tylenol pill point either north OR in the direction of travel. Go to settings and navigation settings and check it out. Aren't I just a whole big batch of useful information today?

:shades:

erikdg · November 2005

Did you ever end up doing this? if so, could you tell me about it and do you have pics?

james27 · November 2005

Nope. Been on travel (without the car) for 2 of the three months I've had the car...no time yet. I may end up buying the service manual with the schematics in case I get caught somewhere a long ways from a dealer and to investigate how the thing really is put together. Still interested if someone actually knows for sure,though.

jperkins22 · January 2006

I am ordering an M45 and I am interested in the experience of others in the use of the Navigation system. My questions are:

1) How easy is it to use
2) Do the voice commands work well
3) Can it be changed (voice or manually) when driving

Thanks

lincj1 · January 2006

jperkins

I have a M45 Sport. Navigation is very easy to use. Voice commands work very well to enter a destination address. Really cool. You can use voice or manual when driving, but I would pull over to use manual commands to enter a destination address, unless it ia already saved in your data base.

pete_l_p · January 2006

I have extensive prior Nav experience with Lexus LS430, Mercedes, BMW, Escalade, Neverlost, and several others. IMO the M is, by far, the best, easiest to use Nav in any Car. (Some Acura owners agree and I'm sure some others others may disagree. Acura is also a very good system)

The M's voice command is an incredible convenience. You just speak the address, without slowing down, without looking, and for me it's amazingly reliable. I rarely have to repeat myself.

You can change routes while driving (without pulling over), and there are several available options including detours and adding POI's as waypoints via voice command. Some route editing does require pulling over, but there's good info available on a hack that provides for complete on-the-road access to all functionality.

Among the the things I appreciate about about The M's Nav:

Great Voice Recognition.

Great Display. Including Bird View, A 3D perspective view that gives more detail to close areas and more coverage to distant area;

Great detail on maps in general including more road names than most others;

The best blowups that make complicated turns very clear and precise.

TurnList split view (showing all upcoming turns) that, once set, can thereafter be turned off and on with one touch of the map button.

Ability to specify "city" or "All cities" for any destination, with a resulting candidate street list that shows the city for each candidate street. (Painfully missing in many systems)

A consistent software interface that, IMO, is extremely feature rich and user friendly.

Pete

rrob · January 2006

I've had an M45 for six months, with prior experiences with Garmin, Neverlost, and Mercedes systems. I agree with most of Pete's comments. Overall, the Infiniti system is the best I have used. All systems have their advantages and weaknesses - the display, recall and voice functions, and integration into the rest of the display functions on the M are the best. It did take me some time to get used to the functions, and I don't like that some aren't available when moving. Also, the system doesn't show some secondary roads that are on most maps - but this is true to some degree with all of the systems. I think you will be pleased with the system.

rrob

tayl0rd · January 2006

I thought the M allowed full access to nav functions through the voice activation? :confuse:

pete_l_p · January 2006

The M's voice recognition works great for me and is enormously convenient.

However, there ARE things you can't do with voice. Such as looking for a POI with a specific name, or accessing a previous destination that would require scrolling the list.

I'd really enjoy total access.

Pete

pete_l_p · January 2006

A few aftermarket companies have expressed interest in making a product that would simply plug into the Ms NAV and allow full access to the NAV while driving (it might also provide some other features, such as AUX video capability, which Id love for my iPod). I dont know if anyone has such an item available at this time. But Id certainly like it.

Theres a way this Mod can be done right now, by cutting and splicing wires leading into the Ms NAV. However many folks, like myself, are reluctant to do that because of lease or warranty issues. The key would be to make a part that would plug in to the NAV instead of the original cable. The original cable would then plug into the new part. Thus the whole thing could be removed later, leaving the car in factory condition.

These forums dont permit solicitations or For-Sale postings, so recent discussions on this subject were deleted. However, I believe it would be within forum guidelines for those of us who have interest in this product to communicate that. My desire is that if enough of us express our interest in this product one manufacturer or another will take note and make it.

So if anyone would like to have such a part, please post a reply indicating that.

Maybe well get lucky.

Pete

gs455 · January 2006

I agree Pete, and I'd certainly be interested if/when it is developed.

joe_o · January 2006

I would go nuts for iPod video controls.

Joe

pete_l_p · January 2006

I would go nuts for iPod video controls.

