kirbyskip

I've been trying to get the eDestinations tool to work for me and, despite the fact that it seems to work "as advertised", I find it pretty klugy. I have to go to the Lexus web site to enter the location -- which isn't always convenient -- and then multiple steps to actually get it downloaded to the vehicle.

I was with a friend over the weekend who has a new Nissan Altima -- a nice vehicle, but one that costs considerably less than my 2013 Lexus RX350. She showed me how easily she could get the Google send-to-car navigation function to work in her vehicle, and I was really impressed.

Am I missing something with Lexus eDestinations -- or have they over-engineered this and simply made it complicated so that they can lock you into their own technology?

mklemovitc

I also find it quite kludgy. Once I figured out how to do it, I stopped doing it since it was so laborious.

For my uses, I find it easier to take a moment before beginning a trip to an unfamiliar destination and enter the destination into my Nav the "old-fashioned way" (directly via the remote touch controller in the RX).

As to why Lexus does it that way - I don't ascribe to the conspiracy theory when simple incompetence is an adequate explanation.

saz25

I agree that it could be easier. As for how I use it, I use the Lexus iPhone add. I bring it up on my iPhone, go to the Bing search feature, look for my particular point of interest, then save it. I then go into the eDestinations tab and select the folder and then click on "send to Vehicle".

Is that how you use it?

I wish they had Google search instead of Bing, but its ok I guess.

I also wish it was less steps than save, send, then download.

Steve

kirbyskip

Yes, but I frequently want to search for and send an address over -- not a POI. Bing doesn't work for this and I haven't found a way to get addresses directly into the folder in Enform on my iPhone.

saz25

Yes, you can enter addresses into Bing. I just tried it to make sure. I entered the number, followed by the street name followed by the city/town followed by the state.
Try it. It works, at least if I understand what you want to do.

You then save it to a folder, then go into the edestination tab to send to vehicle.
Steve

kirbyskip

Excellent! Thanks -- I'd never tried this, since I thought the Bing function here was limited to POI search. This enhances the overall functionality some...

ewingr

I can't get it to work at all. It always fails, and says try again later.

Seeing as how it is so cludgy when it does work, I guess I'll forget about it. Easier to look up the address on my phone, and then just enter it.

I'm pretty disappointed in Lexus' tech stuff. Their voice commands doesn't have half the commands it had in 2008 RX.

Using the Bing, etc, is also a PITA using that mouse. Haven't tried the voice recognition but twice. It understood me once, and not the other time.

DunWkg

I use the Lexus Enform Mobile application(s) on my iPhone and iPad, no logging in. Will also use laptop and web version and plan a whole trip and put destinations and stops in order in a folder. Send to car, when in car combine all stops into a sequential destination. Works fine for me, use it often.

I like that it includes the phone number when it finds the destination. Just click on it in the car and it calls the restaurant or motel.

kryten

I have used it and programmed in a lot of common places. It is ok but still would prefer the google sent to gps feature.

Destination Assist is the easiest option

BertL

Completely agree. There is lots of promise perhaps, but Lexus has not added any significant benefits having their own mechanism to get destinations from a workstation/tablet/phone to the truck. The Google option used by other luxury mfgrs (e.g. BMW & MBZ) is superior in functionality, ease-of-use, and availability (Lexus eDestination has been down at least 3 different occasions when I wanted to use it in the past few months).

Dolphin

Ditto.... all the buzz about Lexus Enform, all the ad dollars, and yet, e destinations works like 1980's software. I agree that cars in the $20k price range have systems much easier and user friendly. Just too many steps in e destination. Ya think Lexus would benefit from the fact its an off shoot of Toyota, the largest volume builder in the world, or close....and yet, somehow, it appears they put a few rookies in a room and say, hey, make something to enter into NAV via PC.... they spend $30k on the product, and then, $30M advertising it... makes no sense to me, very disappointed. Then, RES+, also, NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME, its always down, it fails miserably, and it alerts you if alarm goes off, via email, NOT TEXT? huh? Its a smart phone app, texts come though immediately, sometimes email takes hours, not too mention, we don't every email to notify us on the phone, that is what TEXT's are for. You mention this stuff to Lexus 800 techs, and they just agree with ya, but after 6 months, nothing ever gets done. Lots of lip service, dated products and they never seem to upgrade at the speed the market demands. All this would be OK, if it was free, but they are trying to fetch decent prices for this. The Nissan service, who uses 3rd party, is like $6 a month... ya don't expect much for $6, but its much better than e destinations. It's too bad Lexus doesn't listen to customer base, we give them all the answers they need... they design in a vacuum, like so many other large Asian companies... sorry for rant, this is one area I was greatly disappointed...
oh, did I mention, no android tablet support for e destination?? No tablet use for RES+ ?? huh? 2013 guys, wake up... stop spending big bucks on advertising and get the products up to par...

MacMichael

Could you give a few more details how you get the sequential destinations to work. I put destinations in a folder but it only goes to the first place. How do you link them together?

velopod

My biggest disappointment with Lexus as well. Tech is terrible! My older BMW I could punch in a destination on mapquest or googlemaps and just send to the car. That was it. I don't drive the RX much (wife's car of course, guys really buy these things?) but I do on trips and I've discovered using Bing, but the stupid joystick is a hassle and you (or passenger) can't use when driving? Nice job there ...

DunWkg

You can have up to five destinations and the five destinations can be from any one of your folders or can be any other type of destination (Address, Point of Interest, Address Book, Previous Destination, etc).

Do not worry too much about the order you would like to visit the destinations, you can change the order when all done entering the destinations.

I'm going to use eDestinations for this example from one of my (your) folders.

Pick your first destination
Point of Interest
eDestination
Pick a folder, one of mine is "Vacation 2013" a group of destinations previously created
Pick any of the destinations in the list
click <Go To>

You will see a button at the bottom of the map <EDIT ROUTE>
The "Edit Route" screen will pop up
There are five (I think) buttons, three of them are <ADD>, <DELETE> and <REORDER>
Only <ADD> is available others are dimmed out at this point in the sequence
Click <ADD>
this will take you to the "Destination" screen
Use any one of the ways to enter a destination, for our example we will pick an eDestination
Pick <Point of Interest>, <eDestination>
Pick a folder and pick a destination <Go To>
again at the map pick <EDIT ROUTE>
<ADD>
Now it gees to the "Position" screen
Pick where in the order you want the destination DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, just add it anywhere

Repeat, repeat, repeat all the steps
It will not allow you to add more than five destinations

Now when done adding destinations, pick <EDIT ROUTE>
All of the buttons (Add, Delete, Reorder) are now available, pick <REORDER>
A list of all five destinations will show up and there are buttons on the right
<Move UP> and <Move DOWN>
Highlight a destination and using move up or move down
Reorder the destinations in the order you want to visit them
1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Click <OK> when done reordering
The map will return with the five destinations, or two, three, four, whatever you created

Hope I've got this right, if not you should be able to figure it out. Keep in mind you can also pick one of the three routes it provides for each destination(s). Something like "Quickest", "Shortest", "Other" or whatever are the names, I forgotten what they are called, sorry.

Good luck,

MacMichael

DunWkg. Thanks for the step-by-step explanation -- that helps a lot. I am so used to trip planning on the computer and then downloading it to the car with my old GPS this seems like a real step backwards. This requires too much time sitting in the car with that clunky "mouse." I guess I will get used to it. Thanks again for your help.

P.S. Is there any way to save the route so you don't have to link all the individual destinations together again the next time you travel that route. If so, can you have multiple saved routes (each in a separate folder)?