When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
You should have done a little research. And bought a 200 dollar Garmin and saved yourself all that money.
I've been using an iPad mini with cellular connectivity as my navigation system and so far I'm quite pleased with it.
The only down side is that it blocks the multi-function display, which I only look at for the A/C settings. Thankfully, I did not get the nav package to begin with so all car functions can still be controlled through dashboard buttons, and the car display is of very limited use.
All I have to do is place the iPad on the RAM docking station, and I'm ready to go. The bluetooth connection works well, sound quality is good, and even the steering wheel controls work with the iPad. Since I keep my iPad charged, I don't even have to plug in power most of the time. So there are no wires hanging anywhere.
Actually, I think you would be hard pressed to find a third party infotainment system for the RX that works better than the iPad. It gives you so much more than just great nav apps like Waze or Google maps. My other favorite apps to use in the car are Spotify, Yahoo weather/finance, and HD radio.
IPad integration with RX350 using RAM docking system.
I have been a bit of an apologist for the Lexus nav system but we have encountered some real issues with it giving us just plain wrong direction.
We were using the system to get to a Starbucks on our trip to the KC area and the nav system had us making a left turn at the end of the trip. While in the left turn lane waiting for a light we looked through the intersection to our right and there was the Starbucks we were looking for.
Such an expensive "high end" system should just work better.
I have had the same experience trying to get to a restaurant for dinner. Fortunately there was no turn lane, so I only had to reverse my directional signal and turn right.
the crappy Nav. system. I now understand why. We moved up to a Lake in South Carolina and the Lexus system was worthless on some of the smaller roads. As I recall " not enough data" was constant refrain. I have the newest update to Nav. system on our new to us 2011 RX.
My 3 yr old $180 Garmin could handle it with no problem. I would be pissed if a newly purchased 2015 has the same crappy Nav. system.
Can't be a difficult fix. But it has certainly soured my opinion of what other wise is a good car.
RBC
(b) I program the gps to go from Reno to San Francisco. It keep on telling me to exit and take a country road instead of insterstate 80. For every exit, it says to exit.
It is an old question but I had to reply, in case someone else will experience a similar thing.
It happened to me very recently in a rental car in Europe, exactly the same symptoms.
So what's the problem in a case like this?
Your Reno to San Francisco route was NOT the only route in your GPS. Most likely there was another destination programmed and your GPS was navigating to that destination. In other words your GPS was thinking it first has to go to XXX and then perhaps to San Francisco. You must make a complete reset and make sure yours is the only active route. I had the same annoying problem in Switzerland and had to pull over - GPS was totally unusable, asking me to exit all the time (even though I was going in correct general direction) and I was in an unknown area. I started playing with the unit (which was unfamiliar to begin with) and discovered that whoever rented this car before had a pending destination.
By the way, just returned from Reno from some skiing...
I've been using an iPad mini with cellular connectivity as my navigation system and so far I'm quite pleased with it.
The only down side is that it blocks the multi-function display, which I only look at for the A/C settings. Thankfully, I did not get the nav package to begin with so all car functions can still be controlled through dashboard buttons, and the car display is of very limited use.
All I have to do is place the iPad on the RAM docking station, and I'm ready to go. The bluetooth connection works well, sound quality is good, and even the steering wheel controls work with the iPad. Since I keep my iPad charged, I don't even have to plug in power most of the time. So there are no wires hanging anywhere.
Actually, I think you would be hard pressed to find a third party infotainment system for the RX that works better than the iPad. It gives you so much more than just great nav apps like Waze or Google maps. My other favorite apps to use in the car are Spotify, Yahoo weather/finance, and HD radio.
IPad integration with RX350 using RAM docking system.
Totally agree, except down here in Australia I use a regular iPad. I stuck it to the GPS screen with suction cup and Ram Mounts. Use Metroview for navigation, it is awesome for any other Aussies reading this!
