The discussion of nav v. no nav in another thread reminded me of a funny thing that happens with my nav. I-96 is under construction near Lansing, MI with all traffic shifted onto the eastbound (previously it was westbound) lanes. At one point, the eastbound and westbound roadways diverge and there is very wide median. When headed west on the eastbound lanes, the nav continues to show me driving on the westbound lanes for a while after the lanes diverge. The nav then appears to have a "WTF moment" and the location indicator jumps to the eastbound lanes. As the lanes begin to get closer together, the location indicator jumps back to the westbound lanes long before the car gets there. It knows I'm supposed to be driving over there, so it puts me there.

 

It should say, "without hesitation, make an illegal u-turn"...

 

My garmin which is relatively new, every now and then sends me on a wild goose chase.

 

They switched sides now? Nice, it's about time, hopefully the job finishes somewhat soon, I hate driving so close to the concrete walls. The nav in our Odyssey thought thinks that we are driving in water anytime we get near a large body of H2O lol.

 

Hehe funny story with the portable navs I have used before. So every yr my friends and I try to make it to the Detroit auto show. Detroit overall, as you may know, isn't the best place to hang around in. The place where the auto show takes place, Cobo Hall, however is in a pretty nice area. 2 years ago, we get to Cobo Hall, but my friend insists on having Taco Bell. I searched Taco Bell and the closest one was 5 miles away. I was driving my 1995 BMW 530i, which meant RWD + manual + bad tires. We left the nice area (Cobo Hall + Chrysler building) and headed into blocks and blocks of abandoned buildings. It got to the point where my nav assured me it was 2 miles away, and led me down random unplowed alley ways. I was having a really hard time moving at this point...and we had no Taco Bell on site. We gave up on this. There was not a single person around, which was pretty eerie.

Fast forward 1 year, same time, same event. Now, I had just gotten a new Garmin since the old one just decided it didn't want to turn on anymore. I set my destination by POI to Cobo Hall parking garage, which is just a secure underground parking structure. Relatively cheap parking that's close to the auto show as well. So anyway, we run into Detroit. Instead of showing me where the garage is, my nav took me out to an unknown abandoned parking miles from Cobo Hall (another abandoned area with old run-down factories).

In the end, I believe my nav is determined to have some fun with me and deliberately send me on wild goose chases. I did see much of Detroit I would've never seen otherwise. We shall see how the 430 fares this year....

 

On my old Range Rover, which had the TRULY ARCHAIC BMW/Philips Navigation unit with what could best be called "EGA" Graphics, the british speaking Nav voice would occasionally, for no good reason have a digital "sneeze" while speaking a destination or command.

Something to the effect of "In .6 miles, your destination is on the ri*@*!!(@*#!!"

It would also reboot itself at will.

 

You know, right before your turn is coming up the nav supposed to tell you about it? well, my old Mio Map thing GPS used to say that right as you getting into the intersection. So if you doing anything over 25mph and not paying attention.. you will be doing a lot of u-turns

My LS430 is a sad poor thing. most of the time it doesn't even know what to think. here in Tampa bay, they have shifted just about every road. and the area i live in is just plain blank on the nav screen.

But the best part is, that they add the "planned" roads to the gps... well yeah they def not there the way they should be. and it looks pretty funny off-roading all over the place while the GPS is confused about where you sshould be.

 

Lol funny stuff. Seems like we have all had some comical times with our navs. The nav in our minivan also mutes the music by giving a tone, then waits half a minute before saying anything, almost as if it forgot it's line.

 

Upgrading your DVD disc is your solution for not seeing existing roads. You can access the road changes made by the various DVD upgrades on the Lexus site.

 

3 months ago I upgraded to the 2009 edition. At least now I feel that this will be "as good as it gets".

 

latest for gen2/3 is mid'09, which = to 1/2 of the road are still missing.honestly i only used it one time sense i have purchased my car and i dont want to spen $200 and still have a jacked up maps. i will wait for mid or late 2010if it ever comes out. or i will just burn a dvd copy if i really need it =)

 

No, the LS nav is goofy calculating the "3 routes" that it gets. I recently took a short trip to south Jersey. Where I was heading, I know the NJ Parkway is quickest and probably shortest too, but all three routes did not even consider taking the parkway. It was going and taking route 9, which is local and goes west inland, to come back out. Anyway, it figured the "quickest" was 2.5 hours, but I did the trip in 1.5 hours. And yes, I programmed my trip speeds already, local is 25 mph, main is 40 mph, and freeway is 70 mph.

Unless you have no idea where you're going, then use the NAV, otherwise, go with what you know, or do a google print and follow that and use the NAV only for finding POI or detouring.

With all these problems, I do like.

1. reduces radio volume
2. even when no signal, has dead reckoning
3. integrated, so no wires
4. won't get stolen, they'd have to take the whole car.