recent trip, navigation messed up twice

G

gregbe

Member
:
Lexus IS250
We just got back from a trip into the Hocking Hills area of southwest Ohio and our navigation system on our 2015 misguided us twice.
On our way to the cabin instead of it taking us down Route 50 for 10 miles & then a left turn onto Route 93 for 10 miles it cut us diagonally
using at first a paved one lane road that quickly turned to gravel. We saw some interesting sites and had a lot of Amish folks staring at us but the road kept getting smaller & smaller
and at one stage we swiped a branch that put a nice scratch the full lenght of the car. I have no idea why it decided on that particular route.
That evening we were going out to dinner. We found the restaurant in the system database and then it took us 4 miles in the opposite direction to a grade school parking lot.
WTF, this is 2015. The system in my 2003 Acura was better than this. If you can't trust the nav system it renders it pretty much useless.
 
Have you updated your maps?
You can't blame hitting a branch on the navigation unit. You need to look at what you're driving into.
 
gregbe said:
If you can't trust the nav system it renders it pretty much useless.
Click to expand...

If you rely on the nav system it renders you pretty much useless. Nav systems are notorious for being unreliable in remote and sparsely populated area.
 
Thanks for telling me I'm useless.

If you need to take maps & print off directions whats the point of the navigation system? I actually typed in the coordinates of the cabin and for some reason it thought the
best route was a gravel road barely one lane wide. It is my 4th car with a factory system and its the worst by far.
 
I didn't go with the NAV because I'd heard it's Tom-Tom based, which isn't that great. We've always used Garmin, specifically the Nuvi's probably that last 10 years or so, they seem to work pretty well, and a bit less expensive. Sure, they still screw up once in awhile, but, for the most part they're right-on. Right enough of the time, that we trust it. We have our Android phone with Google Maps and Waze as a backup.
 
It sounds like it was using a shortest distance versus time calculation. I haven't used mine much in rural areas (Garmins with topographic maps used there) but I haven't personally experienced any incorrect destinations in the populated areas.

IMO: The lane guidance is pretty good overall in the populated areas. It's funny how those graphics are far superior to the normal navigation screens. It is noticeably slower than the unit in my '07 G35x.

The traffic data in my area seems timely and informative.
 
I agree with the lane guidance. I find that very helpful. I will go in & double check my settings. We did use it in the UP of Michigan last summer and it worked well.
I do like the feature of adding audible notices for upcoming POI such as rest stops. I like how you can create your own phrase and in the dialect of your chosing.
We have a Irish gal saying "Time to Tinkle" when we are coming up on a rest stop.
 
This may be 2015, but GPS units - from all manufacturers - are not perfect. I doubt you're going to find one that never makes a mistake. We have 2 portable units that are less than 2 years old from different companies, with up to date maps, and they occasionally give bizarre results. Comes with the territory unfortunately.
 
I had mine route me over a dirt road when it is clearly set not to. I think it is the quality of the reference map the system is using rather than the system itself - the dirt road is coded as paved when it is not - I suspect a lot of the road surface map coding is done from satellite photos...
 
GAXIBM said:
I had mine route me over a dirt road when it is clearly set not to. I think it is the quality of the reference map the system is using rather than the system itself - the dirt road is coded as paved when it is not - I suspect a lot of the road surface map coding is done from satellite photos...
Click to expand...

Mine did this when set to "shortest distance", it took us down any cow path available to get from point-A to point-B in shortest distance. I quickly figured out that's not really want I wanted. So, I changed it back to "shortest time", then it tends to use main roads more, and not any cow path.
 
The Tom Tom GPS is useless. I took care of the problem by not using it.

My 12 year old Garmin with 5 year old maps is 10 times better in rural areas and twice as good in developed areas.

Tom Tom is a bad joke.
 
MikeM. said:
The Tom Tom GPS is useless. I took care of the problem by not using it.

My 12 year old Garmin with 5 year old maps is 10 times better in rural areas and twice as good in developed areas.

Tom Tom is a bad joke.
Click to expand...

Too bad you couldn't load different map sets on it like a Garmin. I loaded up Topo maps on my old Nuvi 265W. It's nice to be able to toggle over to those maps when going off-road. Lifetime maps for that was only about $70 and I still get 2-3 updates a year. I am a long time Garmin user myself. I still have an old black and white Etrex Vista (IIRC) from 2002. You had to update maps through a PC serial connection (Pre-USB). I haven't bought a newer portable in a number of years. I think the newest one is an Etrex Vista C.
 
cybercruiser said:
Mine did this when set to "shortest distance", it took us down any cow path available to get from point-A to point-B in shortest distance. I quickly figured out that's not really want I wanted. So, I changed it back to "shortest time", then it tends to use main roads more, and not any cow path.
Click to expand...

I was using "shortest time" and paved roads only...
 
cybercruiser said:
I didn't go with the NAV because I'd heard it's Tom-Tom based, which isn't that great. We've always used Garmin, specifically the Nuvi's probably that last 10 years or so, they seem to work pretty well, and a bit less expensive. Sure, they still screw up once in awhile, but, for the most part they're right-on. Right enough of the time, that we trust it. We have our Android phone with Google Maps and Waze as a backup.
Click to expand...

I don't care for the built-in navigation system in mine so I recently bought a new Garmin that has free life time map updates and love it. Now I just need to find a good place for it mount when driving since I don't care for the suction cup on the windshield method.
 
Tom tom will get you there , it may not be the shortest way, she does prefer toll roads and i think she is in bed with more than Shell gas. Around home the streets have wrong names and she shows paper roads.

I did like my Garmin better, better maps with the right street names but she took me on a few scenic tours too, one was right past the address and around the block to it.

The ones pro truck drivers pay big bucks for have problems too, there is a road near me that is a short cut, only problem is the last mile is sand and their GPS tries to take them down it.
 
I agree, the navigation from point A to B, even with upgraded maps, sucks. It likes to tell me to go down a one way street in my town.
 
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