Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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I was so mad at myself.
Still, it was unfamiliar territory and I'm just too spoiled to drive around without one.
I guess the next thing will be a USB stick or phone app that will let you upload your POIs to the indash nav.
Yep! They picked up on that little profit center in a heartbeat!
I also had the frustrating event happen to me - drove to the airport with our old pick-up (not my usual vehicle) because of foul winter weather and halfway there my wife exclaimed "We forgot Jack!!!... He's in the other car!!!!"
She calls the navi "Jack" because of the voice....
Yep.... Navi's are probably one of the most fantastical things I've seen in my lifetime but they're still not artificial intelligence by any means.
When we get the destination alert my wife always jokes "Going to human mode to acquire target..... Target acquired!!!
She's not even a trekkie!
For instance, I have a good friend who does corporate sales for AT&T and he uses his TL's nav system practically 8-9 times a week for work related meetings, etc and in very specific situations like that I can see where the factory nav would be well worth the money and it paid for itself in less then a month for him, but for the vast majority, myself included, it just not worth the $3-4k dollars Acura and these other companies want for them! I would be lucky, I mean lucky if I use the nav system 1-2 times A MONTH! I just wouldn't use enough to warrant that high price tag. I'd be much better with a really nice 200-300 buck portable Garmin or Magellan and even that I would not use that much!
Plus, I have a very good sense of direction on my own and most of the times the nav systems are just a hindrance for me and I can figure out where to go or when I do make a mistake, how to immediately correct it, without the need for the nav system to do it for me!
But hey that is just me
Yep - Jill.
I chuckled at the Star Trek reference.
Flash > HDD > DVD > CD
• It does not have a phone book. The Bluetooth only works off my cell phone's directory, and does not have a separate directory in which you can load phone numbers. Nor does it store recently called phone numbers (my son's Garmin 760 does I believe). I find that very frustrating. I DO! like the Bluetooth capability, however.
• Sometimes it takes a while to load maps. My guess that issue is not specific to the 1490T, but more an issue of locating satellites and can happen with any GPS unit.
• It does not recognize some small towns correctly. My daughter is getting married over on the Eastern Shore of Maryland next fall, and if you put in the town, it will send you to the wrong address (in this case, the same problem occurs with MapQuest and Google Maps). I have to put in the name of another nearby town, and it works fine. I also discovered that issue again yesterday, as I was trying to find a small town outside of Philly, where my son is moving. It did not recognize the town's name (MapQuest DID!). I had to ask someone up there if this town went by some other name. He made a suggestion, and fortunately that worked.
• I also wish that it would indicate streets by their name—as well as their route number (if they have one). The 1490T (if the road has both a route number and street) seems to only give out the street name. That can be confusing, especially if it's a major highway in which you would expect the route number to be given.
• I've also noticed that the POIs are not up to date in a number of cases; and yes, I have the most recent maps installed. I've used it to find some car dealers, and it takes me to locations that no longer exist. Some of these dealers have either shut down or moved—several years ago! I've also found that typing in a location is problematic. Sometimes it finds the location, but more times than I care for, I've found that what I'm looking for is not in the data base.
• The standard traffic feature I think is next to useless. It's rarely timely. You can opt for a subscription-based traffic, but I'm too cheap to pay extra for that.
• I'm on a Mac computer, and as such there is a program called "Garmin RoadTrip" in which you can plan out your route exactly as you want to travel, and then download it to your GPS (it's an application that you download from the Garmin web site and install it on your Mac). That I really like. This eliminates the Garmin sending you off in a direction you may not want. I just wish I knew of that last Thanksgiving, when the Garmin sent me into GPS hell in and around New York City—absolutely the last place on earth you want to be driving at Thanksgiving time. There may be a PC equivalent, but I'm not sure.
• I believe you can buy walking maps for major cities, but I have not done that.
• The "Lane Assist" feature does not work everywhere. It seems to work only on Interstate highways—and I found it does not work in some states.
Bob
I'm able to see my phone's call log (sent/received) and also use the Voice Dialing feature. So I can say "Call Bob" and your name will come up. So maybe it's your phone and how it synchs up, or what information it is able to send out using Bluetooth.
To get a quicker signal turn it on and remain stationary, it will calculate where the satellites should be based on your last location and the amount of time since it was turned on. Factors that slow it down include the amount of time since it was last used, cloud cover, tall trees/buildings, etc.
If you find a mistake you can submit corrections to NAVTEQ. Anyone have the link handy?
The traffic info is often outdated. I think of it as "this was the traffic 30 minutes ago". I let it inform me but I do not automatically re-route (I choose whether to do that or not manually).
There is a pedestrian mode, I think. I haven't used it that way yet.
