Volvo XC70 Navigation System Questions

PF_Flyer

Share your navigations system tips and tricks here.

lklandrum

Does anyone experience incorrect information from this system? It frequeently gives me directions that are neither the fastest no most direct. My Volvo dealer has checked it twice and says nothing is wrong-- even though he gets the same incorrect directions as me. Prior to having this system installed, I owned a portable Garmin. It worked so well that I purchased the built-in Volvo system. So far nothing good to say about it. I find changing the dvd based on where I'm traveling to be a pain. It doesn't capture things like "nearest gas station" and the wait to recalculate the route is much too long (e.g. when I ignore the incorrect directions). Suggestions?

xc70bob

I was recently on a two week car trip and did experience a few misdirections but overall the system was excellent, and unlike yourself, I much prefer it to Garmin. FYI, I have a QueM5 PDA and it's operating system has bugs in it they refuse to fix, updates to the maps are terribly difficult to install due to their intense worry re stolen maps. The Garmin is a royal pain in the...

What's worse with Garmin is that you have to plan ahead where you will be and download each section of map BEFORE you travel (or have your laptop with you in the car and take the time to transfer missing sections). The Volvo Navtec system has 3 DVDs and we used two of them (driving from NH to FL the crossover is in VA). Takes a minute to get out of the car and swap disks. Yes, you can't see the entire trip in one disk but you can't drive that far in one day so it's not a significant problem (the map disks overlap states, i.e. VA was on both disks we used).

True, the software does not have all gas stations but we never failed to find one or a motel or a "town center" (which is what we usually use as a place to drive to if we don't know the exact address). We have found it's driving directions (esp verbal advice) very accurate in Boston and on Long Island and to very out of the way small towns in SC. We would never travel without it. The large screen that pops up out of the dash is ideally located, being built in means no cables, nothing to get stolen or lost, no batteries to recharge/replace. Sure it takes a bit of time to calculate directions but so does my Garmin (the screen on the Garmin is smaller and I have a suction cup gizmo on that to use it in my XJ6 Jaguar).

As for misdirections - you do have to have an idea where you want to go and you do have to have a conventional paper map (backup material is a must - what do you do if the electronics dies?). My wife was the backup navigator and it helped a lot that we had copied sectional maps and referred to them but the basic nav aid was the Volvo system.

The only place it could not find was the Blue Ridge Parkway in VA but the paper map showed us where it was so we drove to Lynchburg via the nav system and easily found the entrance to the parkway and it tracked us all the way to NY state.

I'd give it a 9 out of 10 rating overall.