As I narrow down my search for a new SUV, I am getting concerned about the feedback I read on the RX navigation system. Does anybody like it? I know none of the systems are perfect out there, but I want a really good navigation system on my new vehicle. I am also considering the new Audi Q5, the new Acura MDX sport hybrid, and the new Volvo XC60. Besides these cars, in your opinion, what SUV does have an excellent navigation system? Keeping things simple, is Android Auto or Apple Carplay super important to a quality navigation/interface on the car? Thanks for any feedback and advice.

 

i like being able use the app on iphone to find destination, save it, then get into RX and sync with the same app. Saves lots of time finding destination.
Lots of things to get frustrated about, but once you learn idiosyncrasies, all good for me.
Really like text messages being read to me, and sending text messages while driving.
My only previous experience with nav units was the garmin until I purchased NX last year, RX this year.
No clue what apple car play provides, as I can do everything I need to do with my iphone without carplay.

What I don't understand is the traffic. If I have 8 miles to destination, why the heck does she let me know there is heavy traffic 12 miles ahead on the route. Both NX and RX do that. Anyone figure it out?

 

Have nav in our RX and ES. The only thing I do not like about either is the fact Lexus does not trust me by manually adding an address while driving. Having owned Acura's before I know they have recently gone to this. I would not let this however deter me from buying who J D Power has ranked #1 in reliability for 7 years in a row. In addition, Lexus is rated the third least expensive to maintain. Well rated cars, IMO good styling, reasonably priced, most dependable and very affordable to maintain and Lexus has me until something comes along better!!!

http://twocents.lifehacker.com/the-c...ver-1781639773

 

I personally do not like the nav system. Voice commands are almost useless. Probably a user issue. I would not let an inferior nav system be a deal breaker in the decision to buy a particular car. Not saying that the rx350 system is bad, but I think it could be better. If I need a place that bad I just manually type in where I want to go. Doing it that way works every time.

 

The NAV system is OK for me but hate the remote mouse thing. Give me a touch screen please!!!

I also would like to be able to input address while moving but understand why Lexus does not allow it.

99% of the time, my Lexus NAV gets me where I need to go.

Never use the Voice command, never does what I want so I just do not use it.

 

The 2016 and 2017 RX uses a Generation 9 Lexus navigation system. I consider the voice command capabilities of the Generation 9 system to be a significant improvement over that of the Generation 7 and Generation 8 systems. In particular, its "natural language" capabilities are much better, and it understands a wider range of commands. Also, it has the capability of being trained to understand your voice, and that training only takes a couple of minutes. I suspect that that some of those who are having difficulty with the voice commands haven't taken the time to train the system to learn their voices.

Also, for those who might be having trouble entering addresses via voice commands, I'd suggest trying to use the Destinations app in the (free) Enform App Suite. Not only have I found that it is good at understanding voice commands, but its data base is larger and more up-to-date than the data base on the SD card that holds the data base for the in-car system. Once you have downloaded the Enform App to a smart phone, a couple of mouse clicks gets you to the app and allows you to use it to find and enter destinations into the navigation system via voice commands.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

I've done the voice training with no significant difference. I suspect that the system is more in tune with American locations. For example when I ask to find a restaurant it gives me things not even close to what I asked, and places that don't even exist in Canada. I have given up on voice commands. It's too frustrating and I end up telling her where to go. That being said it works fine for manually giving directions, most of the time. Last week I had to go to a small town 100 miles away and did the manual input and it gave three choices. None of which were good choices. It did not give the best route for some reason. It should have taken a highway that's been around for 30 + years. I did take one of the routes it suggested and it was a nice pleasant ride thru the countryside. Hit a few small towns I've never been thru.

I do like how it re-calculates routes if you go off the selected choice.

Again, a good nav system was not on my list of must have's, so I'm not disappointed voice commands don't work well for me.

 

Is the Enform app suite available on Canadian models? If it is, I would suggest trying to use it. When I had a Lexus with a Generation 7 navigation system for which voice commands didn't work well, I found that using the Destinations app in the app suite was far superior to using the in-car data base. Not only did voice commands work much better, but the data base was much better than what is in the car, which meant that it was much more likely to find and let me select the destination that I wanted and the best route to get there.

 

Personally I would not let the navigation system determine my vehicle purchase choice. I think we can all agree there is no 'perfect' navigation system.

So for general navigation I find the RX system fine; no better or worse than the version that was in my '05 RX.

If I need a more comprehensive solution (e.g. the ability to share my trip details with others, better dynamic traffic routing, frequency of map updates, etc) I use Waze.

 

No Enform in Canada...at least not that I am aware...They give us mud flaps instead...hahaha

 

To add more info about the Enform App Suite...you can search your destination in your phone on the app and send it to your car.

 

Maybe this is because it's the first car I've had with navigation built-in, but I'm a fan of it for the most part.
Previously I'd use google maps on my phone.

So compared to that...

The Lexus navigation maps are less up to date and inputting addresses are more difficult. Looking up by category/name yields mixed results- sometimes it works well, sometimes not. It is somewhat annoying you cannot input a name while driving- what if the passenger is doing it? The Lexus directions can be funky- twice I had it direct me to go in a circle consistently. Once was when I was lost and I had to go in a circle before I realized what it was doing. The second time I knew the area and knew this was wrong. There is also a steep learning curve to figuring out how to use it. Input isn't the best- mouse pointer to keyboard.

However... the big screen and its location is a big plus. When it works, it's pretty sweet (which is most of the time). The coolest thing is driving on the highway- it will tell you upcoming exits, how far away they are, how many minutes away they are, and will give you a brief summary of what's their via icons- i.e. gas, restaurant, etc. Another thing is you're not sucking down data when using the car's navigation system. It works best when you input the address before you start driving. Or have somebody else do it for you. On the fly? Not so much.

My ideal would be google maps with a touchscreen keyboard in a built in nav system, like a Tesla.

 

I 100% love this Nav system. The screen is large and my eye sight is not he best for reading and this is perfect. I bought the Lexus for this reason.

 

My portable Garmin is as close to being a 'perfect' navigation as one can reasonably wish for (IMHO). But I do use navigation in my Lexus too, I would never say it is 'unusable' as some in other forums suggest. I like its bright large screen and the fact I don't need to run any wires in my vehicle. I also gave up on voice command.

And I also noticed that Lexus' navigation algorithms aren't so fine tuned as my Garmin's.

A good test for (any) navigation is a route from my home in Oakland, CA to Mammoth Lakes ski area. Due to winter road closures you need to make a large detour, all devices are aware of the road closure however Lexus is unable to find an optimal route, it gives you routing through Reno or even Las Vegas (!!), both routes are much less than optimal. Garmin or even Google have no problem with correct routing and give you a route that is almost 1 hr shorter than what Lexus can offer.