ElliotB

"The only downside is the annual $265 subscription fee"

First, it comes free with the vehicle for the first year - why not use it! Secondly it is not $265 a year.

One of the main reasons I bought a Lexus was for the Safety Connect feature. The fee for DA is $10/month in addition to the cost of Safety Connect. I consider DA one of the vehicles best safety features (aside from the Safety Connect feature).

Fees can be viewed here:

http://drivers.lexus.com/lexusdriver...bscriptions.do



"My wife tells me..., to use it" - Didn't you know you should always listen to your wife!

ICnothing

I have to agree the Voice recognition works like crap..

amphipri0n

This is true for me too, especially when I know where I want to go, DA feels like overkill to have someone else program your GPS for you. It's worse than stopping for directions Sadly this plagues all Lexus vehicles

LexBob2

We used DA and eDestination primarily while travelling. eDestination was handy when planning a trip, loading in hotels, POI's etc before leaving. DA was convenient for us while on the road. As mentioned not for everyone since they are subscription based.

I've often wondered what the renewal rate is after the 1 year trial expires.

SW17LS

My problem with DA is time. It takes it 20-30 seconds to load and connect, then the person has to search, then it takes time to download to the car. The VR is much faster for addresses, although I do like the DA for POAs, etc.

Arty101

For me, it's a guy thing. I hate asking for directions, and I hate asking someone on the DA 'phone' to give me directions, especially if its local. I'd just like to give VC an address, enter and go. What's so hard with that ?

LexBob2

That's the advantage of being retired (the ES demographic) those 45-60 seconds are no big deal. I see what you mean though. If the VR was more user friendly, for me at least, I'm sure I wouldn't have used these services so much.,

SW17LS

You had the previous gen ES though right? Yeah the voice recognition on my 2010 sucked. But its much better on my GS...

scutmud

As a followup. If I say West Pratt all that comes back is West. I hate that when you say the whole street name it only comes back with one word and you have to drill into the various choices.

Arty101

I've tried some of the commands that are part of the GS, and they don't work on the current ES. These commands were given from another ES thread and the author thought that the GS VR commands should work for the ES. A biggie for me: "Cancel" command will not work in the ES. I've tried to cancel current Navi, but must do it via menu. This is not user friendly.

SW17LS

This is an issue when typing addresses in too, it has to do with how they are entered in.

95% of the time I have no issues.

Mike728

I finally watched the youtube video. It made my wife laugh, because she has the exact same problem in her CR-V trying to use the phone. I have yet to try this feature in the ES, but you make it look like a challange. Something to look forward to!

LexBob2

Yes, I had the previous gen. Glad to hear the new gen has improved.

Arty101

That sounds like my experience with the ES VR. Can't get it to do anything except make and receive calls.

2WELRV

"Lexus voice recognition SUCKS" is an extreme understatement!! When it can't recognize who you're trying to call(which is most of the time) it guesses at something close and asks if its correct then gives you 2 choices, Yes and No. When you respond with "No" it can't "Recognize The Command". It can't recognize the word "No" over and over and over again it can't recognize "No", the simplest word in the English language. My dog understands the word "No". My sisters cat understands the word "No", but my $50,000 Lexus can't! My service department say it's working correctly, well that's good news.