bc6152

i used the factory navigation in my car yesterday for the 2nd. time since i bought it a year ago. I was going west on a state route in Pennsylvania to a friend's house. The nav had me get off at an exit - not for his house - go back 3 miles eastbound on the same route, then put me back on the same route westbound for 5 miles to the proper exit for my destination...
WTH was that all about? I never had that happen before. Makes me very dubious regarding the accuracy of said navigation unit. No roadwork going on, and it's an old road with no recent changes... Time to get the portable Garmin out as it has never failed me even in western Europe...

lesz

Bob,

I'm guessing that you had intended to post on the Generation 7 ES forum.

In any case, with the navigation systems on various Lexus vehicles over the years, I've encountered a handful of situations where the navigation guidance had me get off of an interstate at a cloverleaf exit and, then, get right back onto the same highway via a cloverleaf entrance. I figured that it was the result of some sort of programming glitch.

bc6152

You are correct. Forgot I was in 6th. gen forum. Thanks my friend...

Freds430

Have had similar things happen but hopefully thank goodness not a lot. Occasionally more for just seeing how long it will take to get to my destination when I know the route will use the nav system. It will send me in a weird longer then needed route. I wonder how many times this has happened when I do not know the area I am traveling.

st1800

agreed, this is one reason I don’t use the Lexus Nav.

Eslader

There isn't a car out there with a truly good navigation system. Even Tesla, which has onboard 3g connectivity and uses satellite imagery from Google Maps in its navigation system, for some bizarre reason decided to go with Garmin for the navigation database rather than just using Google/Waze. Then when that didn't work well, they switched to TomTom, which also worked poorly, and now they're using a proprietary one sourcing data from Mapbox and Valhalla.

If you really need almost guaranteed good directions, or need to know the real traffic situation, pull out your phone.

nuraman00

I always use the built in navigation system.

This is my theory.

When it asks which route you want (Quickest; Alternate; or Shortest), if you select Shortest, it will literally go out of its way and have you take side streets, even if it saves 0.2 miles.

Also, when it says that it wants to re-route to avoid traffic congestion, it then uses the optimization that was initially selected. So if Quickest was selected before, it will try to re-route using Quickest.

If Shortest was selected before, it will try to find another route that will both avoid traffic congestion, and be the shortest.

I've been using the built in navigation since 2013. It's not perfect, but I think it's pretty good.

But, I'm thinking that if I'm ever going in an era with a lot of small streets, it's best to select Quickest, and not Shortest, because Shortest makes the route too complicated. I've had a few instances recently where I haven't liked the result of selecting Shortest.

I think this something I'll have to remember for myself next time.

I think that's the best way to get the most out of the built in navigation.

@bc6152 , do you remember which route optimization you selected between the three?

There was one other instance though where I think it did a neat trick when I had done Shortest, and it wanted to update the route to avoid congestion. It had me get on an off-ramp, but not actually take the exit. The off ramp eventually merged back with the freeway. I bypassed a slow part of the freeway.

But in general, I've only liked Shortest when it uses major roads.

I haven't had any issues in general when using Quickest, everything during my experience has seemed reasonable.

bc6152

Well, honestly I'd have to go into my manual to see how to adjust the route for quickest, shortest, etc. I don't know how it's set presently because, as I stated, this is only the second time I've used navigation in a year of ownership. However, that being said, I don't think that the route should be that I was sent 3 miles east - exit - then 5 miles west - exit - on the same road.
This tends to make me hesitant to trust this system. I have a $200.00 Garmin portable bought in 2010 that has never let me down even driving in western Europe with a memory card inserted. I'd use Google if I had unlimited data on my phone...

nuraman00

I'd use the Garmin then since it's been better for you.

Maybe things are different with the 2019 models, but this is how I'd select the route for my 2013, then 2018 models (both 6th generation).

* Enter the address, or search for the POI by name.

* If it's a POI, it then brings up a screen where either I can call that number, or confirm that this is the destination.

* It then shows the map screen, and shows 3 possible color-coded routes.

Blue will be Quickest.

Purple will be Alternate.

Green will be Shortest.

Sometimes, two of all three of these will be the same. Other times, two or all three will be distinct.

Once I mentally decide which route I like best, I go to the top of the navigation screen, and then select that route (Quickest/Alternate/Shortest).

https://drivers.lexus.com/t3Portal/d...f/OM33B75U.pdf

If you look at page 123, that "3 Routes" button is what will show you the 3 options.

Based on my experience, I think sometimes when getting re-routed due to traffic, if initially selecting Shortest, it can result in a more complicated route.

I think Quickest does a good balance between being the Quickest, and simplest, and also not too many more miles longer if at all.

JimInTN

My up to date nav system sits in the front passenger seat.

bc6152

Hmmm. I tried that system too. Too many disagreements...

great post Jim...

swfla

iTrader: (1)

I remember stories of nav misguidance from 15+ years ago. It wasn't brand specific, just the nature of nav in cars. I wonder how or if aviation has this resolved? At least air traffic control is there to help!

Eslader

Aviation has the advantage of not having to follow roads. Modern flight management systems have waypoints programmed in. When you plan a flight, you draw a straight line (usually) from waypoint to waypoint (there are rare exceptions where there are curves, but they're pre-set and the computer knows about them). You just plug the waypoints in order into the FMS system, then the autopilot knows where to point the plane. The downside is that the user interface as you can see on this 737 system is, uh... Somewhat less intuitive than our cars:



Which is OK because pilots go through a lot more training on their systems than Lexus drivers do.