Me too.

This Griffin TuneCenter and another product shown at CES (DLO's Home Dock) are the very first enabling you to choose iPod tracks from any artist, album, or playlist via a remote control. And you'll be able to do it while viewing large attractive menu's on the M's screen. Which should also show now playing info, track status, album art, photo's and other things.

The DLO product has a large IR remote, and I'm hoping that the griffin remote is RF and smaller. Very few details from griffin so far.

I've been wanting this for a very long time. Those products are not yet shipping btw.

Of course this capability will require 2 things:

1) You'll need to have an M package which includes auxiliary inputs (if you have an aux input for audio then you've got aux input for the video.)

2) You'll need to do the full Nav hack, to be able to see the iPod's menus on the M's display while driving.

Pete

erikdg · February 2006

I'd be interesting in one of these kits as well. It would need to be plug n play, be removable if necessary and be reasonably priced.

dubb · February 2006

Pete,

What is the "Full Nav hack" ?
What will it allow me to do with my screen besides working with an iPod ?
How can I get it done ?

- Kai
(M35x)

pete_l_p · February 2006

What is the "Full Nav hack" ?
What will it allow me to do with my screen besides working with an iPod ?
How can I get it done ?

The full nav hack allows the following.

1) Full access to all Nav (and all system) functions while driving.
2) The ability to see video coming from the aux video input on your Nav Screen while driving. This is valuable for seeing an ipod's menus, and now playing info on the nav screen while controlling it with a small remote. It's more visible and safer than trying to see the ipod from any mounted position, and provides a real integrated feel.
3) Other capabilities which we're not permitted to discuss here.

The mod requires cutting 2 wires leading to the nav unit behind the glove box, splicing in some additional wire and installing a switch.

You might get some more info on it with a google search for navi q2m_from_ls430. Then do a browser text search within the resulting pages for hack. We're not permitted to post direct links here.

Pete

dubb · February 2006

Thanks Pete.

bear8205 · February 2006

Add me to the list of folks who would like a removable mod kit.

pete_l_p · February 2006

[i]Thanks Pete.[/i]

You're very welcome.

I just did the hack by the way, and have been greatly enjoying it. I did it without the plug and play part that we've been talking about. Instead I did the splice myself and found a good place for the switch at the top of the cup holders. Looks good, feels good.

Pete

joe_o · March 2006

Hi Pete,

I'm a little confused on this. Is there a way to see my iPod menu on the Nav screen if I don't have a video capable I pod? I have the standard 40GB model and I'm going to get killed looking down at that little screen some day.

Joe

pete_l_p · March 2006

I'm a little confused on this. Is there a way to see my iPod menu on the Nav screen if I don't have a video capable I pod? I have the standard 40GB model and I'm going to get killed looking down at that little screen some day.

Right now, there are only a couple of accessories that promise to display an iPod's menus on a video display like the M's screen. (The griffin TuneCenter and the DLO HomeDock deluxe, both not yet shipping)

I think that both of these require a video iPod to do that, but since the products are not out, and their web sites are skimpy on details, I'm not sure on that. (I believe these products are using an apple API to get that info from the ipod, and I suspect that API is only supported by video ipods.)

The griffin site says that the tunecenter has partial compatibility with older dock connector ipods, and there may be some small chance it would do that with your 40gb iPod.

You can try emailing griffin and DLO to ask, or we can wait and see what we find out when they ship.

I really do agree, btw, that it's much safer (not to mention easier, more satisfying, and way cooler) to see those menus on the big screen.

Pete

pete_l_p · March 2006

Is there a way to see my iPod menu on the Nav screen if I don't have a video capable I pod? I have the standard 40GB model

I've emailed griffin on this and they answered that the TuneCenter WILL provide full iPod menu displays on its video-out for 3rd generation iPods (which I believe is what you have), as well as 4th Gen iPods and iPod mini's.

Pete

joe_o · March 2006

pete,

thanks for checking on that. i did, too, and here's the reply I got from Todd at Griffin:

"Assuming your Nav display has a compatible video input, I wouldn't see why
you could not do this. However, I would imagine there could potentially be
an issue if the screens resolution is not the same as you'd have on a
regular tv. What are the specs on the nav system? I can run that question by
the PM."

What do you make of this?

Joe

Infiniti M35/M45 Navigation System

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