Lane Assist works well on the DC Beltway. The funny thing is the image on the GPS actually resembles the signs you see on the highway, which makes it extremely intuitive.
Which brings up a point. A service man for our water filtration system got lost coming to our house with his Tom Tom. It took him on a road that has a locked gate. It would be the shortest route if not for the private part of the road that is blocked. It is a road that is not on Navteq. Does Tom Tom use different mapping software?
Once was on 95N going over the GW bridge - she lead me off of 95 and onto the HH Pkwy IIRC. I should've ignored her and following the Cross Bronx Xway.
The second was on a camping trip in February to NH. She didn't know the back road into the scout camp wasn't plowed in the winter. I was smart enough to stop, turn around and consult the paper directions I had.
An update fixed that.
I guess it's up to us to tell Navteq (or other map suppliers) to inform them of mistakes in their database.
I have gone online and made two corrections to their database. Won't do me any good but maybe keep someone else from going astray.
TomTom has a map correction feature on the GPS itself and on the UI for the PC. I've never used it.
v2006 of the Garmin maps was full of errors. By v2008 I felt like they got it right, with few errors. I'm sure v2011 is even better.
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/06/05/vehicle-downloads-for-garmin-nuvi-makes-us-wa- - nt-one/
http://www.vehiclesforgarminnuvi.com/
There tons to chose from: R2D2 to bikes, sports cars, SUVs, classic cars, transformers, a Corona 6-pack, etc.
Bob
I bought a basic GPS TomTom XL325ES (Walmart) before Christmas. In early May I tried to run an update on user supplied corrections. It did not want to update properly from the TomTom Home program. Called customer service; got someone almost immediately every time. They tried all kinds of things and had me return the GPS for replacement. 10 days later new GPS in my hand. This one didn't want to recognized by computer. One of 3 customer service folks said it might be my XP Windows. I had updated to SP3 a few months ago...!
I tried updating on another computer that friends have with Vista. No luck. Returned the TomTom with paid return UPS label. 10 days later, including Memorial Day weekend, a replacement in hand. This one works fine. Updated red light cameras and speed cameras. Loaded Bob Evans restaurant locations. Ready to go.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I've have had two friends that went through a similar situation to you; each got a TomTom and had multiple problems, returned it and got Madgellan's and haven't had a problem since!
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
The Miata's the wrong year (looks like an NB, I have an NC), so I'll pass, but that's still kinda funny.
At first glance, the Benz screen on the new E350 looks kind of small, but it actually worked quite well. The rendering on the screen was very good, with a font for the street names that was easy to read at a glance.
The backup cam also worked well. While it did not have trajectory lines for backing up, the image was clear and good quality.
Still no text to speech, and the lack of keyboard entry is a bit of a hassle, but it's hugely improved over the systems even from 3-4 years ago.
The BMW was the opposite. Good first impression, with a bigger widescreen, but it was a let down.
While the screen is large, they don't seem to make good use of the real estate. The font was black with a light background, and just didn't contrast nearly as well. We could not read the street names until we were right up on that street.
Same problem with the lack of a keyboard - scroll around an A-Z wheel and enter one character at a time. Have your passenger read a book while they wait all day!
The backup cam did have trajectory lines, at least, but it's far inferior to the 180 degree views in a newer Toyota Sienna or Lexus and way behind Infiniti's 360 degree view.
To add insult to injury, the brand new 535i could not find VOB BMW. So what? So the event was hosted at...you guess it...VOB BMW.
We later sampled a 550i Gran Turismo, and it could at least find VOB BMW, but still had all the other sins from the 535i sedan's GPS system. The difference must be a map update, but it's still odd given the 5 series sedan is brand new.
Any how, I find my Garmin easier to use. The 5" screen on the 1490T sits closer to me so functionally it's about the same size as the one in the Benz, which much easier keyboard input on the touch screen.
The rendering of the maps was better on the Benz, but I'd argue the Garmin's maps beat the BMW even with that big screen.
Neither the BMW nor the Benz read out street names, and my Garmin does all that for the price of a single map update on those systems.
It really goes to show how much bang-for-the-buck you get with portable navi nowadays.
I wish cars had a dock for some kind of universal size nav rather than varying proprietary systems...as I hate junk hanging from my windshield or stuck to the dash.
I played with the settings and saw 2D (north up) and 3D (track up), but no buildings showed up in 3D mode.
I prefer 2D track up, and that was not an option. Strange.
Keep in mind we did maybe 15 minutes in each car. We did take the 550i GT on a longer drive, so that's the one I played with most.
