there is something to be said about peace of mind in knowing that you have to work really hard to get lost. i have the hch nav system and really like it. use it quite a bit going to places. i like being able to change plans and have the system adapt and reroute. also handy for finding a quick alternate route home if traffic is bad. have used that a couple times too. the the tch nav system is probably like the hch nav and has voice recognition tied into various climate control and audio functions. this is nice and safer too. its nice being able to just say "radio, 105.3" and have the radio turn on and tune into 105.3fm without taking my eyes off the road.

 

Something has to pay for the time, cost and effort of getting cities, counties and states to provide accurate data on any new roads, lanes, etc. built in the past 12-24 months.

Correct, but in a Rand McNally Atlas it's about $4.95 at Walmart. For $1200 I would expect to find roads that have been built over 5 years ago on the map. The new bridge on Route 64 going to nags head is not in this system. I understand not having the local DQ but updating major highways is not (should not be) a big deal

 

I thought the white space thing was very amusing. It was a brand new road and I found the reaction from the navigation system to be very comical.

Bluetooth is present on the normal TCH's as well, but without the Nav you don't have the touch screen and all that other stuff.

 

I definitely agree in that case. Report the issue if you can find a contact, or I'd be happy to see if I can't track down a contact if you or other GPS unit owners have other things to report. (Not because I have any connections of any sort, but simply because I'm not too shabby at Internet searches and can generally get through even the most poorly-designed website... purely because I am hard-headed, not due to being adept or anything!)

What data (company name, copyright, etc.) is on the NAV units and NAV CDs/DVDs in your vehicle?

 

What data (company name, copyright, etc.) is on the NAV units and NAV CDs/DVDs in your vehicle?

It's the Camry Hybrid OEM Nav system. People are saying it's a DENSO 5.1.

It might be interesting if there is a site if we end up creating a thread just for updates to submit to them for their next DVD.

 

Well this is the first time I have seen the Toyota system rated better than any Garmin system...or were you talking about the Honda system?

Our TCH is my wife's car and recently she was riding with someone with a HAH with navigation and her comment was that the Honda system was clearly better than the Toyota system.

I have BIG issues with the nav system and have a post here about it...I haven't gone through all of my expierences but they just keep adding up...the best trick the Toyota system seems to like is to have you get off a bypass and to get on a buisness route of a highway...I have had this happen on Rt 322 here in Central, PA, I-83 in the York PA area, US-22 in the Altoona, PA area and in the DC area (don't know the roads there). In all of these cases the system was trying to tell us to get off a 4 lane or more limited access highway and to get onto a high traffic, many lights local road...much much slower. On another occasion it routed my wife 50 min in the opposite direction she was trying to go...she was unfarmiliar with the area so didn't know any better and by the time she hit a road she recognised she was well out of her way. In this instance she had hit "home" so it wasn't like she picked the wrong McDonalds from a list.

In my discussions on another forum I found that Toyota is aware of a major issue with the current software revision and is working on a fix. In the mean time some Toyota and Lexus dealers are giving the previous revision of the DVD (the current revision is 05.1 FWIW which is what came with our TCH). to their customers. I assumed that the DVD only contained the maps but according to a Lexus Master Technician I exchanged emails with there is also a software (firmware maybe) update to the logic of the system which is the real issue. The 05.1 DVD is pretty up to date in my area and I was shocked by this....as an example there is a new road that opend last year and it is on there...so the maps aren't that bad, it's the system logic.

I have personally used the Mercedes system (from a 2002 M class) and a Garmin PDA based system and both were clearly superior in their logic of picking a route over the system in the TCH.

We got the NAV because we didn't have a choice (the car was loaded and came with it)...I am not upset with the purchase of the car as the rest of the car is fantastic but if I knew what I know now and was adding features to the car I WOULD NOT add the nav system.

So there is my $.02

 

Which Garmin unit are you coming from? I currently use a Garmin and thought it would be better to stick with it rather than getting the in-dash one. But it seems you like the in-dash better?

 

I am also a garmin user (iq3600) and have a cam hyb on order with nav - i sure hope i am not disappointed with the built in - I wanted the larger screen and the convienence of not removing the unit - sounds as if us Garmin users are spoiled by the quality of their products...

 

I'm not certain, but it appears that the navigation discs for the Camry Hybrid's stock (Denso) Nav system actually come from a company called Tele Atlas. Camry Nav owners should thus report missing map data or discrepancies in routing to them (link is to contact form.) Denso isn't listed in the "Navigation System" dropdown of the feedback form, but my reasoning for thinking Tele Atlas is the map data provider is this quote from their Fact Sheet (PDF):
I was led to Tele Atlas' site via a discussion thread re: the Prius Nav, which I am assuming is similar to the Camry Nav (set me straight if I'm barking up the wrong tree!)
---
On the other tangent in this discussion:
I still use my Garmin Streetpilot 2720 in my Ford Escape Hybrid w/NAV. To be honest, I knew I would and really only got the NAV system in the FEH for the hybrid related data -- the energy management and fuel economy screens/graphs (the "cartoons", as some call them.) Expensive cartoons, yes, but I've explained my logic in the appropriate threads. Besides, I'm a geek. On the topic of the FEH Nav, if anyone drives one and has map/nav data issues to report on it, those should be directed to Navteq's feedback form.

{aside}
If Garmin would break in to the automotive stock NAV unit market, I swear they'd have the killer app, but so far they specialize in portable GPS units and the Garmin G1000 glass cockpit for general and commercial aviation aircraft.
{/aside}

 

I wasn't sure I wanted the NAV system, but I wanted all of the other options that came with the NAV system, and I am a gadget guy, so I didn't mind getting the NAV.

All in all, I am very happy to have gotten it, but not just for the guidance.

I like bullet points, I find them easier to read than long paragraphs, so I'll list some bullets.

* The NAV system is definitely not perfect. For instance, my house is missing from the system, and it is 13 years old. It also guided me a very long way through the D.C. area. On several occassions it told me "You have arrived at your destination" but my destination was actually somewhere down/up the road.

*Although not perfect, it is usually very helpful and does eventually get you were you need to go.

*I just used the system on a 600+ mile (1200 round trip) road trip, and it did a good job.

*We found it VERY usefull when driving down I-95 at 1am looking for a hotel. The system efficiently told us what hotels were up ahead. MOREOVER, the system gives you the phone number and has an icon that links to the bluetooth phone. It was very easy to click on the hotel, then click on the phone to check for vacancies. THIS WAS REALLY COOL BUT WAS ONLY USEFUL TO ME B/C I OVERRODE THE SYSTEM TO ALLOW MY PASSENGER TO ACCESS THE SYSTEM WHILE MOVING. I would have been MUCH less likely to use the feature if I had to pull over to the side of the road to start calling hotels.