Totally agree, except down here in Australia I use a regular iPad. I stuck it to the GPS screen with suction cup and Ram Mounts. Use Metroview for navigation, it is awesome for any other Aussies reading this!
After being given the wrong directions many times by my Lexus Nav (we call her Lucy), I bought a Garmin. My last straw with Lucy was when she tried to put me on the south bound ramp of I-75 in Florida after I told her to "go home" (Indianapolis).
My Garmin sits to the front right of my nav screen so that I can see the Garmin and most of the Nav screen.
Wow! And here I was trying to locate a CPO with the nav package Dealer also mentioned that they charge $300 to update GPS info. when a new version becomes available.
Wow! And here I was trying to locate a CPO with the nav package Dealer also mentioned that they charge $300 to update GPS info. when a new version becomes available.
My Garmin cost less than half of that, AND it came with FREE lifetime updates. Garmin updates their maps quarterly. Lexus updates theirs yearly.
Last weekend I had to drive to an ice rink in a neighboring town twice in one day.
First time, did it in my Audi. Nailed every single turn. Knew exactly what roads were coming up and where to turn.
Switched to Lexus in the afternoon. First problem, building number was not found. OK, that's a small road, no problem if it is not exact - I just came back from there.
Long story short, it was a pain switching back a couple decades in technology.
I was only one step ahead, instead of 3, and constantly having to convert 2D representation to the surroundings, which made me miss a turn on a route that I already did earlier that morning.
Last weekend I had to drive to an ice rink in a neighboring town twice in one day.
First time, did it in my Audi. Nailed every single turn. Knew exactly what roads were coming up and where to turn.
Switched to Lexus in the afternoon. First problem, building number was not found. OK, that's a small road, no problem if it is not exact - I just came back from there.
Long story short, it was a pain switching back a couple decades in technology.
I was only one step ahead, instead of 3, and constantly having to convert 2D representation to the surroundings, which made me miss a turn on a route that I already did earlier that morning.
Can I ask what vintage nav you're using? Looking at a 2015 and have been at least pleasantly surprised in the voice recognition, as opposed to my wife's Toyota system.
I have the same thing on my 2010, i know the map is quite outdated but not to the extreme degree like it seems to be. Like big places it does find very well, i have no issues with turn cuz everything comes up in advance and then it does the beeping sound right before you have to turn so thats helpful, but then when you go to a smaller town outside of NYC its pain in the *** to find the house. I often go on weekend trips somewhere by the nature and 95% of the time i cant use Lexus Navi system simply because it says that theres no building number in the system even when streets/buildings are fairly old, they shouldve have been in the database, so most of the time have to rely on Waze and Google Maps. A friend of my with 2011 RX tried to do the $60 map database update at the dealer, and it didnt do much, he's still using his phone cuz of the same issue.
I had the second $300 update performed on my '13h in January; and it was way off base going through Louisville last Friday (the Garmin in parallel use seemed to navigate it smarter).
On the plus side - the Sirius Nav did notify me of road snafus twice, each time offering to reroute me around the slowdown.
Despite its quirks, the Lexus Nav is superbly easy to obtain quick views and useful location information when timely input from it is necessary.
Can I ask what vintage nav you're using? Looking at a 2015 and have been at least pleasantly surprised in the voice recognition, as opposed to my wife's Toyota system.
That would be a Lexus Nav! Technology circa '99. Voice recognition has only one prompt - Pardon?
Now, around 2014 they realized they suck and Apple doesn't. So it has Siri Eyes Free. Not a Toyota/Pioneer technology.
so do people find the Siri eyes free would negate the desire for in car Nav?
It only handles voice recognition. It pipes voice commands to the iCloud, where they are processed and proper responses returned. Siri doesn't do navigation itself.
Now, Apple CarPlay will be able extend navigation off iPhone.
Dealer also mentioned that they charge $300 to update GPS info. when a new version becomes available.
Using an iPad as car infotainment system