You gotta try vent mounts. They put the GPS close to you can reach the touch screens easily. Much easier to use a QWERTY keyboard vs. one letter at a time on a scroll wheel with about 35 options to choose.
This is a pic from my rental car...it wowed me enough to grab my camera and take a shot. It seemed to be an impressive system, but I don't know if Euro spec models are different than what is seen in NA. It also had a TV tuner.
I would prefer something integrated into the dash, like a universal size slot where you can put it in the car, it lays flush, then you can pop it out and take it with you. Maybe some day.
* note the black font - I cannot read that street/POI name at all
* they sky may look cool, but it wastes 1/3 of the screen
The building pic is very useful as a landmark, though, and the screen is huge (8"?Not sure).
I'd like to see an iPad doc. Imagine a 10" screen. It's almost TOO good.
My initial reaction was that the Benz unit was better, simply because the graphics were easier to digest at a quick glance. I appreciated wide-screen NAVI on the BMWs, but they were much harder to read than the NAVI on the Benz. Were their other visual options to improve the BMW's readability (increase the background contrast, enlarge/boldface the type, etc.)? Don't know. Was there a "text-to-speech" feature (that was turned off)? Don't know.
I will say this: The graphics on the Benz NAVI was excellent; color choices for land masses, etc.; font choice and size; roads; everything—all much better than that of my Garmin. It was very elegant and sophisticated looking (which you would expect, being a Benz), whereas the graphics on the Garmin are coarse, harsh and raw in comparison.
Bob
The sky is a waste. I did not know how to get it into 2-D mode (I decided to leave in German and test myself)...but the sky is cool in that it will change for time of day - day and night skies. It's all looks and no purpose though.
A 10" screen will exist in the future, I have no doubt.
Bob
The only issue I had with that car was that the nav had been sent to shortest distance rather than quickest route...I didn't learn this until about 90 mins into a 60 min drive when I realized something seemed off. But to its defense, the car was given to me uncleaned by the rental car agency, maybe they reset it.
I have an 06 and it resets itself occasionally. All I do is just press the button that sets it back to automatically reset when filling gas tank. I don't get an accurate read for that tank but I always keep track of my mileage the old fashioned way so it doesn't bother me all that much. It is an annoyance though. I've never had it checked out.
Vent mount works OK for my 5" Garmin 1490T.
At 7" you'd need a pretty sturdy mount...
Samantha did an exceptional job except her french isn't much better than mine. Her text to speech is phonetic so Ste. Anne de Beupreau was ssstttt Anne D Bee Preeeaaauuuu.
A Subaru Tribeca loaner I had was Becky.
My Garmin is Karin because I use the Australian English voice.
Any other voices I can buy - at least the last time I checked - aren't text to speech.
There are several free voices, but only Samantha on my TomTom is computer. The others won't be able to speak street names, TomTom says.
I'm done with TomTom. I got a second replacement from my original from December 2009. It has maps in it from March of 2009; it says there have been 4 quarterly updates. When I called TomTom to suggest they owe me a recent map like I had with my original TomTom bought it December and given a free update within 30 days in January..., they said if this one didn't come with a free update upon installation startup, too bad. They did say I could pay $70 for a year's worth of updates, however. I told them that's not going to happen.
There's some problem with Tomtom"s software and Windows. The first replacement didn't work. Some of the advisors tried to work about the conflict. But I ended up with the short end of the stick. BTW, I don't think there was conflict until I updated to SP3 for XP Pro. I was probably the last holdout in the US for the updated Windows Service Pack because I don't like being Beta testers for Windows with their releases...
So it's poetic justice that the 2 TomToms didn't update right with it.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
My TomTom has worked with both a windows XP SP3 machine and now on my Win7 machine. Further, I paid $48 for 4 updates IIRC.
YMMV of course.
And when I talk back to mine, I just say "yes dear". :-)
I guess I'm a little dumb today - can't figure those out.
My TomTom is literal and reads what they program in and what's displayed on the screen. For instance she'll say Northbound Intersate 95 semicolon Route 128 semicolon Yankee Division Highway.
I'm glad they did, because lets be honest, a 3.5'' screen is a really SOB to glance at from a distance when trying to drive and look at the map. In my friend's car, I see them squinting to try and see what it says.
The Garmin TTS works well. The pronunciation is not as clear as the non-TTS voices, and it might call Rockville Pike "MD Route 355" instead, but that's usually OK.
Nothing beats the knowledge of a local, of course, and that's what we compare these to in familiar areas. That may be why GPSs get criticized. I've always told people you have to learn how to use them, don't always take everything literally.
Having said that, use the 5" in my minivan since it's huge. I have a 4.3" in my Miata. A 5" may look out of place in such a cozy interior.
Maybe.