Help with 2008 CX-9 Navigation System

P

pepe

Member
Hi,

I purchased a 2008 CX-9 GT FWD three weeks ago. It is everything that people on the forum said it would be. I am slowly learning how to use the many features. Although the navigation system seems powerful, I still have difficulty in programming it. I find the manual to be below average and the salesman unknowledgeable. Is there an 800 number available for the navigation system or a forum where help may be obtained? Thanks for the help.

Joe
 
2 months later...I still struggle to create a new destination entry...then again, I've lived in Chicago all my life and know the area pretty well.
 
It's a fairly intuitive system. One issue you may be having on addresses is if your area is not set for the upper mid-West. Check the area in the destination menu and change if not set correctly. To go somewhere, you can just do menu, destination, then follow the prompts for inputing the address. Once found press guide and the 3 route options will appear.

I have noticed that the POI are a bit out of date. Even though I just picked up an '08 last month, the Nav software is from 2006.
 
It works fine, but there is definitely room for improvement. I'm not in the car now so this is going by memory, but I always screw up "find the nearest gas station" (or any other find nearest POI). You'd think this could be by choosing "find destination", "category", "auto", "gas station", or something like that. But if you do that, it then asks you for an address for the gas station. As if you know. There is no way to choose "nearest" once you've gotten to that point.

I think the correct way turns out to be enter destination, then you press "from current location", then you enter category, etc. Honda and Toyota both have much cleaner systems at this point, the Mazda does behave like it's a couple years behind. I also wish that it would speak the upcoming turns by street name. I.E. "Turn right on Smith Road in 1/2 mile" instead of "Turn right in 1/2 mile". My handheld Garmin has enough data and processing power to pronounce the names, the built-in unit should certainly as well.
 
The only reason I didn't go with the GT assist package, is because we couldn't stand the Mazda Navi. I got spoiled on Honda Navi. Worlds better. Even a Garmin Nuvi or Magellan Maestro is better, IMO. POIs were terrible on the Mazda. I'm shopping for a navi now for the 9. Probably end up with a garmin nuvi 700 series unit.
 
To find nearest gas station, use the voice command, say "gas station" and it will show up on the screen, mark the nerest and press guide...

I must admit that the graphic is not as good as in our 06 Lexus but in general I find the navi okay. E.g. I find it easier to look up an address on the Mazda than the Lexus as the Lexus requires more info to point out a destination.
I guess down the road it is personal taste and what you have been used to in the past.
 
With any luck the software will get better over time. The POI's got much better with every update on our Acuras, and even the interface got more useful (and fixed bugs) as the yearly updates kept coming out. I am hopeful that updates to the Mazda system over time may be similar. Pretty much all systems get the same underlying data from Navteq anyway, which means that accuracy tends to be a wash over time between all the units; we're just talking about interface clunkiness.

I was (am) willing to pay a bit more for the in-dash unit, even if the functionality can be gotten cheaper, and sometimes even better with a handheld. The fact that it is always in the car, has a very large & legible screen, doesn't require any clunky wiring, is under the car's warranty, and is cleanly integrated into the stereo itself are all factors that pointed us toward the factory unit.
 
The biggest missing data for me is that the POI categories do not have Coffee Houses. :(

Anyone know how to find the nearest Starbucks???
 
TravelinMan said:
The biggest missing data for me is that the POI categories do not have Coffee Houses. :(

Anyone know how to find the nearest Starbucks???
Click to expand...

They shouldn't be hard to find.........it seems like there is one on every other street here in Pittsburgh! (lol)
 
It is true that the data comes from the same one or two sources, but no navi unit producer uses all of the POI data. There might be upwards of 20 million POIs in the US, but most manufacturers include from 1.5 up to 6 or 7 million of them, so missing at least 75% or so. Some are missing different categories of POIs. (For instance I find TomTomGo, while having a large number of POIs, is quite deficient in the shopping type POIs compared to Garmin or Magellan.) I found the Mazda Navi to be almost devoid of shopping type POIs. In our family, we use Navi mostly as a travelling "yellow pages". We look up POIs (stores usually), and we can call them to see if they have something in stock, or we can just route there. Living in say the DC metro area, where there are so many POIs, and so many roads, a robust POI was vital for us. My 2003 Accord had a far superior system, and the one on the Pilot or MDX is superb. Wanted more room and lower price than the MDX, and the Pilot is a glorified minivan compared to the CX-9.
 
CX-9 Navigation is a JOKE!

Navteq is suppose to be consistent, however, my two Nuvi disagree with almost every route the CX-9 comes up with. For the fastest route it should be freeways and tollways, not side streets. It seems to like side streets. Time estimates have been consistently 20 minutes to an hour off and the system does not account for time changes. The map software is two years out of date and no updates are available in the foreseeable future. This will be the last Nav system that I purchase in a vehicle. Even the most expensive Nuvi is half the price and much more accurate and UPDATABLE.

Stuart
---------------
2007 CX-9 GT
2006 MX-5 GT
 
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